#BeAstute – Childrens Mental Health Week 2021 “I’m enough as I am said the boy”

What inspires children can so often inspire all of us…

“What’s your best discovery?” asked the mole.

“that I’m enough as I am” said the boy.

I love this quote by Charlie Mackesy in his award-winning 2019 book, The Boy, The Mole, The Fox And The Horse.

My son was given this book to inspire him and all the then year, 6 pupils, in his school.

He’s kept it.

The other day, he came up to me in my upstairs bedroom (aka ‘office’ 🤣) and said,

“Mum, this is a really great book!”.

“Can I have a read?” I asked.

” ‘course you can Mum, but I want it back!”

Half an hour passed in the blink of an eye as I read beautiful and moving pearls of wisdom. Whilst written a couple of years ago, this is a timeless, wonderful book for kids and adults alike.

The gentle words wash over you, giving you a warm hug of reassurance.

And we all need a hug right now. ❤️❤️

Thank you Ashbrook Junior School!

Thank you Charlie Mackesy for creating such a heartwarming, wise and beautiful book.

A book for the best of times, and the hardest of times too. It’s a brilliant book to recommend to all those parents working from home for their children, especially during this special children’s week dedicated to raising awareness of child mental health.

It’s a beautiful, and rare book that can befriend a child and also captivate adults too.

A lot of parents are struggling to juggle their work and jobs from home whilst overseeing their children’s schoolwork at the moment. As a parent and an employer of staff with children, its really important to highlight and recommend great opportunities to help hardworking parents reassure their kids.

There is a great organisation called Children’s Mental Health Week

where you can access a video from their Royal Patron, HRH The Duchess of Cambridge’s video message to mark the start of the week.

Their Virtual Assembly with BAFTA and Oak National Academy is now available to view and share – featuring Jodie Whittaker, Oti Mabuse, Matthew Lewis, and many more…

If you would like to read more articles and posts on employment, recruitment, careers, mental health, and more, please follow Mary and our company page for Astute Recruitment Ltd on LinkedIn and Facebook.

Mary Maguire

Managing Director
Astute | Accountancy & Finance | HR | Office Support

Suite One, Ground Floor West, Cardinal Square, 10 Nottingham Road, Derby, DE1 3QT

T: 01332 346100
M: 07717 412911

E: [email protected]

W: www.astuterecruitment.com

LI: https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/mary-maguire/18/73/553

LI: www.linkedin.com/company/astute-recruitment/

Miles 4 Meals – Our walk from John’Groats to Lands End to raise money for Derby City Mission

All of us at Astute Recruitment Ltd are delighted to announce that today, 1st February 2021, we are launching our Miles 4 Meals charity campaign!

Our team will be ‘virtually’ walking the 911 miles from John O’Groats to Lands End, and if we can walk back again!

We find ourselves in unusual times. Many more people, families and children are struggling with financial problems. We also have a climate of increasing mental health and anxiety issues due to the latest Lockdown restrictions and hardships caused by COVID.

All of us at Astute, wanted to help, so we’re launching our #Miles4Meals campaign. From Monday 1^st February until Good Friday on the 2^nd April, our team will be using our lunchtimes or spare time to walk, run and cycle the 911 miles from John O’Groats to Lands End, and hopefully back again! If you can, please help us with our goal.

*The Government’s current advice is people can exercise for up to one hour a day and observe all COVID social distancing guidance. We can still all clock up a few steps in an hour though!

On virtual arrival to Lands End, Astute Recruitment will donate £500 to Derby City Mission & this amazing cause.

If we can get back to John O’Groats, a roundtrip of 1822 miles, Astute will double their donation to £1,000 for Derby City Mission, our chosen charity.

Every mile covered will raise funds for Derby City Mission who will be using the money to make up much-needed food parcels for the vulnerable.

We’ll be highlighting a series of tips and advice around Mental Health, how important the link between good Mental Health and physical wellbeing is across our social media channels.

We’ll share photos and updates on our progress along the way. Follow our story too and add your own photos and posts if you are taking part!

If you and those in your team would like to join us or just sponsor us for our journey, please email Mary Maguire or Tom Norton, confirming your name, job title, and which company you are from and we will send you more information.

Join us on our charity walk and help raise funds at the same time too!

All will be revealed Monday! What are the team at Astute Recruitment Ltd up to?

Our team have been busily planning ‘something?’ that will start next week. We are all feeling excited!

Keep tuned to find out more!

Why good interview feedback really matters

Our team been working exclusively with a long-standing client to recruit an Assistant Management Accountant. Ideally someone with bright enquiring mind, keen to learn with an accounting and finance degree. Some experience in a finance role would be ideal. After shortlisting down from 18 candidates to the best five, the CVs went across and our client interviewed all five this week.

The good news is that three have been selected to undertake some online testing and have a second interview in a few days.

The bad news is that two candidates are not being progressed.

The client and Astute were able to discuss detailed, constructive feedback for each candidate including some tips for the future.

We fed back to one of the candidates not being progressed and wanted to share what the feedback was including some constructive tips for them in answering unplanned questions and focussing their answers.

“…while its bad news I’ve not got a second interview – it’s great to get positive rounded feedback after the first interview. I can use this experience and feedback to help me prepare and perform better in future interviews, and hopefully get a second interview next time! Thanks for letting me know and taking the time to ring me.”

He has been impressed with the process at Astute Recruitment Ltd, and thanked us for taking the time to call him and pass on the feedback.

If someone has taken the time to attend an interview – they deserve at the very least to get some constructive post- interview feedback. That feedback may just help them secure a second interview and a job offer next time.

“It’s not just learning how to prepare for an interview that counts.

It’s also learning how to perform in an interview. That takes time, practice, and crucially, feedback!”

This is why our team at Astute Recruitment encourages a collaborative relationship with our clients throughout the recruitment process. Good interview feedback from the finance manager/ line manager/ HR professional recruiting, really helps our team inform our candidates on how they can improve their performance on an interview.

From how to answer a question to coping with nerves, unless a person has interview practice and good feedback from the recruitment consultant and/ or client, it is very hard for them to learn how they can come across better in the actual interview itself.

For another useful post on more interview tips and advice, you can see another of our blogs on our website, using the following link: https://www.astuterecruitment.com/6-interview-questions-and-answers-to-help-you-nail-the-perfect-job-in-the-pandemic/

If you would like any more advice or help around interviews, arranging interviews remotely – let us know.

An article by Mary Maguire

MD Astute Recruitment Ltd

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/mary-maguire/18/73/553

6 ‘astute’ Interview questions and answers to help you get a job in a pandemic

With interview requests and new jobs taken by our team at Astute Recruitment, it’s great to share some pointers for candidates about to enter the job market to give them an edge on interview.

Imagine, you’ve been selected for a job interview! Well done! It’s always great news, but especially so in such challenging times. But preparing for a job interview might be trickier than usual, too.

It would be a little weird if you and your interviewer didn’t acknowledge the global pandemic going on.

You’ll probably be doing your interview remotely, online, at least the first interview, and it’s also likely that you’ll be starting work remotely.

The people and business you’re interviewing with won’t be operating as normal, plus you’ll have to navigate different ways to work together.

Apart from the obvious, (ensuring you’re wearing smart clothes, and your Zoom background looks tidy & professional), preparing for an interview means being ready to answer some different questions. So, what can you expect to be asked?

1. How are you feeling?

It’s normal to start off an interview with an icebreaker, but in the pandemic, small talk can take on a deeper meaning.

For an interviewer, it’s a way to gauge the tone of the interview. Some candidates’ replies might reveal they are struggling, whereas others will take the question much more lightly. In either case, there is no shame in acknowledging how the Covid-19 crisis is affecting you. The worst thing would be if a candidate came across as too disconnected from the situation, which could be a hint as to empathy skills or lack of.

The pandemic is impacting people emotionally, and for an employer to ask this question, shows they care. If you are asked this question, you should show you understand the situation and are adapting to it. You shouldn’t just use the same answers that you had prepared pre-pandemic, as if you were still in a typical office setting.

2. How are you handling your work-life balance?

If you can keep a healthy work-life balance, it shows a potential employer that you’re able to manage your time independently, and be organised.

Working from home is set to continue for a lot of us for the foreseeable, meaning employers are looking for these qualities,

Companies and hiring managers need to know that even if you don’t have a team around you sitting in an office, you ARE going to be able to work by yourself, can be trusted to wfh independently and autonomously.

This doesn’t have to mean that you’re calendar-blocking each hour of your day. But this question is a prime opportunity to highlight how you can, and have been able to work productively.

In an online interview, it’s an opportunity to also build a bond as you can reflect back a question to your interviewer, e.g.”I’ve found it’s key for me to factor in a 20 minute slot to excerise /walk the dog/ play with kids. I find this improves my feelings of wellbeing and makes me more focused and productive working for the rest of the day. What works for you?”.

3. Have you learnt any new skills since March last year?

This isn’t a trick question. Recruiters

wouldn’t be put off if a candidate said they had struggled with motivation or finding time to learn at the beginning of lockdown.

Instead, they’d welcome and expect some honesty about what they’ve learnt about themselves during the pandemic.

You don’t have to pretend you’ve been on some kind of productivity marathon if you haven’t. Of course employers will want to know if you’ve added any professional skills to your CV, but talking about hobbies you’ve picked up or personal lessons you’ve learnt helps to give interviewers a glimpse of your personality and a real glimpse of you.

For instance, what you learnt about yourself could be how you discovered a new skill or the ability to step back from something. It doesn’t need to be professional, it can be something more personal.

But, how do you answer if you can’t think of anything you’ve learnt in the past few months?

Something as simple as trying out a new recipe counts. Most of us have discovered some new culinary skills 🤣.

4. What’s your ‘work-from-home set-up like?’

Potential employers have every right to ask about a candidate’s home working environment. Especially making sure that potential employees have a computer with internet access, that they have access to a telephone or a landline, and asking about the reliability of their wifi signal

Employers need to know that you have the equipment you need to do the job you are being interviewed for. However, they are aware that few of us have the perfect WFH set-up. Don’t be afraid to mention any challenges you’ve faced working from home, and how you’ve found solutions to work around them.

This is a good question for employers to ask candidates to see how creative they can be, and how they’re dealing with and have adapted to the current situation.

5. “We’re all on Microsoft Teams/ Slack/ Google Hangouts. Have you used it before?”

Of course, if your interview is on a platform you haven’t used before, you’ll want to test it out beforehand to make sure you know how to use it.

It’s also worth getting to know the main digital communication tools that are popular with businesses. Google Hangouts, Microsoft Teams, Slack and Zoom are all free to download and experiment with.

Some great advice to all candidates, is to be organised and prepared with the tech that they could be using if they are offered a job.

Lots of companies used digital communication tools before the pandemic. They’re just using them even more now. If candidates are unfamiliar with them they should definitely look them up & try them out before interviewing for a new job.

For employees who have started looking for a job after several years, this is a really useful tip.

6. Do you have any questions for us?

Pre-pandemic and lockdown, candidates would go into the office, meet a couple of members of the team. They’d get all of the contextual information before being offered the job and deciding whether to accept it.

Now, with largely online interviews, applicants don’t have all of the sensory, physical experiences through Candidates who have managed to get an interview aren’t getting the complete view of companies they’re applying for.

To counteract this, ask a lot of questions during your interview to get a clear idea of how the company works, the office culture and how you’ll work with different teams and individuals.

For starters, ask questions about training, daily tasks and communication methods. It’s equally important to ask about potential colleagues and hierarchy. This may mean clarifying who you would report to or who you can ask for help when you need it. Alternatively, it might mean taking a more informal approach to interviewing altogether.

A great suggestion for candidates is to ask, “If possible, could I have a virtual lunch with the team that I could be working with, just so I can get to know them—maybe not so much in a professional sense, but in a more casual, informal way?“

You could ask to have one-on-one meetings with potential future team members as part of the interview process. This shows you take the future culture of your potential colleagues seriously.

Companies should be understanding about these requests.

It’s really key that candidates meet more people, especially now. Particularly so if companies add a few more steps to the recruitment process. This can give applicants the confidence to be happy if they go on to secure a job offer.

Remember, it’s not just the candidate who has to adapt to the recruiter, but the recruiter who has to understand it’s a different situation for applicants too!

If you have questions around this topic or would like more information about this or something else, feel free to contact our MD, Mary Maguire, by email on [email protected]

An article by Mary Maguire, Managing Director
Astute Recruitment Ltd

Suite One, Ground Floor West, Cardinal Square, 10 Nottingham Road, Derby, DE1 3QT

T: 01332 346100

LI: https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/mary-maguire/18/73/553

LI: www.linkedin.com/company/astute-recruitment/

‘Astute’ tips on covid tax exemptions for businesses

Employment-related coronavirus tax reliefs

Since March last year, many interim tax exemptions were brought in to prevent “benefit-in-kind” issues arising from coronavirus-related costs incurred by employers. Here at Astute Recruitment Ltd, we felt it was important to highlight these, especially for SME businesses and employers in general who may not have a resident tax expert on-hand.

Helen Thornley, technology officer at ATT, compiled a really useful article in Accountancy Age, highlighting some of the main points to help employers, employees, and flags the measures with a limited shelf-life. We have summed up the key points with useful links below.

COVID-19 tests provided by Employers

HMRC’s position on this has waivered. Originally HMRC advised that tests provided by employers outside the national testing programme were a taxable benefit in kind for the employee because said tests were not “wholly, exclusively and necessarily’ for the purpose of the employee’s duties.

Following widespread criticism, including the Treasury Committee saying this was an unhelpful stance, the Chancellor readily agreed to do a ‘180’ on this.

As expected – to transfer the alterations into formal legislation has taken time, so tax policy papers in November and December 2020 confirmed that there will be ‘no tax consequences for employer-provided testing for ‘active’ cases in the 2020/21 tax year. This specifically refers to antigen tests that identify current COVID-19 cases.

An important caveat is that this exemption DOES NOT extend to employer-providing antibody testing as antibody testing tests whether an employee has had the virus previously. Normal benefit-in-kind rules continue to apply to them.

Every policy paper has its own new statutory tool with its specific relevance to these changes.

The first statutory instrument provides that ‘income tax’ is not chargeable on employer-provided tests for ‘active’ cases of coronavirus from December 8, 2020 to April 5, 2021. The accompanying policy paper confirms that HMRC will exercise their discretion under their collection and management powers and not collect either income tax or national insurance contributions (NICs) on tests carried out earlier in the 2020/ 21 tax year.

The second related statutory instrument (due in January) exempts from NICs any employer who opts to either reimburse or provide funds in advance for an employee’s coronavirus test. This will apply from 25 January to April 5, 2021, but again the policy paper confirms that HMRC will use their statutory discretion to refrain from collecting both NICs and Income tax for employer-reimbursed tests for the earlier part of 2020/21. The corresponding income tax exemption is due to be included in the next Finance Bill.

IMPORTANT: Employers should be aware that, as HMRC’s view of the underlying position has not changed, unless further exemptions are granted, when these antigen-test exemptions expire on April 5, 2021, the costs will revert to being a taxable benefit in kind. Since employers could well still be paying for tests beyond that date, the ATT is raising concerns with HMRC and asking for these antigen-test measures to be extended.

Office equipment

At the start of the pandemic when mass homeworking was first advocated, many employees will have found themselves in need of extra equipment – from laptops to monitors, keyboards and printers and even office furniture. In general, provided there is no significant private use, employers can provide these items without tax consequences.

BUT, where employers allowed employees to purchase the required items themselves and then agreed to reimburse those costs at a later date, such reimbursement is taxable under the usual rules. Thankfully a temporary exemption from these rules will apply to reimbursements made between 16 March and April 5, 2021 inclusive. During this period of time, provided that the equipment was purchased for the sole purpose to enable homeworking/ WFH to take place as a result of coronavirus – and it would have been tax exempt if the employer had provided it directly – employers will be able to reimburse their employees for purchases of office equipment without tax or NIC consequences.

Being and ‘Cycle to work’

Under the ‘cycle to work scheme’ an employee can hire a bike, AND necessary safety equipment, from their employer and pay for that hire out of their pre-tax earnings. The scheme effectively allows employees to obtain a bike in a tax-efficient manner, provided that the employee uses the bike at least 50 percent of the time for qualifying journeys, which generally means commuting to and from work.

Employees who have benefited from these schemes but are now working from home may well struggle to meet this condition. HMRC guidance has now been updated to confirm that anyone who joined an employer-provided cycle scheme before 20 December 2020 will not have to meet the 50 percent qualifying journeys requirement. This easement will apply until April 5, 2022.

The easement will not apply to employees who joined a scheme on or after December 21, 2020 as they will have been expected to factor in the impact of the pandemic on their use of the bike.

‘Online parties and work socials’

On November 20, HMRC acknowledged that a virtual party would fall within the current exemptions for an annual function. This meant that employers wanting to provide some sort of festive fun wouldn’t land their employees with a tax bill provided that they followed the usual rules requiring the event being annual (i.e. not a one-off celebration), open to all staff and that the total cost of the event (including VAT, food, drink or party favours in a ‘party box’) was no more than £150/head.

While Christmas is past, the pandemic is still very much with us, so employers with other annual events coming up might be pleased to learn that the relaxation was not just in respect of Christmas parties, but any such annual function – provided that the total cost per head of the events combined is less than £150 in any given tax year. This means that provided all the other conditions are met, an employer can move comparable regular events online and still benefit from the usual rules for annual functions.

While all these exemptions are helpful, most of them are time-limited and employers who miss the relevant ‘windows’, could still create a benefit-in-kind charge for themselves and their employees.

This article by Mary Maguire, MD Astute Recruitment, was based on an original article by Helen Thornley, an ATT technical officer, which appeared in Accountancy Age on 7.1.2021. For the original article, click HERE.

Season’s Greetings from the team at Astute Recruitment Ltd

2020 has been a very different year for all of us. From working from home, lockdowns, the stopping and starting of businesses. However, we know that while it has been a challenging year, there are so many businesses who are eager to get back to a new normal as soon as possible.

All of us hope that you, family and friends have a safe, Happy Christmas and lets all hope that the New Year brings us all better news.

We look forward to catching up with you soon.

Best wishes from all of us at Astute!

Astute tips on the Extended Furlough scheme

So, as we find ourselves in another Lockdown, what is the advice for employers and their employees on this adaptation of the Government’s original Furlough Scheme? Here, we try and break these down and provide some useful links for more detailed advice and webinars.

HMRC have published full revised guidance about the extended Coronavirus Job Retentions Scheme – i.e. the Furlough Scheme. This has now been extended to March 31st 2021.

The key changes for furlough claim periods from November and beyond are as follows: –

The UK Government are currently reviewing if employers could be eligible to claim for their employees serving contractual or statutory notice periods and will change the approach for claim periods starting on or after December 1st. Further guidance is to be published at the end of November. As things stand, employers may claim the grant for notice periods.

In the cases of Employers claiming for an employee for the period from November 1st retrospectively, only backdated written agreements put in place up to and including November 13th may be relied upon for the purposes of a claim. In simple terms, this means employers should ensure written furlough agreements are in place by November 13th if they are wanting to claim the grant retrospectively from November 1st.

After December 2020, the names of employers who claim under the Furlough Scheme for the month of December onwards and, for employers that are registered Companies or Limited Liability Partnerships, both the company name and registration number will be published by HMRC, so that this information will be in the public domain.

Should an employee decide to end their maternity leave early to enable them to be furloughed, they must give their employer at least eight weeks’ notice of their return to work and the employer will not be able to furlough them until the end of the eight weeks.

USEFUL LINKS: –

Top Accountancy firm, Dains, have compiled a number of useful HMRC advice and areas for businesses to focus on including: –

· Time to Pay – HMRC

· Raising finance

· COVID-19 Business Interruption Loan Scheme

· COVID-19 Bounce Back Loan Scheme

· COVID-19 Job Retention Scheme – A Practical Guide (Check out our Top Tips)

· COVID-19 Job Retention Bonus

· COVID-19 The Self Employment Income Support Scheme

· Financial forecasting

· Grant applications, loans and funding

· Cash management and profit improvement

Have a look at Deloitte’s upcoming webinars on COVID-19: –

3 December 2020
The COVID-19 webinar: health, economics, business

The COVID-19 webinar: health, economics, and business

17 December 2020
The COVID-19 webinar: health, economics, business#
For the latest Government advice and support: –

Click on this link for help and support if your business is affected by COVID-19 from the Government’s website

To keep up to date with the latest developments on COVID-19, advice to employers, businesses, and employees, please follow our company page on LinkedIn HERE.

You can also follow us on FaceBook HERE

On Twitter by following astute_recruit

& Instagram HERE

Last year, almost to the day, we were delighted to host another of our business breakfast’s with Mr John McCarthy as our guest speaker. We hosted the event at the fabulous grounds of Derbyshire County Cricket in Derby and welcomed over 75 people from local East Midlands businesses.

John spoke passionately about his experiences in the Middle East whilst held hostage. The feedback from our guests was amazing and everyone commented what an inspirational morning it was.

Our MD, Mary Maguire, who organised the event, went on to keep in touch with John through the initial Lockdown in March, and the months that followed. His public engagements as a speaker were postponed due to the Coronavirus restrictions and Lockdown so he was only too glad to work with us again as and when, and put the event ‘online’. He has since conducted several online events for large Government Departments and major corporates.

Scroll forwards, a date was set!

Our team have all been working tirelessly to extend personal invitations to our local business communities.

We want to highlight & support local businesses and retailers in these difficult times for the Highstreet.

So we reached out to our friends at BEAR and are delighted to announce that they will be providing all our attendees with a free cup of coffee and cake AND 20% off all their on-line products before Christmas!

Hopefully, we will all be able to enjoy a coffee and tasty treats at BEAR again soon!

Our reminder emails will have the discount codes for our attendees to use!

So, we are all looking forward to this Thursday afternoon. We have several businesses that have booked their whole Finance and HR departments to enjoy our webinar as a team event, which is great!

If you are interested in attending this online event, please contact Mary Maguire on her email [email protected] and she will be delighted to advise of any extra ticket availability.

Astute Recruitment Ltd share our top 10 tips for managing stress and anxiety

As England heads into a second national lockdown, we provide some tips for working from home during this stressful time, and hope this helps those feeling anxious, worried or struggling generally.

Stress Awareness Day, falls today, 4th November 2020. It was created by the Founder of International Stress Management Association (ISMA) Carole Spiers in 1998.

Carole is speaking at an online Stress and Wellbeing Summit, covering stress management, workplace wellbeing and how to develop resilience during unprecedented times, as a result of the pandemic.

In this ‘new normal’, companies, and their staff face massive challenges with millions of people once again asked to work from home – some for the first time in their lives.

Carole Spiers said, “With over half of adults reporting that their mental health worsened during the first lockdown (MIND Survey, June 2020), it’s more important than ever to get wellbeing working for home-workers.”

We are sharing ISMA’s 10 tips on working from home productively with a few extra pointers we all learned at Astute Recruitment in the last lockdown: –

1/ Dress as though you are going to work.

Finding a daily routine is proven to help anxiety and stress. Find a place that is exclusively yours during working hours. Get dressed every morning, at the same time. Don’t stay in pyjamas and slippers every day. If you need to make or attend video calls, you need to be dressed for the camera.

2/ Be open to adapting to change

People are creatures of habit and often do not like changes to our daily routines. Now we find ourselves in the current changing situation, we must be able to adapt, be open to adapt and get used to change quickly. Try and think positively about ways you can use your time in isolation most productively.

3/ Try exercising and eating healthily

Every day build some time for exercise. This can just be a short stroll or an online fitness class. Diarise this. Make this something to break up your day and change your focus away from ‘work’. Be aware of what you are eating and try and eat more healthily. You can pre-plan your meals and get creative with your cooking if some food items aren’t easily available.

Stock up on some staples that you can mix and match to knock something together easily. Don’t forget that frozen vegetables retain their goodness and vitamins much longer than freshly bought items.

4/ Using IT to keep in touch

When you are used to working with others, it is not easy being by yourself. Make full use of video/ online meetings, video calls and phone apps to stay in touch with colleagues and others in your circle. At Astute in the last lockdown, our team whether furloughed or not, said that their highlight of the day during lockdown was our daily zoom meeting. It wasn’t about work, it was about talking and seeing each other and really helped everyone. Whether working from home or not, to have a daily time to look forward to catching up with friends at work, (albeit in their homes!) can provide a real highlight to your day and ‘lift’ your spirits.

5/ Make it easier to work with family at home

Having to work with small children, older kids, and partners/ husbands/ extended family at home doesn’t help you to concentrate. But what can you do? If you have a partner, share the load. If you live alone with children, get them occupied with an activity before you start to work. Build a routine, a day plan that the kids can get used to, and share this in the kitchen on a wallchart or whiteboard. If everyone understands when ‘Mummy or Daddy’ needs to be working – it is easier to have that time alone.

6/ Plan work in blocks of time

Normal office hours between – 9 – 5 might not work in Lockdown and working from home. If you have children, you may choose to work in the evening as well, or very first thing before the kids get up and get a couple of hours admin out of the way. There is nothing wrong with this and this helped a number of our team with kids or partners, to manage their day, give them structure and help them be really productive.

It is essential to build in breaks where you can step away from your bedroom/ kitchen table or if you are very lucky – your home office 😊 Set your alarm on your mobile so that you have regular meal times and just even 5-minute breaks to go and make a cuppa. With no usual office banter or typical office distractions, it can be all too easy to zone out and suddenly realise hours have gone by and you haven’t eaten anything!

Make sure you take regular breaks and set yourself goals during the day.

7/ Keep in touch with friends!

It can be really lonely working from home. With no distractions from your friends in the office as usual, think of someone you can ‘buddy’ up with. We are all social creatures and thrive with social interactions. Having a ‘buddy’ to share experiences with and give each other support/ advice – is a brilliant idea and so good for your wellbeing (and sanity!). It can often give you a real lift. Get imaginative and have a ‘Friday drink’ at 4pm/ 5pm – or later in the evening – share a glass of wine, online!

8/ Get the balance right

There is no ‘one size fits all’ and recognising this is absolutely key.

What works for you does not necessarily work for someone else! Use trial and error until you find the right balance and don’t feel bad about getting it wrong a few times! Kids/ pets/ partners and life in general will still throw some curve balls.

If you do find certain things work – share your successes with friends and co-workers. You may just have the key to unlock some of their problems!

Talk to people used to working alone from the last lockdown. There may also be people you know who are used to working from home anyway. Contact them and ask what tips and ideas they can share. They will be glad to share if they know it will help you/ someone else!

9/ Have clear boundaries between ‘home/ family life’ and ‘work-life’

Every day, At the end of your ‘work’ day, switch off your computer. Tidy your desk and close the door.

This routine will become a daily habit and help with balancing your work time and home life.

Just as you would in a normal working week- you need to have clear boundaries between work time and home time.

10/ Get a good night’s sleep!

Worry and anxiety can often be a barrier to getting to sleep and having quality sleep.

The answer? Plan your bedtime. Make sure you have some downtime from work before you go to bed. Our brains are wired so that if they have been crunching numbers, solving problems and generally very active – they need some time to calm down.

Don’t eat rich foods or drink too much coffee after 8pm. And put down the Playstation/ social media feeds an hour before bedtime.

Have a regular time for bed! Whether you are a night-owl or rise with the lark, make sure you stick to a bedtime routine and go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. Regular 7-hour sleep times will improve your mental health, make you more alert and more productive at work and at home!

Useful links:

https://isma.org.uk/

https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/about.html

https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/stress/

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/

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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.

Category: News & Views

Our team have been busily planning ‘something?’ that will start next week. We are all feeling excited!

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