Get a grip and go on leave

Bosses should set the right example for their employees by switching off when out the office, it has been claimed.

A survey conducted recently by the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) found that over a third of managers continue to work while on annual leave, with four out of ten returning from their break more stressed than when they left.

Some 80 per cent of bosses said they responded to emails while on holiday, over half said they received phone calls and ten per cent admitted they even went into the office.

In response to the survey CIPD advised that managers in particular have a duty to set an example to staff by taking a proper break from work.

Gareth Osborne of APA warned that “Modern technology, designed to make lives easier, could actually be making things worse and disabling people from really switching off. Its fine to stay in touch for the big decisions but it appears that all too many people are still processing the trivia. Where possible, PAs should take a firm grasp of the situation and severely limit the information going to their bosses while on leave (and vice versa). Better delegation of responsibility would also help.”

APA

Banks to come under cosh again

Banks are set to come under renewed pressure from the government to increase lending to small firms. Business Secretary Vince Cable says banks are "not acting in the national interest" and measures may be needed. He has suggested dividends and bonuses could be a target as part of a "carrot and stick" approach to boost lending.

Mr Cable is due to unveil a joint consultation paper with the Treasury containing options to improve cash flow to businesses. Under the proposals, banks could be made to sign up to the same type of lending agreements placed on the part-nationalised RBS and Lloyds. These include penalties on executive remuneration for failures to boost lending.

In a Sunday Times interview, Mr Cable said: "We are very worried about the behaviour of the banks. They are not acting in the national interest. I don't think they get it. At the moment we are talking to them in an amicable way and we are monitoring them, but if this doesn't work there are combinations of carrots and sticks that can be employed and they are under no illusions about that - and we are not either."

A spokesperson for the British Bankers’ Association said, “Demand for lending is currently low as businesses are not keen to take on additional borrowing when the economic outcome is uncertain”

Other options due to be outlined by Mr Cable include proposals for regional stock exchanges in cities such as Birmingham and Edinburgh and more government loan guarantees. The banking industry, meanwhile, maintain that lending to smaller firms is stable while it is rising among larger companies.

APA will be following these announcements closely and engaging with Mr Cable to ensure they best fit the needs of business; especially small business.

APA
Source: BBC News

APA joins call to 'Make Tax Simple'

Simplifying the UK's tax system will have a range of benefits for small businesses, it has been claimed. Andrew Hubbard, immediate past president of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, said companies operating in the sector are subject to a number of quite complex rules, which continue to change year-on-year.

He said small business taxation has become "a very unstable system" due to the large number of anomalies. "Small businesses and their advisors will spend a lot of time playing around with the numbers, trying to work out what the best way to structure them is as opposed to getting on with running the business," Mr Hubbard said. He commented that the boundary between employment and self-employment has been a very difficult area. "In many ways, it is an advantage to be self-employed because from an individual's perspective you are not under PAYE, you've got much more opportunity for claiming relief under expenses and you only pay your tax twice a year," Mr Hubbard explained.

Gareth Osborne of APA said "We need to create a simple system that gives new businesses stability so that they know what tax regime they are going to need for the foreseeable future and then help them genuinely understand it. At present, the burdens on small businesses in terms of the complexity of the tax system take up a disproportionate amount of time.”

Chancellor George Osborne announced this week that the Office for Tax Simplification has now been officially established. Let’s all hope it can make an immediate impact.

APA

Save us from ourselves

Everyone has done it at one time or another. You dash off an email to a colleague or client and when they reply it’s clear they have taken immediate offence to what you have written.

Now a technology firm has come up a system which it claims will stop misunderstandings

ToneCheck, developed by Canadian firm Lymbix, works as an add-on to Microsoft’s Outlook email service and checks the tone of your email in the same way a spell-checker does. After you have composed an email, you simply hit Tonecheck button and it scans the email and tells you the dominant tone of the message.

Users can even set a tone ‘tolerance’ and the system will stop you sending an email before checking if it falls outside of your usual parameters. You can then adjust the tone before sending or simply ignore the warning and send it regardless. The program’s sensitivity can also be adjusted and it offers eight different ‘emotional ratings’ to help you get the tone of your email right. These include Affection and Amusement at the positive end of the scale while Sadness, Anger, Fear and Humiliation are the emotions most users will try and avoid.

Lymbix has also developed a version which monitors your updates on Twitter for any unintentional deviation in tone.

The service is available as a download from today and is free for the first 30 days. APA will be giving it a road test and reporting in the next Members email.

Check it out at: http://ww.tonecheck.com/

Shelley, APA

Sweet baby George James

APA announced recently the birth of baby George to its Director Carly Beales and her partner Terry. APA Directors had a day out in Kent yesterday with the new family, in their new home (Carly never does things by halves) and we can report that all are doing extremely well and George is, as predicted, a bright and bouncy boy with a great temperament – just like his Mum.

Carly has promised to remain engaged with APA while absent from her day job at the Bank of America and still focusing most of her energy on George, Terry and the new home (multi-tasking at its best!). Well done Carly.

Gareth, APA

'Pulling a Sickie'

A new study has highlighted stress as the major cause of employee absence in the UK workplace. In an online poll conducted by smallbusiness.co.uk, 48 per cent of respondents said physical and emotional pressures are directly responsible for the majority of unauthorised days off. Some 27 per cent of absence days were said to be employee 'sickies', where the worker has made up a false excuse for failing to come into work.

Meanwhile, back problems accounted for ten per cent of days away from the workplace, the same proportion as annual leave, with just three per cent of absences down to 'other reasons'.

Commenting on the poll, Gareth Osborne of APA said, “There is a massive difference between those who are happy to ‘pull a sickie’ for the weakest reason and the ‘troopers’ who soldier on and come into work when they really are too ill and should genuinely stay at home; to avoid infecting the entire organisation. Common sense lies somewhere in between.”

Employers claim that workplace absence costs the economy £17 billion per year and currently an employer is rendered "powerless" when an employee calls in sick.

APA will be taking this matter up with the Secretary of State for Business in its forthcoming meeting.

APA

It’s not the size but the result that matters

I read a wonderful statement made recently by Doug Richards, the former Dragon, and thought it must be repeated here. Doug said:

“A business success can be measured on the bottom line. A business success is not measured on its top line. I have heard celebrity entrepreneurs brag about their businesses, calling out their total revenue as though the sheer volume of cash that their business touched was somehow meaningful. I picture them skinny dipping in all that cash as it washes by, cackling irrationally and not realising that the flow of cash is not the same as the stickiness of profit. The reality was that they made a skinny one per cent profit on all that cash. A business with one tenth the revenue that makes ten per cent on its money is precisely as successful. Revenue is just not profit.”

“It [success] is not measured by the number of people it employs. Over and over I hear people talk about the size of their organisations. All I hear is the cost of their payroll. Is this just a man thing? Are we really comparing size still as adults? Get over it. In business size doesn’t matter.”

I agree passionately with Doug about profit but both revenue and profit would be excellent and doubly exciting!

Gareth, APA

The plane truth

Now here’s a surprise. Outspoken Irish entrepreneur Michael O'Leary of Ryanair has publically apologised “unreservedly” to his arch rival, easyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou.

Earlier this year, O’Leary ran a series of ads depicting Sir Stelios as Pinocchio with the words: “easyJet’s – Mr Late Again,” telling Sir Stelios to “stop hiding the truth” about flight delays, saying easyJet should resume publishing weekly details of on-time performance.

When Sir Stelios initially requested an apology, O’Leary was defiant; making a host of ridiculous gibes. So Stelios decided to take legal action.

The libel suit was settled out of court, with O’Leary issuing a public apology this week in the Guardian and Daily Telegraph. Sir Stelios accepted £50,100 in damages, which he will donate to his philanthropic foundation and will be used for the Stelios Award for Disabled Entrepreneurs. “It is not very often that someone as arrogant and as powerful as O'Leary is forced to apologise in public and in writing,” says Sir Stelios. "I took this legal action to protect my reputation. I am not a liar and that statement was libellous.” He dedicated the victory to all those "who have suffered verbal abuse at the hands of O'Leary”.

“Boys will be boys!” Said APA DG, Gareth Osborne, “But I really think we should keep childish playground rivalries out of a serious business like aviation. What next? Aerial dogfights.”

APA

Unemployment falls - in part!

Latest official figures have revealed that unemployment fell by 34,000 people in the three months to May. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the number of people out of work stood at 2.47 million people across the quarter. At the same time, those claiming Jobseeker's Allowance fell in June by 20,800 to 1.46million.

While the number of people in work rose, suggesting many businesses recruited in a bid to get more done, the increase was in part down to a record 148,000 rise in the number of part-time workers. The ONS said the percentage of workers in part-time jobs was 27 per cent – the highest since records began in 1992 - totalling 7.82 million.

Last week, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation reported that the number of both temporary and permanent appointments increased during June 2010.

APA.

Humbling the Banks - but is it enough?

UK Government has laid out the details of its proposed levy on Banks as they seek to raise 2.5 billion pounds a year to help stave off the costs of any future financial crises.

The Treasury has detailed its plan, which it plans to introduce in stages from 2011, and has asked for feedback by October 5. Along with France and Germany, Britain has been pushing for banks to pay for their part in the financial crisis and to implement measures to encourage them to move away from risky funding, which triggered the liquidity crunch.

The key points are:

Levy Rate - The government will first introduce a 0.04 percent levy on balance sheets in 2011, rising to 0.07 percent in 2012. There will also be reduced rate for longer-maturity funding initially set at 0.02 percent and rising to 0.035 percent.

Coverage - The levy will apply to three areas of banking and only to entities who have relevant liabilities of 20 billion pounds or more. These are 1) Global consolidated balance sheets of UK banking groups and building societies, 2) Aggregated subsidiary and branch balance sheets of foreign banks operating in the UK and 3) Balance sheets of UK banks in non-banking groups

To see the Treasury's consultation document, please click http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/consult_bank_levy_condoc.pdf

APA will be taking the opportunity to respond to the Consultation on behalf of the banking interests of Members and their businesses and would welcome comments and opinion.

Gareth, APA

On-line media - do's and don'ts

Companies without an acceptable Social Media policy in place are flirting with calamity, it has been claimed.

The managing director of the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) Europe, said collaboration without governance is "a recipe for disaster". He was commenting on a new report from Gartner, which claimed that social networks will replace email as the primary vehicle for interpersonal communications for 20 per cent of business users by 2014.

AIIM advises companies to put a policy in place stating that contributions to non-company websites are the personal responsibility of employees and do not reflect the company's views or attitudes. This protects the company and allows it to deal with any "indiscreet" member of staff within the terms of its disciplinary procedures.

Colin Minto of APA said, “It’s simply a matter of common sense, with a policy you can detail what is acceptable when using the social media channels and what isn’t. How else can you expect staff to know? There are enough horror stories out there to make Company Directors recognise the importance of this action but sadly too few are going the extra mile and creating a policy.”

APA Members can find sample Social Media and Blogging Policy documents in the Knowledge Zone of the website; Members Area/Knowledge Zone/PA Best Practice Guides.

APA

The long and winding road

Interest rates have been frozen for yet another month following the meeting of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), the base rate will remain at its historic low of 0.5 per cent for a 16th consecutive month as the Bank attempts to support a full economic recovery.

In addition, no change was made to the MPC's £200 billion quantitative easing programme, halted in February, at the two-day meeting. Both decisions were widely expected in light of the government's austerity measures announced in George Osborne's emergency Budget last month.

APA has warned that the severe but necessary public sector cuts risk plunging the UK back into recession and recommends extreme caution. With this danger in mind, the Bank of England is not expected to increase its base rate before 2011. The European Central Bank has chosen to keep interest rates on hold at one per cent.

Gareth said, “We are all going to be pushing the car for a long time before the engine starts but I am confident it will. After that we will have to nurse it gently for a while and hope normal running resumes in the near future.” He apologised for his car analogy and blamed it on the mix of stunning weather and the British Grand Prix.

APA

Blogging for APA

All APA Members at Fellow grade are permitted to apply for ‘Bloggers Rights’ and post their thoughts about their role as a PA and comments about issues of life and business impact on how they do their job from day-to-day.

APA’s Blog is rightly acclaimed and has a high Google ranking ensuring that the issues important to our Members are seen by the widest possible audience. We have strict standards on material content and a definite house style but everything else is up to you.

If you are interested in having your say then simply email Gareth (gareth.osborne@paprofessional.com) and he will send you details of the application process and simple instructions to register to Blog.

APA

Government cuts to hit business suppliers

Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude met with chief executives of the 19 biggest suppliers to the government this week to discuss what they could do to help cut the cost of the services they provide, his office said.

The Minister is planning to renegotiate key government contracts as part of its efforts to tackle a record budget deficit running at 11 percent of national output. It has already committed to making 6.2 billion pounds of savings from government spending in the 2010-2011 financial year.

"I am laying down the challenge to major government suppliers to ask them what they can do to take costs out of contracts," said Mr Maude, joint head of the government's efficiency board. "Some of this will come out of margins, but we will also invite ideas on how we can structure things differently to reduce complexity and cost. We will look to put into effect immediate savings and also create plans to further reduce costs in the medium to long term."

Chief executives who met with Maude on Thursday included those of computer manufacturers Hewlett Packard and IBM, telecoms providers British Telecom and Vodafone, and consultancy firm Accenture.

Gareth, APA.

Big isn't always beautiful

The government should consider actions to intervene to help small businesses suffering from late payment at the hands of larger organisations; it has been claimed by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). This call comes after computer firm Dell was added to the Forum of Private Business' list of companies which regularly make late payments, alongside firms such as Argos, Carlsberg and United Biscuits.

APA broadly support this call and Director General, Gareth Osborne, said, "Small businesses rely on prompt payment, at least in line with agreed terms, but all too often large organisations; particularly public bodies, take advantage. Even APA has occasional difficulty extracting payment from larger organisations that should know, and act, better. In most cases it is simply poor credit management practice and failure to adhere to their own policy for payment but who complains? We are all too afraid of losing the business!”

The FSB spokesperson claimed that larger organisations continue to lean on small businesses over payment issues, even though they have the cash flow to pay earlier. APA will be acknowledging the FSB’s call and writing to Ministers but it recognises this is not a new problem and may be difficult to solve, “The problem has definitely been heightened by the impact of the recession and tighter financial constraints imposed by the High Street banks but has been around for decades, Gareth concluded. “Large organisations all too often abuse their smaller suppliers!”

APA

Beware of the Mismatch

The private sector will not want to grow fast enough to absorb job losses from government-funded organisations, APA has warned.

Gareth Osborne, Director General of APA has warned the Government that there is a strict limit to the number of new employees the private sector will want to absorb even though signs show increased demand in recent months. He said: "The minimal growth in private sector demand for new workers is not yet anything near strong enough to compensate for the suggested public sector job losses and won’t be for some years to come. For public sector workers the biggest problem they face is a skills mismatch and government would be well advised to address this quickly."

Gareth was commenting after exclusive reports from the Guardian, based upon leaked government data, claims that 100,000-120,000 public sector jobs will go each year until 2014 as the government reduces spending. However, he noted that private sector businesses are "increasingly conscious" that they face a skills shortage as the economy continues to improve.

According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development's recent Resourcing and Talent Planning survey, 68 per cent of organisations have experienced recruitment difficulties in recent months. In 67 per cent of cases, this was due to an absence of the skills they were looking for among jobseekers.

APA.

Lorry accident rate high

An alarming statistic, broadcast by the BBC today, suggests that although lorries account for less than 10% of all road traffic, they are involved in more than 30% of accidents.

APA will be writing to the Transport Minister and expressing serious concern about the claim, asking for further clarification and recommending a detailed review of current legislation targeted at road haulage operators and suggesting some modification.

Gareth Osborne, Director General of APA said, “We hear news daily of trucks causing major accidents and closing motorways for hours and hours. The impact on the national (and local) business economy is enormous and paralyses; even gridlocks, the road network. Government should be looking at ways to ensure higher driving standards amongst lorry drivers and placing limits on how they operate larger vehicles. One recommendation will be to consider banning lorries overtaking on inclines; this practice is in common use on some European roads.”

APA

Professional women must save for retirement

More than a third of female professionals will retire below the poverty line, a new study has indicated. Prudential's Class of 2010 retirement survey indicates that 35 per cent of women planning to retire this year will receive an income of under £14,000. This compares to 29 per cent of men who will be in a similar financial predicament.

According to Prudential, the gender gap becomes even starker over the age of 65, where 42 per cent of women will have incomes below the poverty line compared with 33 per cent of men.

Vince Smith-Hughes, the company's head of business development for pensions, said the findings highlighted the need for businesswomen to take retirement planning into their own hands. "Women are more likely to take a career break when they start a family and possibly the last thing on your mind when you're taking care of children and the home is how you're going to fund your retirement years," he stated. "Evidently there is a vast difference between men's and women’s anticipated retirement income and we believe government and the retirement savings industry can do more to encourage men and women to save more into pensions."

The government announced this week that the default retirement age of 65 is to be scrapped.

APA

Qualifications boom

Shown Back Row (L-R) are: Sue Pope, Claire Brewer, Tania Saunders, Tanya Willington, Debbie Baxter. Front Row: Jo Oldham, Payal Patel and Susan Ahmed.

Another group of PAs demonstrated their commitment to continuing professional development yesterday by undertaking training on the one-day APA ‘PA Professional’ workshop. This stand alone course can be taken in isolation or as Module 2 to the much prized Diploma in Personal Assistance (DipPA). The course was lively, challenging and delegates contributed enthusiastically to discussions and debates.

Gareth Osborne, who delivered the course, said, "This was another great group of PAs, keen to learn and open to new ways of managing (and improving) their boss's working life and I am confident they will return to their businesses with a renewed vigor and eager to implement ideas."

For more details about this or other training programmes please visit the APA website or contact training@paprofessional.com or call 0800 107 1030.

APA

More PA stars undertake APA training

Wednesday has seen another 'PA Apprentice' course being dellivered in London and has attracted existing and aspiring PAs. Pictured right are attendees; Gemma, from the Isle of Man, Sam, Michelle and Claire.

Pictured left is Claire Howrad DipPA who visited the course to wish delegates well, share her own experiences and receive her Diploma Certificate from APA Director General, Gareth Osborne.

APA

The Budget

If you want to see the full Budget document; as issued by the Treasury, go to:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/documents/digitalasset/dg_188581.pdf

APA

Budget - first response (Budget +45 mins)

In a Budget that the Chancellor, George Osborne, described as 'unavoidable' he announced that VAT will rise to 20% from 4 January 2011. The rise, alongside a raft of spending cuts, will help see the country's deficit fall to 1.1% of gross domestic product by 2014-15 from its current level of 11%.

However, Mr Osborne admitted that the measures will have an impact on growth. The economy will grow just 1.2pc this year, 2.3pc next year and 2.8pc in 2012.

Corporation tax will be cut from 28% to 27% next year, and by 1% annually for the following three years. The rate for small companies will also be cut to 20%.

The threshold at which employers start to pay National Insurance will rise by £21 a week above indexation from April, the chancellor said.

“Reform of the corporate tax regime will help rebalance the economy away from household debt and government consumption", Mr Osborne said.

In other key measures the Chancellor announced a major adjustment of the welfare package including an abolition of tax cedits for families earning more than £40K pa. He outlined increases to personal income tax allowances - up £1000 to £7475 - and an increase in Capital Gains Tax for higher earners to 28%. Perhaps most popularly Mr Osborne announced the introduction of a Bank Levy which he forecast would generate £2 billion pa from Jan 2011 for the Treasury.

A more detailed analysis will be available to APA Members in the Knowledge Zone from tonight.

Gareth Osborne, APA. (no relation)

One million young people unemployed

The latest unemployment figures published by the Office for National Statistics, has shown the number of people out of work has risen by 23,000 to 2.47 million in the three months up to April.

Commenting on these figures, Gareth Osborne of APA said, “It is alarming to see the number of people out of work edging towards 2.5 million again. With increasing pressure being placed on the public sector in this week’s emergency budget, this figure could rise rapidly and may soon exceed 3 million. However there is some encouragement as we are seeing signs of increasing confidence and demand for staff in the private sector.

“It’s particularly worrying to see that there are currently 926,000 16-24 year olds that aren’t in work or some form of training. APA will be lobbying Government over coming weeks to support drives for better and more relevant youth training schemes; with an emphasis on PA skills to support small business owners.

Gareth, APA

Hackers Paradise

Business owners and employees have been reminded of the dangers of making personal data freely available online. One IT security expert claims that social networking users risk becoming the victims of identity fraud by innocently giving away too much information.

A ‘reformed hacker’ (presumably a member of Hackers Anonymous), said the details many people make freely available on the internet are often enough to allow fraudsters access to their bank accounts. The trouble is, if you put out on the internet in general things like your date of birth, where you were born, what your mother's maiden name is, where you went to school – those are the same bits of information that banks want to know for security questions," he explained. “It is very easy to guess somebody's password after finding information about them by looking online, and "this is one of the things that fraudsters do."

Research released this week by CPP, a provider of life assistance products and services, revealed that people in the UK receive an estimated 420,000 scam emails an hour - the equivalent of one every seven seconds. Fortunately most are blocked by strong Firewalls or good security software.

With this in mind, APA urges all web users to take greater care with their bank details when using the internet. "The golden rule is never ever type in usernames, passwords or credit card details after clicking on a link within an email message," said APA Technology Director Colin Minto.

APA

Banks still getting it wrong

The main reason small business owners are dissatisfied with the banks is because of their reluctance to offer credit, it has been suggested. A recent study by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) indicated that the removal of decision-making powers from local branches, and the provision of multiple account managers, has damaged the relationship between high street banks and small companies.

Gareth Osborne of APA believes the main problem is the banks' continued lack of financial support for the small business sector. "Instead of providing much-needed funding for businesses, many banks are now trying to repair their balance sheets, and small business owners feel that they are being made to pay for the banks' previous poor investments.With the Bank of England freezing its base rate at 0.5 per cent for the 15th successive month in June, many small business owners are finding this "difficult to swallow", he stated.

In the FSB study, a quarter of all respondents said they were dissatisfied with the level of service currently provided by their high street bank.

APA

Post recession stress syndrome

Statistics that show a quarter of UK employees go the full working day without a break should give employers "a wake-up call" about pressure in the post-recession workplace, it has been claimed. Carly Beales of APA said, “Employers should be looking out for signs that employees are not coping.

She was commenting on a report published by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy which indicates that 36 per cent of staff regularly skip their lunch break due to the size of their workload. "It's not just working through your lunch break; it's also whether people are working excessive hours, whether they are staying on too long, whether they are working at home over the weekend or sending emails in the middle of the night," she said.

She added that knock-on effects from the economic downturn - such as lower company headcounts - have accentuated workplace pressures. "The ongoing impact of the recession is really starting to take its toll and issues around workloads; such as whether or not people are taking appropriate breaks, are something employers should be watching very carefully."

APA is encouraging Members to watch colleagues carefully for signs of stress, depression or excessive outbursts of frustration and report these incidents confidentially to the Boss (or HR).

APA

Banks reach all time low

Over a quarter of small businesses have been dissatisfied with the support offered by their high street bank in the last 12 months, it has been reported. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) latest monthly survey reveals that 1.2 million companies have been unimpressed by the services offered by their bank during this period.

According to the survey, the highest dissatisfaction rates were witnessed among businesses which have had multiple business account managers over the year. Just 13 per cent of those whose account manager remained the same had cause for complaint, rising to 52 per cent for those with three different managers, 53 per cent for four and 70 per cent for five.

And despite 26 per cent of firms saying the working relationship they have with their bank manager influences their choice of provider, as many as 46 per cent of respondents' managers were not based locally.

Gareth Osborne of APA said, "It is imperative that the banks start to engage with their customers again. The average firm surveyed had held their account at the same bank for 14.7 years. When they first started banking there, the manager would have known their name and the business and would have been the one to make a decision about the account, not a centrally-based computer as happens now. Bankers have become ‘slick and arrogant’ and these are not qualities we appreciate in our professional service providers."

Gareth, APA

Congratulations to all the Winners

APA PAs have swept the board at the Hays and The Times 'PA of the Year' Awards - taking first, second and third places - and two are APA Diploma holders.

Congratulations go to Laura Richardson (centre), the 'PA of the Year' and her two runners up, Emma Jones (left) and Emma Kernan-Staines (right).

APA

Staff Flow Forecasting - essential for businesses in the new economy

CIPD urges HR to raise the bar through effective workforce planning with launch of a new guide

Workforce planning – defined as ensuring the people resources are in place to deliver short and long-term organisation objectives - should be a core process of HR in order to help build sustainable organisation performance. This is the view of a new Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) guide, Workforce Planning: Right People, Right Time, Right Skills, which demonstrates how organisations can deliver the business plan through its people.

CIPD research shows that too many organisations are neglecting to plan for the future. This year's Resourcing and Talent Planning survey shows most organisations carry out workforce planning for the next 1-2 years (41%), with a fifth planning less than one year in advance (20%). Responding to these concerns, the guide urges organisations to look beyond short-term budgetary planning to the longer term needs of the organisation for sustained performance.

APA Director General Gareth Osborne said, “I am delighted to see CIPD taking this stance and promoting staffing as one of the key factors of business planning. In 1988, at a then Training Agency conference, I coined the phrase ‘Staff Flow Forecasting’ in an attempt to get businesses to recognise the importance of their future staffing needs. Strategic planners have focused on cash flow alone for far too long and without the recognition that staffing; which accounts for at least 50% of the operational overhead of most businesses, must be planned and managed just as meticulously. It’s all very well to plan for long term growth but if you can’t get the correctly skilled staff; at a price the business can afford, to gain, process and account for the orders then strategic plans will never be achieved.”

“PAs should work with their HR departments to access this report and refer it to their Bosses.”

APA

The power of an NXD

Businesses owners can benefit enormously by enlisting the services of a non-executive director (NXD), it has been claimed.

Writing for the Telegraph, James Hurley noted that employing such an individual - an outsider who does not take an active role in the day-to-day running of the business - can be "a fast-track to commercial wisdom, astute introductions and constructive criticism of your strategy". A staple at board level in larger companies, he believes smaller businesses can also benefit from external expertise from an industry expert. Mr Hurley suggested that NXDs can prove to be an essential sounding board" for entrepreneurs, who often have only themselves to contribute to key business decisions.

"Many entrepreneurs are specialists filling the shoes of a generalist in order to manage a company's growth, so the majority of small businesses will be best served by an adviser with general knowledge to add," he suggested.

Continuing, Mr Hurley said the right adviser can add credibility ahead of a major deal or prospective investment round. He noted that NXD’s pay packet should reflect the fact they are working largely in a consultancy role, devoting perhaps a couple of days per month to the company.

Gareth Osborne of APA, himself a long standing NXD to a number of large and small businesses said, “I would recommend the appointment of at least one NXD to every business board. They are great value for money and have no ‘corporate axe’ to grind. Their advice is impartial and usually not vested in internal politics.”

APA

APA PAs scoop all prizes

APA PAs have taken all three top slots at the recent Hays and The Times 'PA of the Year 2010' awards.

Laura Richardson FAPA DipPA (pictured right) of Elexon Ltd wins the highly coveted 'PA of the Year' title for 2010.

Emma Jones MAPA of CSCCN came second and Emma Kernan-Staines FAPA DipPA of the FA Group came third.

Gareth Osborne said, "This is an outstanding achievement for Laura, Emma and Emma. They are all worthy winners and a credit to their respective businesses, the PA profession and APA. We are extremely proud to have them as Members."

He added, "I was not surpised that they and other APA Members finished in the top ten but am especially pleased that Laura won. She will be an exceptional ambassador for the profession over the coming year and has already started to make plans for her year in office. I think she's a star!"

APA

Bridging the gender gap

The new Government has vowed to take steps to increase gender equality in the workplace.
Included in the Queen's Speech yesterday was the vow to "promote equal pay and take a range of measures to end discrimination in the workplace".

Commenting on the announcement Gareth Osborne of APA suggested that it was long overdue and claimed that 40 years on from the introduction of the Equal Pay Act, a new approach to closing the gender pay gap "is desperately needed".

"It's important to consult with both employers and employees (and their professional bodies, like APA and CIPD) on any new measures. There may be opposition by some employers but it is important that this is not be reduced to an old fashioned, ‘union-style’ labour debate.”.

He added that increasing the number of women on the boards of listed companies (and all other businesses) is "a definite advantage ", but said this may need a fundamental shift in boardroom attitudes. "Extending the right to request flexible working and promoting a system of flexible parental leave will also bring positive changes to UK workplaces and benefit to millions of employees.”

According to the TUC, the full-time mean gender pay gap is currently 16.4 per cent.

APA

Slow, slow, quick, quick, slow

Slow broadband has been named as one of the biggest annoyances for British consumers, in a new study conducted by telecoms firm O2. Some 41 per cent of those surveyed cited a slow internet connection as the most frustrating aspect of their day.

The next highest annoyances were poor customer service (36 per cent), crime (26 per cent) and job cuts (18 per cent).

Commenting on the survey findings, APA Technology Director Colin Minto said there are a number of issues which potentially affect the speed of a connection. He explained that due to factors such as distance from the telephone exchange, the contention ratio and weather conditions, most people are never likely to get close to 100 per cent of the maximum quoted speed. "Some broadband providers will give you an idea of the expected speed before signing up to their service so it's always worth checking this before signing a contract," Colin suggested.

APA urges all business users to conduct broadband speed tests to see what their actual downloading and uploading capacity is and discuss it with the service providers.

APA

The first cut is the deepest

Dr. Gareth Osborne, Director General of APA, has welcomed the £6.24 billion package of public spending cuts for 2010-11 announced earlier today by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury:

"These are tough but necessary reductions and made in an urgent attempt to regain financial stability for the UK economy. The Government is right to focus on public sector spending and particularly Quangos, IT expenditure, external consultancy, advertising and civil service recruitment. It makes sense to reduce spending by Regional Development Agencies and on those training and employment measures found to offer a poor return to the taxpayer.”

The Treasury document makes no explicit reference to the impact of today's package of cuts on public sector employment but CIPD suggests the combination of a civil service recruitment freeze and reduced spending in other areas is likely to reduce total public sector employment by around 50,000 in the current financial year. In addition there will be knock-on effects into the private sector on businesses that undertake contract work for the central and local government and other public bodies, plus the wider impact on demand for labour in the economy as a whole resulting from lower net public spending of around £6 billion. Given the current weak state of the labour market this is likely to have a detrimental impact on unemployment.

Questions remain about whether this is the right time to enact these cuts but Ministers clearly consider the risk of failing to take immediate steps to cut the fiscal deficit outweighs that of starting to cut too soon.

APA will be watching closely the impact on business critical departments and especially any impact on its own Members in the public sector. Any damaging consequences will be taken up with Ministers in the forthcoming round of discussions APA has scheduled with the new Government.

APA

Happy Birthday APA, Happy Birthday PAC-MAN

PAC-MAN is a cultural icon whose popularity has crossed the globe for 30 years. An official PAC-MAN 30th Anniversary site has been created and is dedicated to telling the story of PAC-MAN through his games, gear, and accomplishments.

APA celebrates its third anniversary this month as PA-WOMEN & PA-MEN continue to join in droves; like PAC-MAN, they all face the daily challenges of the PA maze and encounter strange creatures and aggressive beasts (and the odd raspberry) along the way.

Just like the cultural icon, APA’s journey is far from over and hopes to achieve the same infamy in its next 27 years. When asked recently by a young PA what she should do to advance her career, an aging hippy Boss said “Join the pack man!”

Gareth, APA

IT rebounds

Global enterprise IT spending across is set to increase by 4.1 per cent during 2010, according to leading analyst firm Gartner. It forecasts that the market will be worth $2.4 trillion (£1.7 trillion) across all industries this year, as businesses invest in technology to support their expansion plans. The firm reports that industries are returning to growth after a difficult 2009, when IT spending by vertical market was down by 5.6 per cent on the previous year.

Among the two largest industry segments, IT spending in the banking and securities market will rebound to $396.9 billion in 2010, a 4.6 per cent increase from 2009; whereas IT spending will recover more slowly in manufacturing and natural resources, growing to $428.9 billion, up 3.1 per cent."

It concluded that 2009 had been "a year like no other before it for IT services providers". And it wasn’t a picnic for the rest of us either.

APA

New Diploma (DipPA) programme starts

Within 10 days of finishing the spring round of programmes for the APA Diploma in Personal Assistance, a new corps of PAs has started the summer round this week. Amongst the group is Alexandra Glazkova, APA’s first member from the Russian Federation to undergo training and who brought a new international dynamic to the course and allowed co-delegates to challenge differences between the role of a PA in UK with that in Russia (Alexandra is based in St. Petersburg).

Shelley Young, APA’s Membership Manager, said, “The Diploma is becoming recognised internationally as the leading programme for PAs and Executive PAs who are looking to extend their skills base, embrace best management practice and develop tools to better assist their Boss. It acts as the perfect forum for established PAs to update core skills or for career PAs to learn new ones. All leave with a host of new practices to ensure they add direct and measurable value.”

There is still time for members (and non-members alike) to enrol for the summer programme which concludes in September but, like buses, the next Diploma programme will follow quickly on its heels.

APA

Pictured are:
Caroline Moody-Jerome from Hays plc
Alexandra Glazkova for Platonov & Co,
Natalie Doney from Cushman & Wakefield LLP
Kate Richardson from Medimmune Limited

Coalition plans for Business

APA has reacted positively to the details of the government's coalition agreement, which were published this week. Central to these plans are corporate tax reductions and incentives for business growth.

Moves to reduce red tape, impose 'sunset clauses' on regulations and review employment law will all be welcomed by small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), APA has said in a letter to Business Secretary, Vince Cable MP.

In addition, companies are to benefit from the automatic payment of small business rate relief, a change that may help thousands of SMEs.

Gareth Osborne, Director General of APA said, “This document will come as a breath of fresh air to small business owners. In many ways, it reads like a wish list of things that we (and many other business groups) have been demanding for several years," he stated. "The regulatory burden imposed on business frequently emerges as one of the main problems facing SMEs and the new agreement promises to introduce a 'one in, one out' rule, for legislation and together with sunset clauses to kill off outdated legislation, will hopefully go some way to tackling this issue. APA is encouraged by the coalition's pledge to evaluate the fairness of employment legislation and its impact on Britain's competitiveness.”

He noted that many SME bosses believe employment law is currently excessively skewed in favour of the employee and needs to be rebalanced.

APA

Beware Social Network insecurity

Social networks are becoming a more important way for criminals to spread their attacks, it has been reported. A senior technology consultant at Sophos suggests that gangs can deliver attacks via social networks just as easily as they can via traditional email.

However, unlike corporate email systems, this sector is typically not being scanned for spam and malicious content. Even worse, many users automatically trust links and videos sent to them by their Facebook friends, not realising that it could be that their friend's account has been compromised by hackers..

Strong, non-dictionary passwords are a must, he claimed.

Sophos recommends that all links and web pages should be scanned for malicious or spam content in real-time, providing a higher level of protection for users. It feels that all social networking users "need a good serving of common sense", and should learn not to put themselves in danger.

A recent survey by Consumer Reports magazine found that 52 per cent of adult users of social networks have posted risky personal information online.

APA

Budget date announced

George Osborne (no relation) has announced the date for his first Budget as Chancellor of the Exchequer. He will outline his deficit reduction plan on June 22nd, and both spending cuts and tax rises could be on the agenda.

The new coalition government announced that £6 billion in cuts would be made this year, as it attempts to realign tax receipts with national spending. Mr Osborne could announce an increase in VAT to fund some of the savings, while capital gains tax may also rise for non-business assets. However, it is possible that the Chancellor could reduce corporation tax rates - a move likely to be welcomed within the small business sector.

APA, along with organisations including the Confederation of British Industry and British Chambers of Commerce have long been highlighting the importance of innovation and productivity to any economic recovery, and the government may respond by encouraging growth and expansion.

As always, APA will comment on any significant issues that could be either beneficial or detrimental to PAs or the businesses they work for. All APA members are encouraged to share their concerns or desires with me, so that I can communicate them to the Chancellor.

Gareth Osborne, APA

The Glass Ceiling

Women are still not seen as being as valuable as men in the workplace, according to one business expert. Toni Eastwood OBE, training director at everywoman (http://www.everywoman.com), said that in her experience, female professionals have to do more to be noticed and valued in the course of their employment.

"Women have to work extra hard, often with gritty determination to prove their worth, to attain top positions," she commented. "It is well-known that there are only 12 per cent of executive directors in the top 100 FTSE companies [who are women] and indeed, this is the case amongst many of the retail giants."

Ms Eastwood suggested that female under-representation at board level has been "a hot media topic" since the beginning of the recession, and continues to be a problem. "It's essential that women remain true to themselves, celebrating their feminine traits in their leadership and management roles, while remaining tough and passionate about what they do," she said. “Having diversity at senior and board levels has proved time and time again to reap bottom line business benefits".

In a study conducted by Friends Provident and the Future Foundation, a third of the British population accepted that wage equality will not be achieved by 2020.

APA believes passionately that gender equality has yet to be achieved in terms of reward and professional respect, not just legislation. Gareth Osborne will be meeting The Rt. Hon. Theresa May MP, Home Secretary and Minister for Woman, in coming weeks, to explain APA’s view.

APA

Diploma Delegates

The latest group of PAs undergoing training for the APA Diploma in Personal Assistance (DipPA) have just completed the concluding session of work and taken their final examination and are now awaiting their results [due before the end of the month].

One delegate, on the day after training said, “A brilliant course and a great group to work with! I’ve already suggested to my Boss that things are going to change around here and he said he’s looking forward to it. Thank you and your team for the great work you are doing for PAs, this was long overdue and I will try my utmost best to continue to support your/our organisation. Keep up the good work!”

Shown opposite (left to right) are;

Claire Howard of the Financial Services Authority (FSA),
Yvette Squire of Transport for London (TfL),
Joan May of Legal and General,
Terry Benson of HS1 Limited,
Maebh McGuinness of the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority, Ireland

APA is enrolling applicants for the next Diploma programme NOW.

Gareth, APA

No concord at BA

Unite, the trade union for British Airways (BA) cabin crew, is intending to take strike action between 18 May and 9 June. If the strike does go ahead BA hopes to still operate most of its scheduled flights.

To watch progress and find out which flights are affected go to: http://www.britishairways.com/travel/strike-ballot/public/en_gb

APA

APA action causes scrapping of NICs increase

Scrapping the planned one per cent rise in employers' National Insurance Contributions (NICs) should prove to be a big help to small businesses and the economy, it has been claimed by APA today. With other major business organisations APA has been actively campaigning for months to have this increase, announced at the last Budget for introduction in 2011, overturned.

APA has backed the new coalition government's plan to abandon the Labour policy introduced at the last Budget and due for implementation in 2011. Although the one per cent employers' NICs rise will still affect staff earning more than £20,800, the threshold at which they begin paying NI on employees earning up to that figure will increase by £21 per week. But since the majority of small business employees will now be excluded from the increase, hopes are high that recruitment activity will pick up in the sector.

Gareth commented: "Small businesses did not want this extra tax, it would have been a major barrier to staff retention and job creation and would have hindered economic recovery. For the majority of employers it would have proved to be an unpopular and unworkable tax rise. Although not perfect, the new coalition government's policy on NICs is far better and provides a degree of certainty for business growth now and in the future."

According to research conducted by the Forum for Private Business (FPB), 60.8 per cent of small business owners believe the new government should make tax simplification a priority.

APA

Breakfast in a sunny setting

Seventy Five PAs and invited guests accepted an invitation for breakfast with APA on Friday morning in central London. Hosts, De Vere Venues; APA’s partner venues organisation, provided an exceptional breakfast, a friendly and high quality environment and a gracious welcome for members and potential-members alike.

Patrick McCaffrey, De Vere’s Director of Sales for its West One and Portland Place venues opened the proceedings with a brief introduction; referring to the need for PAs to think now about Christmas event booking and the offering available from his Company in their outstanding location; less than 400m from Oxford Circus. He introduced Gareth Osborne, who spoke about APA’s recent successes, its policy to engage with the new Government and forthcoming training programmes. Finally Andrew Greenwood, from APA Health Insurance Partners WPA, spoke about advantageous family and business healthcare packages for APA members.

Gareth Osborne said, “This was an excellent opportunity for PAs to meet and share professional experiences and current thinking. In a week when the political landscape has created such a radical and seemingly harmonious spirit of cooperation, likely economic outcomes were also on the menu. I hope this style of breakfast meeting for PAs will be repeated in coming months around the country.”

APA

To find De Vere Venues go to: http://www.devere.co.uk/
To find WPA and APA Member offers go to: http://www.wpa.org.uk/apa

APA to meet new Ministers

As the new Government gets down to business, APA has already been securing dates in Minister's diaries to ensure they are fully briefed on issues close to it’s members hearts and issues that could change the shape of future employment.

Gareth Osborne, APA’s Director General and Chief Political Lobbyist, plans to meet both Vince Cable MP, Minister for Business and Theresa May MP, Home Secretary and Minister for Women, to ensure they fully understand the important role PAs play in business, the public sector, academia, charities and the arts and how historic gender biases still stifle the opportunity for them to achieve success and reward in some sectors. Also on the agenda will be employment legislation, maternity and paternity leave and childcare arrangements.

APA Members are invited to email Gareth with any issues that are particularly relevant to them or their business at gareth.osborne@paprofessional.com.

APA

CIPD 9 Employers 1

Nine out of ten employers have no plans in place to help manage staff absence during the forthcoming World Cup, according to a poll by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). The poll of more than 1,000 employers shows that almost all (90%) of organisations have not developed a policy to manage staff absence during the World Cup. Just 5% of organisations have developed a policy while a further 5% are currently developing one.

In view of these results, the CIPD has produced a guide for employers - The World Cup and Absence Management. The guidance suggests different approaches that employers can consider to help employees enjoy the matches that are important to them without compromising the needs of the business. These may include:

• Flexible working hours
• Shift swaps
• Unpaid leave
• Special screening of matches on premises

The guide also advises employers to make organisational policy clear on absence, whether alcohol related or not. Employers should make clear to workers that there are disciplinary consequences for taking unauthorised time off without good reason or for not performing satisfactorily or misbehaving at work.

The CIPD suggests employers should encourage workers to use annual leave, particularly to discourage general absenteeism and poor performance through over-indulging in alcohol.

CIPD adviser John McGurk says: "It's alarming that only 10% of employers are drafting or already have guidance in place to manage absence during the World Cup. Research suggests that when employers demonstrate they care about their staff and their interests outside of work, employees are more likely to go the extra mile for the organisation. Whatever individual organisations decide is right for their employees, guidance should be clear and communicated well."

For a full breakdown of the World Cup and Absence Management guidance, visit: http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/hrpract/absence/_world_cup_absence_management

APA

House prices rose in March

House prices in England and Wales fell 0.6 percent on the month and rose 7.5 percent on the year in March, figures from the Land Registry showed on Friday. The government agency said that left the average price of a home at £164,288.

APA

Splitting the infinitive - to boldly go ...

Stephen Hawking, the famous Cambridge astrophysicist, has claimed that humans might one day be able to use time travel to skip generations into the future. He said spaceships could one day be capable of such high speeds that time would slow down for those on board. He admitted he had avoided talking about time travel previously ' for fear of being labelled a crank', saying the subject had once been 'scientific heresy'. '

These days I'm not so cautious,' he said. Theoretically, such a space ship would allow the crew to repopulate the earth if they found our species had become extinct during their flight.
Hawking said a spaceship capable of travelling through time - but only forwards - would breach Albert Einstein's theories of relativity. Having taken six years to reach its full speed of 98 per cent of the speed of light (650million miles per hour), a day on board the ship would be equivalent to a year on Earth, he said, allowing those on board to reach the edge of the galaxy in just 80 years. But the ship required for the journey would have to be massive to allow for the required fuel.

Brian Cox, the Manchester University Professor and presenter of BBC's Wonders of the Solar System, backed Stephen Hawking’s theories but admitted there were significant impediments to realising them in the foreseeable future.

“PAs can already see into the future,” said Gareth Osborne, “They only have to open their boss’s diary to find out what is going to happen tomorrow and for days to come.”

APA

The 'Gaffer'

“Unquestionably the biggest and most costly gaff of his career and one that will haunt him for years to come” was how Gareth Osborne described the enormous faux pas made by the Gordon Brown yesterday.

This is an unfortunate but none-the-less perfect lesson for PAs when working in a PR capacity or who are engaging with the press and broadcast media. One of the first lessons you must learn is never to make off the cuff, ill-considered or private sidebars when with or around the media. There is no such thing as privacy (or personal comments) and any misquote or wrong interpretation of a question will be forgiven. If you say something that can be interpreted badly, it will be used. And don’t always rely on saying ‘Is this off the record?’ That’s why people who do it for a living are so good and people who don’t appear fazed – they usually are.

And always remember ‘Mike is never your friend’. It you are wearing one, say nothing that isn’t directly related to the matter in hand. Trust me, I’ve been caught out more than once. You would have hoped that someone of Gordon Brown’s experience and media training would have learned this simple fact; he must be terribly stressed!

Gareth, APA