On Saturday 31st October, Boris Johnson announced new lockdown restrictions affecting the UK in response to increasing Coronavirus cases.

Achieving gender equality and diversity is a priority for smart business leaders. 

UK organisations with 250+ people are now required to calculate and share statistics on the gender pay gap (measured by hourly pay, bonuses and on the proportion of male and female employees in each pay quartile) but improving gender equality and diversity goes beyond publishing figures.

Focusing on the analytical capability of the Payroll and HR functions, this blog outlines the power of your people data to help create a fairer, inclusive and more productive workplace.

The workplace has adapted at an unprecedented pace in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The unplanned shift from physical collaboration to mostly online has challenged both mindsets and processes. Some argue that the workplace will never revert, so managers and HR leaders need a mid to long-term strategy to connect the remote workforce effectively.

This blog explores the challenges and opportunities of virtual collaboration and how to optimise working methods to meet business and well-being objectives.

When the Covid-19 lockdown began, The Economist claimed this pandemic would thrust HR and its leaders into the spotlight. It suggested chief people officers would need to play a role similar to that of the CFO following the financial crisis of 2007-2009. “Never before have more firms needed a hard-headed HR boss,” it stated.

The government has announced the launch of policies and measures to protect jobs where businesses are facing lower demand over the winter months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

It’s estimated that the pace of digital change within businesses has been accelerated by about six years as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Where barriers to digital transformation previously existed – be that a reluctance to abandon legacy systems or a lack of support at board level – the necessity to react to the challenges of lockdown have broken these down. 

Hiring new recruits is a costly business. Just how much depends on the role, but according to Glassdoor the average cost per hire is £3,000.

Whether big or small, any restart will be an opportunity to fix a few things. However, a reset is much more than that – it’s an incredible catalyst.

As a leader in payroll and/or finance, you know that payroll is subject to HMRC rules that are complex and changeable. If your payroll system has gaps or vulnerabilities or is not as transparent as it should be, the penalties are high - in terms of cost, stress and reputation.

The role of the modern finance leader is much more than just assessing financial performance and monitoring cashflow. Nowadays, a good financial leader takes stock of the whole organisation to make sure every aspect is aligned to business goals.

When it comes to types of fraud, we’re all familiar with insurance, tax and even identity theft, but payroll fraud is often swept under the rug. It’s not one to be ignored, as every year it costs UK businesses £12 billion in loss.