Mara Thorne's Blog (27)

According to YouGov, 13% of SMEs were seriously impacted by last winter's severe weather, and 37% experienced weather-related problems, so it's worth preparing now for the possibility of another hard winter.

Ensure you comply with your Health and Safety obligations:

• Clear and grit a pathway to the entrance to your premises, and grit your car park if you have one, to prevent accidents as people enter and leave the building
• Crank up the heating to…

How would you react if one of your employees was off sick and receiving sick pay from you, and you found out that they were working for another employer at the same time?  My guess is that you’d feel justified in throwing the book at them.  But you’d do well to think carefully and establish all the facts first, or you might end up losing a Tribunal claim!

An NHS…

With the advent of the Age Discrimination legislation in 2006, it was only a matter of time before the practice of "enforced" retirement at a specific age became unlawful.  So now that the "default retirement age" of 65 has disappeared, how can employers help older people exit their businesses fairly and with dignity?

Voluntary resignation

Clearly the best outcome is where the person decides to retire of their own volition.  Keep your…

Having defined your job, examined your organisational culture and management style, and decided what your ideal candidate is like, now you just have to find that person!

To give yourself the greatest chance of success, you need to make the best possible use of the tools at your disposal:

• The Advert: whether online or…

Have you ever taken on an employee whose CV looked really good and who performed well at interview, but who didn’t work out in the role?  How much trouble did that cause you, and do you wish you’d done things differently?  

Getting the right people into your organisation

This is arguably one of the most important tasks you face.  But “the right people” doesn’t just mean “good people”; because putting a good…

Hi, I'm Mara and I have just joined the network. 

As a relative newcomer to self-employment, I find networking events both useful and enjoyable.  What is so refreshing is that the people I meet are so helpful and supportive; it's very different from the corporate world where nobody has time to share their wisdom with you.  There's so much to learn when you're out on your own, you have to do your own…