So many people have been financially affected by the pandemic since it started 12 months ago. Some people have seen a drop in their sales whilst others have had to stop working altogether. You may have been eligible for financial support from one or more of the government schemes but if you have only very recently gone self employed then you will most likely of missed out. You may decide that you can no longer afford to stay self employed and instead decide to return to an employed position. This does not have to be permanent, you may just choose to do it for the next 12 months or so until life starts to hopefully return to normal. If you want to continue to be self-employed, then you may need to adapt your business. Looking at other ways in which you could offer your products or services can allow you to continue turning over a profit. You could also use this time to improve your business, whether that be your business premises or your processes. You may look to working on your marketing and set up social media profiles or have a website created.  Using this time effectively, will mean you can hit the ground running when you do open up again.

At present, the whole world is going through unprecedented times and no one quite knows when it is all going to end. It may be that you have lost your job during this time or that you have finished a college or university degree and want to find work. At the moment, unemployment rates are the highest they have been for some time. This means that most jobs are in higher competition so you really need to be top of your game to give yourself the best opportunity to land a job.

Often it is a bit of a numbers game and you will need to apply for as many jobs as possible to give yourself the best opportunity. If you are not working then set yourself at least an hour every day to search for and apply for jobs.

There are a number of places in which you can search for jobs, and you may ant to enlist with an agency or two to help continue search for vacancies for you. Be sure to have an up to date CV handy to send off to any job that becomes available but remember to tailor your CV to the job that you are applying for.

The life of a website programmer can be quite interesting, but it can also be lonely, especially if you are self-employed and work on your own. Even if you are a programmer that works for an agency and therefore work alongside others in a office, you will spend a lot of your time with your head down programming and cannot be distracted. If you are a programmer and run your own business, then it may not only be the social side of this that causes an issue. You need to stay in touch with latest developments and have time to promote your business.

Over the last few years that’s has been a noticeable increase in networking events and groups set up specifically for the people that are involved in the online world such as web programmers, web designers and online marketeers. These are often quite informal get-togethers, where people can share ideas and possibly even make new acquaintances that they may call upon in the future as well as giving them some all-important time to socialise. If you are interested in attending one of these groups, search on some of the social media sites. If there is not a group near you then it may be an idea to contact some people in the local area who work in this industry to ask if they would be interested in attending if you started one up?

As an employer it is important to look after your staff. You need to ensure that not only are they happy in their job but they also have the sufficient skills and materials they need to complete it to a high standard in a timely manner. Over times jobs often progress and new technology or new regulations come in to play which means staff have to do tasks in a different way. This is one of the reasons that staff training is so important. It may be that you are launching a new product or service and need to train staff on how to use / sell it or it may be that you are having a new point of sale system installed and need to show them how it works.  

All employees should have a personalised training programme to ensure it meets their individual needs. It may be that the training required should all be done in house by a supervisor or manager or they may be required to attend a training course ra by a third party of the manufactures.

Although you as an employer may have to pay for training to be done, it should benefit the business in the long run making staff more productive and ensuring minimal mistakes are made.

Some jobs allow for you to participate in training whilst you are working in a paid job position.

This can help you learn how to improve in your current role, teach you new skills and processes to allow you to take on additional responsibilities or help you manage other members of staff. You may even go on to work in a different sector of the business following on from additional training.

Often employees will be given the opportunity to go on a management courses if they are being consider for running a department or a team of people. A management course can help an employee understand how to speak to other members of the team in an authoritative but not confrontational way. It can also help them with time management, help them boost staff moral and keep track of how effectively their members of staff are working.

Very often you will not have to pay for on the job training as it will either be in house or your employer will cover the cost of external training. If you have asked to go on a specific course then they may ask you for a contribution. You may even have to sign a contract to say that you will stay with the employer for a certain period of time following the completion of the course.  If you are offered additional training it is always a good idea to take them up on the offer as it will improve your productivity in a current job but can also look great on a CV should there come a time when you wish to leave.

If you are looking for a job you may find that there are many positions that involve shift work, often working over night. These jobs are not often that popular as it will involve you sleeping in the day and working at night. Shift work is usually done on a rotational basis meaning that you may have four nights on then four nights off etc. This type of work does not suit everyone but if you like having whole days off in the week then it may be ideal for you. If you have a partner and they work a 9-5 type job then you may find that you have little time together if one of your works night shifts. Some shift work is not over night as such, either early mornings or late nights such as 6am till 2pm until 10pm. Again this can work brilliant for many individuals and families as it allows you to have time together when most people are at work.

If you are working night shifts you may find that you are offered a higher wage than working in the day. This is often something that tempts many people in to the job.

Doing the payroll can be a very time consuming job, especially if you have members of staff who’s wages change weekly or monthly or that sometimes earn bonuses etc. Your payroll system can be as simple or as complex as you like but more of the good ones will also have the ability to calculate holiday pay, sick pay and maternity leave as well as usual salaries.

If you are currently doing your payroll in-house then it is worth working out how much time it takes and also if there are often mistakes made with it leaving you with unhappy members of staff. Some accountants will charge a small fee to manage your payroll for you and can often offer different packages to suit your individual business needs i.e. the number of people on the payroll, the frequency of the payroll and complexity of it.

They can also submit your Employers contribution to HMRC for you and advise you of the amounts that need to be paid in order to stay on top of your financial accounts. They will check that you have all the unesseccary documents you need for your employees and any casual workers if required.

The government have announced that the minimum wage for over 21 year olds is set so rise in October of this year from £6.50 to £6.70. This is roughly in line with inflation and has disappointed many who were expecting a higher increase to £7 per hour.

The other political parties are now setting out their policies of which Labour is stating that they would increase the minimum wage to £8 per hour by the year 2020 and the Liberal Democrats are setting out plans to make people on minimum wage tax exempt.

The Green party have expressed that they would immediately raise the minimum wage to meet the living wage level and further increase to £10 per hour by 2020. They also wish to abolish the age differentials between minimum wage levels meaning that everyone over the age of 16 would be entitled to the full minimum wage.

The common policy between all the parties seems to be an increase in minimum wage levels, just of varying degrees and with different conditions attached to the increase.

Recent figures have been released to show that over 1.9 million jobs could have been created by the end of 2014 thanks to new small – medium sized businesses. This increase is largely due to the number of new businesses starting up and previous self employed people working from home looking to take on their first member or members of staff. With recent government programs to help people start up their own company, there has been a large increase in this happening. Potentially, this could add up to £27 billion pounds for the United Kingdom’s economy. Research has shown that a new employee working in a small to medium sized business will on average, be expect to work about 28-30 per week, where as an employee taken on by a start up business working from home would be more likely to work about 20-21 hours per week. I think this is a fantastic change and should be welcomed by all.

In the current job market, keeping a job is very important, whether you enjoy it or not. Being easy to work with can help you in ways which just being good at your job can’t, therefore, It is important to cultivate an attitude which best helps maintain a positive work environment. In a team based enterprise, nothing is more important that this, and any failing in this can seriously jeopardize your position.

Being a team player at work will help you more than you would expect, as can not complaining constantly. If you can demonstrate flexibility in the work place then it could help you to gain more opportunities, whether they be in your current business or perhaps with a nice recommendation for when you are ready to move on. This doesn’t mean that being ambitious is a bad thing, and working with a goal in mind can be excellent motivation, and motivated employees always leave a good impression with employers.