Commercial real estate, HR and technology professionals are focused on finding innovative ways to meet the challenges of a post-COVID workplace through safe and effective back to work strategies. John Williams, Head of Marketing at Instant Offices, considers what this means for businesses heading back into the office.

Growing fears of a no-deal Brexit will prompt an increasing number of British and international investors to move their financial assets overseas out of the UK, believes the CEO of a large independent financial advisory and fintech organisations.

Starting a company and being a founder is stressful - especially in the current COVID-19 environment. Last year, 19% of all European founders said starting a company had a negative impact on their wellbeing, and a global pandemic will not bring that number down. However, mental health issues are not widely discussed in the startup ecosystem and beyond.

‘Homepreneurs’ are emerging across Britain during lockdown, as time at home and changing employment conditions have encouraged many to consider new opportunities and think creatively about the future.

A new survey by global consultancy, Brandpie has uncovered that the number one challenge CEOs expect to face over the next five years is finding the right talent. Furthermore, Brandpie reports that 98% of CEOs surveyed agree that the new generation of talent have different expectations from previous generations - with emotional considerations such as alignment of a company's culture and values trumping benefits like flexible working, training, and access to technology for the majority of millennials.

Following the impact of COVID-19 on the economy, we have seen widespread business closures, pay cuts, reduced hours, and redundancies, resulting in many workers looking for a new venture. Today, LinkedIn is one of the go-to platforms for budding job hunters searching for a new role, therefore the competition is high. To help those looking to enter a new career field, online educational platform, Preply has provided tips on the things to consider when messaging a recruiter on LinkedIn.

In the COVID-19 era many people are taking the opportunity to organise and simplify their home working spaces, making good use of the ample time at home. But de-cluttering your virtual space - including your computer/laptop, phone, cloud storage, etc - is just as important as de-cluttering your physical space.

The data from Close Brothers Asset Finance’s latest research is now available on its free-to-use SME Data Hub. Conducted in late June and early July in partnership with Kantar, the research focuses on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The home kitchen and dining area have become the most lucrative money making locations in Britain, that combined are generating £37.4bn to the British economy during lockdown - that’s being coined as ‘Kitchen Table Talent’. The research commissioned by Attic Self Storage, revealed that although restrictions are being lifted, 41% of office workers are expected to continue their jobs from home, with 44% saying it’s the most productive place they have ever worked.

Are you working at home and struggling to maintain productivity? For the majority of Brits currently working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and for those looking to do more home working in the future, flexible office specialist, Workthere, has shared 10 tips on how you can create an office space that leads to maximum productivity.

Welcome to a new series of articles where I will provide practical top tips on a wide range of decisions and challenges that early stage businesses have to make every day. Here I will look at everything from start up to scale up and from the more simple to the more complicated.

Sage has launched new research revealing 62% of Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) have made or are planning to make redundancies following the COVID-19 pandemic. This equates to 1.4m jobs at risk if the Government fails to take decisive action now.

There is some light at the end of the tunnel for small businesses. As the lockdown continues to ease many retailers and hospitality businesses are now opening up again, or preparing to return soon.

Re-skilling Britain’s workforce for the economy of the future has acquired a new urgency post lockdown, as COVID-19 has dramatically accelerated long term trends towards digitalisation and distance working.

As the nation continues to work from home for the most part, new research reveals that a quarter (24%) of those currently working from home say maintaining communication with colleagues is the biggest challenge they have faced while working away from the office.

Even in the bleakest of times, entrepreneurs have found a way to innovate and create disruptive products that have enhanced our daily lives or solved a problem. Take the humble chocolate chip cookie, baked for the first time after the Great Depression. During a period of severe economic hardship, this new treat offered some richness and comfort and remains immensely popular to this day.

The Managing Director of Xero today has argued for a national campaign to help the UK’s 5.9 million small firms bounce back post lockdown.

NAEA Propertymark has partnered with REACH UK, a scale up programme, to help its members navigate through the world of technology by selecting the best startups and launching them into the marketplace.

London-based startup, RacketPal is on a mission to help more than one billion racket sports players and enthusiasts meet their perfect playing partners. The team is excited to announce the successful closing of its first pre-seed funding round worth £150,000.

The COVID-19 pandemic has massively accelerated the pace of change in the business world. Leaders and employees have had to adapt to operate in a challenging environment, where the only certainty is change. Not only have organisations had to rapidly adjust to the changing needs of its people, customers and suppliers, but it has also navigated the financial and operational challenges. This has led to many businesses prioritising the now, focusing on reshaping its operations to stabilise revenue and align with short term demand.

Property consultants, Bidwells latest research has revealed that up to 20 million sq ft of new lab and office space will be required in the Oxford-Cambridge Arc within the next two decades to keep pace with soaring demand, twice the volume of the previous 20 years.

COVID-19 is changing the way SMEs take payments, with the use of cash payments having halved and online card payments rising by a quarter during the pandemic, according to the latest independent research from Close Brothers Asset Finance.

Workplace wellbeing expert, Kate Bishop is offering a free Wellness in Action Plan for all UK employers and workers to help tackle the rising levels of anxiety felt by those returning to work after months of working from home or furlough.

Local businesses are core to our communities, but the impact of COVID-19 has been tough on business owners. As the UK steadily reopens its doors to businesses and people alike, Google has pledged to support small businesses across the country with a burgeoning package of products, tools and services to support the reopening and growth of British commerce.

Redundancy is not a modern phenomenon. Recessions date back to the year 1430 and at each occurrence, swathes of hard workers have lost their jobs.

Secure business operations on digital platforms bring a unique set of challenges to compliance for managers. Startups now have to seek SOC 2 compliance just like other traditional businesses.

While WFH or Working From Home has become one of the new buzz phrases from lockdown, this is not always the preferred option, reality or choice for a large number of companies or indeed employees. 

At a time when many professional growth strategies have been put on hold as businesses navigate the huge impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, one of the country’s career coaches is working to support and empower ambitious employees as they continue on their own pathways to success.

Britain’s small businesses achieved three years of innovation in just three months as they battled to keep trading during the coronavirus lockdown. While such efforts to keep revenues flowing have been successful for some owners, concerns about employment prospects and future investment remain for many as lockdown restrictions begin to ease.

The re-opening of shops provided a much-needed relief for retailers in the last two weeks, as the number of companies with a negative assessment of trading conditions plummeted from more than half (54%) to 37%, according to the latest Opinium-Cebr Business Distress Tracker.

Global small business platform, Xero has announced its new analysis has revealed the extent of COVID-19’s impact on UK small business employment and revenue between March and May 2020, showing a 28% drop in revenue and a six percent decline in employment. Late payments to UK small businesses increased by 7.8 days between February and May 2020.

More than two-thirds of business leaders across the UK have no idea how much employee sickness is costing their business, according to e-days, the absence intelligence platform.

The Coronavirus pandemic could deepen the North-South divide in the UK - that is according to new Labour Party leader, Sir Keir Starmer. He did, however, make it clear that the problem could be alleviated with a fairer distribution of investment into the Northern regions.

As the UK marks three months under lockdown, Sage has published an in-depth report based on weekly polling of a total of 5,000 SMEs over the course of the lockdown period.

The Mayor of London’s scaleup programme has teamed up with Microsoft to provide some of the capital’s leading small companies with extra support to help them grow.

Roy Ledgister, Founder & CEO of Convivia, speaks to Startups Magazine about his experiences and offers some insight into entrepreneurship.

Britain is facing a projected £74bn drop in revenue for creative industries due to the coronavirus pandemic, with 400,000 jobs of artists, designers, musicians, creators and curators likely to be lost.

The vision for Alexa is to set customers free to do more in life. To achieve this, Amazon is continuing to assist the growing number of startups and entrepreneurs working with voice technology.

The number of people on UK payrolls dropped by 612,000 between March and May, according to early data from the Office for National Statistics and HM Revenue and Customs that is starting to show the depth of the hit to the economy from the pandemic. The UK unemployment rate for the three months to April 2020 was estimated at 3.9%, 0.1 percentage points higher than a year earlier but largely unchanged on the previous quarter.

Over the last few weeks, Chancellor Rishi Sunak spelled out how he and the Treasury plan to end the Job Retention Scheme - also known as furlough - at the end of October. The scheme is currently paying 80% of the wages of at least 8.4 million workers placed on furlough by their employers. Many are concerned that the majority of these workers will be made redundant as soon as the scheme ends, leading to mass unemployment.

The Bank of England has revealed that it may take the cost of borrowing below zero for the first time in its over 300-year history; following moves by Eurozone countries to introduce negative interest rates. The move could effectively mean that savers pay to have their money with banks and are incentivised to borrow money and increase their spending.

During Mental Health Awareness Week last month, in the UK and for seven days, the nation paid itself some attention and shone a light on the impact of work and COVID-19 on our wellbeing. For the rest of the year, however, we must continue to look after each other and our mental health in and out of work.

Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic continues to take its toll on our everyday lives, therefore, it is important we maintain high spirits and support each other and our local communities as much as possible. As non-essential stores remain closed until further notice, there is little we can do to help with this reality. However, for those small local shops and convenience stores that continue to provide us with our essential items and necessities, there are steps put in place to help support their success during this tough time.

Figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) recently published have showed that the number of people claiming unemployment benefit went up from 856,000 to 2.1 million in April, with almost 1.5 million officially unemployed.

The world over, money related bundles have just been reported by countries in an offer to re-establish their economies in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic holding nations over the globe.

The world is now facing a public health crisis known as Covid-19 and a financial crisis. The crisis on our hands manifests differently for individuals and companies. The uncertainty over our ability to revert to our normal state creates pressures on mental health, relationships, and business performance.

According to UK Government statistics some 660,000 new companies are established each year and many of these will have plans to scale rather than to remain a micro business. Some founders will of course be happy to run their startup as a side hustle, and others will only be looking for a lifestyle business. But for many others that are looking for something larger, ‘how do I scale my business?’ is a question that I am often asked.

The team at Quotezone.co.uk, an insurance comparison site, surveyed 600 UK businesses about how they are dealing with the lockdown. The research revealed that two fifths of UK businesses (39%) have had to pivot their offerings since the beginning of lockdown, with 76% of these providing a brand-new service.

When you are trying to navigate the management of a business in the midst of a global pandemic, it’s all too easy to neglect the maintenance of your company culture. Yes, it’s true that other priorities might seem more pressing right now; after all, your clients and suppliers won’t be sending you impatient emails demanding to know how you plan to safeguard your internal team relationships.

"In a crisis, beware of the danger- but recognise the opportunity," John F Kennedy. Highlighting the light in the dark, this is perhaps one of the most salient quotes for our times.

Kindness - a word used so frequently. Social media feeds are covered in quotes including: "In a world where you can be anything, be kind" and many more. Especially now, given our current Corona-climate, we’ve all realised the power of kindness.  

As employees return to work, UK businesses are likely to face a backlog of annual leave requests that could cost thousands of pounds. By collecting data and analysing the average monthly salary at a baseline at £2,214 and at least 50% of employee annual leave owed, Coworking Specialists Instant Offices have calculated how much it would cost for companies of different sizes to pay staff for a minimum of two weeks of annual leave.

“The rapidly changing world brought about by COVID-19 means leaders face many challenges, opportunities and dilemmas - never has there been a greater need to develop critical thinking, personal agility and managerial decision-making skills to help organisations survive and thrive."

The UK’s online behaviour has changed dramatically since the country was put into lockdown on March 23rd, with the consumption of adult content notably spiking at a 292% increase when the changes came into effect.

British shopkeepers sighed a breath of relief on Monday night as the Government announced lockdown restrictions will be lifted as of 15th June 2020, allowing non-essential retailers to reopen.

After nine long weeks of lockdown, businesses are starting to re-open or, at least, planning to reopen in the near future. For some of the luckier ones this might be possible without having to make too many, or too onerous, changes. For others, the planning will need to be much mere detailed and the implementation will be much more complex.

There is nothing better than being able to walk out of the house to exercise in the park, the countryside or even to stroll by the sea. Just the ability to go outside gives us a new sense of perspective, and enables us to maintain our health and wellbeing.

Agile startups have proven that they are able to help in a crisis. Access to bright thinkers and technical experts means they can come up with creative solutions quickly in response to changes in circumstances - and many have been helping in the fight against COVID-19.

The global pandemic is creating huge uncertainty for people, businesses and livelihoods in the UK. To support those who are looking to better understand the new government financial support that is available and how it can help them, Jim Harra, Chief Executive and Permanent Secretary of HMRC, will be participating in a LinkedIn Live interview and Q&A hosted by Emily Spaven, UK Editor of LinkedIn News, on Thursday 21st May at 3pm BST. 

A considerable task business owners face during the outbreak is keeping teams motivated and productive in the face of uncertainty. According to the people management and CIPD poll, around 63% of employers say anxiety is the biggest challenge facing their organisation right now, followed by the inability for their teams to work remotely.

In the current climate, many of us have found ourselves in different working environments - with the majority of people working from home. With our home and work spaces becoming the same place, it’s more important than ever to ensure you take steps to create some separation and avoid burnout - a common issue faced by small business owners.

Working from home is the new norm for many professionals and it’s still not clear how long this new way of working will last. So for many small businesses this means adjusting and managing the logistics of running a business remotely for the foreseeable future.

Right now we are in uncharted territory. COVID-19 is here, we don't know how long for, and it is affecting so many people in so many different ways. Everyone is feeling different things and everyone has different circumstances. You are not others, others are not you.

The first step in an energy company collaborating with a startup is to ask itself a simple question: why? In part one of this series, we answered that from a wide-angle perspective – because the industry needs to innovate to keep up with the pace of change, and collaboration with startups appears the quickest, surest way to do so. Because the old model of fiercely guarded, siloed research has reached its limit.

The last few weeks has seen an unprecedented shift across the country from working in offices to working from home. Entire teams are working remotely and in truth this is a far bigger challenge than having just the odd person working from home.

Amid the current pandemic, the economy is taking a brutal hit, and as fledgling businesses, startups have a particularly fierce challenge to keep afloat. To try and help companies that aren’t eligible for existing relief schemes during this time, such as the CBILS loan, the government has announced a £1.25bn fund to try and help these companies - including startups - survive.

For the majority, the word entrepreneur conjures an image of a male in his twenties or early thirties. It’s unlikely the picture of someone in retirement age would come to mind and even less likely a woman in her 60s. However, a new wave of silver start-ups is emerging and with good reason! One such disruptor is Sheila Holt. Having traded on a smaller scale for a few years, Sheila embraced her entrepreneurial spirit and began scaling her finance business, Sapphire Lending Ltd, at the age of 60. 

The current pandemic has brought shock and uncertainty to businesses across the world. From global heavyweights to SMEs that are the backbone of the British economy, the question for many leaders is, how can we keep afloat during this crisis? Thankfully we live in a digital age where many businesses can be taken online. Along with government support, there are many tools that can be easily accessed to pivot during this period. 

More than ever, cash flow is a key issue for small businesses, and understanding it is crucial to making informed decisions at the right time. The government will be asking businesses to demonstrate that they have an understanding of the state of their cash flow as it stands, and in the future before allowing access to the grants and schemes being offered.

The biggest enemies of good decision-making in times of deep crisis, like COVID 19,  are neither uncertainty nor ambiguity; they are over-confidence, procrastination, and incomplete or biased data.

Skim read the annual report of a major energy company from 2010 and you won’t come across many instances of the terms: 'innovation' or even 'startup'. Now, it is a different world. Even the slowest moving established energy companies (perhaps especially the slowest moving) recognise that innovation is key to survival in a changing market and that collaboration with startups is a good way to go about it.

When most people think of startups, they picture hip loft offices, beanbags and charismatic CEOs with boundless enthusiasm and a seat-of-the-pants attitude. While this may be the case for some new businesses, particularly within tech, the picture for many startups is starkly different.

Businesses in the UK, and across the world, are facing unprecedented challenges in order to survive and thrive in the wake of COVID-19. Scaling businesses are facing an additional and unique set of challenges, as many will be in the ‘critical growth’ phase which is often loss-making – embarking on a stage of expansion in order to achieve future revenue growth. This makes the current climate daunting to approach.

The longer the coronavirus lockdown goes on, the more my conversations with startups have varied from the norm. Just another example of ‘the new normal’ maybe, but recently I keep overhearing conversations comparing being in lockdown as being similar to being under siege. 

With COVID-19 continuing to be at the forefront of everyone’s minds it can be hard to prioritise the right things for your startup when it comes to managing money. This is undoubtedly a tough time for everybody, but for startups, freelancers, sole traders and small business owners, it’s hitting particularly hard.

Across the globe, companies are introducing innovative ways to help their workforce focus. Wildly unconventional benefits and perks have surfaced over the last few years, with research estimating that increasing happiness can boost productivity by around 12%.

It’s always been clear to me that I’m not a math person. Or at least that’s the story I’m used to telling myself. Soon after graduating from Political Science and International Relations, I started working for Panama's foreign service in Geneva. This was an opportunity of a lifetime, representing my country on issues I cared for like gender, climate change, and mass migrations. 

There is no question that these are unprecedented times, incredibly difficult for everyone mentally, physically, socially and economically.

In 2020, companies throughout the world are investing significantly in colleague training. 94 per cent of British businesses’ suggesting, ‘that even in the current economic climate, learning and development is at the heart of their strategy’. The report by UK L&D noted how none of the companies who are spending more than the national average of £300 on training for each employee have a retention rate of less than half a year. Clearly, staff morale and job satisfaction are enhanced by sufficient training.

As a startup there is probably a high possibility you are not currently doing what you planned to do when you were child. ‘When I grow up I want to create my own business’ isn’t heard as often as policeman, astronaut or pilot we surely all have to agree.

Found & Flourish is a female founders and aspiring entrepreneurs online membership, media & events platform. We have over 10,000 women within our network and run on average 40 events a year. Our mission is to empower women in business to launch, grow and scale their dream businesses. We also provide services, resources and community to support the women at every stage of their entrepreneurial journey.

The current Covid-19 pandemic is causing havoc for businesses across the world. If you are an employer with a small business, you are likely struggling or are concerned about the future of your company in the current economic climate.

Any business at any time has to constantly be considering how best to trade in the present, and how best to trade in the future. This is equally true in the good times as it is in the difficult times. For many, this strange period where the world is caught up in the coronavirus pandemic is certainly one of the much more difficult times, but for some lucky businesses it is actually a period of rapid growth and great opportunity.

It’s part of the natural ebb and flow of running a company. Sometimes there’s peaks, sometimes there’s a trough. Some seasonal businesses experience them every year so have them planned into their annual activity. But what if you have an extended period of downtime enforced upon you?

With many office-based businesses still required to work from home, it can be stressful trying to manage your company and protect your employees, customers, and interests. Capital on Tap's CEO, David Luck shares his 'business health MOT' checklist, to ensure you’ve got the best plan in place for your business’ longevity.

In the current climate, overcoming the fallout from the coronavirus crisis will be a top priority for most, if not all, businesses worldwide. However, this does not mean we can ignore the underlying challenges that continue to impede global progress towards goals like ending the gender diversity crisis.

For the UK, innovation has become a top priority. Indeed, adapting to the coronavirus economy is the most important objective for most businesses and those that innovate successfully will thrive. However, R&D has become a much more public discussion over the past few weeks. In the recent Budget, the Government put significant emphasis on increasing R&D activity. It recognises that the UK could be more of a global innovation hub.

Coronavirus is on everyone’s lips, not literally but figuratively. And for very good reason. It seems so long ago already that the only thing in the news was all things Brexit, and how companies will need to adapt in order to survive, and now that has been brushed aside by a much bigger and more urgent threat – coronavirus.

If you ran a hotel right now, apart from running around looking for toilet rolls, you'd be doing some essential maintenance to the building. The sort of thing you never do because there's always ‘the day job’ of running your establishment.

Many of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs claim they’ve learned their best life lessons from making mistakes and bouncing back. But that doesn’t mean that expensive errors should be embraced. Spotting problems early on and better understanding the challenges ahead can help limit the cost and potential damage when things don’t go as planned. 

“To me, ideas are worth nothing unless executed” - Steve Jobs. You know you have an incredible idea with which you could disrupt the market. But to do that, you need first to transform it into a software product. And you're possibly wondering what the starting point is, and at what stage you need to take to the market. You're worried because you know of people who did not make an impact despite their great idea. These thoughts are but natural and every entrepreneur goes through them.

The Coronavirus pandemic will change online behaviours significantly and possibly permanently both for consumers and businesses.  People have been forced to access information in new ways, interact and purchase new and different products and services online, and the longer this continues, the more likely these are to become habits. 

THE Covid-19 pandemic has made logging on to Zoom and Microsoft Teams part of a new daily working routine for millions of Brits. The use of the video-calling tools has exploded in the past fortnight with people following Government advice to stay at home. But there are increasing fears at how this key tool for home-workers is bringing new dangers. 

Running your own business is not an easy thing. We know this. Everyone knows this. I am not saying anything revolutionary when I make this statement. But why is it hard? Well, to maintain financial and psychological wellbeing is tough for business owners but they’re not exclusive in feeling these worries, many employees also find maintaining financial and psychological wellbeing to be tough.

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to disrupt and dominate our lives, feelings of anxiety are completely normal during times of uncertainty and in some cases isolation. Everyone will be impacted in a different way and it is important to remember that you are not alone. Already there are so many stories emerging of human kindness and compassion and people pulling together to help and support each other.

Across the globe, millions of employees are being advised to begin distant or home working, but managing and coordinating a remote workforce is unfamiliar territory for many business owners.

Dhaka, Bangladesh; 2013 - around 1,200 people died and a further 2,500 people got seriously injured in a garment factory collapse. The ugly side of fast fashion reared its head.

The coronavirus pandemic has turned off the lights in millions of offices, factories and shops across the UK. But for many businesses who have switched to home-working the cost of their now empty property will still need to be met. And that dilemma is now causing growing concern among businesses – many of whom have seen revenue totally stop in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis. Today one of Britain’s leading law firms has advised companies with concerns over meeting the cost of commercial leases to hold 'sensible' discussions with landlords as quickly as possible. Harper James Solicitors also advise firms yet to get a plan in place to do so – before it is too late.