Breakfast with Laura

Around 60 PAs braved the bad weather and early start to hear Laura Richardson talk about her time as a PA and her route to becoming the Hays and The Times ‘PA of the Year’ at the New Connaught Rooms in London today.

Gareth Osborne said: “Laura is a confident and passionate speaker and many of her anecdotes ring loud bells with the PAs present. Her solutions to common office problems between a PA and his/her Boss are humorously presented yet insightful and visionary. She is unquestionably an outstanding ambassador for the PA profession and a lovely person; what more can you hope for in a ‘PA of the Year’.”

This event marks the end of the autumn round of Hays and APA Roadshows but there are more scheduled for early 2011; watch this space and the APA website for future dates.

Also speaking were Geoff Sims, MD of Hays PA & Secretarial, and Gareth Osborne.

APA

Is the gloom subsiding?

Job satisfaction has shown a surprise increase across UK workplaces during the autumn despite an overall gloomy outlook, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development's (CIPD) quarterly Employee Outlook survey.

The survey of over 2,000 employees represents a bleak picture of employee attitudes throughout the UK, following the £81bn of cuts to public spending announced by Government. In the public sector, one in four (25%) workers believe it is likely they will lose their jobs and 63% say stress has increased as a result of the economic downturn, compared to 54% last quarter. Respondents across all sectors are also three times more likely to report their standard of living over the last six months has fallen (29%) than to say it has increased (9%).

Nearly a fifth (19%) of workers report their organisation is planning redundancies, however among public sector staff the figure is 50% - a 10% increase from the previous quarter. By comparison, only 10% of private sector staff and 17% of voluntary sector workers say their employer is planning to make redundancies. On top of this, 39% of employees say they are under excessive pressure at work either every day or once or twice a week, rising to 44% in the public sector.

Public sector workers are also most likely to report an increase in stress, conflict at work, bullying by line managers and an increase in people taking time off sick, as a result of the state of the economy. All these measures have increased when compared to the previous quarter.

Gareth Osborne of APA said: “This report offers little hope for short term confidence in the workplace; we have a long way to go before normal service will be resumed. In a poor economic climate workers tend to dig-in and settle for what they have rather than allow themselves to become dissatisfied. In these difficult times if you have a job, work hard and hang onto it. If redundancy is inevitable, then they should do some serious research into who is hiring and make their skills fit the employer’s needs – Members can go to the APA Careers Zone for help.”

APA

PA Diploma at the leading edge of science

Kate Richardson, PA to the Vice President, Biopharmaceutical Development at MedImmune has become only the third holder of a ‘Pass with Distinction’ for the highly prestigious APA Diploma in Personal Assistance (DipPA). And the second with the surname ‘Richardson’.

Kate said: “I am really pleased to have had the opportunity to take part in this Diploma programme and am, of course, thrilled to be the second Richardson to pass with such a great result!!”

“I would highly recommend the course to anyone who is keen to develop their career as a PA. Although the course was challenging at times, I came away full of enthusiasm and with lots of new ideas, which I am looking forward to putting into practice over the coming months. It was also a fantastic opportunity to mix with other PA’s from across the country (in our case, across Europe) and be able to share ideas and experiences.”

APA DG, Gareth Osborne said: “Kate is unquestionably a fine PA and plays a major role in the performance and success of her Boss and their division within a major international and highly visionary biologics business. Like all Diploma holders, she is a role model for great PAs everywhere.”

Shown left are: Kate Richardson FAPA DipPA and Dr. Paul Varley.

APA

PA roadshows fly

The latest round of Hays and APA Roadshows has been hailed as a great success by Geoff Sims, Managing Director of Hays PA & Secretarial and Gareth Osborne of APA.

At the three venues visited so far; Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds, PAs have braved the early morning traffic to invest time in the development of their careers and to learn what’s going on in their professional marketplace.

The highlight of each event has been a very impressive presentation by Laura Richardson, the UK ‘PA of the Year 2010’ who has talked about her career so far, her take on the role of a great PA and the benefits of entering PA Awards.

Future events are scheduled for early 2011 in locations around the UK.

APA

Improved access to credit needed for full economic revival

Before implementing another round of quantitative easing there are other measures that the Bank of England and the British government could consider, it has been claimed. According to the British Interactive Media Association ministers should be doing all they can to encourage greater lending to the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector.

BIMA commented that quantitative easing is simply a short-term fix which ultimately dilutes the value of sterling, and genuine economic growth is the best way forwards. "The government needs to look at new ways that will promote international trade and international investment in the UK," it stated. It was commenting after the latest BDO Optimism Index, which shows how UK companies expect to trade in two quarters' time, revealed that businesses may be beginning to feel more optimistic about the UK's economic outlook.

"Businesses are undoubtedly starting to regain some confidence in the economy," said Gareth Osborne of APA. "British businesses, especially smaller ones, are tenacious and rather than battening down the hatches, they have been bullish and looked for new ways of working to succeed. It appears to be working. They now need new, creative funding regimes to deliver growth and employment."

APA

Mentors Rule

Vince Cable has announced the formation of a new 40,000-strong network of business mentors, designed to help UK entrepreneurs develop their companies. The business secretary is urging existing businesspeople to sign up to offer assistance to new start-ups and growing companies, plus those seeking financial support.

From summer 2011, there will be a single online gateway to mentoring provision for those offering support and those seeking mentoring. Mr Cable commented that the best people to advise new entrepreneurs and existing businesses are those who have already started and run successful companies.

"Mentoring is a very effective way of promoting start-ups, higher productivity and growth amongst established businesses, so I am delighted to announce this new network," he said.

Business and enterprise Minister Mark Prisk added that in the current economic climate, it has never been more important to promote an enterprise culture in the UK. "Mentors play a crucial role in advising, supporting and encouraging entrepreneurs and small businesses. This new mentoring network will be invaluable for businesses all over the country," he stated.

Six of the UK's leading banks recently joined forces to form a £1.5 billion business support fund, geared toward supporting small company growth.

Gareth Osborne, Director General of APA, has praised the new scheme but warns: “In the past business ‘gurus’ enlisted to support entrepreneurs have been rendered ineffective when surrounded by too much bureaucratic process and BIS will have to work hard if I is to make this initiative effective. I do however support the brave step and hope the right people ge involved.”

APA has its own mentoring scheme for PAs. Details can be fund with the Members’ Area of the APA website.

APA

Roadshow success in Birmingham

The Hays / APA round of Autumn Roadshows got off to a great start in Birmingham last week. Here is what a few of the attendees said:

Many thanks for getting me a slot on the road show – whilst it was a very early start it was well worth it! Karen Audis, PA, DEFRA

PAs deserve huge recognition for the work they do and the responsibilities they take on board and such phrases as “just a PA” don’t exist. The APA/Hays event was truly inspiring and speakers clearly demonstrated that PAs add real value to the business and can be the company’s best asset. Judith Fine, PA, Finesse

I am really grateful that you invited me to the course as it opened my eyes as to what was out there. I never knew that there was an Association for PA's or anything about the awards etc. It was a really helpful and informative seminar. Nicola Clason, PA, Blakemores

Both Gareth and Geoff were informative and delivered in a fun upbeat way. We were well informed on what’s to offer to help further our careers as PA’s. Laura was an inspiration and we picked up lots of useful tips from her speech. We left feeling enthused and fully motivated and intend to look more into what the APA has to offer. Rachael Towers, PA, EC Harris

I found it a worthwhile experience to listen to enthusiastic ambassadors of the PA profession, and to have a refreshing take on the broad and multi-faceted spectrum that the role of today's Assistant can encompass. Dominique Bennett, PA, Lafarge Cement UK

Just a quick note to say a big Thank You for inviting me to attend today's networking event. It was a great opportunity to not only be inspired by the interesting talks given by the speakers, but also to make some good contacts and have a catch-up with the team from Hays. I would recommend everyone who has an opportunity in the future to attend this; you won't regret it! Ulrika Froberg, PA

The Roadshows continue in Manchester 16th November @ 8am, Leeds 17th Nov @ 8am and London 30th Nov @ 8am. Call Shelley at APA for more details.

APA

Saving for the future

Automatic enrolment into a pension scheme, due to come into force in 2012, will cost small businesses thousands of pounds per year, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has warned.

From 2017, all companies and their staff will have to be fully enrolled into a pension scheme and business owners will have to pay a minimum of three per cent of an employee's salary into a pension. Consequently, the average small firm – those with four employees earning an average salary of £25,000 – will pay at least an extra £2,550 per year in administration and pension costs.

APA has called for micro-businesses to be made exempt from the automatic enrolment scheme, as it will cost them time and money they simply cannot afford. And while measures have been put in place to make the administrative burden easier for small businesses – such as introducing a three-month buffer period - APA is concerned that they do not go far enough.

Gareth Osborne commented: "It is vital that everyone is able to save for their future but the automatic enrolment scheme is going to cost smaller businesses dearly. The true administrative costs are as yet unknown and could be high. We will be watching this closely as the scheme develops."

APA

A little kindness goes a long way

Did you know that today is World Kindness Day; a concept started in Japan and now embraced by countries all over the world. And it marks the start of World Kindness Week – so watch out in the coming 7 days for people doing something special.

The Organisers say the purpose of World Kindness Day is to look beyond ourselves, beyond the boundaries of our country, beyond our culture, our race, our religion; and realise we are citizens of the world. As world citizens we have a commonality, and must realise that if progress is to be made in human relations and endeavours, if we are to achieve the goal of peaceful coexistence, we must focus on what we have in common. When we find likenesses we begin to experience empathy, and in such a state we can fully relate to that person or those people. While we may think of people from other cultures as being ‘different’ when we compare them with our own customs and beliefs, it doesn’t mean that we are any better than they are. When we become friends with someone from a different culture we discover that despite some obvious differences, there are many similarities.

So let’s all be a little more tolerant and try and make an extra difference in the lives of those around us.

APA

New business boom

The total number of companies registered in the UK increased again during the course of October 2010, latest figures from Companies House have revealed.

Records show a total of 2,647,500 businesses registered in the UK in the week ending October 31st, compared 2,643,377 four weeks earlier. The increase, 3,123 new businesses, continues the trend witnessed in recent months, with the overall number of incorporations rising steadily since the exit from recession. However, a fall was witnessed in the number of publically listed companies – from 9,612 to 9,563.

In England and Wales, the number of registered companies rose from 2,459,019 to 2,463,415. In Scotland, the number fell from 147,776 to 147,524, with 371 public firms in existence and in Northern Ireland also saw a drop, from 36,582 to 36,561, with the number of plcs holding steady at 37.

Last month the Institute for Employment Studies, suggested that the public spending cuts could persuade many individuals to enter self-employment.

On the overall numbers, Gareth Osborne of APA said: “These figures represent businesses registered with Companies House and does not include all those sole traders and business partnerships that trade (are businesses) but do not seek the protection of being a limited company. The total number of UK trading entities is around 3.8 million.”

“Like the IES, APA believes that many workers made redundant from the Public Sector will move into self-employment. From recent forecasts many of these are thought to be support staff, which includes PAs and, as a result, we are likely to see the rise of Virtual PAs in the marketplace and other similar services.”

APA

Head in a cloud

Business owners need to assess the impact hosted services have on their IT infrastructure in terms of total cost of ownership, it has been suggested. Dr Jonathan Reichental, an IT expert, called on companies to determine the cost of existing IT solutions, and how this will be affected by embracing cloud computing.

Whether an IT service should remain internal or be hosted in the cloud requires a level of cost accounting which is seldom applied to the cost of running a technology service. Factors such as the true costs of labour, utilities, backups and disaster recovery should be taken into consideration and this puzzle requires the chief information officer to understand and allocate the appropriate costs for each service being considered for the cloud," he added. He also reminded businesses to include opportunity costs in any calculations they make.

It was also suggested that potential business IT users can learn from the experiences of their counterparts when moving to a managed hosting model. “This is an opportunity for PAs to share best practice with APA for onward transmission to their peers,” aid Gareth Osborne.

APA

The Net gets wider

Small businesses around the UK will soon be able to benefit from access to faster broadband speeds. The UK's two main broadband network operators, BT and Virgin Media, are close to launching their respective fibre-optic networks, which will enable businesses to take advantage of a wide variety of online services. BT's national internet infrastructure currently provides web services to around 15 million UK premises, compared to the four million served by Virgin Media.

Faster download and upload speeds will be the major benefits of network upgrade work, which has been ongoing throughout 2010.

BT has announced that a number of London communities will be among the first to benefit from its new 40Mbps broadband service. It said that up to 90,000 business premises and households in Parsons Green, Merton Park, Mile End, Skyport and New Cross will be upgraded over the next few weeks.

BT's London regional director, said businesses switching to super-fast broadband "will soon be experiencing the internet as they have never experienced it before. The advent of BT fibre-based broadband in these parts of the capital will support local jobs and the local economy and is a vital part of BT's broadband plans for London."

BT's announcement comes days after rival Virgin Media announced the launch of its 100Mbps fibre service, which will commence in December. The firm will offer download and upload speeds in excess of those offered by any other UK broadband provider, including BT, however they will only be accessible in Virgin-connected streets.

Gareth, APA

Let's just sleep on it

Sleeping on a problem may really be the best way to solve it, researchers have discovered.
In a research study the students who did the best were the ones who had been distracted and were therefore unable to 'consciously think' Distracting yourself for a few minutes with something else or, even better putting off the issue until the next day, helps the brain come up with the ideal solution, the study found.

According to experiments, people who consciously struggle with a difficult question are more likely to get the wrong answer, compared to those who put it on the mental backburner. Putting it off" could also work for someone in a dilemma about a major financial commitment, such as buying a house.

Unconscious thought produces better decisions than when people decide immediately. The benefit of a period of rest is clear. "It allows us to differentiate between the vital and the irrelevant aspects.

When your grandparents advised you to sleep on a decision first, they may have intuitively sensed the benefits of letting it rest to get a clear grasp of one's priorities. The current research shows that our grandparents were right.

The study will be published in a forthcoming edition of the Journal of Consumer Psychology.

Shelley, APA