Features

Retail technology startup, Slip provide insight on how its female co-founder had a 60% response rate when reaching out to female engineers about open jobs at the company while the male co-founder had no responses.

We talk a lot about how leaders need to make sure everyone in their team is happy and comfortable. It’s important to create a culture that promotes well-being and performance, but while leaders take care of the people they lead, who is taking care of them? Ollie Phillips, Founder of Optimist Performance, pens some thoughts on loneliness amongst leaders, and how to address it.

The UK hospitality industry had a rougher pandemic than most. Between social distancing measures, forced closures and widespread uncertainty, business owners watched with gritted teeth as the sector lost an eye-watering 13 sites a day since the arrival of COVID-19.

A lot has happened in the past two years that have dramatically altered the way we define the concept of ‘work’. It is clear that hybrid working isn’t going anywhere and there has been a mixed bag of feelings about this working style. We’ve gone from feeling isolated during lockdowns, to loving avoiding the commute, to thinking about how we can use this model to its full potential.

Have you ever been described as ‘too much?’ Too worried? Too… anything. What if our too much is actually our superpower? Does the below resonate with you?

Anyone that has started their own business, and even those that have thought about it but not made the jump as yet, or indeed decided not to do so in the end, all recognise that it is a big decision. A very big decision. And as such, it is a decision that is often deliberated over for a long time before it is acted upon. Certainly, a lot of research and clear thinking needs to be done before committing.

Data is the lifeblood of any business. Critical to organisations of all sizes and sectors, it powers growth, enabling business leaders to make the decisions that come from insight and evidence. But when businesses are in startup mode, protecting data can fall to the bottom of their “to-do” list.  Here are five simple tips which will give you the peace of mind that comes with knowing your data is backed-up securely.

Entrepreneurs would all be delighted to find the magic solution to growing their business tenfold but what if the answer isn’t a magic solution but rather simply following a number of key drivers which lead inexorably towards that dream growth?

As COVID-19 has entered its third year, entrepreneurism and gig work is on the rise. Over 10% of the UK workforce, and over 20% in London, now work in the gig economy.  People are demanding greater flexibility and autonomy in their professions, thus work culture objectives are shifting too.

The threat landscape is rapidly expanding and in 2022, there’s one thing at the forefront of every corporate agenda: cybersecurity. In a world of sophisticated cyberwarfare and rising geopolitical tensions, cybersecurity threats are evolving at an even faster pace, impacting entire businesses, crippling operations, and risking hard-won reputations.

Hybrid working is the new norm and brings advantages to both businesses and their employees. However, it also creates a new set of challenges and requires a shift in activities to support employee empowerment.

For most, if not all freelancers, the invitation to work for free will land on our desks, often early on in our freelance careers.

Earth Day commences on the 22nd of April. Earth Day marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970. It celebrates the importance of recycling in preserving our natural resources and securing the future of our planet.

You’re reading this because you care. Because you want to make a difference, but the harsh reality is that you care more about your day job, the bottom-line, fund-raise, your next hire. Because that pays the bills and keeps the roof over everyone’s head. Once that’s all done, then you can worry about being sustainable.

This Earth Day, Gaia’s Farming Co. is urging people to make a sustainable swap from dairy to its deliciously creamy ‘Hemp and Oat M*lk’ and extra chocolatey ‘Hemp and Coco M*lk’.

The best way to understand how an industry works is to get involved in whatever capacity you can. For example, if you want to open a shop, go and work in one. Doing this will give you an insight into what it takes to run a shop on a day-to-day basis. It will give you an understanding of what customers want, the potential pitfalls and the products that sell best. Working in a shop doesn’t mean you’ll make a success of your retail business, but it will give you a solid foundation to build on.

The first thing I ask my employees during our monthly 1:1’s is ‘how are you doing?’. Our sessions are 90% revolved around what that person is dealing with, their workload, their home life – are they struggling? If so, why? 80-90% of someone’s output is based on their mindset, so if you don’t know what is happening in your teams’ minds you can’t possibly expect to accurately judge their performance or potential. As its stress awareness month this April here are some honest thoughts on stress in the workplace.

The spirit implies your psyche or soul. The act of nourishing your spirit is spiritual wellness. Our physical, mental, and behavioural health condition determines our spiritual health.

If you use a managed service provider (MSP) for your small business’s IT needs, you may have noticed that your monthly spend with them has increased. This is because Microsoft has raised the price of the monthly subscription licence for the Office 365 suite.