Blog - Business
New Anglia Growth Hub Spotlight
6th Aug 2020Business, CoronavirusSpotlight
New Anglia Growth Hub was set up in 2014 to provide free face-to-face business support. Since then, its team of expert advisers have engaged with over 9800 businesses, providing more than 51,000 hours of support across Norfolk and Suffolk. Businesses can access a range of support including help accessing grants and funding, international trade advice, training opportunities and specialist high growth support. Initiated by the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership...
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Survivors Guide to Redundancy
3rd Aug 2020Business, CoronavirusRedundancy
Dealing with redundancy aftermath Survivors Guide to Redundancy - While the R rate may have become a much talked about piece of data in recent months, capturing the level of Covid infection ‘risk rate’, the other significant R word which keeps us all mindful of the pandemic impact – is Redundancy. This R Rate, continues to be high, and affecting businesses small and large throughout the UK. Indeed, the ONS (Office...
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Chase Plastic – Spotlight
1st Aug 2020Business, CoronavirusSpotlight
Chase Plastics Spotlight David Harris acquired Chase Plastics, one of the country’s longest established manufacturers of recycled plastic, in 2018. The company had a good reputation and established client base but needed new energy and a different approach to grow. Their historic demand had been based on price: it was cheaper to use recycled polythene. However, in recent years the increased focus on sustainability and the circular economy has created...
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Furloughed workers get full redundancy payments
30th Jul 2020Business, Change Management, Coronavirus, Employment Law, HR Resources, Human Resources, PayrollRedundancy
Furloughed workers get full redundancy payments The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy has announced this morning (30th July 2020) that it is bringing in a new law to ensure all furloughed employees receive redundancy payments at 100% of their normal pay, rather than a reduced furlough rate. Throughout the pandemic, the government has urged businesses to do right by their employees and pay those being made redundant based...
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Redundancy Getting It Right
28th Jul 2020Business, Coronavirus, Employment LawRedundancy
Making someone redundant is one of the hardest things you'll ever have to do – and for the sake of your business, you need to balance the need to get it right legally as well as skilfully manage the emotional impact that always ensues for the team member affected and their colleagues. Lockdown has posed a number of difficulties for businesses, many business owners, even with the support offered by...
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Employees returning from Spain
27th Jul 2020Absence Management, Business, Coronavirus, Employee Benefits, Employee Handbook, Employment Law, Human Resources, MAD-HR NewsPayroll
Employees returning from Spain Employees returning from Spain Following a significant change over the last week in both the level and pace of confirmed Covid-19 cases, Spain has been removed from the list of countries where people do not have to self-isolate when arriving into the UK. As a result, the Government has recently re-imposed strict measures for anyone including employees returning from Spain, amid an increase in coronavirus cases in the...
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Magnus Group – Spotlight
27th Jul 2020Business, CoronavirusSpotlight
Magnus Group started in 1973, initially as a shipping agency and now offering a complete range of freight logistics and forwarding services. When Olly took over the family business in 2019 he knew that he had a challenge on his hands to bring the business back to life. A firm believer in success being rooted in having a strong team, Olly started recruiting the management team he wanted to help...
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SMART – Spotlight
22nd Jul 2020Business, CoronavirusSpotlight
SMART - Garden Rooms, Offices and Studios SMART, based in rural Suffolk, manufactures, sells and installs garden rooms throughout the UK. An award-winning brand with 19 years’ experience, priding itself on customer service and the ability to provide a modular build to allow the room to be tailored to exact requirements. The last 18 months have been especially interesting for SMART. In January 2019 Matt Moss joined the team. Due...
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Ensors – Spotlight
17th Jul 2020Business, CoronavirusSpotlight
Ensors It feels hard to believe that little over three months ago the Prime Minister announced his decision to put the United Kingdom into lockdown as a result of Covid-19 – knowing the impact this would have on our economy, job protection and general wellbeing. As the lockdown now begins to significantly ease, it is easy to focus on the negatives and the long road ahead to recovery and hard...
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HR Resources
15th Jul 2020Business, Employee Handbook, HR ResourcesHuman Resources
HR Resources online Running a business today is challenging to say the least. To continue to operate efficiently and profitably, business leaders need HR resources around them to help with the recruitment, induction, leadership and development of their teams. We recognise that human resources is an area that remains time consuming and problematic to you (not to mention costly). With employment law becoming more complex and changing frequently, it can...
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Employee Handbooks
14th Jul 2020Business, Employee Engagement, Employee HandbookEmployment Law
Employee Handbook – why have one? To some the employee handbook seems like an unwieldy document that gets dusted off and referred to when things go wrong like insurance policy terms and to others it forms the backbone of the employment journey, acting as a guide to employees and managers alike from induction through to termination. Either way, a well worded, comprehensive employee handbook not only provides legal protection for...
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The KBB Centre – Spotlight
12th Jul 2020Business, CoronavirusSpotlight
The KBB Centre The KBB centre is a family run business based in Ipswich, run by brothers Roger and Patrick Peck providing kitchen, bathrooms and bedrooms, with over 60 years combined industry knowledge and family links in the kitchen industry in Ipswich going back to the early 1970s. When the lockdown started in March, there was little choice but to close. All staff were furloughed leaving the directors to undertake...
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New members of Suffolk ProHelp
10th Jul 2020Business, Employment Law, HR Resources, Human Resources, Onboarding Employees, Online HRRecruitment
Suffolk ProHelp - Why we offered our services Suffolk ProHelp provides professional support and expertise to the voluntary sector and have been doing so since 2001. They have almost 40 member firms and MAD-HR are delighted to be one of those who have joined in offering local voluntary and community groups professional HR Services on a pro-bono basis. As providers of premier outsourced HR services we offer a comprehensive HR solution...
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First Arrest for Suspected Furlough Fraud
10th Jul 2020BusinessCoronavirus
Furlough Fraud - Man Arrested in Solihull In the first case of its kind, a man in the Solihull area has been arrested over suspected fraud with regard to the government’s job furlough scheme. The 57-year-old was arrested on 8 July, as part of an investigation into a suspected £495,000 fraud of the coronavirus job retention scheme. The man’s computers and other digital devices were seized, and funds in a bank account...
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Chancellor’s Recovery Measures Announced
8th Jul 2020BusinessCoronavirus
Chancellor's Summer Statement Chancellor Rishi Sunak has presented his “summer economic statement” and announced that it will be supporting the UK’s economic recovery, the measures include: introducing a new Job Retention Bonus to encourage firms to keep on furloughed workers supporting jobs with direct help to find work and to gain the skills people need to get a job protecting jobs in the hard-hit hospitality and accommodation sectors and at...
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The Woolpack – Spotlight
4th Jul 2020Business, CoronavirusSpotlight
The Woolpack The British Beer and Pub Association surveyed its members in May and found that 19,000 of 47,000 pubs believe they will go bankrupt without further Government help. With social distancing at 2m, it is expected to allow around 25% capacity, which means even when allowed to open, they believe it will be impossible to survive financially. Even those with gardens and outdoor space will struggle, especially once heading...
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Hudson Group LLP – Spotlight
2nd Jul 2020Business, CoronavirusSpotlight
Hudson Group The Hudson Group has been supporting organisations to promote their brand since 1966. From promotional merchandise and clothing to vehicle graphics, printed materials and signage. A local company, employing 38 people, based on two sites in Suffolk, and one in the Midlands, providing support nationwide. When the Government announced on 20 March that entertainment, hospitality and leisure businesses were to close and that if you can work from...
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On-boarding New Employees
30th Jun 2020Business, Employee Engagement, Human Resources, Onboarding Employees, Online HRRecruitment
On-boarding New Employees Right now, employers are facing an unprecedented time of not only managing their work force as they adapt to working from home but also recruiting and on-boarding new employees into the company fold. On-boarding new employees under these circumstances is proving to be a challenge but not unachievable if planned in advance and when technology is harnessed to deliver on-boarding programmes. The On-boarding process is an unmissable...
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Easing of Lockdown – Step Three
24th Jun 2020BusinessCoronavirus
Easing Lockdown as at 23.06.20 Yesterday, the Prime Minister announced further easing of the coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions as part of Step 3 of the Government’s plan to return life to as near normal as we can. All businesses and venues can reopen from 4 July by following the updated guidelines. There are some exceptions from the latest relaxation plans which must remain closed in law, they are: Nightclubs Casinos Bowling...
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HR Masterclass with Charlotte Bate
23rd Jun 2020Business, Human ResourcesOnline HR
HR Online Masterclass Charlotte Bate - Director of MAD-HR talks with the team from Addicted to Business (Nathan Lomax from Quickfire Digital and and Stokely Howard from Trendy Grandad) about rewarding the right behaviours and the dark side of HR. If you have any HR concerns or questions about any of the topics discussed in this HR Online Masterclass podcast, please get in touch with us as we would be...
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