Thanks to affordable accounting software, long gone are the days when you’d need a room full of filing cabinets to keep track of your accounts, and even the humble Excel spreadsheet has been rendered a relic.
Managing your tax is much easier today with the right software. No longer do you have to stash stuff in filing cabinets or write notes in little books.
Now you can keep track of all your spending, receipts, invoices and how much tax you’ve paid from one centralised platform.
Now, under Making Tax Digital, it’s becoming obligatory for many businesses to use compliant software for taxes and accounting.
All VAT-registered businesses now have to maintain digital records and file VAT returns to HMRC through approved software.
Some of the top providers and what they offer
FreshBooks offers recurring billing, client retainers, and real-time reports. It also offers several pricing tiers suitable for small businesses so you’re bound to find a cost that suits you.
Crunch offers software but in addition, you can call on help from expert accountants as standard. They currently offer a discount of 50% off the first three months on your new software and support.
With Ember, you can expect automated filing, easy invoicing and more. Accountants are on hand to support you
QuickBooks is recognised by HMRC and is so smart and simple to use so it lets you get on with what you best – running your business. It helps manage taxes, cashflow and sorts out payroll in one swoop.
How to choose the right provider
Every small business is different and some will need more features than others. But as standard most could do with an invoicing function and a way to track income and expenditure.
Even if you think many of them are similar – which they are – you might like the design or feel of one app over another plus, there’s inevitably, the cost.
It helps to create a list of questions to consider – here are just a few.
Do I need to track inventory and purchase ordering?
The world’s fastest man Usain Bolt is attempting to make his signature pose a trademark.
Jamaica’s favourite sprinter – who still holds records for the 100m and 200m – officially submitted his application in America on August 17.
Well known for the stance, in which he leans back and points to the sky, Bolt often performs it after winning medals or setting records.
His application says the trademark depicts ‘The silhouette of a man in a distinctive pose, with one arm bent and pointing to the head, and the other arm raised and pointing upward.’
Bolt, a Manchester United fan, says he wants to use his famous pose as an image on his merchandise including clothes, jewellery and shoes, as well as restaurants and bars, as he looks to expand his business empire.
Bolt had applied to register a similar trademark 12 years ago, but this has since lapsed under US law.
The eight-time Olympic gold medallist retired from athletics at the 2017 World Championships in London, only managing a bronze in his penultimate race – the men’s 100m.
Many financial leaders are on the hunt for a new opportunity to expand their skills and challenge themselves. And CFOs who have transformed the financial environments of listed and privately owned companies may be keen to transition to a private equity company where they can take the lead on revival strategies and/or multi-year growth plans. Few career opportunities give CFOs the same chance to strengthen and transform a company for success as becoming a private equity CFO.
However, switching from a privately owned or listed company to a private equity company often comes with challenges. CFOs often have less time to reach target results. They’re often under scrutiny from investors. Borrowed capital usually equals bigger risks. And some private equity companies request frequent updates from the CFO so other business leaders can also contribute to financial decisions.
But when a CFO is new to the private equity company, and maybe the industry too, they probably don’t have relationships established with members of the C-suite team. And they probably don’t have a legacy in the company to support them. Therefore, CFOs who are new to private equity need to establish a strong team quickly so they can progress with their transformational ideas and the implementation of future-proofed initiatives.
The group and divisional CFO Gary McGaghey explains that private equity challenges are much easier to tackle when the CFO can build a strong fact base for making financial decisions, catch up with the economics at play, recognise talent gaps in teams, and lead with transformation in mind. Here, he shares four strategies to help CFOs who are new to the private equity space prosper in their roles.
1. Get Comfortable With Complicated Cash Flow Requirements
Experienced CFOs will be confident handling a company’s cash flow, debt covenants, and balance sheet. But the economics can get more complex in private equity companies. Debt usually fuels these companies’ investments, which can lead to demanding cash flow management. CFOs in private equity companies often need to report on cash flow every month or even every week.
Gary McGaghey explains that private equity CFOs also often need to spend time evaluating the details of what creates cost and what creates value in an exit scenario. They often need to analyse variable and fixed costs to identify the most important factors in a company’s operating leverage. In this situation, a deep understanding of IT systems and tools can be key to understanding critical data.
However, pre-existing data reports don’t often help CFOs understand the company’s position, especially when these reports aren’t providing a robust, consistent “end to end” perspective of the business cash model. CFOs typically need to develop their own understanding of the company’s cash levers over time while managing cash improvement initiatives and financial operations.
2. Develop an Ever-Expanding, Reliable Fact Base
It can be challenging for a CFO who starts a new role in a private equity company to build their knowledge of the company quickly. Ideally, they should develop an ever-expanding, reliable fact base to pinpoint value creation opportunities, especially opportunities that the company can capitalise on quickly. But most private equity companies lack large volumes of data and the data analysis and tracking capabilities that would allow them to make the most of value-creation decisions.
As a result, Gary McGaghey explains that CFOs need to know where and how to set up low-cost digital technologies to maximise benefits quickly. As an example, a CFO could make targeted investments in productivity-focused tools, such as cloud-based invoice-management software to save time, improve policy enforcement, and improve transparency. CFOs can make targeted investments by seeking the data initiatives that will deliver high-value quick wins and avoid sacrificing long-term gains.
3. Recruit Good-Fit Talent
Many CFOs excel at talent acquisition and people management. But recruiting the best-fit talent can be especially difficult in private equity companies, where management infrastructure tends to evolve and where investors push for quick results. Although the CFO is often an outsider, they must select candidates who can work effectively under different pressures and circumstances of the business and industry operated within.
Gary McGaghey adds that the CFO might also coach employees from other fields so that they can integrate productively opportunities within the finance team. Employees who develop a thorough understanding of the company’s financial position can become invaluable to the finance team in helping unlock opportunities to adapt the business processes which will drive productivity improvements in the business.
4. Lead the Company Towards Transformation
From a big-picture perspective, a private equity CFO’s over-arching goal should be to oversee the company’s transformation. To achieve this, they need to manage metrics through robust, although not overwhelming, strategies and clearly define key performance indicators (KPIs).
Gary McGaghey explains that the private equity sponsor will likely identify an investment thesis and assume momentum. In the meantime, the CFO should identify how the company can generate value on both the cost and revenue sides of the thesis. They should then direct resources towards the desired outcome. In an ideal scenario, the CFO would manage or co-manage initiatives to develop a showcase that models the transformation the company is progressing towards.
Prospering as a Private Equity CFO
Gary McGaghey explains that when a CFO has an in-depth understanding of how to generate value for the private equity company and has a firm hold on its finance function, they can become both a challenger and an influencer. Reaching this position enables CFOs to hold CEOs and business unit leaders to account.
The CFO should host monthly business reviews with leaders in all functions. During each review, they should analyse the factual foundation of every business activity and examine every business proposal from an impartial perspective. They should also make certain that every investment decision aligns with the shareholdervalue creation thesis and the priorities in delivering that outcome. This approach can help the CFO become invaluable to the company as they make the financial decisions and lead the strategies that generate desired results.
As a chartered accountant in South Africa and a chartered management accountant in the UK, Gary McGaghey is a divisional and group CFO who has helped an array of companies achieve their transformation goals. These companies operate in a range of industries, such as beverage, pharmacy, media, and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG).
Having led these listed and privately owned companies to success through impressive organic and M&A-driven growth, Gary McGaghey is now the CFO of the €1.3bn end-to-end marketing production services group Williams Lea Tag. Here, he manages the company’s carve-outs, mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, cost-restructuring programmes, and balance-sheet reconfiguring.
Gary McGaghey is also the non-executive director of Fitmedia UK, which develops children’s fitness analysis and testing solutions. Before taking on his current roles, he held statutory executive director and non-executive roles for listed companies and privately owned companies, including Robertsons, Nelsons, and Unilever.
Camping is such a popular pastime because it provides several benefits that assist us both physically and emotionally.
However, you may discover that spending time at a campground is not your ideal nature escape. These locations bring noise, crowds, and everything that the wilderness does not, diminishing the wonderful impact nature has on your mental health.
Looking for the best camper van for sale allows you to avoid these crowded campsites, letting you reconnect with nature and reap the benefits of the experience.
The Mental Health Advantages of Immersing Yourself in Nature
Several studies have shown that immersing ourselves in nature improves our mental health and overall well-being. Some of the top reasons for spending time outside help to a better, healthier life are listed below.
Serotonin levels skyrocket
Serotonin is the hormone that regulates our mood, happiness, and contentment. Serotonin deficiency causes anxiety, tension, and depression. Too much time spent working, perusing the internet, and dealing with daily worries can reduce the synthesis of this hormone.
When you spend time outside, your serotonin levels rise. Exercise and exposure to sunlight are two natural and highly effective strategies to increase the amount of serotonin your body produces. The result? A boost in self-confidence reduced anxiety and promoted a positive outlook. A holiday to nature may be just what you need if you’re feeling down or stressed.
Endorphins are Increased.
Camping trips frequently involve more outdoor activities, such as hiking, canoeing, or fishing. The more you work out and move your body, the higher your endorphin levels will be. Endorphins are natural compounds produced by our bodies to ease stress and pain. A leisurely walk by a river or a ride through the mountains will leave you feeling less agitated and anxious, ready to face whatever the day has in store for you.
Of course, locating a location near a natural feature, such as the mountains, boosts your chances of participating in these activities even more. Unfortunately, this isn’t always possible with a standard Camper van. However, thanks to their tough, all-terrain construction, off-road camper van trailers can go almost anyplace.
Restful Sleep
Melatonin is another natural hormone produced by the body that helps to regulate sleep cycles. Too much time spent indoors or in artificially light surroundings reduces melatonin production. Low levels of this hormone cause irregular sleep patterns, restless nights, and a fatigued and unrested sensation during the day.
Increasing your melatonin production is simple, and all it takes is some time spent outside. When the sun goes down, our bodies go into melatonin production mode, making it easier to fall asleep and wake up feeling refreshed. However, exposure to light, even artificial light, hinders this natural process, making falling asleep more difficult. When we go out into nature, we use less artificial illumination, which allows our circadian rhythm to reset, making it simpler to get a decent night’s sleep.
Perspective Change
Because you are bombarded with emails, social media notifications, phone calls, advertising, and the influence of others around us daily, it is easy to feel overwhelmed or as if you are not accomplishing enough or moving in the right direction.
You can adjust your viewpoint by spending time in nature away from the “noise” of daily life. The relaxing sounds of water, the cheerful tweeting of birds, and the overall silence of the woodlands help you focus and perceive a more hopeful road forward.
Because they can handle rugged, difficult terrain, off-road camper trailers make it much easier to reach spots in the outdoors that offer this kind of tranquillity.
Remove Yourself From Digital
Several studies have found that spending too much time online or behind a screen might lead to sadness and anxiety. Spending time away from phones, tablets, TVs, and computers to detox your online life is a terrific approach to reset your mind and broaden your happiness.
While the off-grid trailers have continuous power, allowing you to use these devices, the potential of these travel trailers to take you off the trodden path and immerse yourself in nature is unrivaled. You’re unlikely to want to play on your phone instead of taking a trip in the woods or going rock climbing, so disconnecting from technology is straightforward.
Where Can I Get an Overland Camper Van?
Now that you can easily see the benefits of immersing yourself in nature, chances are your desire to stay at a crowded campsite has evaporated entirely.
This means you’ll want to take your camping experience to the next level – off the grid. While roughing it in a tent is good when there are conveniences nearby, it isn’t so great when you’re out in the middle of nowhere.
The ideal solution is to purchase a camper van that allows you to cross all terrains and survive without the amenities of a campsite. While there are a few on the market, buying a quality overland trailer from a respected company is your best chance. After all, you’ll be out in the middle of nowhere, and you’ll need a reliable travel trailer.
OMC Motorhomes offers a unique take on an off-road camper van with innovative designs that prioritize safety while fostering an outdoor luxury lifestyle that keeps you close to nature.
Final Thoughts
Nature provides many benefits that improve your mental health. To reap these benefits, though, you must spend time in nature, away from crowds, noise, and electronics.
The best way to enjoy nature is to organize a trip utilizing an overland campervan trailer, which allows you to leave the hustle and bustle of a campground and relax.
As had been expected and anticipated, Meta has recently stated that it would be switching to a revenue-sharing model for user-generated video content, which will affect how artists and music rights holders get paid from Facebook
Meta’s new ‘revenue-share’ model will see Facebook pay music rights holders a proportion of ad revenue on user generated content. But how exactly will this work, and what does it mean for video and music advertising? We’ve put together this guide to outline all you need to know.
Music rights holders push for a revenue split
Most of the music we see in pop culture and the charts nowadays have usually accumulated a great amount of its popularity from video sharing apps like TikTok, with video creators sparking trends using music created by original artists.
The sharing of money among various social media platforms has been a point of contention for music rights holders for some time. Social media platforms like TikTok and Facebook appear to be becoming more and more popular – as are their creators – but artists and music rights holders don’t seem to be benefiting from them as much as the creators who are profiting off of their music.
Facebook listen to artists’ demand for monetisation
Monetisation is a much fairer way for music rights holders and artists to profit from music advertising on social platforms like Facebook. After all, artists’ music can be streamed several times a day on video-sharing platforms and popular videos. Hence, it’s only right that their music is monetised, allowing them to receive money every time their material is played.
Meta have listened up and taken it on themselves to change the way music rights holders are paid on their Facebook and Instagram platforms. But what does this mean?
What is Meta’s revenue share model?
As we mentioned, a revenue-share model will replace all user-generated video material. Video creators who use licensed music in their videos will receive 20% under the new revenue share model Meta have in place – this applies to any video that is over 60 seconds. Funds for this will come from the advertising income their created video content generates. The remaining funds will be divided equally between Meta and the song rights owners.
How much do music rights holders receive?
Video creators will receive 20% of the funds while the other 80% is split between the music rights holders and Meta. Therefore, a split of 80% of the money made from an artist’s music will go to the owners of the rights. The details of the split have not yet been disclosed by Meta, but artists can certainly anticipate a much higher profit from their own music with this new model.
Final thoughts
As you can see, such a change to how artists receive compensation for the use of their music is a positive step forward. It makes sense in context of the new ways that we enjoy music, and the consistent growth of social media.
During the pandemic, selling on Amazon became more competitive as a lot of new sellers came onto the marketplace looking to replace their jobs. In fact, in 2021 alone more than 1,029,528 new sellers signed up to sell on Amazon!
This new influx of sellers meant that Amazon had to start placing restrictions on how many units a seller could send into FBA warehouses.
However, in 2022 many of those new sellers have gone back to their day jobs. This is great news for new sellers who are just starting to learn how to sell on Amazon FBA as it means there are a lot more opportunities out there.
In this short guide we are looking at 4 things that have changed for Amazon sellers in 2022 and how you can take advantage of them.
1) Restocking Limits
In 2021, Amazon places restocking limits on new sellers. The reason they did this was to reduce the amount of dead stock they kept on their shelves and allow more space for new products to come through. Amazon loves having stock that sells quickly, so these restrictions were good for experienced sellers.
However, as the pandemic has calmed down a little bit, these restrictions on stock limits have reduced so new sellers can now send in more stock. This is great news for new sellers who are taking their business seriously, as they can send in more units and grow their brand faster.
Take advantage of these stock limit increases by growing your product range or by ensuring you always stay in stock of fast-selling items.
2) Fees have increased
Amazon has increased the selling fees by 4.3% in order to deal with the rising cost of fuel. These extra costs mean that new sellers need to be particularly careful when working out their profitability numbers. The changes only affect the FBA fulfillment fees, not the referral fees, so if you are shipping the products yourself (as a Fulfilled by Merchant or FBM seller) then the changes won’t affect you.
Make sure you are factoring in the fee increases into your profitability assessments.
3) Pan EU shipments have resumed
After Brexit, Amazon stopped allowing sellers to ship from the UK to Europe using the Pan-European network. This network allowed sellers based in the UK to keep their stock in the UK, but fulfill orders from European countries such as France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
The reason Amazon stopped allowing the Pan-European network was because Brexit made the cross-border taxes too complicated. However, Amazon have restarted this scheme, which is great news for sellers based in the UK or sellers in other countries who are looking to expand into Europe.
4) Videos on all listings
In 2022, Amazon allowed all listings to have videos. Previously, sellers needed brand registry to have videos. Brand registry involves getting a trademark, so it was a big blocker to a lot of sellers.
Videos can increase the conversion rate for listings by over 20%, so allowing non-brand registered sellers to have videos on the listings is a huge change.
If you haven’t created videos for your products before, then a great place to start looking is Upwork and Fiverr. Fiverr is great for smaller budgets but if you are looking for more professional videos, you can find some amazing freelancers on Upwork.
Some great ideas for videos that will convert browsers into buyers include
Unboxing videos – Show the customer what it is like to open the product. These videos are great for giftable products as you can get the customer to visualize themselves giving the gift.
Lifestyle videos – Show some people using the product in their lives. This is perfect for products that are useful. You can show some models using the products and improving their lives.
Instructional videos – Give instructions on how to use the products. Instructions are a perfect way to get the customer thinking about how they will be using the product in their lives.
Simple information – Tell the customer some info about the product, such as ingredients or materials. Here is a great opportunity to show off the benefits of the products.
Wrap Up
The pandemic caused some major headaches for Amazon sellers, especially with all the issues with the global supply chain network. However, it looks like things are starting to turn a corner, which is great news for businesses that made it through.
Some of the changes on Amazon will really help new sellers and experienced businesses alike. This is great news for online ecommerce business owners who are serious about growing their business.
Reconciliation can be quite a tedious process, but it is crucial to all aspects of accountancy. Essentially, it is the process that compares two sets of records, checking that figures are correct and in agreement. Reconciliation fundamentally ensures that everything adds up, so to speak.
Businesses need to ensure the validity of their transactions, as well as the accuracy of company accounts, reconciling and confirming balances. While there are many effective methods for keeping your monthly financials up to date, reconciliation is almost certainly the most important aspect that you really cannot afford to ignore.
What is good reconciliation?
In order to turn a profit and grow as a business, keeping an eye on the monthly cash flow is essential, with reconciliation forming a huge part of that. The first point to remember is that reconciliation should paint a picture of what is in an account at that moment in time. Make sure you have the right documentation in relation to the timing of the funds clearing.
The next key is accuracy – make sure the person responsible for reconciliation has a solid understanding of the purpose of the account and is reliably informed. Having a system in place will also ensure timeliness, with an ability to track the status of all reconciliations. Your process should also be under constant review as to how improvements can be made. You can always be that little bit more accurate and efficient. Companies like Xelix can even use AI to protect from hidden threats, minimising risk in the process.
Mistakes to avoid
Making mistakes is a natural part of life, but accounting is probably among the worst professions in which to make a mistake. Of course, errors are entirely natural, but ensuring they are kept to a minimum demonstrates a good reconciliation process.
They say a bad worker always blames their tools, but poor tools and processes are the scourge of a good reconciliation process. If the tools available aren’t suitable for the high-speed internet age, then they are redundant. Try to reduce your paper output too – advances in technology mean we no longer need the Amazon rainforest to occupy our filing cabinets.
Paper records in the modern workplace are essentially part of a redundant practice, but these redundant practices can still be found within the technological aspects of your accounting reconciliation processes. If your technology isn’t streamline, then your employees could find themselves jumping back and forth awkwardly between several differing applications. Stop and think – is there a way for those processes to encompass a single application instead?
Though most companies use Excel, it may be time to move past that as a means of reconciliation, as it lacks the validating software that some of its more contemporary counterparts have. A spreadsheet only needs one small error in order for the entire document to be invalidated, so you’re already giving yourself additional work and stress at the mere possibility of invalidated books.
Final thoughts
Overall, your reconciliation processes need to be accurate, up-to-date, constantly under review, timely, and ultimately beneficial, by providing the valuable information you need to keep your bottom line healthy.
Intelligent automation has taken industries by storm. Intelligent automation is a combination of Artificial intelligence and Robotic Process Automation to automate manual and tedious processes with little or no human supervision.
While the technology has just hit the markets, advancements in the democratization of automation with multiple IPA vendors like Power Automate, Nanonets, WorkFusion, etc.have made this technology accessible to organizations all around the world.
What is Intelligent Automation?
Every business has tasks that employees perform. Now the tasks can be of two types :
Manual & repetitive task – which does not require human intelligence like data entry
Strategic tasks – These require human involvement like customer service, sales, etc.
Now, while the strategic tasks can’t be replaced, manual and repetitive tasks can be automated using an Intelligent Automation Platform.
Intelligent Automation platform can help organizations manage their employee productivity, reduce costs and enhance profits by automating repetitive tasks using rule-based workflows.
What are the components of Intelligent Automation?
The solution for business and technology transformation powered by intelligent automation is made up of three cognitive technologies. Let’s take a look at them:
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence, or AI, is the most critical component of intelligent automation. Data is gathered, analyzed, and processed by intelligent automation to formulate predictions. Businesses can create knowledge bases and develop predictions based on their data using machine learning and complex algorithms. This is the decision engine in intelligent automation.
Business Process Management
Business process management (BPM) is the second component. BPM tools automate business workflows to increase agility and consistency. It is used across many industries to streamline processes and improve interactions and engagement.
Robotic process automation
In addition to the other two, robotic process automation (RPA), an artificial intelligence service is used to complete back-office work, such as extracting data or filling out forms. Because RPA combines artificial intelligence with artificial intelligence, it can handle a wider variety of utilization scenarios and tasks. RPA and artificial intelligence work together to handle more difficult scenarios and utilization scenarios.
These three components come together to develop a transformational solution that simplifies processes and improves the customer experience. There is no doubt that intelligent automation has significance across all sectors today. With intelligent automation, businesses may reduce costs while improving consistency in their workflows.
How can you use Intelligent Automation?
Intelligent automation has industry-wide use cases and multiple applications as it is up to the employee how to use the technology.
Healthcare Automation
The intelligent automation used in the healthcare industry combines natural language processing (NLP) and intelligent automation to collect, analyze, diagnose, and treat data. Intelligent automation is used in remote healthcare appointments to shorten the time to diagnosis by reducing human intervention.
Doctors and other healthcare professionals spend 2/3rd of their time performing paper-based activities which results in delays in patient diagnosis which can be easily handled by healthcare automation software.
Healthcare automation using intelligent automation platforms can improve patient experience, enhance member loyalty and reduce operational costs for healthcare institutions.
Insurance Automation
In addition to eliminating the need for manual rate calculations, insurance companies can also simplify paperwork processing such as claims and appraisals with intelligent automation. By ensuring that compliance regulations are met, intelligent automation also helps insurance companies comply with them. This allows them to calculate the risk of an individual or entity and calculate the appropriate insurance rate.
Why Intelligent Automation is here to stay?
Intelligent automation solutions are part of one of the fastest growing software categories with over $492 Million in valuation in 2019. This market is estimated to reach $22.8 Billion by 2027, which is huge!
This indicates the nascent stage of the technology and the optimistic future outlook for the adoption of the technology in enterprises around the world. With multiple benefits, intelligent automation is bound to gain a massive following in the years to come.
Gartner predicts that by 2024, organizations that use hyper-automation technologies will slash their operational costs by 30% and optimize their operational processes. This is because the main focus of IA technology is to automate processes that are bottlenecks for the company’s growth.
Future of Intelligent Automation
Many companies focus on relatively simple intelligent automation that enables digital workers to perform data-intensive, repetitive tasks that have been traditionally done by humans. Data entry and data validation are just a few examples.
Digital workers are able to perform a wide range of trivial tasks. The next stage is to automate highly complicated processes with human involvement if required. Modern businesses will benefit greatly from automating complex processes that cross multiple systems. It enables a more accurate, efficient, and intelligent way of doing business that leads to superior business outcomes.
For example, quote automation using IPA solutions has not only increased quote accuracy and turnaround time but has also resulted in higher sales and customer satisfaction. Enterprises have received significant ROI as a result of selecting well-suited use cases. Harnessing this disruptive technology for competitive advantage is critical. Mapping and charting these difficult instances that can be automated with intelligent automation services is the next step.
Intelligent automation is continuously evolving, and bot-as-a-service will soon be the norm. Because intelligent automation is becoming ubiquitous, future enterprises will be superpowered. Because of this, modern enterprises must seize this disruptive technology in light of increasingly complex use cases, in addition to data-intensive grunt work. We urge you to envision a future where hyper-automation is the norm and provides a strong foundation for future success.
There are strict laws in place that are designed to protect employees from unfair and constructive dismissal from work. When employers break these laws, they are often liable to be taken to court for unfair dismissal. Here are some of the kinds of unfair and constructive dismissals that are unlawful in the UK.
Joining a Union
If you have been fired or made redundant after joining a union, you may have the grounds for an unfair dismissal claim. Workers in the United Kingdom have the right to join a trade union. Trade unions are organizations that represent sector employees and prevent their mistreatment at the hands of their employers. Trade unions were legally recognized in the UK back in 1824, and despite the efforts of some conservative governments, they have remained an important avenue of legal representation for workers ever since. If an employer threatens to dismiss or give less work to an employee due to their union membership, then they may be breaking the law. Some companies operate in a grey area, strongly incentivizing employees against union membership. In some cases, there still may be a case against this behavior in a court of law.
The Conduct of Senior Staff
If senior staff make adhering to a contract impossible through bullying or discrimination, this can lead a staff member to leave their role. This is known as ‘constructive dismissal’ and is a form of workplace injustice. Constructive dismissal sometimes amounts to forced retirement.
Jury Service
Jury service candidates are chosen randomly and are obligated to take time off work while completing their service. During this time, their role at work is protected by law.
Whistleblowing
Whistleblowing is an important right within companies. If an employee alerts authorities, the press, or other workers to injustices in the workplace, they are protected from being fired as a result by law. Whistleblowers often bear the brunt of efforts by companies to keep embarrassing injustices out of the spotlight. Employees that highlight injustice within the workplace can claim financial compensation if they are unfairly dismissed for this reason.
Maternity or Paternity Leave
Maternity and paternity leave are both protected by law. If a company fires an employee while they are on their legally protected leave due to having a child, then they are breaking the law.
Having Given in a Notice
Almost all workplace contracts require employees to go through a period of notice when they resign. This is designed to give both the employer and employee time to iron out any issues related to the resignation. Unfortunately, some unscrupulous businesses do not respect this legally binding arrangement. If an employee is fired during their notice period, this often counts as unfair dismissal if they are also members of a trade union. Companies fire employees during their notice period to avoid paying them during this time, because they have found a replacement or for more petty reasons, like simple revenge aimed to antagonize the employee.
We’ve all been there, sat down, and loaded up our Macbook to see an error appear on our screen saying disk space is full. If it’s happened to you, you are not alone, it happens to a lot of people every day. The reason for it appearing is very simple, it’s because your storage space is full. For most users that can happen after a year or two of using the device, however, for heavy Mac users, this can happen very quickly.
Fortunately, when a disk space error appears, there are a number of ways in which you can fix the error very quickly. This involves deleting unused applications, deleting your old emails, checking through your downloads folder, and using cloud storage. Below we look into these three ways and explain how they will free up space on disk.
Delete Your Old Emails
Do you have your business emails on your laptop? If you do, you may not realise that they can take up a lot of space on your Mac, especially if you work in a job where you are receiving a lot of attachments. When you get a spare minute, have a look through your emails and see if you can delete any of your old ones. Try to order them by size and delete the ones that are taking up the most space first – this is likely to be the emails that have attachments attached to them. If you need the information in the emails with an attachment, you can remove the file and keep the email as this will reduce the overall size.
Remove any Applications That you no Longer Need
In most cases, you will have applications that you no longer need anymore. Most of the time, your applications take up the most space on your Apple Mac, so removing them is the quickest way to free up disk space. If when deleting them you are unsure if you will want to use them in the future, delete them anyway. It doesn’t take long to reinstall them at a later date and chances are you won’t need them anyway.
Start Using Cloud Storage
If you aren’t using cloud storage yet, be sure to sign up now! Cloud storage has many benefits from freeing up disk space to allowing you to access your files when using a different laptop. Cloud storage is easy to set up and you can use it instantly. Simply drag your files from your documents folder to the cloud storage folder. Once uploaded from your Mac, you can right-click and free up space, increasing your storage. When you require the file again, simply load up your cloud storage folder and open it. Many major companies offer cloud storage from Apple to Microsoft.
Which is your preferred method to free up disk space? Which of the three methods above do you use most? Is there a method that we haven’t included that would be useful for our readers to know about? Let us know in the comment box below.
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