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Dakota Blue Consulting Blog

Recruiting seasonal workers

Recruiting seasonal workers

Key periods and commercial pressures for businesses can mean that seasonal workers are required. With the arrival of summer there is a pool of seasonal talent available and looking for employment opportunities during this period. How can you make sure your recruitment and induction processes are as robust for temporary workers as they are for a permanent employee, to ensure you are getting the best for your business?
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Discussing retirement

Discussing retirement

Do you know how to start a conversation about retirement with your older employees without the possibility of age discrimination? With an ageing workforce, you need to make sure you are identifying training and development needs, and providing the opportunity to discuss future work requirements for all your employees.
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Understanding religious festivals and holidays

Understanding religious festivals and holidays

The dates for some religious festivals and holidays change every year. As a business leader, how diverse is your workplace when it comes to religion and are you understanding of all faiths?
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Supporting a multi-generational workforce

Supporting a multi-generational workforce

We are now facing a multi-generational workforce with four generations of employees in the same workforce. Managing and motivating multiple generations creates a unique set of challenges for business leaders. How can you ensure that you are engaging all off your workforce?
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Mental Health Awareness Week 2023

Mental Health Awareness Week 2023

In February 2020 we ran a blog “Mental Health and Wellbeing in the Workplace: Should we do more than just talk?” and as this week is Mental Health Awareness week, (15-21 May 2023), we thought it is a good opportunity to focus on this important issue again. The week is being coordinated by the Mental Health Foundation and the theme this year is “Anxiety”. Their aim is to provide a better understanding of anxiety and share ideas on how we can help ourselves and others for whom it has become a problem. All over the country events will be held connecting members of the community to talk about mental wellbeing. With Mental Health Awareness Week gaining good media coverage, the drive to shed the stigma and the importance of discussing mental health at work has continued to grow. So why is this such an important topic in the workplace?
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Downloading people policies online and outdated policies

Downloading people policies online and outdated policies

Do you need to put people policies in place or perhaps the ones you currently have need a review and update? No doubt you have picked up a lot of valuable business advice online, but before you go ahead and download your policies, exercise a little bit of caution. After all, would you always trust medical or financial advice given on the internet? Your people policies have the power to make or destroy your business.
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Managing bank holidays

Managing bank holidays

For stressed out workers bank holidays are a highlight, for an employer it can be a source of stress. Employees are likely to want time off in quick succession to stretch a long weekend into a week’s break. With the responsibility spread across a handful of people, SMEs can find losing just one person during this time, feels like losing a core part of the business. How can you ensure that the succession of bank holidays don’t disrupt the running of your business?
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The gig economy

The gig economy

The gig economy is thriving. With platforms like Uber and Freelancer growing the digital economy they are challenging existing business. Recent debates around the protection of gig economy workers have seen tribunals ruling in favour of the worker rather than the employer. There is a concern that this regulation will lead to changing the principle of the gig economy and threatens its innovation, freedom and flexibility.
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The candidate experience

The candidate experience

The recruitment process is vital to the success of any business in finding new talent. Too often it is approached as a corporate process and not viewed from the candidate’s perspective. It is an opportunity for the candidate to evaluate the company and gain an insight into the company’s culture. It is the company’s opportunity to effectively recruit the top talent out there and increase their brand strength and referrals. Creating a good candidate experience is essential and not a complex task, read on for how you can improve the candidate's experience when you are recruiting.
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What can go wrong in a performance review?

What can go wrong in a performance review?

Performance reviews are important tools for managers, they can boost performance and productivity and are key for talent retention and a positive working culture. These are all vital for the overall growth and productivity of an organisation. There are common mistakes and pitfalls to avoid when conducting reviews, if you don’t they can go very wrong leaving an employee disgruntled and disengaged. Read on for how to avoid these pitfalls in a performance review.
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