Category: <span>Work from home</span>

If the coronavirus lockdown forced you into working remotely, the novelty of being able to wear your pyjamas while working and holding meetings over a conference call may well have worn off by now.

You might even be welcoming some calls from some in government for us all to get back to the office.  Even the morning commute might seem like it would offer some respite if you’re sick of working from the spare room.

If you’re hankering for a return to the communal kitchen and your open plan workspace, here are five things you might well be missing about working in the office.

Guides & How-Tos Work from home

It’s been a very wet few days across the UK, and the rain looks set to continue. Although no severe flood warnings have yet been issued, thousands of UK homes and businesses could soon be damaged by flood waters.

If you’re in one of the affected areas, you need to act now and take the necessary steps to minimize the risk of you being washed out of your home, office, or both if you’re one of the thousands of business owners who run their operation from home.

If you do work from home this can be a disaster to both your personal and professional life, so you need to take steps to minimise the risk – the better prepared you are, the less damage your property is likely to suffer.

Work from home

The UK is being battered by some torrential rain, and it looks like the wet weather is on for the next week or so. Hopefully, you’ve managed to avoid the worst of the flooding, or protected your property before the rain fall. If not, your business premises could be badly damaged, meaning you need to make an insurance claim.

Here’s what action to take in the immediate aftermath of a flood, alongside information on how to make a flood insurance claim.

Work from home

It’s Monday morning and, if you’re anything like me, you’ll have struggled to even get out of bed this morning, never mind get showered, dressed, fed, and into work – it almost makes you wonder whether Monday  mornings are actually worth going into work for.

Of course, there will be those of you out there who spring out of bed on a Monday morning, relishing what the working week has in store, and while job satisfaction has a lot to do with it, your natural body clock and work cycle can’t be underestimated.

So if you’re looking for a good reason to request flexible working so you can stay at home on a Monday morning, read on…

Flexible working Guides & How-Tos Work from home

Flexible working Small business Work from home

It feels like the switch has been flicked to ‘winter’ and the shorter, colder days are well on their way.

It hardly seems like any time at all since we were all enjoying the heat of the summer out of lockdown, asking if you let your staff dress down in summer, and offering advice on how to help your smartphone survive the heat.

But suddenly we’re well into October, and there are Christmas adverts on the TV. And the Daylight Saving Time is due to end in a few short weeks.

The changing of the seasons can also lead to feelings of depression, if you suffer from Seasonal Affect Disorder (SAD), here’s how to combat the symptoms of SAD. And if you struggle to drag yourself from under the duvet during the darker, colder months, here are some top tips to help you wake up in winter.

Guides & How-Tos Inspiration Work from home

There are around 2.2 million freelancers in the UK, with around 239,000  doing freelancing as a side hustle. That means that more than 1.9 million people freelance as their main job.

But taking the plunge and going freelance can be a pretty daunting experience and not a decision that can be taken lightly – it’s all very well ducking out of the rat race and becoming your own boss, but the sudden realisation you’ve no longer got a steady wage coming in is enough to make you pine for the office politics.

Get it right though – which means keeping your clients happy and delivering on time – and the benefits far outweigh the inevitable panic at the end of the month, so here are some top tips if you’re a work from home freelancer.

Work from home

It’s no secret that many in government and and at the top of some of the world’s biggest companies want us to stop working from home and return to the office.  It was only a matter of weeks ago that a government minister floated the idea that civil servants who work from home should be paid less than those that work from the office.

Meanwhile, Google has stated that it will be handing out pay cuts to US staff who opt to work from home full time.

We think it’s a terrible idea, and employees need to be treated like grown ups – just because you can’t see your staff, it doesn’t mean they’re not working. And what’s the point in adhering to a strict nine-to-five workday?

On the other hand, there is definitely a disconnect when working from home, and we do lose those moments of serendipity when a casual conversation turns into a winning idea for your business.

But it’s all about balance.

Flexible working Work from home

The last 18 months have seen more people than ever thrust into a situation where they’ve had to work from home. And as we emerge out the other side, many businesses are considering a ‘remote first’ policy or ‘hybrid’ working (part time home and part time office).

If your business is going to offer remote working, you’ll have to make sure your equipment is up to scratch and employees can work just as well from home as they can from the office.

The trouble is, technology is advancing at a breakneck speed so it can be difficult to work out exactly what equipment will be needed – keeping employees in touch via teleconference is easy enough, but will you need additional hardware and software to enable employees to do their job while on the move?

To help answer this question, here are a few essential tools for businesses on the move…

Flexible working Work from home

Every one of us has a winning business idea in us, but it takes a big leap of faith to make that move to turn that winning idea into a viable startup business.

Although thousands of businesses start up in the UK every year, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that more than half of all businesses (57.6%) don’t make it past the five-year mark – a good innings, but that’s a lot of work to eventually wind things up.

And while there’s loads of advice out there on why and how you should go all in for your own startup, there’s not much out there that offers up reasons why you shouldn’t.

But we’ve found some. First though, let’s take a look at how many businesses start up each year.

Infographics Work from home