Creativity in the Bathroom

Providing an environment for your employees that fosters creativity is not just about installing plants and putting motivating pictures on hooks in the workplace. Have you ever noticed that your most creative ideas might come to you when you’re not actually working on them?

 

We came across some research which suggested that some of the best ideas come from the bathroom. Now, it wasn’t necessarily the contents of the bathroom that provided stimulation for people, it was more to do with distancing oneself from a task/problem to gain clarity. Often, only when we distance ourselves from a problem does a solution appear which might explain why Albert Einstein frequently went sailing.

 

Unfortunately many employees do not have access to sailboats, but a trip to the bathroom could just provide that breakthrough needed. So just like Harrods have recently done, make sure staff facilities are in top notch condition. Ideas (not pictures!) are welcome.

 

Simon Morgan - HR Dept

 

http://www.hrdept.co.uk/offices/south-east/south-east-london-and-north-kent

Changes to the National Minimum Wage effective 1st October 2012

There are new national minimum rates coming into force on 1st October 2012: £6.19 for workers aged 21 and over, £4.98 for those 18-20 (frozen) and £3.68 for 16-17 year olds (frozen).

Good news for apprentices whose minimum wage will increase from £2.60 to £2.65 which we feel is just above slave labour rates now. With youth unemployment hitting worryingly high rates, increasing the minimum wage for younger job seekers will only put employers off taking staff on.

Hopefully this move will instil some confidence in employing younger workers as well as giving young people a chance to get on the career ladder. However the Rowntree Foundation points out that the minimum wage is not the same as a living wage. A single person in work needs to earn £16,400 a year in order to be left £193 a week net after paying basic rent, tax and national insurance.

 

Simon Morgan - HR Dept

http://www.hrdept.co.uk/offices/south-east/south-east-london-and-north-kent

The HR Dept is RTI (Real Time Information) ready

The payroll system is facing its biggest overhaul since its inception in the 1940s and The HR Dept is advising businesses of any size to prepare now.

 

From April 2013 HMRC is to implement a new method of reporting PAYE. The current method of reporting a workforce’s PAYE is manually, once a year. From April 2013 employers must send HMRC PAYE information when or before their workers are paid. This will depend on the employer’s payment frequency so reporting could be required on a weekly basis.

 

The HR Dept payroll service is however at the forefront of these changes, having taken part in HMRC’s pilot scheme. Clients who outsource their payroll to The HR Dept will benefit from a payroll company that is well practised in Real Time Information (RTI) and will ensure their PAYE scheme is meeting the new HMRC requirements in 2013.

 

Simon Morgan, Director of The HR Dept [South East London and North Kent] comments “The new method of reporting PAYE is undoubtedly going to increase administration and costs if done in-house. New approved electronic software will have to be implemented, employee data will need to be continually updated, not to mention the weekly or monthly reporting to HMRC when employees are paid. We are really pleased that our clients are able to benefit from a payroll service that is RTI ready and businesses that have not yet prepared themselves are advised that there will be a penalty regime operated to ensure compliance.”

 

Real Time Information will eventually offer a simpler and more accurate method of reporting tax and national insurance, to combat the problems HMRC faced in 2011 when it had to make repayments to those who had overpaid on tax and request payments for those who had underpaid.

 

Contact The HR Dept for help and guidance on RTI and our up to date payroll service.

 

The HR Dept [South East London and North Kent] specialises in advising small and medium sized business on all employment issues.

simon.morgan@hrdept.co.uk

http://www.hrdept.co.uk/offices/south-east/south-east-london-and-north-kent