Hertfordshire Business Independent Issue 71

COMPLIMENTARY

LEAD INTERVIEW We interview Ella Mills, author, entrepreneur and founder of Deliciously Ella

EXECUTIVE PROFILE We catch up with Graham Lane, Managing Director of Cheeky Munkey

COMPANY SPOTLIGHT We shine the spotlight on WMT Chartered Accountants

SPECIAL FEATURE ON RECRUITMENT

ISSUE

71 Sept/Oct 2018

CONTENTS 04 NEWS A round-up of the latest business news and stories from our region

10 LEGAL We’ve put together some advice from our legal experts

1 4 EDUCATION We look at what’s been happening in Education

1 6 BOOK REVIEW Book review on The M.O.S.C.O.W. Method: How To Sell Yourself Without Selling, Written by Dexter Moscow

18 EXECUTIVE PROFILE We feature Graham Lane Managing Director of Cheeky Munkey

19 COMPANY SPOTLIGHT This month we shine the spotlight on WMT Chartered Accountants

21 LEAD INTERVIEW We interview Ella Mills, author, entrepreneur and founder of Deliciously Ella.

23 SPECIAL Special feature on recruitment

33 DRIVE We take a look at the new Land Rover Discovery SVX

Check out all the interactiveness of the magazine. Be sure to watch out for the HBI Layar logo as there will be videos, photo galleries, Web pages and more to check out.

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4500 copies of The HBI are distributed to business centres, meeting and conference facilities, hotels, golf clubs, Barclays Bank branches, railway stations and Luton and Stansted Airport across the county, with a further 34,000 being delivered directly to the inbox of our subscribers, including the CEOs of the top 200 companies in Hertfordshire.

A selection of distribution points are listed below.

DISTRIBUTION POINTS Cole Green : Panshanger Flying Club I Baldock : Jester Hotel, Baldock Station, Ashwell Station I Hatfield : Ramada Jarvis, Hatfield Oak Hotel, Porsche Centre, Fielder Centre I Hertford : Hertford North Railway Station I Hertingfordbury : Whitehorse Hotel I Hitchin : Hitchin Railway Station I Knebworth : Knebworth Station I Letchworth : Letchworth Hall Hotel, Goldsmith Centre, Bizspace Letchworth, Business Centre West I Potters Bar : Wenta Potters Bar, Regus Potters Bar I Radwell : Days Inn Baldock I Redbourn : Ramada Jarvis Royston : Royston Station, Banyers Hotel, Jester Hotel I St Albans : Quality Hotel I Stevenage : Roebuck Hotel, Specialist Cars, Merc Stevenage, Premeir Inn Stevenage, BTC Centre, Cromwell Hotel, Gordon Craig Theatre, Stevenage Station I Turnford : Cheshunt Mariott The Hertfordshire Business Club I Ware : Hanbury Manor I Watford : Ramada Jarvis I Welwyn : Welwyn North Station I Welwyn Garden City : Weltech Centre The HBI is also distributed monthly at Business BUZZ venues in Aylesbury, Banbury, Bedford, Bicester, Bishop’s Stortford, Flitwick, Harpenden, Hemel Hempstead, Hertford, Hitchin, Luton, Milton Keynes, Southend, St Albans, Stevenage & Watford. For more information please visit: www.business-buzz.org The HBI is also available to view online at www.businessindependent.co.uk If you would like to receive copies of The HBI for your business please call 0844 358 5800.

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This magazine now incorporates the use of augmented reality technology with the use of a free app called Layar. You can download the app here: http://get.layar.com or scan the QR code.

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NEWS

Editor’s Welcome

CONTRIBUTORS & CONTACTS 0844 358 5800

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PUBLISHER Simon George

EDITOR

Jenna Owen editor@businessindependent.co.uk

DEPUTY EDITOR Emma Powles

CONTRIBUTORS John Auckland Michael Delaney Patricia Bacon Dexter Moscow Yuliana Topazly Chantal Cooke Andy Lopata

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We interview Ella Mills, author and founder of Deliciously Ella. She explains her motivations behind the company, whilst delving into what her future may hold.

Our Executive Profile for this issue is with Graham Lane, Managing Director at Cheeky Munkey IT support. Our regular Special section includes features on recruitment, to get employers thinking about what changes need to be made prior to the year ahead.

Our popular Drive section reviews the 2018 Land Rover Discovery SVX; the ultimate SUV for all-terrain enjoyment. Our technology review this month looks at the Somfy One; a home security system which provides complete household or workplace security. We also feature thought-provoking articles from our regular contributors Chantal Cooke and Andy Lopata.

Jenna

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SALES MANAGER

WMT CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS HAS MOVED ITS ST ALBANS TEAM FROM GROSVENOR ROAD TO VERULAM POINT, STATION WAY.

PUBLISHED BY

Situated right next to the St Albans City Station, the new offices are conveniently located for its Hertfordshire and London clients alike. The move gives the firm much-needed additional space from which to support an expanding client base in sectors such as hospitality, technology and property.

Sona Shah sona@businessindependent.co.uk

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Welcome to the September/October issue of the Hertfordshire Business Independent. With 2018 starting to draw to a close, we focus in on some of the important decisions businesses need to be thinking about. I hope you enjoy the great features we have put together for you in this issue.

The Buzzing Media Group 61 Maxted Road Hemel Hempstead Hertfordshire HP2 7DZ

‘Having been an integral part of the local business community for over 40 years, it’s important to us to remain in the heart of the City’ said Managing Partner, Andrew Williamson. ‘It is also vital that clients and staff travelling to and from our offices can do so easily. Verulam Point puts us in the perfect position for local and national transport links.’

WMT’s new address is Verulam Point, Station Way, St Albans, Hertfordshire AL1 5HE.

When you have finished with this magazine please recylcle it

COPYRIGHT

Copyright: 2018 The Buzzing Media Group. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior consentof the publishers. The views expressed in any of the Business Independent series of regional magazines are not necessarily the views of the publishers The Buzzing Media Group. Whilst The Buzzing Media Group has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, neither they nor any contributing author can accept any legal responsibility for any consequences that may arise from errors or omissions contained in this publication or from actingon any opinions or advice given. In particular, this publication is general and not a substitute for professional advice and you should consult y. ur own professional advisors where appropriate.

TAYLOR WALTON WELCOMES THE NEXT FAMILY GENERATION

Leading regional law firm Taylor Walton is thrilled to congratulate partner, Ben Twitchen, as the new Head of its highly reputable family law team following the retirement of Aileen Hartnett this summer.

Aileen has led the department from strength to strength in recent years, and handed the mantle to Ben who joined the firm in 2010 and became a partner with the firm in 2012. Ben specialises in advising and assisting on issues arising on divorce, cohabitee separation and child contact law.

Dermot Carey, Managing Partner of the firm commented “We are very sad to see Aileen leaving the firm to enjoy her retirement. Her commitment, enthusiasm and loyalty to the firm - and to her clients - has been a pleasure to see over the years. At the same time, I am delighted to see Ben take up the role of Head of Department and lead the family law team into the next phase of its growth.

I would personally like to thank Aileen for all she has contributed to the firm during her time with us, and wish her the most enjoyable retirement.”

RUTH HANSOM JOINS LUTON HOO HOTEL, GOLF & SPA AS HEAD CHEF Luton Hoo Hotel, Golf & Spa, the five-star country house hotel on the Hertfordshire/Bedfordshire border, has appointed Ruth Hansom as head chef of its Wernher restaurant.

Ruth, who recently appeared on BBC 2’s Million Pound Menu, will lead the team in the hotel’s finedining 2 AA Rosette Wernher Restaurant. Working under the direction of Luton Hoo Hotel’s executive head chef Christopher Mouyiassi, Ruth will utilise her culinary experience to grow the hotel’s well-established restaurant, serving the finest British cuisine in the most opulent surroundings.

After passing her apprenticeship with flying colours, Ruth won a series of fantastic accolades; she won gold at the World Skills UK in 2012, reached second place in Craft Guild of Chefs’ National Chef of the Year 2013, also receiving the Apprentice Chef award. Ruth was the winner of Master Chefs of Great Britain’s Young Chef of the Year in 2013 and 2014 and received a Graduate Award from Craft Guild.

Other award highlights include winning the Craft Guild Rising Star award in 2014 and second place in Chain de Rotessures Young Chef UK final.

In 2016, Ruth went on to win bronze at the European championships of WorldSkills and won first place in the Craft Guild of Chefs’ Young Chef of the Year in 2016/17.

In the same year, Ruth was awarded the Antony Bourdin Scholarship from the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts.

Ruth’s career reached new heights and national acclaim in 2018, when she received a £1million investment in BBC 2’s Million Pound Menu TV show, alongside business partner Emily Lambert. She is not just passionate about cooking but also about supporting her peers in the restaurant industry and helping young chefs find their way in the kitchen. Taking great pride in supporting the Springboard charity, Ruth cycled from London to Paris to raise money for them in September, and throughout this year is being auctioned to cook at Springboard’s home events, with all proceeds going to the charity.

Speaking after her appointment, Ruth said: “I am so pleased that I have the opportunity to join such a historic British restaurant as head chef and cannot wait to showcase the skills I have honed throughout the years, at the Wernher Restaurant.”

Matthew Long, General Manager of Luton Hoo Hotel, Golf & Spa said: “We are delighted that Ruth has joined our talented team here at Luton Hoo. Ruth not only has years of experience but also a fantastic, enthusiastic spirit and I am excited to see the strides she will take in growing our fine-dining restaurant.”

For more information about Luton Hoo Hotel, Golf & Spa, visit www.lutonhoo.co.uk.

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Ben officially took up the role of Head of Department on 1 July to coincide with the start of the firm’s new financial year. He commented “It is always a doubleedged sword when progression comes alongside saying farewell to a friend and colleague; Aileen will be much missed in the department. At the same time, I am looking forward to the challenge of stepping into her shoes as Head of Department and continuing her excellent work in ensuring Taylor Walton remains the firm of choice for family related law issues across the region.”

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Falling in love with cooking as a child, Ruth took part in Springboard’s Future Chef competition (for under 16s) obtaining second place in the national final. Following her success with Springboard, Ruth won a scholarship to officially begin her culinary training at Westminster College and during this time, gained experience working with Frederick Forster at The Boundary. Completing her Royal Academy of Culinary Arts apprenticeship whilst working at The Ritz, Ruth received a distinction for her excellent work.

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NEWS

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Redwood Bank launched in August 2017, becoming Britain's newest business bank, offering a real alternative for small and medium-sized businesses.

‘BUSINESS SAVERS WIN’ AS HERTFORDSHIRE CHALLENGER BANK LAUNCHES TOP FIXED RATE SAVINGS ACCOUNT

As well as its competitive range of savings accounts, it offers secured SME mortgages for business owners and experienced commercial and residential property investors.

A challenger bank has topped the guaranteed fixed rate savings table with the launch of their new one-year bond.

Its new One-Year Business Bond joins an existing set of market-leading savings accounts, including a 35 Day Business Savings Account paying 1.00 per cent AER and a 95 Day Savings Account paying 1.35 per cent AER.

Hertfordshire-based Redwood Bank has unveiled its first One-Year Business Savings Account, paying a competitive 1.71 per cent AER, becoming the toppaying one-year savings account, and offering a guaranteed return for businesses and charities.

This generous rate puts Redwood Bank in a market leading position in the one-year fixed bond market.

The account is specifically developed for British businesses, charities, clubs, associations and societies nationwide, and can be opened online or by post.

Redwood Bank is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), the UK's deposit protection scheme, protecting customers' eligible deposits up to a total of £85,000.

For further information, visit www.redwoodbank.co.uk/savings

Redwood's account has a starting balance of £10,000, with a maximum balance of £1 million, and allows multiple top-ups within the first 14 days.

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Redwood Bank, Gary Wilkinson, said: "We're pleased to offer British businesses a new top guaranteed oneyear bond. Our business mortgages are proving very popular which, in turn, means we can offer an attractive rate to our savers.

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"British businesses deserve better, and our research shows that this is the highest one-year business bond savings account rate, offering a guaranteed return, that has been on the market for over three years. Business savers win with our new account.

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"The simplicity of account opening, combined with the excellent rate, means our One-Year Business Savings Account will be an attractive option, enticing and enabling many businesses, charities and other organisations to benefit from a top guaranteed return on their savings.

"Everything we do is about supporting British businesses, helping them navigate the ever changing financial and business landscape. Our new account provides security, peace of mind, a guaranteed return at a top rate, which is exactly what our customers have told us they're looking for in a new bond."

The new Business Fixed Rate Bonds table by Moneyfacts (as at 1 August 2018)

DACORUM BOROUGH COUNCIL SCOOPS FIVE GREEN FLAG AWARDS Dacorum Borough Council has gained five Green Flag awards for its parks and open spaces. The Green Flag Award is the benchmark national standard for parks and green spaces in the United Kingdom.

Dacorum Borough Council hosted the prestigious Hertfordshire Green Flag Awards at the Forum on Friday, 20 July. The Mayor of Dacorum, community groups, volunteers, councillors plus Dacorum and Herts County Council officers all came together to celebrate the Awards ceremony.

The following previous winners were once again awarded the Green Flag, the national standard for parks and green spaces: • Bunkers Park (awarded a Green Flag in 2015) • Canal Fields (has held the Green Flag Award since 2008) • Chipperfield Common (has held the Green Flag Award since 2008) • Tring Memorial Garden (awarded the Green Flag Award in 2012) Also the Water Gardens for the first time ever, joined the other four parks in receiving this prestigious award.

Janice Marshall, Portfolio Holder for Environmental

Services said “We know how important our green spaces are to residents and visitors and that is why we are absolutely committed to making sure that they are safe, welcoming and well maintained.

“Achieving these Green Flag awards for Canal Fields, Chipperfield Common, the Tring Memorial Garden, Bunkers Park and the Water Gardens means that the hard work and commitment of everyone involved is recognised, and I would like to thank the community and volunteer groups, together with council staff, for their hard work and dedication in making this happen.”

To be awarded a Green Flag a park or open space must meet certain standards. These include being a welcoming place, healthy, safe and secure, well maintained and clean and having the support and involvement of the local community.

A Green Flag flying overhead is a sign to the public that the space boasts the highest possible standards, is beautifully maintained and has excellent facilities.

Full details of our award winning Green Flag parks and green spaces can be found on www.dacorum.gov.uk/ greenflag.

The awards rely on partnership working between the Council, town and parish councils and the local community, through our friends groups (www.dacorum. gov.uk/friendsgroups), to maintain high standards in council run parks.

Visit www.greenflagaward.org.uk for further details.

The SME National Awards were launched in 2016 to raise the profile of industrious, hardworking and enterprising SME’s Nationally. Business awards are a sought after accolade of achievement, a veritable endorsement of success in business which offers exceptional marketing opportunities as well as increasing credibility and standing out in the eyes of one’s peers and customers.

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Dee Clayton, Founder and Director said, “It is an honour to be recognised at the SME National Business Awards and we thank all our clients who supported our application with testimonials. We also thank the judges and award sponsors for voting for us. We pride ourselves on delivering outstanding results with our Public Speaking Monkeys (trademarked) technique so it is wonderful to be acknowledged at these awards for helping hundreds of professionals over our ten years in business. We would like to extend our congratulations to all the other finalists and look forward to what is sure to be a very inspiring awards final.”

Daniela Busseni, Head of Category Development Sweet Treats at Premier Foods commented, “Congratulations to the team at Simply Amazing Training on the Hat Trick at the SME National Awards!

I worked alongside Dee, over 15 years ago when she worked as Marketing Manager for Jacob’s Creek wine. She had a clear plan for success and in true entrepreneurial fashion has reached that. Dee wanted to start a business and help hundreds of professionals have life-changing experiences. Dee used her Marketing skills to create the “Monkey Taming” USP and survive then thrive in a tough market. Dee has guided the business to achieve its original goal (and more) whilst adapting the strategy along the way. I use Dee’s services frequently - both 1:1 and with my team.

I’ve also recommended her to others countless times and seen what fantastic results she’s had working with them too. Best wishes for every success at Wembley!”

Simply Amazing Training offer specialist executive presentations skills coaching and management training throughout the UK and internationally.

SIMPLY AMAZING TRAINING SCORE A HAT TRICK AT SME NATIONAL BUSINESS AWARDS 2018 Simply Amazing Training, specialist executive presentations skills coaching and management training of Bournemouth and St Albans, have been named as an award finalist in three categories in the SME National Business Awards 2018. Winners from twenty one categories will be crowned at a black tie gala dinner taking place at Wembley Stadium on Friday 7th December 2018.

Simply Amazing Training was one of only a few businesses to be announced as a finalist in three categories: Enterprising Business of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year, Dee Clayton and Business Woman of the Year, Dee Clayton.

For more than 10 years, Simply Amazing Training have been working with companies and individuals, at all skill levels. They have delivered training for national and global brands including Toyota, RBS, Boston Scientific, Volkswagen, Babybel and Kimberly-Clark, to name a few, to improve the performance of their key people.

Businesses know that if their employees develop then not only will they be more successful, but they will represent and promote the brand in a way which delivers better results.

For further information please visit www.simplyamazingtraining.co.uk and follow on Twitter @Dee_Clayton

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They are famous for their Public Speaking Monkeys (trademarked) technique. The mind chatter or fear monkeys are the voices of self-doubt which cause so much anxiety. Their innovative technique gets to the unconscious in an approachable manner by helping clients “Tame” their monkeys and become confident speakers with a 99% success rate.

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FINANCE

IS AN ICO THE RIGHT WAY TO RAISE FUNDS FOR YOUR BUSINESS? Written by John Auckland, TribeFirst

The meteoric (and overinflated) rise of Bitcoin has firmly planted cryptocurrencies in the minds of everyday consumers. As a result, many companies looking to raise money for their business have asked themselves whether they should be running an ‘Initial Coin Offering’, or ICO for short.

But is an ICO a good way to raise money for your business?

An ICO is a way of raising funds that directly converts fiat currencies or other cryptocurrencies into a new token that you’ve created for your platform. There are two types: Utility Tokens A utility token is one that exists simply to perform a useful task on your platform, akin to buying a painting to adorn an office wall (also think cars, stamps, jewellery or labour). In this instance a platform user won’t simply buy the tokens and sit on them (like a more traditional equity investment) - they will use them as part of their experience of your platform.

Security Tokens These exist purely for speculators who hope to see a return on their investment; like someone buying a painting because they’re betting on the value increasing (also think oil trading, rare stamps, precious metals or buying shares).

Of course, there are advantages as well. It’s a highly speculative and risky market for investors, but there’s a wild west, winner-takes-all feel to it at the moment. We’re in the midst of a dot.com 2.0 bubble and the next Googles and Amazons are likely hidden amongst the companies coming through. And there are a lot of investors who made a tonne of money in the cryptocurrency inflation now looking to diversify their rewards across a multitude of emerging blockchain innovations. So, even with the recent drop in market value, there’s still a lot of liquidity in the market. Some ICOs are raking-in huge sums of investment as a result.

In my experience, the founders who have the tenacity to succeed and an all-or-nothing mentality might want to consider an ICO. It will eat months of your life where you think of nothing but your venture for 20 hours a day, and will probably cause you to use up all your savings in the process.

You also probably want to genuinely change the world and make transactions and interactions between companies and businesses more transparent.

If you fear this new world or are wary of risking losing anything, then a traditional funding raise is probably better for you.

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Obviously, there are grey areas; the painting on the office wall bought to beautify the space can increase in value if the artist suddenly became popular. Equally, the art bought for speculation was still originally created to be admired, interpreted and enjoyed, so the owner can argue that it has a function or utility. In other words, the ‘art token’ could be seen as both ‘utility’ and ‘security’. This is important to understand as the regulations surrounding each are different.

So, I definitely suggest you get a lawyer and professional help to ensure you remain compliant to your local financial regulations.

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Based on existing regulations, an ICO is best suited for a company that has a clear utility need for blockchain. This list is by no means exhaustive, but these are the main reasons why you might need a utility token to support your technology: •

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You require complete transparency in the way you operate (i.e. a charity / a financial institution / a political institution / someone who handles multiple payments or acts as an intermediary) You are an organisation that creates or requires regular contracts between two parties where the terms are incredibly clear, and you only want the transaction to take place once the terms have been met (aka a smart contract) You have many digital assets and you want to give them real world, tangible properties, or so you know without doubt which one is the original

If you have not immediately recognised one of the attributes listed above in your own technology – then an ICO is probably not right for you. Even if you do think your solution has a need for underlying blockchain technology, it still might not mean you need to complete an ICO. There are many disadvantages to running an ICO over a traditional fundraise, not least because of the cost and regulatory concerns involved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR John Auckland is a crowdfunding specialist and founder of TribeFirst, a global crowdfunding communications agency that has helped raise in excess of £5m for over 30 companies on platforms such as Crowdcube, Seedrs, Indiegogo and Kickstarter – with a greater than 85% success rate. TribeFirst is the world's first dedicated marketing communications agency to support equity crowdfunding campaigns and the first in the UK to provide PR and Marketing campaigns on a mainly risk/reward basis. John is also Virgin StartUp's crowdfunding trainer and consultant, helping them to run branded workshops, webinars and programmes on crowdfunding. John is passionate about working with start-ups and sees crowdfunding as more than just raising funds; it's an opportunity to build a loyal tribe of lifelong customers.

See: www.tribefirst.co.uk Twitter: @Tribe1st

With the rise of agile, part-time and remote working, more and more SMEs are embracing outsourcing as the smart approach to their back-office needs. It’s a highly efficient way of keeping on top of finances and staying ahead of the game.

As a top 20 accounting and business advisory firm, we at Kingston Smith combine expert knowledge, technological know-how and commercial nous in one customisable package.

Cost-effective, resource-efficient and data-accurate results all under one roof, so to speak.

How outsourcing works Business owners and managers like you come to us because we work as an integral part of their own team. We provide a carefully scoped finance team to suit your exact needs that operates as an extension of your own business. In effect, your very own finance team with the right skills to do the right tasks at the right time.

We handle all your day-to-day detail so you can focus on your big picture. You have greater control over your finances, quicker access to better-quality data in a user-friendly format as well as total continuity. And you don’t need to keep up with new technology and software upgrades because your outsourced team does that for you.

Why outsourcing works More reliable financial information is available to you quicker, empowering you as a business owner. You benefit from best practice gained from other businesses, while our specialists extract and analyse data quicker so can advise you sooner.

We also pick up business and technical tax issues more easily.

You get a breakdown of your profitability of products, services and cost variations over different periods and years. Your commercially-oriented finance gurus help you actively drive your business forward, meaning you make better-informed profitable decisions. What’s more, your outsourced team can be flexed and enhanced to meet the ever-changing needs of your business.

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OUTSOURCING IS IN FOR SUCCESSFUL SMEs

Outsourcing for the property market We have gone one step further and combined online accounting software with property management software.

Property investors with a large portfolio of commercial and residential properties are now starting to manage their properties themselves. Accounting software automatically does the processing so you can prepare your financial accounts without having to cover the same ground twice. This means fewer errors, more timely information and lower costs for your business.

Outsourcing for the future The days of back-office teams and disjointed part-time suppliers are long gone.

What sets us apart from the crowd is the way we listen, question and get to know your business. Then we function as part of it.

Why not get in touch for a no-obligation chat about how your business can benefit from outsourcing?

Darren Jordan is a partner at Kingston Smith’s St Alban’s office. Call on 01727 896020 or email at djordan@kingstonsmith.co.uk

Take your business journey with us

Kingston Smith LLP, 4 Victoria Square, St Albans, AL1 3TF T: 01727 896 000 E: ppatel@ks.co.uk

Contact us today to find out how we can help you achieve your business ambitions. www.ks.co.uk/st-albans

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As a leading firm of chartered accountants and business advisers we offer commercially savvy solutions to entrepreneurial and owner-managed businesses based on your needs and aspirations, supporting you through all stages of your business lifecycle.

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LEGAL

MISUSE OF CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION - HOW CAN YOU PROTECT YOUR BUSINESS? What are the steps businesses should take to effectively reduce the risk of employees misusing confidential information?

Your Employees' Duties - What Does the Law Say? Employees owe a number of contractual duties to their employers, which include: • to act honestly • to act with fidelity and loyalty in respect of the employer's business • not to do anything that would damage the employer's interests • not to place themselves in a conflict of interest • not to disclose confidential information for their personal benefit Confidential information is essentially trade secrets which are the property of the employer. It is distinct from the skills, experience, and know-how acquired by the employee as part of their role. Trade secrets include customer lists, trading details, pricing, formulas, methods of construction and design features.

Employers are frequently exposed to dishonest practices by existing and former employees which include theft, unauthorised copying, economic espionage, and unauthorised disclosure to third parties. Increased outsourcing, longer supply chains, and the increased use of technology contribute to these risks.

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Restrictive Covenants

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Occasionally employees will be bound by restrictive covenants within their contract of employment which may include not competing with the employer for an agreed period after the employment ends. The enforceability of the covenant depends upon whether the employer has demonstrated a legitimate business interest to protect, and whether the scope and duration of the restriction is reasonable.

If the covenants are properly drafted, any breach by a departing employee can be enforced by way of injunction in the High Court.

In the recently reported case of Dyson Technologies v Pellerey (2016) EWCA Civ 87, the Court of Appeal upheld the enforcement of a non-compete covenant preventing the employee, an engineer, from joining a competitor, Tesla, for 12 months. In this case, the employee was exposed to highly confidential information surrounding product design on a daily basis. In addition, he was contractually obliged to notify his employer of an intention to approach a competitor for the purposes of obtaining employment and had failed to do.

As an employer, you should therefore consider including obligations in your employment contracts and make sure that

any restrictions relating to confidential information possessed by departing employees require them to notify you of any intention to seek employment from a competitor. This should also apply if they are setting up in business on their own.

Without covenants, you will have to rely upon the general law to protect the misuse of your confidential information.

Proceedings will have to be brought in respect of breaches of confidence.

Towards More Robust Protection for Businesses?

However, employers may soon be assisted by new legislation.

The Trade Secrets (Enforcement) Regulations 2018 is aimed at the protection of undisclosed know how, trade secrets and business information. It was required to be adopted into domestic law by 9 June 2018 but has not yet been implemented due to the busy post Brexit legislation.

The draft regulations are designed to interact with the existing laws. They require an employer to identify the confidential information to benefit from protection from the regulations.

Confidential information can be defined by the courts' own initiative and is generally defined as being secret, with a commercial value and readily accessible to persons who normally deal with the information in question.

Where a court identifies an alleged trade secret, the defendants to proceedings who will normally be employees or former employees must not disclose such information. The court will take the necessary steps to support the obligation of non-disclosure.

If an employee who is in possession of confidential information decides to leave their employment and joins a competitor (assuming there is no breach of any express restriction within the employment contract), they will be subject to the existing general law relating to the non-disclosure of confidential information to any third party, and risk the threat of injunction proceedings for any breach.

Michael Delaney is an employment law Partner at awardwinning law firm VWV, with offices on Clarendon Road, Watford.

Over 50% of security professionals surveyed think the changes to Whois will make the Internet a safer place for scammers. DomainTools, a leader in domain name and DNS-based cyber threat intelligence, today announced the results of a survey of 326 security professionals conducted at Infosecurity Europe, regarding the impact of GDPR on important cybersecurity functions such as network defense, threat hunting and risk assessment.

GDPR, which came into effect in May, has resulted in the redaction of certain PII data available in Whois records. This data was invaluable to security researchers as they endeavor to keep global internet users safe online. 86% of the security professionals surveyed were aware that GDPR has affected Whois data and 58% said that it will help make the Internet ‘a safer place for scammers’.

“The results of this survey show that the security community understands just how significant Whois data is to the important work they do”, said Tim Chen, CEO of DomainTools. “The Internet is an open network, fundamentally operating on trust. Helping to enforce that

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GDPR WILL MAKE THE INTERNET ‘SAFER FOR SCAMMERS’, SAY ALMOST TWO-THIRDS OF SECURITY STAFF trust are systems like Whois that give individual internet users insight into who is behind a website. Applied at scale, Whois data empowers everyday security capabilities such domain and IP risk assessment and spam protection.

We will continue to work as hard as we can to make sure security practitioners are included in the law as parties with a legitimate interest in the full Whois data.”

While the impact of the current Whois data redaction is being felt throughout the community, DomainTools continues to evolve its products to support security customers with other relevant and effective data sets, including the recent launch of Iris 3.0, adding Guided Pivots, SSL Certificate Profiles and historical reverse Whois support to keep up with the everchanging threat landscape.

The survey was conducted with a group of 326 security professionals at Infosecurity Europe, London between June 5-7.

For additional information on DomainTools and its suite of products, visit: www.domaintools.com.

WATFORD LAWYER CYCLES 100 MILES TO SUPPORT HOME-START WATFORD & THREE RIVERS Victoria King, an Associate at award-winning law firm VWV, on 28th July took part in a 100-mile challenge raising money for charity.

Victoria King, who’s been training hard - taking part in the London to Brighton earlier this summer - cycled in support of Home-Start Watford & Three Rivers and has so far raised £590.

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VWV chose Home-Start Watford & Three Rivers as its Charity of the Year for 2017/18 and raised over £5,000 through a number of fundraising activities, including taking part in a wingwalk, a 1 mile open water swim, an abseil, Christmas present collections and bake sales.

Victoria commented: “Taking part in the Prudential Ride has been such a rewarding challenge! As a firm, community engagement is at the heart of everything we do, and we have formed a great relationship with HomeStart Watford and Three Rivers over the last year.

I’m sure all in the Watford office will agree that the money raised is going to an incredibly worthy cause.”

VWV is an award winning, national law firm in the heart of Hertfordshire.

300 years of expertise on your doorstep, providing legal services for businesses and individuals. vwv.co.uk | London, Watford, Bristol & Birmingham

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Home-Start helps vulnerable families with young children deal with the challenges they face, such as post-natal depression, isolation or bereavement, by providing emotional and practical support.

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Practical, insightful partnerships that last

Our Employment Team takes a solutions-based approach to their clients needs. To find out how our experience can help you, please visit taylorwalton.com

Because experience counts Offices at: Luton, Harpenden & St Albans Tel: 01582 731161

Unless you have been living under a rock, you will undoubtedly be aware that the new The EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) came into force on 25 May 2018.

The tidal wave of update notices and consent emails flooding into our inboxes has now subsided, but dealing with the implications of GDPR and all it involves is now part of everyday life for businesses across the UK. For many, procedures and processes around GDPR are still being reviewed and implemented and whilst the 25 May go-live date has passed, it is vital for businesses of all sizes to take a moment to check their responsibilities are being fulfilled. As a quick reminder, the GDPR broadens the reach of current legislation and introduces new rights.

Key rights of the individual include; • Right of access • Right to rectification • Right to be “forgotten” • Right to restrict processing • Right to data portability • Right to object Key questions to ask yourself (and your business) will be:

Can you demonstrate compliance?

How you do this depends largely on the size and nature of your business but, as a minimum, you should maintain documentation such as records of internal audits of data processing activities and reviews of internal HR policies. Consideration must be given to putting in place adequate data protection policies/procedures and privacy notices.

Businesses must be able to show that

Nicola Smyrl Employment Law - Solicitor Luton Office T- 01582 731161 E- nicola.smyrl@taylorwalton.co.uk

the policies and procedures have been implemented.

Are you using Consent as the lawful basis of processing? If so, this must be freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous. There must be some form of clear affirmative action – a positive opt-in. Consent must be separate from other terms and conditions, and simple ways must be provided for people to withdraw consent.

Have you had a Data Breach? If so, you must notify your supervisory authority within 72 hours of a data breach - unless it is unlikely to create risk to the subject. This applies to all data breaches except those which are unlikely to cause harm to affected employees or other individuals.

Employers need to implement a data breach procedure and ensure that relevant staff are trained on how to deal with such breaches given the timescales for reporting a breach.

There are additional responsibilities in relation to GDPR and the management of data as an employer. The most important questions regarding GDPR from an employment perspective include: How you collect consent, and is it freely given? Many employers currently rely on an employee giving their consent as part of the employment contract. However, consent obtained in the employment contract is unlikely to be effective given that employees may not have a choice about signing their contract. Consider whether you can rely on other grounds to justify processing the data of your employees. Don’t forget, employees should be able to withdraw their consent to processing as easily as they are able to give it.

How can employees be ‘forgotten’?

Peter Kouwenberg Corporate & Commercial Law - Solicitor Luton Office T- 01582 731161 E- Peter.Kouwenberg@taylorwalton.co.uk

Employees have the ‘right to be forgotten’. This means they can require their employer to delete all of their personal data in certain circumstances.

Consider how such requests will be managed and whether your current systems are adequate to respond to such requests.

How will data be ported? Employees have a new data portability right which will allow them to request that certain personal data is transferred directly to a third party. How will such requests be managed?

Do you have adequate privacy notices in place? Employees and job applicants must be provided with certain information when their data is collected, often known as a privacy notice. Privacy notices should be carefully drafted to ensure that the employer has sufficient flexibility to process employee and job applicant data as required by the business.

Who are the data processors?

Employee data is often processed by third party providers such as payroll companies. The GDPR imposes more onerous obligations relating to the use of data processors. You need to understand the new rules and ensure that arrangements are GDPR compliant.

Data Retention - it is no longer the case that personnel files can simply contain all information the employer has in relation to their employees. Personal data should be retained for no longer than necessary.

Taylor Walton is running a workshop “Life after GDPR” to discuss all of these issues and more at Beales Hotel, Hatfield on 20 September from 4pm to 6pm. To register your place for this interactive event, please email marketing@taylorwalton.co.uk

*The information given in this article was, at the time of publication, believed to be a correct statement of the law. However, readers should seek specific legal advice on matters arising, and no responsibility can be accepted for action taken solely in reliance upon such information.

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Have you assessed the risk? Most businesses will now be accountable for measuring the level of risk that processing data has on data subjects.

This may require the appointment of a data protection officer. Data protection impact assessments must be performed prior to any data processing if that processing could cause a high risk to the data subjects.

LEGAL

LIFE AFTER GDPR

13

EDUCATION www.businessindependent.co.uk

14

BEING A WORKING MOTHER IS NOT BAD FOR CHILDREN’S EARLY VOCABULARY AND REASONING Contrary to popular opinion, research from the University of Cologne reveals being a working mother does not affect your children’s early vocabulary and reasoning in any way. The research found that children from similar family backgrounds develop comparable vocabulary and reasoning abilities, regardless of the mothers’ working habits in the child’s first five years of life.

working mothers. This is an important implication given universal attempts to increase the number of working mothers.”

Dr Michael Kühhirt from the Institute of Sociology and Social Psychology at the University of Cologne and Dr Markus Klein from the University of Strathclyde found that exaggerated hopes and fears for the consequences of mothers’ employment for children may be unfounded, at least with regard to early language acquisition and cognitive ability.

The study was novel in that it looked at the relation of mothers’ employment with children’s development not only at one particular time point but it compared the effects of different employment patterns over time.

This is important because any impact of maternal employment is likely to unfold after a longer period of exposure.

“Potential benefits and risks of mothers’ employment for child development are the subject of heated scientific and public debate,” says Dr Kühhirt. “But when it comes to the cognitive measures under study here, we found no evidence of harmful effects on the children of

The researchers speculate that differences in the developmental outcomes at age five, for the most part, seem to be driven by characteristics such as mothers’ education and family structure.

These results are based on 2,200 children of the Growing Up in Scotland study, who were followed from roughly 10 months after birth until around their fifth birthday.

With over 14 million graduates in the UK in July to September 20171, there is a big emphasis for graduates to be able to find jobs as well as companies having the placements for them.

With initiatives such as the Youth Contract Scheme detailed

by Monster for employers2, aimed at recruiting graduates and young people from the age of 18-24. It provides companies with a monetary incentive of up to £2,275.00 with the outcome that this will cover the employees National Insurance contributions.

The Department for Education Graduate Labour Market Statistics 20173 has shown that graduates and postgraduates had higher employment rates in 2017 than non-graduates.

With recent White Paper analysis showing how companies are offering placements with a heavier emphasis on Talent Management, looking to attract the right candidates and looking in to the long term will bring the whole skill set package to the job role.

With the UK’s most highly acclaimed employers looking to recruit again in 2018 statistics4 show it is expected 20,227 new jobs will be offered to graduates. With this in mind, the importance of having a strategy for the new workforce is to be evaluated and implemented as to shape the future of the organisation and to find the key candidates in the millennial sector. Most large organisations will offer graduate training places and they will generally last a year to 18 months and potentially if you have found the right candidate could last longer.

So how big an impact is the development on graduate workforce planning strategies having when it comes to hiring a graduate? Based on findings by The Graduate Market4, The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers, the number of graduates hired dropped by 4.9% which they concluded has been the first recorded decline in the past 5 years.

The Prospects guide ‘What graduates do? 2017/186 published yearly documents and analyses graduates next steps for 6 months after graduating from University. Based on HESA’s

According to CIPD5, the professional body for HR and people development ‘By managing talent strategically, organisations can build a high performance workplace, encourage a learning organisation, add value to their branding agenda, and contribute to diversity management. For these reasons, HR professionals widely consider talent management to be among their key priorities’.

It is therefore in the interest of the organisation to develop a graduate program. Setting out the needs of the company before hiring any potential candidates, with an aim in mind and to know the types of skills and expertise a graduate could bring to the company to allow for maximum potential for both your organisation and your potential graduate.

Has the need for talent planning when hiring from the new selection of graduate millennial workforce meant a decline in job positions offered, to be more selective and look for the young, creative and dynamic that will develop within your organisation, to look beyond the grants that could be received and base employment of a graduate of the longer term needs of your company. With the right training and guidance now at the level after fulfilling their education you could be shaping the workforce of the future.

References: 1. www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/ peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/ graduatesintheuklabourmarket2017 2. www.hiring.monster.co.uk/hr/hr-best-practices/recruitinghiring-advice/acquiring-job-candidates/is-your-companymaking-the-most-of-the-governments-new-job-seekersinitiative.aspx 3. www.gov.uk/government/statistics/graduate-labour-marketstatistics-2017 4. www.highfliers.co.uk/download/2018/graduate_market/ GMReport18.pdf 5. www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/strategy/resourcing/talentfactsheet 6. www.prospects.ac.uk/prospects-press-office/prospectslaunches-what-do-graduates-do-2017

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The graduate Market Report 18 has shown that the highest amount of graduate positions has been offered in the Accounting and Professional Services, followed by jobs in the Public Sector and Engineering and Industrial. All three sectors have seen an increase in work positions estimated to be offered against predicted positions as targeted in Sep 2017.

destinations of Leavers form higher education survey it provides an insight to what a graduate will embark on after leaving university. Some if its key findings have shown that 74.2% of graduates found employment within six months after graduating and that 71.3% of graduates obtained jobs at professional level.

EDUCATION

THE NEED FOR A GRADUATE DEVELOPMENT SCHEMES

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BOOK REVIEW

THE M.O.S.C.O.W. METHOD HOW TO SELL YOURSELF WITHOUT SELLING

“T

Written by Dexter Moscow

he secret of business is to know something that nobody else knows.

- Aristotle Onassis

”

DON’T JUST TALK - INFLUENCE OTHERS TO TAKE ACTION “The key to your personal, financial and company’s success is in your ability to positively influence others to be delighted to take the action you desire them to take”.

For more years than I care to say, I’ve spent a fortune attending networking events, conferences and symposiums.

Wasted hours of my valuable time conducting 1-2-1’s with people who are never going to do business with me or refer me to others.

I’ve drunk a tsunami of coffee, sat through endless power point presentations bored out of my mind.

I don’t want you to make the same mistakes I’ve made so rather than work the room why not command it?

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Take the opportunity to present to a room of prospects and get them to flock to you.

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That why I’ve written The M.O.S.C.O.W. Method. It explores the mysteries of personal influence and persuasion and uncovers the 6 keys areas of creating compelling business winning presentations.

Having developed and created selling propositions and business presentations in the professions, for the property industry, in retail sales and in the world of Television Shopping for QVC I’ve come to realise that there are a number of specific processes common to all these areas, that, when adhered, to can transform the average speaker into one who is dynamic, persuasive and engaging.

I’ve studied the great orators of our time, analysed their vocal tricks, use of language, body positioning, emotional devices and the strategies they use to sell their ideas and concepts.

Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill, and John F Kennedy.

Trump, Jeremy Corbyn and Simon Cowell manipulate and move us to take the action they desire us to?

This book offers you a number of easy to remember, easy to use processes to develop the essential areas of presentation and speech making.

They’re not theoretical but tried and tested systems that achieve results.

So often I’ve heard business pitches and presentations of excellent content fail to win business or engage because the speaker has been unable to reach out and touch the consciousness and emotion of their audience.

I’ll walk you through step by step guides on how to impress and engage your audience from the moment you stand up to when you sit down.

In today’s challenging business environment if you’re not taking the opportunity to present your product, service or idea at the myriad of networking meetings available you’re missing a golden opportunity.

It’s no longer enough to be technically brilliant at what you do, you need to be a dynamic, engaging speaker and presenter.

You need to be persuasive, powerful, a thought leader in your sector, a perceived expert in your field and even more importantly you need to entertain and enthral.

You need to command the platform to win more business, to step up to the proverbial and actual microphone.

I’ve shared these insights with you along with case studies from the individuals, major organisations and client companies I’ve worked with.

The book is full of practical suggestions which are real evidence of the fact that it is written by a practitioner who is a true professional. - Gerry Brown Author and Chairman of NovaQuest Capital Management LLC, private equity

We live in an age of ‘sound bite’ selling and instant gratification where our attention span is that of a goldfish and our recall of information is about the same. So how do people like Donald

Available on Amazon, Kindle and Audible narrated by Dexter - www.amazon.co.uk/MOSCOW-Method-yourselfwithout-selling/dp/1910372218

“Hertfordshire LEP has gone from strength to strength over the past six years and the Government’s ‘Strengthened Local Enterprise Partnerships’ review further anchors our position as a catalyst for business-led growth.”

Mark Bretton, Chair, Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership The Government has reaffirmed the role of LEPs as the voice of business in England, supercharging economic growth and forging partnerships to drive up local investment.

The ‘Strengthened Local Enterprise Partnerships’ review builds on Government’s commitment to work with LEPs as outlined in its Industrial Strategy.

accountability of LEPs and are delighted that here in Hertfordshire we are already meeting the majority of the proposed recommendations.

Each LEP has also been assigned an official Government sponsor to raise ambition and provide support as evidence is gathered on the challenges and opportunities facing each economic area.

Keep in touch with our progress at www.hertfordshirelep.com or follow @HertsLEP on Twitter.

FEATURE

HERTFORDSHIRE LEP CHAIR WELCOMES GOVERNMENT’S LANDMARK LEP REVIEW

“I will be working closely with fellow LEP Chairs in the coming months as part of a steering group that looks to coordinate our approach in a way that best empowers our The review clarifies the role and responsibilities of LEPs and economic areas. commits up to £20m additional funding up to 2020 to help “We have been proactive in developing a business-led Local them increase productivity and deliver robust, evidenceIndustrial Strategy for the county that capitalises on our based Local Industrial Strategies for each region based on significant sector strengths and knowledge capabilities, and local consultation. welcome additional support from Government to help deliver our ambitions.”

The review also dictates how Government and Local Enterprise Partnerships will work together to strengthen The Communities Secretary, Rt. Hon. James Brokenshire leadership and capability, improve accountability, manage MP says: “The publication of the ‘Strengthened Local risk, and provide clarity on geography.

Enterprise Partnerships’ policy represents a step change in approach for LEPs. We will continue our work to strengthen A number of reforms have been proposed to boost the performance and transparency of LEPs, including mandates these leading institutions to develop ambitious strategies for growth and build an economy which is fit for the future.” for women to make up at least one third of LEP Boards by 2020 and for LEPs to submit proposals for revised The publication of ‘Strengthened Local Enterprise geographies where overlaps currently exist.

Partnerships’ on 24 July marks the conclusion of the Ministerial review of LEPs. The Ministry of Housing, Dialogue between Government and LEP leaders will be Communities and Local Government will now work with increased to bring the voice of business to policy making through the biannual Council of LEP Leaders chaired by the LEPs to develop detailed plans by 31 October on how they will implement the review.

Prime Minister.

Hertfordshire LEP’s Government sponsor Ian Porée (middle), who works for the Ministry of Justice, is taken on a tour of Stevenage.

Hertfordshire LEP Chair Mark Bretton at the inaugural meeting of the Prime Minister’s Council of LEP Leaders at No.10 Downing Street.

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Hertfordshire LEP Chair Mark Bretton says: “We welcome Government’s bid to improve the transparency and

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EXECUTIVE PROFILE

EXECUTIVE PROFILE: GRAHAM LANE CHEEKY MUNKEY We had the opportunity to catch up with Graham Lane, Managing Director of Cheeky Munkey IT Support and Services this month. Graham told us what first inspired him to start up Cheeky Munkey, explains the main challenges facing the IT industry at the moment and outlines how he ensures the business remains competitive in a busy marketplace.

When did you first know you wanted to develop a career in IT? I was working in the corporate world in the electronic security sector and over time the work I was doing became more and more IT based. I realised that IT was the main driver for many small businesses and wanted to build on this.

You started Cheeky Munkey in 1999. What visions did you have for the business back then?

When I started the business back in 1999 I started small and grew the team organically focussing on complementary skill sets. My goal was to give the best possible customer experience as this was lacking from other similar organisations at that time.

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How do you successfully manage your work life balance?

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I am really lucky that I have a great team at Cheeky Munkey that not only allow me to have a great work life balance but also enable me to give time back to my local community. I sit on several education boards in Hertfordshire and strongly believe every young person should get the best possible education giving them the opportunity to fulfil their dreams.

How do you best relax after a busy week?

I am not sure with a 10 year old daughter I get much time to relax but I do try and get to the gym as much as I can.

What challenges has the IT industry come up against in recent years and how did you handle them?

This is an interesting one with the pace of change accelerating in the IT sector.

The most common conversations that I am currently having with customers of all sizes is Security. To address this we have developed a range of products

to not only protect their systems but to offer resilient Backup & Disasters Recovery as part of their risk management policies. Of course Software as a Service (SaaS) is key too and Office 365 and complimentary services can deliver this.

Have you found that the new GDPR regulations have had an effect on the services you provide?

The new GDPR regulation hasn’t changed the way we deliver services much to our customers. For us it is about how we support our customers with processes and procedures so that they can be compliant when handling data - plus to be able to demonstrate this through certification such as Cyber Essentials – a government approved standard.

How do you ensure your business remains competitive in a busy marketplace for IT services?

Cheeky Munkey meet as part of a global IT peer group quarterly and not only share best practice but also share intelligence about the best tools and products in the market. This enables us to deliver a best in class service to our customers.

Where do you see Cheeky Munkey being in 5 years’ time?

Our strap line is “it’s like having your own IT department”. As the dependency on technology increases we won’t just be seen as providing a helpdesk to our customers but will become for some customers their complete outsourced technology partner providing traditional helpdesk support through to Virtual Chief Information Officer services. We are currently developing a one-stop-shop offering to the Recruitment Sector involving not only support but a full 360 Customer Relationship Management and Applicant Tracking System package and back-office functionality.

With embedded real-time KPIs and analytics we will be able to help recruitment agencies become more efficient and dynamic in their market place and to give a better experience to their candidates.

COMPANY SPOTLIGHT

COMPANY SPOTLIGHT: WMT Chartered Accountants

WMT works with businesses, charities and private individuals and draws on this rich and diverse experience to bring its clients a broader perspective and fresh ideas.

Who are your clients?

Many of our clients are owner-managers of one or more businesses. We help them to grow and to manage their companies, as well as taking care of their personal tax needs. This means they get joined-up advice that balances their commercial and personal financial goals.

We also advise PLCs and the trustees of charities, family trusts, and occupational pension schemes.

Working for this mix of different organisations and types of private individuals keeps our team agile and commercially aware.

What is your approach to working with clients?

Supporting business clients through every stage of their company life-cycle is a priority for us. We might start by setting up their accounting system for them and making sure they can meet all their statutory obligations, then work with them right through to helping them sell their business in the most tax efficient way possible. Often, we sit on the board of a business, or have regular meetings with the directors to help them set the strategy, review how the business is performing and discuss how to improve it.

Whatever clients are looking to do, we work to make sure the tax angles are covered. Tax concerns should never be a barrier to creating growth or managing your investments. The sooner we think about the tax implications of our client’s plans, the better chance we have of making the most of available allowances, reliefs and exemptions.

We like to bring fresh thinking to whatever is concerning our clients.

Helping them to see their challenges from a different perspective brings what is most important to them into focus. It also gives them all the information they need to make the decisions that are right for them, their businesses and their families.

What are you proud of having achieved this year?

Clients really appreciate it when the advice they receive shows you understand their needs and their pressure-points. Getting this right is something we pride ourselves on. We work collaboratively to make sure clients

Recently, we relocated our St Albans team to the Verulam Point building, right next to the City train station. We had just about reached capacity in our old premises and the new office has given us the space to continue expanding

In the last 12 months, we merged with a specialist hospitality accounting firm in London, giving us a base from which to visit our London clients as well as expanding the services we offer to restaurants, hotels and bars.

the support and services we provide to clients.

Getting licensed for probate was an important achievement for us. Those who come to us for inheritance tax planning can now also rely on us to provide professional, supportive advice to the executors of their will.

We’re also proud of the transactions we’ve completed this year. Despite the corporate finance market being generally quieter this year than last, we’ve been busy working on several vendor initiated management buyouts (VIMBOs). Guiding directors through their first major transaction is a particular strength of the firm. They rely on us to manage the relationships between the vendor, buyers and lenders to keep the deal on track.

What keeps you in St Albans?

The City has a thriving business community that we are proud to have been a part of for over 40 years. Local businesses actively look for ways to support and develop the regional economy. One very good example of this that we are committed to supporting is the City of Expertise initiative.

City of Expertise is a group consisting of 22 professional services firms, the Council and the St Albans Chamber of Commerce, working together to promote the district as a great place to work and do business. It’s that sense of community and willingness to work together, share skills and knowledge and raise awareness of the services available in the local area that helps to maintain our enthusiasm for the City.

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Many of our clients have property interests. Some are developers or own property as part of their business and others have rental property investment portfolios or second homes.

receive the input they need from our wider team to achieve their goals and lighten their administrative load.

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This month we had the exclusive opportunity to speak with Ella Mills, author, entrepreneur and founder of Deliciously Ella. She explains her motivations behind the company, whilst delving in to what her future might hold.

What first motivated you to launch ‘Deliciously Ella’?

It was all an accident really. I got very unwell in 2012 when I was at university with a condition called Postural Tachycardia Syndrome that affected the functioning of my autonomic nervous system. I became interested in the power of diet and lifestyle and began experimenting with plant based cooking. I shared my creations on a blog initially, deliciouslyella.com. Somehow that took off, it grew organically but quickly, and transitioned to social media, then an app, then four books, then a deli in London and now food products in about 6,000 stores across the country. It’s been quite a whirlwind!

Where does your inspiration for new recipes come from?

Mostly from our community, they’re the driving force behind the company – we’re lucky to get to test ideas and get instant feedback on so many people every day. We get between 12-20 million impressions on our Instagram account every week, so there’s a huge amount of feedback on what people like, don’t like, want more of etc.

How do you make your books stand out in a saturated market place?

Was the decision to close two cafes a tough one?

And why?

Yes and no. It was an easy business decision, our food products business grew so much quicker than we expected and eighteen months in we had three product ranges (energy balls, oat bars and breakfast cereals) in about 6,000 stores from Tesco to Starbucks, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Holland and Barrett, WHSmith,

Where do you see Deliciously Ella being in 5 years’ time?

It’s hard to say, if you’d asked me five years ago I never ever thought we’d be here today! Our aim is to continue to grow the retail product part of our business, we’re working on several new ranges at the moment, as well as new branding for them all. I then really want to grow the content side of what we do, continuing to ensure that we’re useful to our audience and share ideas to get them cooking and connecting to plant based cooking.

I know not enough of us get our five a day and I think we’ve got to show everyone what plant-based cooking can be - delicious, diverse, colourful, abundant - to change that.

What’s your favourite way to de-stress after a busy week?

My best thing is being at home with my husband, Matthew, and our dog, Austin. I do a lot of yoga, I’m doing my teacher training at the moment, and we do a lot of dog walking, dinners with old friends and time with our families. I love travelling too, there’s nothing more inspiring than discovering a new place.

What is your life motto?

Be kind. I think it’s the most important thing you can do, all day, every day. I love the saying ‘you get back what you put in’ too – the more time, energy, attention, passion, love you put into anything the more you’ll get back, you’ve got to replace expectation with appreciation.

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I think it’s about knowing exactly who you are and why you’re creating the book. Deliciously Ella The Plant-Based Cookbook (launched August 2018) is our most personal book yet, it has all the recipes that our community have asked for – the ones they’ve liked most from our deli, our pops, festivals, supper clubs and events. As well as about 20,000 words of text on the journey we’ve been on, the ups and the downs, the lessons we’ve learnt and what’s happened behind the scenes. We shot the book in the deli and our kitchen, we designed the cover in house, shared the ideas for the page designs and I oversaw each shoot day, it was so important to me to do that so that every element of it felt like Deliciously Ella.

Boots and lots more and the opportunities to grow in this space were huge. We couldn’t scale up the two businesses simultaneously, while also developing the media and publishing side – the books, the app, the social media etc, and so we decided to have just one space. It was tough on a personal level though because letting brilliant people go is horrible even if necessary but it was too small and didn’t really work as a space and I knew it was the right thing to do. In retrospect it was one of the best decisions we ever made.

LEAD INTERVIEW

LEAD INTERVIEW Ella Mills - Deliciously Ella

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FEATURE

HOW TO MAKE THE TRANSITION FROM INTELLECTUALLY ENGAGED CAREER WOMAN TO FULL TIME MUM Written by Yuliana Topazly, founder of BuddyWith.org.uk

6. Keep yourself engaged with the outside world. Learn a new skill – maybe try that course or craft project you always wanted to, but never got around to. There are so many options and joining a class is a great way to meet new people outside the ‘new mums’ network, give you time away from the childcare, keep your brain engaged, and give you a sense of achievement.

7. Explore the local children’s centre. These are fantastic places which offer so many free courses with crèche facilities – and most importantly parenting courses and peer to peer support groups. You need never feel you are struggling on your own again!

Becoming a full time mum after being a full time career woman might be one of the most challenging steps in your life. And if you find yourself struggling – you aren’t alone; one in 10 women develop a mental health illness within the first year of having a baby (Maternal Mental Health, www.maternalmentalhealthalliance.org/campaign/) I embarked on the journey from career woman to mum five years ago - and I found the transition challenging mentally, emotionally and physically.

Here is what I wish I had known five years ago:

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1. Find supportive communities of fellow parents to tap into.

These can be virtual or physical. It is important to talk about your challenges, share experiences, listen to others going through the same journey as you. By connecting you will know you are not alone – and what you are going through is completely normal.

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2. Ensure you have 'me' time. This is even more important when you become a mum. There are no longer days off, weekends or a sick leave... so you must ensure you have a chance to switch off and have time for yourself.

3. Don't be afraid to share how you feel. Talking things through can help to ensure you get the support you need at home.

Partner’s aren’t telepathic – they need you to communicate with them if they are to help you. Do not leave it until it is too late. Also, share how you feel with your doctor, and look for local support if you feel you may benefit from it.

4. Adjust your expectations and reflect on each day. Ask yourself: What have I learnt today? How did I feel about it?

What was I really proud of today? Answering these questions each day will help your own self-exploration and allow you to recognise and build upon your progress.

5. Make sure you are happy with your childcare arrangements.

Nothing is worse than constantly worrying about your child while you aren’t with them. Checking up on them every minute and jumping each time your phone rings isn’t healthy or pleasant and will leave you feeling mentally ragged. Invest your time in finding the right solution for you and your child.

8. Don't be afraid to share your skills. Use your existing skills and build on them by supporting others in the community. Consider a skills swap as a way to learn something new.

9. Mindfulness. Using mindfulness is a great way to stay calm and avoid that overwhelmed feeling, especially when parenthood gets really tough. Just a few minutes each day for yourself could make a huge difference. There are apps, books, YouTube videos and podcasts to help if you feel you need some mindful guidance.

10. Keep things real. Don’t ignore the outside world. Engage with your partner and their life and work, take an interest in the world outside your baby. Stay in touch with what is happening in the world and how it impacts you and your family.

11. Money. The family budget is a common cause of conflicts and misunderstandings. So make sure you know what free options are available in your area. There are thousands of community groups offering fantastic free opportunities for parents to learn, for children to develop and play and for parents to relax and have ‘me’ time. It does not cost anything.

Invest some time in doing your research – it is amazing what you will find and how little you need to spend!

12. Enjoy every minute. But be prepared for anything! Having a child is incredibly rewarding and almost every parent will tell you it’s the best thing they have ever done and its all over far too fast! So, enjoy it, make the most of the it, and savour every moment.

When you are ready to go back to work remember that you were employable before you had a baby and you are even more employable now as you have learnt so many new skills – so make sure you reflect this on your CV. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Yuliana Topazly is founder of BuddyWith.org.uk – a supportive community of parents and experts who are there to help each other, offer advice, and share experiences.

See: www.BuddyWith.org.uk Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BuddyWithMum/ Twitter: @BuddyWithMum LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuliana-seymourtopazly-27a3454/

SPECIAL FEATURE ON RECRUITMENT

Page 24 - Businesses Wasting Money on Outdated Recruitment Methods Page 26 - Master your CV & Jump Through the Hoops of the Recruitment Process Page 28 - Millennials Identify Gap Between University Offerings and Job Opportunities

SPECIAL

BUSINESSES WASTING MONEY ON OUTDATED RECRUITMENT METHODS suited to the role, a company can incur a total cost of around £132,000. Further, professional relationships, morale and company dynamics can endure irreparable damage if a new employee is found, after their recruitment, to be a bad fit for the rest of the business.

In addition to this, a considerable amount of working time can be wasted on a recruit who turns out not to be right for the company. The average amount of time given to bringing on a new employee has been found to be 27.59 days. The law of 1920 allows us to calculate the monetary value of working hours, and when applied to the average annual UK salary of just over £27,000, we find that the average time taken to recruit an employee is worth more than £3100. As they say, time is money, and this is a considerable amount to throw away on a person who is not right for the company.

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New research has identified just how much resource is being wasted by businesses in pursuit of new recruits. A study conducted by AnyGood?, a peer to peer recommendation firm, aimed to gauge the state of modern recruitment processes and their efficiency, and has uncovered the consequences of hiring employees in ways that are not suited to the modern workplace.

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AnyGood? collated a wide sample of data from businesses of all sizes and sectors around the UK, and from it turned out an eye-opening look at the inefficiencies of recruitment processes. Among key findings from this study, it was found that organisations implementing outdated hiring techniques are throwing away up to £13500 per new recruit. Of course, the sizes of organisations vary wildly, and for larger companies, recruitment processes that are a poor fit for contemporary employment can soon see a lot of money going down the drain.

Of course, recruitment inherently takes time and money, and some expense should always be expected in the process, but the data collected by AnyGood? found that with regard to senior level hires, businesses could be saving an average of £8500 simply by updating and refining their approach. This figure grows significantly when considering the recruitment of C-Suite professionals; in such instances, companies could be saving up to £13500 per hire.

The study also touched upon the long term impact of poor recruitment techniques. AnyGood? suggest that by recruiting a person who turns out not to be well

Co-Founder of AnyGood?, Juliet Eccleston, explained the results further: “As part of my experience in programme management I’ve learned to identify wastage in processes and procedures and it struck me that a lot of time and money is lost during recruitment due to the use of quite frankly inefficient and outdated methods. Given how well connected we all are and how valuable a professional recommendation is, it simply makes no sense to hand over large sums of money to an outsourced recruiter in the hope that they find the right candidate.

“The simple fact is, we are operating in a world where immediacy is not only crucial, but also possible. We can instantly interact with people online and we can find out key information on a person’s career through LinkedIn in seconds. Spending a month sourcing candidates for a role is a complete waste of resources that should and can be rectified. In fact, through the use of peer to peer recruitment, we’ve seen the hiring process from initial recommendation through to job offer take as little as two weeks - and that includes multiple interviews.

“It’s clear to me that there’s an excessive amount of wastage in far too many recruitment processes at the moment. While we’re seeing examples of people leveraging things that they previously didn’t consider of value in their personal lives - Uber and Airbnb tapping into the financial benefits of empty rooms or spare seats in a car, for example - there’s little such innovation on a professional level. For businesses, now’s the time to clean up their hiring and take a more strategic and efficient approach to talent sourcing.”

What exactly does it take to ‘put your mind’ to something?

Here’s 20 practical steps.

It’s a cliché but what if you could actually put your mind to it and get the results you want. Before we begin let me tell you this is not about motivation, will power, or wishful thinking.

What if I told you that you have all the tools you need to succeed. You will need to increase your learning and develop a plan but you also need to know how to apply it with a daily habit and routine. In fact, you may even be suffering from over thinking and this state of procrastination and denial is what’s holding you back.

So it all sounds simple, but is it easy to do? The answer is Yes, if you want to make the changes and see different results.

Now, imagine I’m going to call you without warning and give you 10 seconds to tell me your compelling future. i.e. Tell you me your goals right now and I’ll make them true.

Most people would flounder, look at their phone and tell me it’s in a folder somewhere.

So here’s the inside track on what you need to do to ‘put your mind’ to it.

1. Your Brain - It’s never too late.

It contains a GPS and a search engine in the guise of the RAS – the Reticular Activating System. RAS is the portal through which nearly all information enters the brain. So would you like to have it on your side?

3. Understand your ‘Triggers’ and your ‘Chimp’ 4. Willpower runs out, don’t rely on it.

5. Establish daily habits and routines.

6. Try ‘Fear Setting’, if you prefer, and be like the Stoics who face reality and take decisive action.

Watch Tim Ferris on TED. 7. Be creative with strategy. If your business was shut down today how long before you were missed by clients. Are you are making a difference with purpose. Read ‘The Strategist’ by Cynthia Montgomery.

process by which you compress your results timeline by drilling in on the daily actions that are tied to your long term vision. In effect, we are turning your vison into a project and working out how to make it real.

12. Learn the Platinum Rule. Learn how to treat people the way THEY want to be treated and not how YOU would like to be treated. It enables you to communicate more effectively and understand the needs of others.

13. Strategic v Strategy: a strategy is how you achieve an objective.

It is the HOW. Being strategic is about being creative and exploring the scale, scope and size of your business.

14. Avoid “I’ll be happy when….”

Instead start happy and drive success from there.

8. Learn about the Law of Attraction - This is not fantasy, this is real practical stuff you can apply to focus you mind on what’s really important.

15. Create habits and routines and put systems in place to make sure you stick to them. Test & Measure everything so you know if it’s working and if you are on track.

9. Understand the ‘Inner Game’.

Read Tim Gallwey

16. Think about the people you mix with. Learn and share with others.

10. Gain the ‘Slight Edge’ (Geoff Ohlsen)

17. Does your business model support the delivery of your plan and the profits? Have a proper USP that is not just a strap line.

11. Golden Thread. This is the

18. Every day ask this: “Is this as good as it gets?”.

19. Is it a goal or a task?. If you can do it with existing skills, knowledge and resources then it’s a task and go do it.

20. Set personal and business goals, learn, then take action.

If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article, then… great. Do something about it. Make sure your journey is interesting, has purpose and you are prepared for it.

Find me at www.actioncoach.co.uk/ coaches/richard-perry/ and come to my workshop in September.

Email me at richardperry@actioncoach.com

www.businessindependent.co.uk

In my role as a performance Coach for business owners I enable people to ‘Make a Life, not make a Living.

I’m not here to motivate you. Why do you need motivating to reach your potential and succeed? No I’d prefer to engage and educate so that I teach you the tools and principles so that you can apply them in your own way. I may be a Business Coach that talks about marketing, strategy, finance, team, operations and other key areas but none of this works if you haven’t sorted out your own ‘headtrash’ which is holding you back. I want to know that you have a ‘compelling future’. That’s an emotionally important view of the future that you want to have.

2. RAS - Give it as much detail as possible without asking for all the solutions straight away. Read ‘The Answer’ by Allan Pease.

SPECIAL

HOW DO I ‘PUT MY MIND TO IT’.

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SPECIAL

MASTER YOUR CV & JUMP THROUGH THE HOOPS OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS With over 14 million students graduating in 2017 in the UK alone according to The Office of National Statistics the recruitment pool is certainly competitive, with demand for jobs overtaking supply year on year. Therefore any job seeker needs to know exactly how to master and jump through the hoops of the recruitment process in order to beat the challenging game of recruitment. The world’s leading job site, Indeed’s, recent research of 1,000 employers has revealed the secrets to job hunting that all candidates should follow!

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Nearly 20% of employers have been put off an applicant due to spelling or grammatical errors in their application or CV. This highlights the paramount importance of double checking any job application for any spelling mistakes. Often, when you have read your application too many times it may become difficult for you to spot errors. In these instances it may be best to get a friend or family member to have a proof read before rushing to submit to an employer. Hence why you should allow yourself sufficient time before a job’s deadline to draft your cover letter and CV, research the role and the company and submit your application, rushing is likely to lead to mistakes that could cost you a selection for interview.

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Another frequent reason revealed for rejecting a CV is a misunderstanding of job suitability, with 19% of employers being put off hiring an individual as a result.

Failing to read the job description thoroughly such as the job responsibilities, location of the role, the required hours, start date, whether a driving licence is required and the company’s ethos are all very common mistakes made by applicants. When considering applying for a role you must do your research and analyse the job description carefully so you fully understand the company and role you are applying for. Taking time to do so will also provide opportunity for you to check you are suitable for such a role in order to not waste your or the employer’s time.

A staggering 81% of those surveyed interestingly unveiled that they prioritise a person’s experience over their educational achievements and grades when hiring. You can include as much professional jargon in your cover letter and CV to convince the employer that you are the perfect fit for the position, but this will not cover up the fact that you are lacking experience and may lead to your application being rejected. If a lack of experience applies to you, it could be either you are changing job sectors or you are a recent graduate, regardless of the reason it is crucial you are proactive and locate ways you can bulk up your CV in order to shine in the recruitment pool. Internships,

apprenticeships, freelance work and charity work are all common ways to gain experience in the required field. Remember whatever role there will be transferable skills that you can identify within your application to accentuate your strengths gained from your previous experience to your employer.

Enthusiasm is often the underrated secret to success in recruitment with 28% of employers hiring based on their “gut feeling” on a candidate. Being willing to learn, presentable and smiling in your interview can swing a job interview in your favour if all candidates have similar qualifications and experience. Understandably, it can be hard to be enthusiastic if you have received continual knockbacks and rejections as a consequence of the competitive nature of job hunting, however it is important to be resilient and channel your energy into the next interview or application. In fact, 23% of employers surveyed revealed a strong interview performance swayed their recruitment decision. Enthusiasm can even be emphasised further after an interview with a “follow up” email, this can provide a window for you to thank the employer for their time and can include a key point to summarise succinctly why you would be the perfect candidate for that exact role.

In summary, preparation is key to obtaining the job position you actually want and will enjoy! Considering the frustrating nature of looking for a job with all the necessary recruitment hoops, you do need to allocate time to research and keep your attitude on track.

Acknowledging these tips aforementioned will all help direct you onto the path of career success where you will be well on the way to landing your dream role! *Researchers interviewed 1,006 decision makers in companies with fewer than ten employees in the UK. The research was carried out by Censuswide on behalf of Indeed.com. in May 2018. UK employment figures referenced are from the ONS’s labour market statistics for May 2018.

How to recruit the right people, use them to grow your business and reduce your stress, without falling foul of the long arm of the law.

Staff. Can’t live with them, can’t live without them, eh?

#3 Manage performance

The truth is that if you’re serious about growing your business to any size beyond a one-man-band, staff are pretty much always part of the deal.

Very few business owners truly commit to this, but managing performance is vital, as it gives you the best chance of getting the best out of your employees, but also protects you if you do need to dismiss them.

The trouble is, the recruitment of staff isn’t easy. Nor is the training. Nor is the development. Nor is the performance management. Nor is exiting them.

Have I put you off yet? You get the drift: dealing with staff is hard, but let me be clear: if you’re ambitious, the “alternative” just isn’t an option.

So, what do you do? In truth, it’s simple. You take control of the process, not hoping that your whole employment experience will be a piece of cake, but recognising that there’ll be challenges, and that by putting certain things into place, you can reduce your stress, reduce your risk AND build the business you want.

With that in mind, I’ve put together four simple pointers on how to hire the right people, nurture them correctly and stay legal and compliant - I hope they help!

SPECIAL

HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT.

Commit to performance management from day one, document it all, and you’ll find staff members either improve, or you can comfortably dismiss them without worrying about repercussions. #4 Get the right advice So many business owners simply don’t realise the potential problems that occur when you don’t manage your staff legally. Not only will it hamper the growth of your business, but there’s every chance that you’ll end up in an employment tribunal.

If you want to reduce that risk, and create a business that’s legal and profitable, give us a call today on 01923 866071.

#1 Hire the best person for the job That doesn’t mean hiring your friends and family, who might be lovely and willing, but aren’t the ideal candidate.

It also means working hard to ensure that they ARE the right person for the job.

#2 Write the right contracts A hugely common mistake is not implementing proper contracts with all of your staff members, no matter how well you know them or how few hours they work.

A contract is vital for a multitude of reasons, but here are just two: 1. It sets your relationship up in the right way, making sure they know what their responsibilities are and what’s expected of them.

2. It protects you if you end up in disputes. If you’ve implemented a contract and it’s clear that all of your actions have been in-line with that (as long as the contract was legal in the first place!), you reduce the risk of losing at tribunal and forking out unnecessary fines and payoffs.

DOHR is a multi award winning HR practice, making the workplace a better place to be.

Contracts of Employment

Disciplinary and Grievance

Employee Handbooks

Redundancies and TUPE

Sickness and Absence

Salary and Benefits

Policies and Procedures

Recruitment

Performance Management

Mediation

FOR BUSINESSES WITH 1 – 10 EMPLOYEES? HR in a Box is the simplest way to become and remain compliant with HR and employment law.

FREE INITIAL CONSULTATION FOR BUSINESSES OF ALL SIZES

01923 866129

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Having a rock-solid interview process will give you the best chance of understanding whether they’re the right or wrong fit for your company. Granted you won’t know for sure, but ‘hiring slow’ is a very sensible way for you to reduce risk.

SAVING EMPLOYERS TIME, MONEY & STRESS

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SPECIAL

MILLENNIALS IDENTIFY GAP BETWEEN UNIVERSITY OFFERINGS AND JOB OPPORTUNITIES

New research has uncovered an underlying and prominent issue being experienced by many young people in the work and education sectors. A significant discrepancy between career goals and formal qualification has been found to be a major concern for millennials, many of whom are now trying to taking steps to overcome it.

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Research conducted by the Enterprise Investment Scheme Association found that millennials consider the courses offered by universities to be ill-fitted to the realities of employment and the qualifications expected by prospective employers.

Because of this, a trend for taking additional courses around a day job is becoming more prominent, as young people continue to dedicate themselves to high aspirations.

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A sample of just over 2000 millennials was studied by the EISA and results identify the extent of the problem currently occurring in the journey between higher education and employment. On a deeper level, it underpins an emerging gap in the talent pool, and gives insight into the prospective future job market of the UK. The research found that more than half (51%) of surveyed respondents between the ages of 18 and 34 wish to pursue a career in a higher skilled sector but feel they are lacking in the academic and professional support they require to do so.

A significant 61% of those surveyed reported feeling that the options offered by UK-based universities need to become more relevant to the ever-increasing number of high-skilled sectors in the UK job market, if younger generations are to achieve their career goals.

Intriguingly emphasising the perceived locality of the issue, a quarter of respondents (25%) have considered or would consider relocating overseas in pursuit of a better job, as they consider job opportunities abroad to be more lucrative. 26% felt that the course they studied at university was not relevant to the career path they ended up pursuing.

Another topic touched on by the study was the future of the UK’s business arena, and how higher education fits into the picture, particularly considering the impending post-Brexit landscape. 19% of those surveyed believe that there are currently more high-skilled job opportunities outside the UK, and only expect this to increase once Brexit has come into effect. 25% are considering relocating to outside of the UK for better job opportunities, while 24% would do the same to pursue higher quality education.

A significant number of respondents regretted the higher education paths they followed, as they felt they were not suited to the realities of the workplace. 39% felt that they would rather have entered the workplace through apprenticeship than have studied at university, while another 39% wanted to pursue high-tech careers but felt that the education on offer prevented them from doing so, and 39% also felt that the options offered by UCAS did not reflect the needs of the modern private sector. 24% currently attend weekend or night classes in addition to working a day job so that they can eventually move on to higher skilled jobs.

The Director General of the Enterprise Investment Scheme Association, Mark Brownridge, had this to say of the results: “Overall EISA has repeatedly heard from SMEs that they are more worried about the lack of skilled labour coming out of the EU to provide them with the technical skills and workforce they require to drive their business forward due to a lack of technically skilled people. The two main problems that all entrepreneur face is cash - or the lack of it - and people. The Chancellor’s Spring Statement announcement of an £80m apprenticeship fund helped shore up SMEs on both fronts, but there is a clear need to go further. The results of this report should serve as a call to action for all in the industry to contribute to building a higher-skilled, post-Brexit workforce.”

Written by Patricia founder of www.couplepreneurs.co.uk

As I interview more and more Couplepreneurs – couples that live together and run a business together – I realise that this is a growing economic force that is evolving, compelling and fascinating all at once. It is a sector that is under valued, under represented, somewhat undiscovered and unknown.

There is a huge set of myths that exist around just how this could possibly work. But it does. You only need to look at Desmond & Dempsey, Sxollie, SportPursuit, Kashing, Mod Pizza, Go Ape, Pai Skincare, 38 Degrees North and Eventbrite to see that this is happening across all ages, sectors and geographies.

Be clear around your roles.

The strength of relationship with Couplepreneurs is inspiring to witness but one of the key tips is ensuring you know one another’s strengths from the outset and the roles you will play. Creating job specs and defining the roles is highly recommended too.

Communication is key.

Avoid pressing the buttons. Jonathan from Mini-epic sums this up so well as he tells me “I don't just mean saying what needs to be said, but saying it in a way that you know your partner will be more receptive to. As husband and wife we know how to press each others buttons, which means we also know how to avoid pressing them, and that can be as simple as expressing an opinion or idea in a certain way.”

Don’t try and do it all.

Surround yourself by people who are better than you. Many couples have fed back just how strong they are as a couple working together but just how important it is to recognise one another’s strengths and where they need help. It is critical to bring in the right expertise even in bite size chunks that you can afford and this can help to relieve tension and avoid additional stress.

Be together but separate entities too. Keep it confidential.

Couplepreneurs tell me just how they love having the opportunity to develop a healthy culture and bringing in new team members. This also includes maintaining confidences.

Nick Cooper, who has just celebrated 15 years of running Salt Media with his wife Jo Rees, reinforces this. Nick says “Make it clear to the team that just because they tell one of you something it won’t necessarily be passed on by you to your partner – you are not a funnel for all communications, they need to treat you as two separate entities.”

Being flexible is paramount.

Flexibility is one of the key benefits that Couplepreneurs experience in running their businesses together but being flexible is crucial to its success. Jonathan from Mini-Epic knows the importance of this as he tells me “With two young children, a home to run, and a business, it's impossible to have a militant routine. In fact it's not fair on the kids or yourselves. Prioritise the tasks that hold the most stress, so you can clear them off your plate, and approach everything else with a degree of flexibility.”

Stronger together and All In - but keep the ‘couple-ness’ out of open discussion.

So many of the teams I talk to tell me how much they enjoy working with Couplepreneur businesses but it is essential to be very open. Liz from Velo Vixen tells me “Staff must feel that there is clarity and that there isn’t a secret couple cabal that will override their decision making.”

Support, trust, respect and listen to each other.

Lots of couples have had to learn to adapt to working with their partners. Cat Benger who runs ABCpure with her partner Ben Webeck gives great advice as she tells me “Acknowledge and respect each other’s opinion. 2 heads are often better than one and experience has shown facilitate the most effective decision making.”

Patricia Bacon is an expert business growth consultant and founder of Couplepreneurs a new global network for couples running businesses together. Find out more at www.couplepreneurs.co.uk

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Know who is managing the team as you grow.

This is also critical as the business grows and you take on new recruits. Liz Bingham from Velo Vixen who has been running the business with her husband Phil for 6 years reinforces this as she tells me “It is so important to have clarity over who is line-managing whom and respect those boundaries. “

SPECIAL

WORKING WITH YOUR OTHER HALF – TOP TIPS ON KEEPING IT PROFESSIONAL

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SPECIAL

THE CHALLENGES OF MANAGING THE NEW MULTIGENERATIONAL WORKFORCE

In the mast of the millennials and generation Z workforce, companies are now experiencing and adapting to a multigenerational workforce. Depending on the working environment this is something that if managed well that can bring advantages to a company.

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An ageing population due to improved quality of living and healthcare means that men and women are continuing into employment to a higher age. There is no default age for retirement and as stated by the Gov.uk website there is no compulsory retirement age (unless a good reason is provided by the employer). The average age for retirement as shown by the Department of work and pensions has shown 65.1 for men and 63.6 for women1. The state pension age for men is 65 and with the women’s age increasing from 63 to 65 in Nov 2018 could lead to a further increase in the older workforce.

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The office for National Statistics2 reported the population to be 66,040,200 in June 2017. This amount had seen an increase of 392,000 from the previous year and upon further research 41% was a result of natural change calculating number of births against death rates. 51% was allocated to international migration rates and an additional increase with the armed forces based in UK of 2,700.

With an estimated increase in the population of 74 million by 2039 these percentages can help us to understand the trends in the future population and prepare for a multigenerational workforce.

A multigenerational workforce can see over 5 generation working alongside each other in the same company. This is said to be the one of the most notable changes within the UK Labour Market and based on their projections 1 third of employees will be over 50 in 2020.

The labour workforce details members of the country who are able to work. This is then split into the following categories to allow rates to be calculated for each6. Age 15-24 are classed as just entering the labour market, starting work after their chosen form of education. 25-54 year olds are classed as being in their peak of their working lives and 55-64 years of age are deemed as passing their peak and looking towards retirement.

However, today’s generational workforce has been placed stereotypically within the following terminology4. The Generation Z to be the most recent being born after 2001. The

Millennials are the most current workforce being born from 1978-2000, the Baby Boomers from 1946-1964, the silent generation from 1927-1945 and the GI generation from 19011926. The Generation Z and Millennial workforce will be able to work more independently and technology driven. With this in mind and to help manage the diversity of this new workforce implementing strategies to manage the integration of the workforce, with ideas and skill force and a good company culture could be key.

As an employer it is always good to know your workforce.

The more understanding of your employees, their skills and knowledge will make sure they are working efficiently in the correct positions. In terms of a multigenerational workforce it means skill sets can be shared and passed on. Many older employees may not take to a younger employee trying to teach them their role but managed well a lot can be learnt through the Gen Z and Millennial generations especially in terms of the latest technology.

Avoid the stereotypes. Make sure as an employer you are leading the company culture and try not to place any negative emphasis to these stereotypes that could cause separation.

Find ways to allow all generations to integrate amongst each other maybe through training, sharing ideas and if your workforce is split into teams making sure each is diverse.

Make sure you have the correct policies and procedures in place. As detailed by Citizens Advice5, the Equality Act 2010 protects anyone from being discriminated against their age.

Regularly provide training and team building for staff and continually build awareness for this issue.

Managed well a generational workforce can bring many benefits to your workforce and in the long term help to be a more proactive and productive workforce.

References: 1. www.which.co.uk/news/2017/09/retiring-later-average-brit-nowworking-beyond-state-pension-age/ 2. www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/ populationandmigration/populationestimates/articles/ overviewoftheukpopulation/july2017 3. www.guides.wsj.com/management/managing-your-people/how-tomanage-different-generations/ 4. www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/discrimination/protectedcharacteristics/age-discrimination/ 5. www.data.oecd.org/emp/employment-rate-by-age-group.htm

Written by Chantal Cooke, Panpathic Communications

Keeping your social media accounts up to date, interesting and relevant can sometimes be a struggle especially if you’re finding it a bit difficult to think of things to say. It’s a complaint I hear a lot; ‘I don’t know what to say – surely people aren’t interested?’

The first step is to understand that if someone chooses to follow you on social media - then they must be interested in you!

Otherwise, why would they bother?

They may have followed you because they already know you or have met you, or they may choose to follow you because what you are saying is interesting to them. Either way the aim has to be to keep them interested.

So, what can you talk about?

1) Your own news and activities 2) Sharing other people’s relevant and interesting news 3) Creating fun content that is your own, but generally nonpromotional, and speaks directly to your target audience Your own news and activities

Creating your own engaging content Let your creativity and imagination flow. Almost anything goes.

And this doesn’t just mean text or pictures. For example: • • •

• • • • •

This may be linking to your latest blog post, celebrating an award win, welcoming a new member of staff, introducing your audience to your team members or your clients, promoting PR coverage, showcasing a great piece of work you have completed, letting people know what networking events you are attending or talks/ workshops you are giving, special offers, etc.

•

It should be easy to find plenty of content to fill up this category.

And that’s the problem; often this is all people talk about, and that’s not very interesting. So yes, do include it in your social media posts, but make sure you have plenty of other nonpromotional posts too - ideally 70% to 80% should fall in the nonpromotional category.

•

Sharing other people’s relevant and interesting news

MARKETING

HOW TO GENERATE EFFECTIVE CONTENT FOR YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS

• • •

Infographics - what can you demonstrate with images rather than text?

A blog from a guest writer Helpful, fun, interesting videos (usually posted via YouTube) - yours, or other people’s. Record your own, keep them short, and ensure the visuals are watchable (not too blurred or unsteady) and the audio is clear and can easily be heard Top Tips - share your expertise Your thoughts on a relevant news story FAQs - those questions you are always being asked Interviews with people that will interest your target audience If you sell a product or a book, highlight and thank your stockists Promote local, industry, or fun events that will interest your followers Run a competition - give something back to your audience Promote a charity you support Ask your followers questions, or run an ‘ask me anything’ (AMA) session and allow them to ask you whatever they want Photos - these are always fun and people like photos. So (almost) whatever you are doing, see if it lends itself to a quick photo (taken on your mobile phone is fine). Perhaps it’s a sunny day and you’re spending the afternoon working in the local park - take a photo of your view. Maybe you are out for lunch with a client or supplier - post a photo of the two of you. A great view, some beautiful flowers, your dog doing something daft - almost anything’s worth considering!

These are just a few ideas - there is lots more you can do. Let your personality and expertise shine through.

Look for other relevant people to follow and when you see a post of theirs that engages you and you think your followers would also like - share it. If you read an article, blog post, or commentary, listen to a podcast, or view a video that you think others might enjoy - share it and say why you think it’s particularly interesting.

Finally, before you post anything, check that it:

Look for content that is helpful, or gets people thinking, or is simply very funny or very beautiful. If it’s grabbed your attention then the chances are it will grab your audience’s attention too.

3) helps to highlight who you are and what you do

1) is something people will read and want to share 2) reflects positively on you and your business

4) will appeal to your target audience Post regularly, make it interesting, and reply to people who interact with you via Social Media - these are the keys to keeping your followers engaged.

About Chantal Cooke: Chantal Cooke is an award-winning journalist, PR expert and author of ‘PR Demystified; how to get free publicity by giving journalists what they really need’, and ‘The Authority Guide to Marketing your Business Book’. She is also founder of boutique PR Agency Panpathic Communications specialising in working with small businesses, authors and those currently crowdfunding. Chantal is also the PR trainer for Virgin Start-Up and Virgin Crowdboost.

Website: www.panpathic.com Twitter: @ChantalCooke and @Panpathic Facebook: /Chantal.cooke and /Panpathic Linkedin: /in/chantalcooke

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This is a great way to keep your feed interesting and add value to your followers.

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TECH REVIEW

SOMFY ONE

In the UK a burglary takes place every 40 seconds and over 95% of these crimes are left unsolved. It is therefore no surprise that many house owners are concerned for their belongings with large numbers of us taking further precautions to protect against theft. So, if house insurance doesn’t leave your mind at ease, then perhaps a top of the range all-inone house security system might just do the trick.

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Somfy One is the first security system release since the company acquired MyFox in 2016 and it is certainly something to talk about. The integrated device offers complete household security with a comprehensive range of features designed to both detect and deter intruders. The device includes an HD camera equipped with night vision, a built in 90+db siren and detection alerts whilst offering flexible compatibility with existing alarm systems. These impressive features are not only designed to sound sophisticated and ‘high tech’, but work seamlessly using WIFI to communicate with the house owner, offering complete security for the home.

The camera is equipped with a specialised wide-angle lense to capture large areas of the home whilst the app allows the user to utilise the 8X digital zoom with exceptional image quality.

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The simple to use app brings the entire system together using your hand held device, with the clear touch buttons and one-click privacy mode making navigation extremely easy and highly convenient. From the app, you can adjust the camera settings, use voice control, activate and deactivate the system, share system access with others and snap photos and videos that are subsequently stored on your phone. This gives the user immediate access to footage of intruders which can then be used as evidence in the case of a burglary, making the process of dealing with a break in as straightforward as possible. In particular, the quality of the image can be altered in order to preserve data use on the handheld device, further demonstrating the flexibility of the Somfy One. And if that wasn’t all enticing enough, you can actually speak through your phone microphone to transmit your voice through the security device - this being sure to spook any intruders.

In addition, whilst many electronic devices are only compatible with a singular device at any one time, the Somfy One can sync with multiple devices simultaneously, making this the ideal security system

for families or those sharing a living space.This also ensures that the entire family or house is alerted in the event of a break in, making it more likely that someone will act on the problem.

The top of the range motion sensors are also an appealing feature and allow the users to detect movement in the house. The senses are also finely tuned to differentiate between human movement and small disturbances, meaning that the device doesn’t spring into action if a pet strolls past or a branch brushes against the window. Additionally, the user remains in control of the sensors at all times and can control them from a phone, enabling them to be switched on or off at any time. The device can also detect the sound of the smoke alarm, meaning that the user is alerted via the app in the event of smoke detection.

The device also mutes its presence through its sleek and sophisticated design, allowing it to fit in to many decor types. The integrated system is compact, black, shiny and discreet and will sit inconspicuously in the corner of the room, making it difficult for potential intruders to notice whilst also complementing existing interiors. The cable for the device is also long, making it convenient for multiple placements. However, the cable may be irritating for those who prefer wire-free devices. Additionally, the Somfy only comes in black or white, limiting its preferability in some households; more colour options would certainly give customers a little more aesthetic choice. However, this doesn’t change the fact that it is one of the most high-tech, compact and attractive security devices around.

And if all of this isn’t enough, the Somfy One has a range of additional features and devices that can improve the home security experience even further.

The device is compatible with the Amazon Echo, allowing users to control the device with their voice.

Furthermore, the Somfy One offers customers indoor motion sensors, key fobs to detect who is leaving and entering the house and indoor and outdoor sirens. So overall this is definitely the home security device to secure your home and can be improved over time with software updates.

For more information, please visit www.protect.somfy.co.uk/uk/somfy-one.html

Fresh from its debut at the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show, the Land Rover Discovery SVX is the ultimate SUV for all-terrain enjoyment. Building upon the standard Discovery’s agility and robustness in difficult terrain, the Discovery SVX throws better suspension and rear-mounted recovery winch into the mix for improved height and flexibility. The latest models also boast enhanced departure angle and bumpers to deliver top-notch approach, as well as exposed tow hooks.

The addition of 815mm diameter 275/55 R20 Goodyear Wrangler all-terrain tyres supported by forged aluminium alloy wheels ensures a seamless driving experience, while bolder tyre tread pattern makes for improved grip in wet or muddy driving conditions. The model’s front end is characterised by its revised vents, which are taller and deeper than the standard model to ensure optimal air ventilation.

Under the hood, the latest model has done away with the 3.0 litre gasoline engine and the diesel V6 engine, which have been replaced with a brawny 5.0 litre supercharged V-8 engine with a capacity of 518 horsepower and 561 pounds of torque per foot.

Transmission is enhanced with a ZF 8-speed automatic gearbox, which has been exclusively programmed for the Land Rover Discovery SVX. The SVX marks the introduction of Hydraulic Active Roll Control, which enables increased wheel agility and body control, making for a smooth and stable ride on any surface.

Hardware upgrades include enhancements to the active centre and electronic rear locking differentials, which maximise traction on all surfaces with the specially designed Terrain Response 2 system. Meanwhile, additional software calibrations to the eight-speed automatic transmission with twin-speed transfer box, and to the dynamics systems such as Hill Descent Control, Adaptive Dynamics, Dynamic Stability Control, Electronic Traction Control, All-Terrain Progress Control and variable ratio electric power-assisted steering.

Another first for the model is the Pistol Shifter, which replaces the Drive select rotary shifter and enables perfected gear control for off-road manoeuvres.

While the slick and sophisticated interiors of the SVX remain largely unchanged compared to the standard Discovery, finer elements of interior design characterise it as a new generation. In spite of high functionality, the interior is not overcrowded with buttons and features, and remains neatly understated. Its large infotainment screen on the dashboard, and logoed two-tone leather seat upholstery are notable features of this sleek but succinct interior design.

As the first Land Rover model to be handassembled by the expert at the SVO Technical Centre, the Discovery SVX promises to be a work of art in terms of function and appearance. The Land Rover Discovery SVX is available from Autumn 2018. For more information visit www.landrover.co.uk

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State of the art augmentation, both aesthetic and functional, is notable on the Land Rover Discovery SVX, to deliver an overall more chiselled look. The SUV is protected from superficial bumps and scratches by plastic front and rear body cladding, while the bumpers have been completely overhauled for more elevated angles of approach and departure, empowering it to tackle the most angular of terrain, from ditches to rock faces. This has been achieved with lightweight aluminium monocoque skeleton and four-corner air suspension, which take advantage of long-travel dampers and enhanced knuckles.

DRIVE

LAND ROVER DISCOVERY SVX

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NETWORKING

DEAR READER@EMAILADDRESS.COM, I’M SURE YOU’LL FIND THIS BLOG OF INTEREST… Written by Andy Lopata

Despite the advent of the GDPR regulations, I’ve noticed an increase in the amount of mass messaging (aka spam) sent through LinkedIn in recent months.

This includes messages pushed out through the platform and emails sent ‘because we’re connected on LinkedIn’ through normal email channels.

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It seems to be easy to forget (or ignore) that LinkedIn is a social network where relationships are supposed to be built and mutual support leveraged, not an opt-in mailing list. Or maybe it’s just laziness in some cases.

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Laziness would certainly seem to account for the message I recently received from someone who knows me yet offered to sell to me exactly what I offer to other people!

Or the message one of my associates received addressed ‘Dear…’ and addressed to his email rather than his name!

There’s no excuse for such basic errors but they happen when you mass message people. I’d be unimpressed with such poorly thought through and

executed communications by normal email but when they come through a platform like LinkedIn it’s almost unforgivable.

When you mass message people two things happen.

First of all you treat everyone as the same, despite the fact we are facing different challenges, have different needs and are connected to you in different ways and for different reasons. By obliterating those differences you destroy much of the hard work you have put into building unique relationships.

Secondly, by its nature the communication is all about you and not about the person you are communicating with. OK, you might start with ‘I hope you’re well’ but that just compounds the insult – you clearly don’t care, otherwise you’d say it to me personally!

I’m not pretending that there is no place for mass communication in a marketing or sales strategy. I’m just not sure that LinkedIn is the place for it. And if it is, it needs to be better executed, with more honesty, more nuance and less laziness.

Labelled ‘Mr Network’ by The Sun, Andy Lopata was called one of Europe’s leading business networking strategists by The Financial Times.

Andy is the author of three books on networking, as well as a blogger for The Huffington Post and NatWest Business Sense.

Find out more at www.lopata.co.uk @AndyLopata

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