News & Views Archives - Page 3 of 22

Some interesting research has revealed that over half of UK employees would consider quitting a poor paying job to pursue a pay rise.

Research from HireVue, found that 54% were considering moving on to a new role with better pay.

Their latest Candidate Experience Report also found that just under a quarter (21%) are planning to leave within the next six months.

The report surveyed more than 1,000 UK workers, exploring current attitudes to work and the workplace. Further findings included:

Lack of benefits, progression and flexible working are also driving resignations

In addition to pay, almost a third (31%) of employees stated poor benefits would be a reason to leave. Many businesses are looking to improve workplace benefits to help ease struggles, and also improve employee retention. Yet, as the smaller figure – in comparison to pay – businesses would be better off increasing pay brackets.

Almost a quarter (24%) of employees also suggested a lack of flexible working would play a part in choosing to leave their current employer. Over a quarter (26%) also referenced lack of progression as a reason to quit.

Richard Matthews, Head of Talent, Resourcing & Employee Relations, The Co-operative Bank commented: “The UK labour market has been in a huge state of flux over the last few years when you factor in the impacts of IR35 tax legislation, Brexit, Covid and the ‘Great Resignation’. Candidates have a huge amount of choice so if you don’t have a compelling employer brand, diverse attraction methods, the latest market insight and a seamless assessment and onboarding experience you will get left behind. Ensuring your hiring process is authentic and consistent with the reality of your organisation is key, otherwise you will see attrition increase.”

Darren Jaffrey, General Manager of EMEA & APAC at HireVue, said: “The combination of pay, progression, benefits and flexible working all play a part in helping businesses retain and recruit top talent. And for candidates, it’s clear they view these key areas as the main drivers to stay in roles. And rightly so.

“What’s interesting is that despite pay coming out on top as the leading factor for employees to quit, we’re still seeing businesses put more effort into other factors of the business. For example, ignoring soaring inflation and what truly matters – recognising their employees’ struggles and paying them fairly in this time of need.”

Demographic differences are also determining workplace satisfaction

The data revealed younger groups are more likely to change jobs based on company experience, with a fifth (20%) saying they would due to burnout, just 16% if they didn’t agree with the company vision, and over a tenth (14%) based on diversity and inclusion.

Mary Maguire enjoying the sunshine in our garden at Cardinal Square last week, with our work experience placement Charlotte

With the latest heatwave sweeping across Europe, people are looking for ways to stay cool – particularly while working from home. How are you coping with the summer heat?

Mary Maguire shares her tips on how employers can look after their teams and how to ‘Beat the Heat’.

☀️Have you seen more evidence of employees calling in sick?

Not in my company (air con offices 😊) but this is a valid point. How many workplaces can claim to have a comfortable, working environment for their team?

☀️What can employers do?
Ensure that there is a clear policy and process for all their staff to follow during the hot weather if they are poorly or need to WFH as with the rest of the year.

Ensure all employees have access to refreshments and are able to keep as cool as possible.

Offer regular breaks.

Let all employees know that the senior management team are constantly reviewing the situation.

Display a duty of care to those staff who HAVE to WFH too!

☀️Should bosses be accommodating and even say people can work from home as it’s so hot, etc?
If their usual working day is in an air – con office then no! Exception would be if schools close- obviously WFH/ flexibility should apply!

☀️zero tolerance policy to hot weather sickies?

Sickies are sickies whether in the midst of winter or in 90 degree sunny days. They’re ‘sudden’ absences. Employers still have businesses to run!
Employers need to apply a degree of common sense too and expect that there will be sudden annual leave requests that crop up.

Do you agree? 😊
Disagree? 😡
Have a different opinion?🤔

With the heatwave here for at least another week, something topical for a #wednesday

#wednesdaywisdom #heatwave #recruitmentlife

We were delighted to be joined last week by Charlotte Brake who is currently in the Sixth Form at Landau Forte College. She had phoned last year to ask if we would consider her for work experience, and already impressed with her confidence, we were pleased to help.

Charlotte was very keen to learn, and with a very friendly and positive attitude – she fitted in perfectly!

Work experience is a vital part of a young person’s learning experience, so it’s important for employers to give students a taste of work/office life.

Charlotte Brake – enjoying the sunshine at Cardinal Square

We asked Charlotte to write about her experience:

What have you learnt on your experience?

Besides understanding the office environment better and getting to grips with different recruitment processes, I have also learnt a lot about different financial job roles, and what different employers in varying industries look for. This has given me a great insight to my future and gave me lots of different options to think about, whether it’s in recruitment, finance, or marketing.

What have you done?

I have shadowed work looking at senior roles for clients, including opportunities to get insights into what they want face to face over Microsoft Teams. I have also had more hands-on moments in several minor roles. This involved being given a vacancy and using different software and researching to find several candidates which I think may be suitable for the role. I was then able to review this with a consultant and get feedback on the work I had done.

What was the structure of your week?

Each day I had to arrive between 9 and 9:30am and left around 5pm. I was able to take an hour’s lunch when I liked around the middle of the day. At the beginning of the week, I got a tour of the office and Mary introduced me to everyone. Since then, each day has given me a new challenge and something to look forward to.

Since your placement, would you pursue a career in recruitment?

I would certainly consider a job in recruitment. The constant communication with clients and candidates really appeals, and I love the idea of helping people through the employment process with interviews and offers. Astute has really opened my eyes in this and the finance industry, and I can’t wait to benefit from the things I have learnt this week in the near future.

What has been your favourite thing about your week at Astute?

I have gotten expertise on editing my own CV, which has really helped me build my personal professional image. But mostly I have really enjoyed getting to know the people here, learning about how they got into recruitment, areas they specialise in and what they enjoy about their job. There is also not a day I haven’t laughed; such a welcoming work environment has been super enjoyable!

What would you recommend for someone else doing a work placement for Astute in the future?

I would just say enjoy! Make the most of the opportunities given to interact with real life professionals. Likewise using common computer systems, getting used to the office environment and experiencing the learning on the job approach. My key tip would be to take notes on things you learn so you can refer to them further on in your placement.

What was the initial process to get onto your placement like?

I rang up Astute at the end of November to enquire about a work experience week for the following year in July. I think my confidence to ring really helped me out in terms of securing a placement, by showing my eagerness to learn. I then followed up with Mary in January and June to ensure everything was still okay to go ahead and ask her to fill in the forms for my sixth form. Mary was great at communicating and gave me all the information I needed in order to prepare. Mary also gave me lots of confidence going into this new environment, which really helped to settle my nerves on the first day!

What has been your biggest take away from this week?

My biggest takeaway from my week here has definitely been if you work hard, you see results. Everyone’s work ethic here is so motivating, and the balance between professionalism and friendship is perfect. This is really reflected into each member of the team’s customer service and attention to clients, and from listening to this I have learnt the importance of passion for hard working, and attention to detail for clients needs and wants. I strongly believe that this will positively influence my future work ethic and attitude towards work.

Employers could face serious legal battles if they decide to cut pay for remote or hybrid staff, experts have warned.

The CIPD released figures this week which showed that as many as one in ten respondents plan to reduce pay and/or benefits for staff who work from home, while four percent said their firm had already done so.

But experts have warned any firms considering reducing compensation & benefits for remote and hybrid staff would raise serious ethical and legal questions, if the move is made purely on a cost-saving basis.

The survey of over 1000 senior decision makers by the CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development, found that the majority of employers who can offer hybrid working – a mix of workplace and home working – are embracing it.

More than three-quarters of respondents’ organisations (78%) allow hybrid working, through either formal or informal arrangements. Just 8% don’t, and 13% said it wasn’t generally applicable for their job or sector. Over half of respondents (54%) expect hybrid workers to be in the office for a minimum number of days either each week (43%) or each month (12%).

Two fifths (44%) said there were no minimum expectations to come in.

However, the research also indicated some resistance to home working from some areas, and while most employers (68%) don’t plan to make any changes to pay and/or benefits for hybrid workers, four percent of respondents said their organisation had reduced pay and/or benefits, and as many as one in ten (13%) said they plan to do so.

The legal risks

Donald MacKinnon, Group Legal Director at employment law and HR support firm WorkNest previously told HR Grapevine that this approach to home and flexible working could cause a number of issues for a business, some of which could also be classed as discrimination which can have severe consequences.

MacKinnon said: “If homeworking is being used by a woman because they have caring responsibilities or by a disabled person then arguably paying them a lower wage for working from home may be indirectly discriminatory.

“The employer would need to justify that lower pay is a legitimate and proportionate measure which might depend on whether the employer could show that an employee saves 20% of their wage by working from home.

“It could also raise equal pay issues if the same work is being carried out by a female home worker compared to a male office worker. It opens up questions around whether the two roles are comparable.”

MacKinnon concluded: “Ultimately a move such as this could leave an employer vulnerable to potential claims as well as it possibly having an overall negative impact on employee engagement.”

Between the 13th-19th June, the world acknowledges Men’s Health Week 2022. This annual event is organised by the Men’s Health Forum and aims to raise awareness of preventable health problems that disproportionately affect men and encourage them to gain the courage to tackle their issues.

Over the last two years, Men’s Health Week has been focused on COVID-19 and the impact the virus has had on physical and mental wellbeing. The theme this year is ‘Time For Your MOT’ – which emphasises taking notice of what’s going on in your mind and body. As such, the campaign focuses on taking notice of all the health problems that have been brushed aside due to the pandemic.

Men and mental health

According to the Mental Health Foundation, approximately 1-in-8 men have a common mental health problem such as anxiety, stress, or depression. When left unattended, these problems can worsen and be detrimental to those affected. This is highlighted in current statistics: for example, in the UK, 3 out of 4 suicides are men. Furthermore, suicide is the biggest killer of men under 45. These statistics underline the importance of removing the stigma surrounding men’s mental health, helping men reach out, talk about their problems and seek treatment.

It is no secret that a stigma exists regarding men’s mental health, and sadly some men still feel uncomfortable discussing their problems openly. According to recent statistics, 40% of men won’t talk about their mental health with their friends or family. Therefore, many individuals suffer in silence. While the topic is becoming more prevalent with more awareness campaigns, there is still a need to help men feel comfortable enough to speak out about their mental health.

Identifying the symptoms

There may not always be clear signs you’re dealing with a serious issue, not just a bad day. If your life satisfaction seems to have taken a knock or feeling like you want to be alone a lot, there could be more going on. Here are some of the common signs and symptoms associated with mental illness:

Anger, irritability, or aggressiveness
Noticeable changes in mood
Difficulty sleeping
Avoiding friends and social activities
Constant low energy
Drug or alcohol abuse
Ignoring personal hygiene

Men often feel embarrassed or uncomfortable talking about their mental health. But the bravest thing you can do is tackle the issue before it becomes a bigger problem. You are not alone. Many other people are going through the same emotions and struggling to find the best way to cope.

Get your Mens MOT here https://www.menshealthforum.org.uk/mhw

Feeling lonely at work? Key tips how you can prevent loneliness at work.

In line with the theme for this year’s Mental Health Week, we wanted to explore some key tips to show how businesses, employers and HR professionals can help to avoid loneliness in the office.

Loneliness can be crushing and can severely dent people’s sense of wellbeing and mental health. Nowhere can this be more evident than at work. Whether in an office or on the factory floor, so many core emotions can be stirred by loneliness from low-self-esteem to anxiety.

Feeling alone at work can also hugely impact businesses, employers and organisations in terms of lower levels of performance, lack of productivity, reduced staff engagement, and even increases in staff absences.

This year’s theme of loneliness is therefore very welcome and flags the importance for employers to try and ensure their employees can enjoy processes to hopefully help any negative feels and avoid feeling ‘alone’.

6 astute tips to avoid loneliness at work: –

1/ Training and open Management Styles

Companies and employers are helpless to try and alleviate loneliness in their workforce if they don’t have open channels of communication and don’t have the ear of their line managers, team leaders and staff. Companies should try wherever possible to designate a representative to be responsible for mental health and wellbeing who can be in regular contact with all line managers so that any issues can be flagged from the off, and the necessary support provided.

2/ Allow your company culture to permit staff to reach for help.

For so many years the mantra of businesses and employers has been to gloss over worker hardships and just tell their staff to ‘man up’. No longer is this acceptable for the majority of work places or their staff. Infact, the employers that encourage honesty and openness around their teams for individuals to say they need help without ridicule or derision, are the very same employers who will benefit from a loyal and higher performing employees!

To encourage open communication, implement employee satisfaction surveys with questions directly addressing how they are feeling in themselves. By offering their employees an ‘ear’ and by genuinely caring about their teams individual wellbeing, this can inform management strategies to help create better activities to address loneliness and other feelings or issues of anxiety or mental health problems. Alternatively you could use regular 1:1’s as a way of directly asking your staff about any worries they have and to encourage honesty and openness to express their thoughts.

3/ Lets talk! Have great communication channels in your team!

Increased staff engagement and open communication with your employees will improve all your team’s ability to feel connected to their colleagues, their jobs and their employer. Better lines of openness can go a long way in alleviating loneliness.

Companies who make sure that their processes are clearly communicated, will allow workers to feel much more confident about asking for support and help when they need it. It is really important to ensure that EVERYONE in the business is onside too. A toxic situation can be created when at grass roots everyone is feeling connected and able to reach out but the ‘boss’ or ‘senior manager/ director’ is unapproachable and always unavailable!

An example for our team at Astute is the way our owners Sarah and Mary, are always available to have a quick informal chat in private if there is an issue of concern or a personal problem that has arisen.

4/ Reward collaboration!

Having a culture that naturally rewards collaboration, across the business for everything from training to everyday work practices and initiatives, means that the likelihood of loneliness being experienced will be vastly reduced. By feeling more involved, listened to and supported, employees will individually have a much stronger sense of ‘belonging’ to their company which creates the opposite environment for loneliness to thrive. Stronger peer groups and inter-company / inter-department relations will also help to create a much more positive culture and again help banish loneliness.

As an example – for our team we have an employee of the month award. This can be given to anyone in our team and can be awarded to someone who has collaborated and helped their colleagues as well as for special achievements, not just for pure financial/ business performance. This enables the whole team to feel part of the challenge rather than just reserved for our top performers.

We also have our ‘Reward Board’ where everyone from our office manager to anyone else can win a range of prizes including half-day extra annual leave just by achieving non-sales activities that still benefit the business. This engages everyone, makes everyone feel valued and actually creates a fair bit of laughter, fun and banter.

5/ Avoid creating too much pressure!

This is a biggie. Many employees can feel disenfranchised, anxious and lonely if they are placed under undue stress. This is not the same as the pressure that they can individually place upon themselves either! Instead, bosses can often send the wrong signals that only x,y,z will do in terms of sales and production targets – which may actually be more geared / achievable by only the most experienced employees, rather than everyone being able to hit the same targets.

In more niche businesses, individuals can put too much pressure on themselves to perform – much more pressure in fact than their bosses can create! This can cause huge problems unless regular 1:1’s happen. A 1:1 is a great opportunity for employer and employee to directly address any pressures they are feeling that week. For the employer to ask this on a regular basis within a neutral, regular meeting will allow any concerns on this to rise up and be addressed, without the employee suffering in silence and more than likely feeling very lonely too.

At Astute, all of our team have regular 1:1’s to allow them to individually air any issues they may have as well as sharing great ideas and better ways of working that can benefit the whole team! Everyone is important to us.

6/ Use outside professional experts!

Most SMEs have under 15 staff, so it can be hard to have an in-house expert to cover all of this on top of their day-to-day job! So, it’s a great idea for any internal representative to be able to have access to an external professional who they can reach out to for trained guidance and involvement if necessary. MHPP is one such organisation that is free and specifically created to provide this free external support to all businesses.

We hope the above has been useful.

If you would like to read more about Mental Awareness Week, with useful links and more information head to our article HERE .

MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK 2022

Mental Health Awareness Week is a yearly event, this year running from the 9th to 15th May focussing on improving positive mental health for everyone. It is hosted by the Mental Health Foundation.

For 2022, the theme is all around exploring the impacts of loneliness and how we can tackle this.

The Mental Health Foundation conducted recent research which discovered many people have increasingly been suffering from feelings of isolation and loneliness which has led to harmful outcomes.

The research they uncovered, showed an increasing need from people everywhere to see loneliness being addressed as a serious topic requiring urgent action.

Given the theme of loneliness, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in partnership with the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities will continue to encourage people to ‘Lift someone out of loneliness’ as part of the Better Health – Every Mind Matters campaign.

The campaign will continue to point people towards the Every Mind Matters Loneliness webpage, where there is advice for ways to help yourself or others who may be feeling lonely and suggested support routes Loneliness – Every Mind Matters – NHS (www.nhs.uk)

As a call to action, this week the Mental Health Foundation are asking everyone – companies, organisations and individuals – to support their campaign and to help spread this important message across their social channels and beyond.

Campaign assets can be downloaded from the Campaign Resource Centre

You can watch a powerful short film on the following link:

https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/lifes-challenges/loneliness/

Any one of us can feel lonely. Occasional thoughts and feelings of lonliness are normal.

But when these feelings progress into deeper, long-standing thoughts of isolation and being truly alone – thats when loneliness can make a huge impact on our mental and physical wellbeing.

Above all, it is important to know that these feelings can pass, and that there are lots of ways we can help each other too.

Just 3 little words can make a HUGE difference!

Fancy a cuppa? Fancy a walk? Sometimes reaching out to each other with as little as three words can make a huge difference.

As part of the Better Health: Every Mind Matters campaign, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport are encouraging people to ‘Lift Someone Out of Loneliness’ by taking a simple action to help someone who may be feeling lonely. If we do this regularly, we can all help to lift each other up.

Find out how you can help to lift someone out of loneliness

So, this week, if you see someone struggling, someone who doesn’t seem to be their usual self, give them a warm smile, ask how they are doing. Offer to make a drink.

Whether in the office, at home, at school or college, a random act of kindness this week could make all the difference to someone struggling with feelings of loneliness.

Here at Astute, we are working in partnership with Kate Woods of MHPP, working in partnership with the University of Derby, providing all of our team with the tools to look after each other’s mental health and to spot the signs of loneliness and other feelings which can impact our wellbeing.

Kate’s service is available free to all organisations and SME businesses.

You can reach out to Kate on LinkedIn and by email to [email protected]

You can also check out our article on the 6 top tips to avoid loneliness in work HERE.

#MentalHealthAwarenessWeek #Ivebeenthere

#MHPPMAY22

Sarah Stevenson, (far right) Astute Recruitment’s MD with all the other winners at the Leadership Awards

All of us were thrilled to watch Sarah go up on stage with all the other winners at TheBusinessDesk.com’s East Midland’s Leadership awards!

Sarah has tirelessly led her team from start up through the most difficult of times. Through every crisis, she has managed to lead from the front through grit, determination and inspiration.

Sarah has also managed to enable her team to adapt to every problem, rise to every challenge with support, help and passion.

Its fair to say that all of us, from the bottom of our hearts, could not be happier for her or think of a more deserving winner for this category.

You can watch Sarah’s speech after collecting her award on the link below.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/UTTqm3ZjKeWX9vTL9

A huge thumbs up also goes to Sam Metcalfe and everyone at The Business Desk.com for putting together a brilliant evening.

Thanks to the sponsors too for their support.

The biggest thanks goes

to all the winners and

finalists at the evening.

Everyone of them showed that

hard work,

inspiration and successful leadership

can achieve wonderful business success

for their staff, families,

and teams!

Everyone getting settled for a great evening at the BusinessDesk.com’s East Midlands Leadership Awards

Here at Astute, we love to celebrate success, so tonight we are keeping our fingers crossed for one of our founders, and MD, Sarah Stevenson who is one of the finalists at The Business Desk.com’s prestigious East Midlands Leadership Awards.

After a couple of difficult years, it is brilliant for us to have most of our team together and celebrate an evening toasting the most talented leaders in our East Midlands business community!

Our table is booked at Nottingham’s Crowne Plaza.

TheBusinessDesk.com wanted to create the East Midlands Leadership Awards to celebrate the leaders in business who are role models within their organisations. The bar is set high this year with a great selection of business owners and leaders who have done so much for their organisations and teams.

The winners will show the qualities of extraordinary leadership and be able to demonstrate the positive impact this has had.

The Leadership awards offer a great opportunity to recognise and showcase the achievements and success of businesses in the region.

There are ten categories at this year’s awards evening, which will see the winners acknowledged in front of the cream of the East Midlands business community.

The judging panel for this year’s awards was: Amanda Fletcher of the Nottinghamshire Golf and Country Club; Reshma Sheikh of Octavian Security UK; Richard Blackmore of the CBI and Jude Weston of NG Chartered Surveyors.

TheBusinessDesk.com’s Midlands editor Sam Metcalf, who chaired the panel, said:

“The standard of this year’s entrants was higher than ever, displaying the depth and breadth of the leadership talent in the East Midlands.

“I’d like to thank our judging panel for their time and expertise and wish all the shortlisted individuals all the best for our awards evening in March.”

We’re all keeping our fingers crossed for Sarah, but we wish the best of luck to all the finalists this year. You have all done brilliantly to be shortlisted and all deserve to celebrate!

The Categories and Shortlists for this year’s business awards are: –

Young Leader of the Year

Adam Horton, Hortons Estate Agents
Louisa Hackford-Gentle, Autistic Nottingham
Roheel Ahmed, Forsyth Barnes
Samantha Wilde, Retail Assist
Stephen Mair, Andrew Granger & Co

Transformational Leader

Adrian Buttress, PermaGroup
Alan Forsyth, Hockley Developments
Bev Wakefield, Vibrant Accountancy
Roland Kendall, Retail Assist
Sarah Stevenson, Astute Recruitment

Public and Third

Sector Leader

Amo Raju, Disability Direct
Ann Bhatti, Connect Derby
Ian Cooper, Speakers for Schools
Marysia Zipser, Art Culture Tourism
Naomi Watkins-Ligudzinska, NW Counselling Hub CIC

Mentor of the Year

Adam Rhodes, Rhodes Wealth Management
Justin Donne, Art Culture Tourism
Kirin Abbas, Paragon Law
Laura-Jane Turner, Jigsaw24
Richard Fairey, Rushton Hickman

Emerging Entrepreneur Leader

Amad Tababa, Autify Digital
Daniel Connor, DC Personnel
Luke Draper, IDT
Rob Spence, Paragon Sales Solutions

Diversity & Inclusion Leader

Amo Raju, Disability Direct
Barjis Chohan, Art Culture Tourism
Kul Mahay, Ignite Your Inner Potential
Mark Esho, Easy Internet Services
Thalej Vasishta, Paragon Law

Professional Services Leader

Amit Sonpal, Barclays Corporate Banking
Andrew Robinson, Andrew Granger & Co
Carl Hilton, BSP Consulting
David Ryley, Ryley Wealth Management
Tony Sherwin, Retail Assist

Green Leader

Becky Valentine, Spenbeck
Gary Styles, Zellar
Lance Hill, Eight Days a Week Print Solutions
Roger Whittle, Jigsaw24

Non-Executive Leader

Jade Martin, Rushton Hickman
Justin Donne, Autistic Nottingham
Rita Carta Manias, Art Culture Tourism

Company Leader

(up to 100 employees)

Adrian Buttress, PermaGroup
Alan Forsyth, Hockley Developments
Arran Bailey, ALB Group
Edward Acres, Acres Group
Lance Hill, Eight Days a Week Print Solutions

Company Leader (100+ employees)

Ian Williamson, ITP Aero UK
Rob Darby, 200 Degrees Coffee
Stewart Vandermark, Nelsons

Leader of the Year?

To be announced on the night !

We wish everyone the best of luck!

“I can be changed by what happens

to me. But I refuse to

be reduced by it.”

–Maya Angelou

What a great definition of resilience! Whatever stage of life and career, there’s no denying that strength of mind and spirit are powerful keys to succeed and overcome life’s hurdles.

From job interviews, applying for promotions, working to get recognition to achieve that promotion, all require tenacity and resilience.

Not everyone passes exams or aces their job interview first time. Most of us have to learn through making mistakes.

Along as we can recognise where we have gone wrong, and have the will to make sure that the same mistake is not made time and time again, that’s progress!

The spirit to keep trying to achieve your goals despite setbacks, that’s true resilience.

All extraordinary achievements come from an ordinary person giving that little bit of extra

effort.

The extra in extraordinary comes from that seed of self-will to try one more time.

To make that final push.

To revise for that extra hour.

To re-read that cv one more time before an interview.

Reading from autobiographical books by champions from the worlds of sport and business, or all have one overriding strength in common.

Resilience.

At some point, all of them have had problems.

Often huge setbacks.

From injuries, failed attempts to ‘win’ to bankruptcy, but they have bounced back.

They have refused to accept defeat on their paths towards their goals.

They have had an inner steel core that has said, ‘You are enough. You will get through this. You will succeed’.

What are the keys to building your own personal bank account of resilience?

We’ve broken them down into 5 bitesize ‘keys’.

Each one will need consistent, hard work to maintain and develop, but together they are a set of keys that will unlock your true potential, and help you achieve strong levels of resilience personally AND professionally!

Let’s turn each ‘key’ and see what it could unlock for you..

What are the five keys

to unlock resilience?

Think of people you feel are resilient. Chances are, they will have some core strengths in common.

1. Inner self-belief/ drive
2. Strong personal sense of emotional well-being
3. Forward/ future focused mindset
4. Solid friend/ relationship/ social network
5. Strong personal sense of their own ‘Physical well-being/ physical health’

For employers and businesses, a crucial strategy to develop in their staff and teams are strong levels of personal resilience.

For example, in a sales / recruitment environment- high levels of individual resilience allows individual consultants to overcome a declined job offer, or failed recruitment campaign, chalk it to experience and crucially move on.

Equally, in a pressurised accounts team, it allows the team to bounce back when a deadline is missed, or accounting error is made.

High levels of resilience will create a positive ‘can do’ mentality in teams to overcome the problem and create the shared impulse/ desire to make sure the same error/ difficulty isn’t repeated.

Individual resilience in a team setting, will encourage an underperforming, overworked, or even an under-challenged employee within a successful team, to gain a fresh and objective perspective on the situation at hand.

Sometimes thats all that’s required to make lasting positive, changes. A simple gear-shift towards a more positive mindset.

So, here are our 5 ‘keys’ to unlock resilience.

Emotional wellbeing

The first and most fundamental key to unlock resilience is emotional wellbeing. This is all about how someone – an employee/ manager – understands and is able to manage their emotions.

This is all about being able to see things from multiple perspectives, able to resolve internal arguments, whilst smoothing conflicts between others, and healthily being able to express emotions.

Resilience is critical in times of stress AND conflict, and it’s crucial to achieve a rational, calm responses to ‘difficult situations’.

When something upsetting or frustrating happens, we recommend trying these four easy steps;

• Stop. Take a second (or 20 🤣), to think about the emotions you’re experiencing. Breathe in, breathe out, take the time to pause. Allow yourself to ‘be in the moment’ and truly ‘be present’. Be properly focused on the issue at hand. Don’t allow yourself to get distracted.

• Remind yourself that emotions are short-lived/ temporary, but your actions/responses won’t be!

• Attempt to identify what exactly upset/frustrated you.

• Explore ways to handle the situation in order to reach the most positive outcome

Looking to the Future

A resilient person is a person focused on their future – ready to embrace change and new challenges.

Until someone invents a time-travelling Tardis or Delorean, nobody can predict the future.

But, it is possible to be prepared to successfully handle unforeseen obstacles. The ability to ‘Look to the future’, is the ability to plan ahead, and to ultimately be ahead.

To achieve this, a person must set themselves a realistic goal – or a ‘SMART‘ objective.

Specific,
Measurable,
Achievable
Relevant,
Time-restricted.

Write down your SMART goal(s), or if you have a few, keep the number achievable.

Write down any achievements that you’re proud of. Anything important that this taught you.

By doing this, if you find yourself feeling unmotivated at any point, you have something real to refer you back to of how adaptable and successful you can be when you put their mind to it.

———————-

Inner drive

Inner drive is all about a person’s ability to focus on themselves on a daily basis. Although a person shouldn’t put too much pressure on themselves, they can do the following things on a daily basis:

• Be ‘in the moment’ – in other words, use their own self-awareness as a guide

• Practice managing thoughts, emotions, and actions

• See constructive criticism and setbacks as opportunities for development. Learn not to take criticism personally, but see it as an opportunity to grow. To improve. Actually encourage constructive feedback if you face a work criticism from your boss.

• Write a to-do list that keeps you on top of your tasks and holds you accountable

• Focus on your core values

A person’s core values can form a major part of their personal identity, and include the things that are most important to them. If they make choices that deviate from their values, they are likely to lose motivation. As a result, their mental health could suffer.

Knowing what they believe in can allow their core values to help them make decisions that drive them to succeed.

Adopt good physical health habits

As we’ve mainly focused on ‘fluffy’ things like thoughts and emotions, it might be a surprise that physical health is a definite key to resilience! It is vitally important!

To truly take care of their physical health, a person needs to eat properly, get enough sleep, stay hydrated, and actively listen to their body. By maintaining good physical health habits, it will give a person the energy and drive to maintain all of the other keys to resilience.

When a person takes care of their body on a daily basis, it sets a reminder of something many people often forget – that small, consistent improvements stand the test of time in comparison to sudden, grand gestures.

Relationships

A person’s relationships can drastically improve their resilience, and their life overall. By having a healthy social network, it becomes far easier to develop and maintain resilience, even if the social circle of friendship is small. Quality not quantity counts in relationships.

This means having trustworthy people to lean on when a person needs support, advice, or someone to listen.

Those looking to develop their resilience should ask themselves:

• When was the last time they were stressed at work?

• Did someone help them?

• If so, who was it?

A person must recognise those who are loyal and helpful, to be able to recognise and identify their meaningful relationships. If they found that the answer to their question was that no-one helped them, think – did they reach out for help? Or did they keep it to themselves and find that things escalated – to a bad day or even a bad week?

But a person also needs to make time and emotional space for others – this is all part of being resilient. Being genuinely interested in what others have to say and showing them that they can lean on you in hard times too. This will create genuine, lasting relationships built on trust and empathy – and it’s an enormous source of strength. Good social connections give a sense of belonging and it will increase happiness, enjoyment – and in turn – it will reduce susceptibility to stress and increase a person’s ability to handle adversity.

So there you go.

If you follow the above consistently – you should notice that your average mood will be more positive. Your relationships will be happier.

Your work colleagues and job may become easier to manage.

Who knows? You may be ready to go for that promotion, new job or take that exam!

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Mike

16:04 13 Mar 23

Highly recommended! Josh and Sarah have been fantastic at Astute. They've found and placed me in 2 jobs now between them, both really responsive and excellent at keeping you up to speed with things. Very knowledgable about the roles and happy to talk to companies with any queries you have.

C R.

10:45 27 Jan 23

Great agency one of the best ones I've worked with! Liz has been a great help and support in helping me towards a new direction in my career life. She is very attentive and keeps me in the loop at all times! She makes the extra effort to work with my preferred requirements for work and even if it isn't completely attainable she meets me in the middle and does as much as she can to help! Also Liz is very funny might I add 😂 and I'm happy that I can now put a face to the name after all these years! Thank you again Liz for all your help and support! 😊

Christine

10:32 20 Dec 22

Josh and the Astute team was very swift to help me to find roles that matched my profile. They are really reliable and will help through every step of the recruitment process going out of their way to assist and follow up when needed. Could not find a better recruitment agency!

Helen Pinegar

16:19 18 Dec 22

Fantastic recruitment agency.. Josh was extremely enthusiastic, encouraging and clearly knowledgeable about what was needed from both the employee and the employers point of view. Extremely supportive especially in regards to interview preparation and endeavoured to procure feedback promptly. Wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Astute in the future to both candidates and recruiting businesses particularly for the right fit for the role!!!

Lisa Leigh

11:56 30 Nov 22

I have worked as a candidate for Astute and they have been excellent. Super friendly service and professional agents keen to fit the right person to the right job. It has been a pleasure dealing with them and I would happily work for them again in the future. Highly recommend this agency.