Nationwide green services provider, Nurture Group has acquired Lancashire landscape maintenance company, Northern Estates Services Ltd (NESL). The acquisition follows on from the Group’s £60m investment by All Seas Capital earlier this year, marking its ninth...
National facilities management company, Mitie has secured a five-year integrated facilities management (IFM) service contract with savings and retirement business, Phoenix Group. Mitie will provide planned and reactive maintenance, including waste management,...
Although conversations around mental health are becoming more commonplace, there is still so much more employers could be doing. We talk to businesses and organisations about what companies – big or small – can do to support their staff’s mental health. According to Mind, one in four of us in the UK will experience a mental health problem each...
Business coach for the Trades and Construction industry, Alison Warner, gives her expert advice. In recent weeks we have all been thrown into an unprecedented situation, one that we have never seen before in our lifetimes. For landscape gardeners, I would imagine that this couldn't have happened at a worst time, just as you come into your busiest...
Pregnancy in the workplace and maternity leave can be a difficult thing to get right, especially in our industry where so much of the work can be manual. But it is important that both the employer and employee do it get it right. When you are pregnant, you have four main legal rights that an employer must abide by: Paid time off for antenatal...
Low-paid workers will receive a 6.2% pay rise with a new National Living Wage (NLW) of £8.72 per hour. The new rate starts on 1 April 2020 and results in an increase of £930 over the year for a full-time worker on the National Living Wage. Younger workers who receive the National Minimum Wage( NMW) will also see their pay boosted with increases...
BALI and Adtak have teamed up to launch a one-day digital marketing workshop for landscape industry professionals. It will provide the latest tools and tips on ways to stay ahead of the competition online. Join BALI's marketing team, qualified digital marketing consultant Andrew Lloyd Gordon and digital marketing agency Adtrak for a six-hour ...
Getting your job advert right is crucial. After all, it can be the difference between employing mediocre candidates and great ones. Getting the right calibre of applicants through door, relies heavily on how you write your job advert. However, this isn’t always an easy task, nor is striking the right balance when it comes to making your business...
With the need to now go digital, it's increasingly important to analyse the most-suitable tax return programmes for your business. Below are a selection of five different programmes for you to consider. Bokio Bokio is a smart solution that helps small businesses and sole traders grow their company and profits. Powered by AI, it will help you do...
With 100 days to go before the 31 January deadline, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is reminding customers to complete their tax returns early to beat the Christmas and New Year rush. Last year more than 2,000 people sent their tax returns on Christmas Day, according to HM Revenue & Customers. Angela MacDonald, HMRC’s Director General for...
With some devastating suicides hitting the headlines in the recent months, it seems that a conversation surrounding mental health – specifically men’s mental health – has opened up even more than before. So why is it so important to continue this conversation and how can we as an industry support one another? In 2017 5,821 people took their own...
Online PHD Degrees have reported the habits of highly effective leaders.
The Chancellor has announced his intention to reduce the age threshold for the National Living Wage (NLW). This will mean that it applies to those aged 23 and over from 2021, and to those aged 21 and over within five years. This follows a review of the youth rates of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) carried out by the Low Pay Commission over the...
In today’s business landscape, huge amounts of data surrounds all organisations, large or small. Data can improve all aspects of a business’s functioning, but not all types of data are used well. Employee data is one type of data that is underutilised by today's businesses. Employee data refers to any information about a workforce, and how its...
Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom has unveiled a £10 million grant scheme for business organisations and trade associations to support businesses in preparing for Brexit ahead of 31 October 2019. Activities funded by the grants must be open to both members and non-members, and to businesses large and small preparing for Brexit on 31 October....
Paul Hensey's final article in his three-part series. The detailing of a project is not something many designers looks forward to. But if you do, then SketchUp can be a very powerful tool to help communicate all aspects of construction: electrics, steelwork, setting out and even planting plans.The 3D mass model(s) created for the...
As tempting as it can be at the start of a project, when the creative juices are flowing and you just want to get going, it is prudent to spend a few minutes setting up the project file structure and considering just what it is that you are aiming for. The modelling approach to creating something that will be used for...
In the first of a three-part series Paul Hensey discusses how to use SketchUp and the benefits it has. Whether you are using SketchUp to simply create a 3D model to help visualise a project, or you want to produce all of the detailing and construction documents and drawings, a robust and manageable workflow will ensure that images and...
Making sure you are prepared for your new starter and make them feel welcomed into the team by following these 8 tips. Make an announcement – ensure that the rest of your staff is aware that a new starter will be joining them. You don’t want the new starter to feel uncomfortable if they turn up and are greeted by blank faces who don’t realise who...
Rachel Bailey set up her business Rachel Bailey Garden Design Ltd in June 2015, since then she has gone from strength to strength winning a Pro Landscaper Business Award for the Garden Designer category, Houzz customer service award and a Gold medal for her Long Border at the RHS Chatsworth Flower Show. We spoke to Rachel Bailey to...
Once you’ve chosen the successful candidate it is important to make sure you get the job offer letter/email right. You can offer an employee the job during the interview or via a phone call however, even if this is the case it is a good idea to follow it up with a formal offer to insure you have a formal written confirmation to avoid...
Conducting an interview can be daunting for the interviewer as much as the interviewee. Below we've put together seven questions and things to keep in mind when interviewing your next potential candidate.1.Be clear about the role – make sure the candidate knows what the role involves, working hours, benefits, salary etc 2.Ask...
Once you've created your job description and advertised the vacancy the next step is to analyse the CV's you have received. This can be difficult when you are going through lots and your not sure what you should be looking for. Below we've put together a list of 6 helpful hints to help you read a CV. 1. Look for any gaps in...
When advertising a new opening in your company writing a job description that summarises the position and attracts the right candidate can be difficult. We've put together a list of 7 tips to help you when putting together your next job description.Be clear – Make sure you state the job title, working hours, job location, job benefits...
Social media is a part of most people’s everyday lives, and with businesses using it more frequently we were interested to know how beneficial you think it is to your business. We put together a short survey to find out how people in our industry use social media, why they use it and if they find it beneficial to their business at all. The...
From 1 April 2019, the government’s major Making Tax Digital programme has become law for over one million VAT-registered businesses earning more than £85,000. The new rules, first announced in 2015, will mean most businesses above the VAT threshold will need to keep their records digitally. As well as submitting their VAT return using...
In 2018, Perennial helped people in horticulture access nearly £4 million in financial assistance. A recent financial wellbeing survey of working-age people found that 94% worry about money. Of this group over three quarters say it impacts their work. Less than half of employees surveyed had a financial plan and debt was cited as an issue for 58%...
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