Category: HR

As the fifth anniversary of the coronavirus pandemic rolls round, we can all reflect on the curve ball it threw us, forcing us to adapt quickly to stay in business. Five years on, the world continues to change and we have to ask, “what challenges do businesses face in 2025?”

There are certainly many challenges on the horizon. However, we believe that open-minded businesses can continue to thrive in this changing world. In this blog, we look at the five biggest issues and how UK businesses can withstand them.

  1. Climate change

It’s easy to think that climate change is all about protecting rainforests and polar bears, neither of which we have in the UK. But climate change is affecting UK businesses. We really felt for businesses in Glasgow who lost days of trade to Storm Eowyn in January this year, when shops and services were told not to open because the extreme weather posed a risk to human life. And what about the dilemmas faced by businesses that sell plastic products, for example, or cars or fast fashion?

What you can do

If your business is directly impacted by climate change and new consumer trends, you need to find a way to make your business future-proof. Whether you keep a bigger financial reserve to cover you when storms prevent you from opening, or find new products that appeal to a more environmentally-conscious market, an open-mind will provide a solution. What we cannot do is pretend that climate change isn’t happening.

  1. Price fluctuations

Everything is expensive at the moment. Labour, raw materials, rent, energy…the list goes on. Impressively, however, many businesses are finding ways to do more with less, making their income go further while maintaining the great service they’re known for.

What you can do

Reviewing your financial position can often help you find savings. From unpaid invoices to obsolete subscriptions, chasing what you’re owed and clearing out what you don’t use can add more money to the pot.

  1. High interest rates

One of the reasons that prices are rising is that interest rates are high. This can be a big problem if you’re repaying a business loan or you have a mortgage on your premises.

What you can do

Again, reviewing your finances might reveal areas where you can make savings or reduce the size of your loans. And if you’re lucky enough to be saving or you’re keeping funds back for a big project, you can take advantage of higher interest rates and make your money work harder.

  1. Employment rights

The Employment Rights Bill that came into force last summer was created to protect workers. However, it has created problems for employers, particularly in the retail, hospitality and care sectors. You can read our blog on it here.

Similarly, the increase in employers’ national insurance contributions has made some businesses think twice before taking on new staff.

What you can do

Outsourcing gives you a way to work with a team without having to become an employer. And if outsourcing isn’t an option, you could work with an HR expert and review your processes. Checking your processes for compliancy might reveal areas for savings too.

  1. AI

AI is a somewhat mixed blessing. In the plus column, it is speeding up business processes for many of us and creating new opportunities and ways of working. In the minus column, it is undermining jobs in the creative industries and driving down the quality of internet content.

What you can do

Forward-looking businesses in 2025 need to be open to the benefits of AI but also aware of its pitfalls. Find out more about AI here.

Get Ahead supports agile businesses

If our blog has made you feel ready to take on 2025’s challenges, we’re here to help. Our finance experts can help you review your accounts and find savings, while our HR outsourcing managers can talk you through new employee rights and keep you up to date. Our business development experts can compile risk assessments for your business. And our virtual assistants can work with you on business continuity planning, so you’re ready for any eventuality. We can also help you access the right AI for your business, making the most of new technology and saving time and money into the bargain.

All our support is fully flexible – choose from fixed hours every month or ad hoc support.

Explore our site to find out more, follow us on social media, or talk to your local regional director. We’re ready for whatever 2025 wants to throw at us!

If you’re a start-up or a family enterprise and you’re mindful of the bottom line, it can be hard to think of giveaway ideas for small businesses. But the good news is that you don’t have break the bank, or leave yourself out of pocket when you give something away.

In this blog, we share our top five giveaway ideas for small businesses.

Why does giving matter to small businesses?

Giving is an essential part of any business’ marketing strategy. When we give things away, we reinforce our brand with our customers and clients. We interact with those people in a different way from usual, strengthening the professional relationship. This can be a very effective way of getting customers further down the sales funnel. It can also help you appeal to different markets who respond to different approaches.

Think of giving as lighting one candle off another – the second candle gains but the first candle loses nothing.

Top five giveaway ideas for small businesses:
  1. Promotional items

An on-message promotional item can be a great addition to your marketing toolkit. Trainers and coaches can give out branded pens and paper so their clients can take notes. Trades often prefer a branded fridge magnet to a business card – their customers don’t have to rummage when they need a plumber quickly! Events organisers sometimes give out branded bottle openers while travel agents give out branded luggage labels.

Get Ahead has a number of suppliers in our network of contacts – if you need a recommendation for branded items, please ask!

  • Your own products or services

Obviously, we’re not suggesting that you just give away all your hours and stock! Instead, think about how you can use a giveaway strategically. Who is likely to respond positively to a free software trial – will it make them more likely to buy a subscription at the end? Yes, they’re using your software for free for a month, but if they turn into loyal customers then the freebie was a valuable investment. Remember to research likely groups and target them strategically so you get the best outcomes from giving away your own product or service.

  • Expertise

Yes, it is possible to write a blog or a newsletter without giving away your trade secrets! Instead, give away a small amount of useful knowledge that will help your clients get more from what they already buy from you. For example, letters from your bank often feature a market or finance update. By sharing these insights, banks can help customers to make their money work harder, in turn promoting more of the bank’s products.

Think about what ideas you could share that would help you and your customers at the same time.

  • Discounts

Even if you can’t afford to give something away completely free, consider whether you can afford to offer a discount. Do your sums and work out what percentage you discount from the price of your product or service. You can also give a discount in exchange for something, like signing up to a mailing list. Discounts like this can be excellent investments: once customers or clients have joined your community, they’re more likely to buy from you again in future.

  • Referrals

This one isn’t a traditional sort of giveaway, but it makes a real difference to others, grows your network and establishes you as someone worth working with.

When you’re networking, be ready to praise others in the network whom you’ve worked with. And if there’s a request for a recommendation on LinkedIn, for example, don’t be afraid to put others forward – they’ll really appreciate it!

Marketing strategy support with Get Ahead

If you think that giveaways could play a bigger part in your marketing strategy, Get Ahead would love to help you make it happen! Explore our marketing pages to find out more, or contact your local regional director today.

 

The first budget of the new Labour government has been much anticipated, and Wednesday’s announcement had everyone glued to the news. Families, workers, savers and borrowers were all wondering what the budget meant for them. And entrepreneurs and CEOs were wondering, “what does the budget mean for businesses?”

In this blog, we look at what additional payments and reductions businesses need to cover, and how Get Ahead can help. 

What does the budget mean for businesses? 

The rise in employers’ National Insurance contributions (NICs) was not unexpected, but it has still raised the costs of taking on employees. 

In addition, the increase to interest rates means that business loan repayments will increase – another cost to business owners. 

It’s easy to see that, with these cost increases, business owners will be looking to make any savings they can. 

One way that small businesses can save is by taking advantage of the increased employment allowance, whereby they don’t have to pay NI on the first £10,500. 

Another way to save is to consider outsourcing instead of employing. Whether you’re new to outsourcing or you’ve used the model for years, Get Ahead is here to help.

How Get Ahead supports businesses impacted by the 2024 budget

Get Ahead is an established outsourcing agency. We work on a regional basis: business owners approach our regional directors in search of practical, back-office support. The regional director then connects the business owner with one of our virtual experts who delivers the required work.

There are a number of reasons why our business model gives businesses better value for money than conventional employment:

No NICs, sick pay, annual leave or pension contributions

    All our virtual experts are self-employed. This means that our clients only pay for our experts’ work and don’t have any other financial responsibilities towards them. 

    Remote working

    Our virtual experts work from home, meaning you don’t have to provide office facilities or tech hardware. This could save you renting office space, freeing up more of your profits to grow your business.

    Only pay for hours worked

    When you employ someone, you continue to pay them even when they’re on a tea break, watering the plants or signing team birthday cards. But with our outsourcing model, you only pay for the work they do for your business. We are also completely flexible – there’s no need to commit to paying for the same number of hours every month. 

    Your virtual team

    Get Ahead’s virtual experts can work seamlessly with your other employees, or even form your entire team. Use outsourced work to plug skills gaps or provide support for project work. Alternatively, let us hand pick a group of people with the specific skills you need to take your business forward in a cost-effective way. 

    We believe you’ll see considerable savings when you outsource, enabling you to meet the new increased payments while still growing your business. 

    Find out more about the financial advantages of outsourcing here.

    HR outsourcing and accounts outsourcing solutions for UK businesses

    Unlike typical virtual assistant agencies, we offer a wide range of back-office services, including finance and HR outsourcing. Our finance experts can review your systems and might find other savings, like unused subscriptions and unpaid invoices. This could mean freeing up funds to cover the increased business costs, without having to let any of your current team go. 

    Our HR experts can help you stay compliant with the new rules, ensuring that you’re making the correct contributions and doing right by your employees. And if you find yourself in the unfortunate position of having to reduce the number of people you employ, our HR experts can help you manage the situation so it’s legal, fair and handled appropriately. 

    Get in touch to find out more

    If our blog has got you thinking about ways to save money after the 2024 budget, we’d love to hear from you. We offer a range of outsourced back-office support, including administration, bookkeeping, marketing, social media, finance, HR and more. Visit our service pages here, or get in touch with your local regional director for a friendly, no-obligation chat. 

    HR outsourcing is a great way of keeping your team running smoothly and strengthening the relationships between business leaders, middle management and staff. With outsourced support, your business will benefit from a fresh pair of eyes and an independent perspective – two valuable assets when it comes to personnel management.

    We caught up with HR expert Louise who shares her knowledge about the benefits of HR outsourcing and how it works in practice. 

    Why are employee relations so important?

    Louise: People are your most important asset. It’s easy to think running a business is all about the bottom line, but the reality is that your business won’t grow without good management to bring out the best in your personnel. 

    Many employers are struggling to recruit at the moment, which makes employee retention more important than ever. Fortunately, with good communication between management and staff, you can hold onto your employees. A long-term employee offers better value than a newbie, and a happy, well-managed staff means higher productivity and savings right across your business. 

    How can outsourced HR support help employers?

    Louise: All too often, people are promoted to management because of length of service rather than because they have the right experience. It’s a shame to see managers with great potential and business knowledge fail to manage their teams well simply because the manager hasn’t received the right training to bring everyone together. 

    However, HR outsourcing can help you to get the basics of management in place, like a solid employee handbook and up-to-date policies. With these for reference, you should be able to handle day-to-day issues. A good employee handbook also forms a great foundation for further training. For example, I recently trained managers in inclusivity and awareness – this has helped them meet the diverse needs of their teams and make everyone feel included. And a happy team is a productive team, so it’s a win for the business too. 

    How do you work alongside an in-house HR team?

    Louise: Many businesses I’ve supported have excellent in-house HR managers. However, most HR issues only arise once in a while, meaning that for small and medium-sized businesses, it doesn’t make financial sense to employ a full-time HR team. Instead, HR managers outsource general and specific HR support as the need arises. This is usually better value and also brings a fresh perspective. 

    For example, I’ve recently carried out an investigation on behalf of a client – the situation needed someone from outside the business to ask the right questions and give an objective view. 

    HR outsourcing from Get Ahead

    Louise is just one of our amazing virtual experts ready to share their skills and experience with business owners like you. To find out more about what HR services we offer, explore our HR pages or scroll down for more blogs about business support. 

    A new year and a new financial quarter is a great time to do a skills gap analysis. Analysing the skills of yourself and your team will help you identify what you already do well and what else you need to grow your business. A review might even help you spot other strengths and weaknesses.

    In this blog, we share our five-point plan for an effective skills gap analysis.

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    As you prepare your business for Q1, you’ve probably made some key decisions that will affect the whole organisation. For your business to carry these out and achieve the goals you’ve set, it is essential that you take your employees with you. When employees are fully engaged with the goal setting process and understand the direction the business is going, they are more likely to deliver the work you need.

    In this blog, we look at ways you might engage staff and communicate your new goals to ensure your employees support your business direction.

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    Since our foundation in 2010, Get Ahead have been champions of flexible working. We’ve seen it can not only yield great results for businesses but also allow skilled workers to further their careers. But for this to work, we need to understand that there’s more to workplace flexibility than job shares and part-time hours.

    In this blog, we look at what workplace flexibility really means and why it’s an essential feature of a modern workplace.

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    Happy twelfth birthday to us!

    Rebecca Newenham created Get Ahead to provide not just outsourced support to businesses, but also flexible work options for herself and her team of professionals. The fact that we’ve been operating this long shows that we’ve got something right, so we thought we’d share twelve of our tips for building in flexibility and a healthy approach to work.

    Here goes….

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    If you employ a team of people but your own time management isn’t great, it could spell trouble for your business. Fortunately, poor time management is possible to fix.

    In this blog, we look at why poor time management is a problem and suggest a few solutions too.

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    If your business is doing well and you’re considering scaling up, outsourcing can be a great solution. Above all, it’s flexible and cost effective, so you’re not tied down when you don’t know exactly what the future holds.

    In this blog, we look at three of the ways outsourced business support can help you scale up your business.

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