The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is focused on protecting consumer interest in terms of how the rule of law and the administration of justice is delivered. Any law firm or practising solicitor could appear on the SRA’s radar at any time regarding areas of compliance, which could result in a visit as part of the regulator’s Thematic Review programme.
Most law firms consistently do their best to ensure they achieve the highest possible professional standards, embed ethical values within their businesses and remain fully compliant with their regulatory obligations. Most of the people at the law firms we speak to, even if they haven’t yet had an SRA visit, know the SRA is a very active regulator, and taking short cuts or box-ticking is a very short-sighted approach to compliance management. But some firms are not so well-prepared and often reach out for help.
- Topic:
- Legal
When it comes to the human brain and central nervous system, the concept of neurodiversity states that we don’t all end up the same – individuals are categorised as either neurotypical (they process information and function in a way that society deems ‘the norm’) or neurodivergent (they analyse content in an alternative way).
According to Glassdoor, each corporate job offer attracts on average around 250 CV’s. Of those candidates, 4 to 6 will get called for an interview, and only one will get the job - highlighting the competitive nature of today's job market.
With careers advice now a mandatory service schools have to offer, this Careers Week we’re offering our top tips on how best to prepare pupils for the world of work.
- Topic:
- Education
Many people leaders are all too familiar with the additional HR challenges that can arise at Christmas time, from constant enquiries about payday to dips in productivity, last-minute annual leave requests and potential Christmas party fallout.
But that’s all in the Christmas past for many, who likely manage (and therefore pre-empt) any festive related HR issues in their HR software. So that’s Christmas present handled too.
But how do HR managers prepare for a Christmas future yet to come, and avoid being haunted by failed HR strategies that came before? Can you judge how successful your HR strategy has been this year for example, and make decisions on where to focus next year?
- Topic:
- Human Resources
If there could be such a thing as a positive outcome from Covid-19, it’s that workplace safety, health and wellbeing has been elevated to a tier one consideration for many organisations and its individuals. Which is really where it always should have been.
The key to creating a physically and mentally healthier workplace culture however, is to not treat responses to occupational health and safety risk with quick fixes, to try and plaster over specific challenges.
Health and safety training is often the biggest tick-box for compliance, but how do you embed training into the rest of your health and safety risk management processes to effectively manage health and safety risk and evidence compliance when it matters?
Just ‘ticking boxes’ is a very dangerous approach to take when dealing with compliance, especially if it is connected to a key accreditation like the Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS)!
CQS is used by panel managers and lenders as part of their selection processes to determine which conveyancers they allow to act on their behalf, so holding this accreditation is business critical and should not be seen as a mere ‘tick box’ exercise!
- Topic:
- Legal
Throughout 2021 many of us have been wondering how the Government will lift us out of lockdown and allow us to return to some form of social normality. For many, the Government Roadmap has been welcomed, as it has provided milestones to work towards. For others, it has left them feeling anxious. A recent Access Group poll indicated that 70% of people are feeling some form of anxiety about their post-lockdown future.
This is important for employers to understand.
1 in 4 people experience mental ill health each year and at any given time, 1 in 6 working-age adults have symptoms associated with mental ill health. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) suggest 17.9 million working days were lost in 2019/2020 due to work-related stress, depression, or anxiety accounting for 51% of all worked-related ill health. A study conducted in 2020 by the Office of National Statistics found that 49.6% of people in Great Britain reported ‘high’ anxiety which equates to 25 million people aged over 16. It is estimated the overall cost of mental ill health is as high as £105 billion each year.
A recent survey found that HR was one of the primary industry sectors targeted by cyber-attacks.
The survey found that 60% of the reported data breaches in organisations were a result of successful cyber-attacks through HR functions, with some organisations reporting more than one data breach.
We look at the reasons why HR is often a target for cyber criminals and the key ways that HR professionals can put in place measures to help prevent cyber-attacks in their organisations.
- Topic:
- Human Resources
This a question that has been posed to us by a number of law firms over the last week of so having received emails from a company promoting their latest webinars.
Suffice to say that the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has not announced that solicitors need to undertake new compulsory learning subjects, it just appears to be one company’s way of promoting their training!
- Topic:
- Legal
When was the last time your business did a comprehensive skills review across your workforce? In light of the huge changes we’ve all seen and experienced over the last year, now is probably a pertinent time to stop and take stock. One key area that has been in the spotlight has been the use of technology.
As many businesses are beginning to transition into more normal working patterns, why not use this opportunity to review your employees’ technology skills?
- Topic:
- Human Resources
