Save content
Have you found this content useful? Use the button above to save it to your profile.

Back to the recruitment trail - and preparing for new payroll year

24th Mar 2014
Save content
Have you found this content useful? Use the button above to save it to your profile.

It’s back to the recruitment trail for us.

Miss Books and D2 have announced to the company that they’re both going to leave and spend some time travelling through Europe together.  They may or may not return to the UK once that’s over – so we’re going to need to look for another bookkeeper and another designer.

We did have reservations about recruiting Miss Books, but she’s done an excellent job in the few months she’s been here.  She’s been diligent, helpful and friendly, and she’ll be missed around the office.

Mrs Dragon has asked if we’d consider recruiting her niece, who’s just completed a bookkeeping course.  When I said she can of course submit her CV and we’ll review it along with the others, there was a distinct puff of brimstone from Mrs Dragon’s nose.  I think she’d hoped we would recruit her niece immediately and not even consider talking to anyone else.  I do have misgivings about recruiting friends or relatives of existing employees, as that can lead to cliques and back-stabbing in the office, and at the moment we have a good friendly atmosphere, which I don’t want spoilt.  What are readers’ experiences of that?

Looking back at last week’s Budget, we did get our wish for the R&D tax credits to be extended, which is great.  But there doesn’t seem to be any real zest for simplification, and as for extending the Annual Investment Allowance, that definitely won’t benefit small businesses unless they’re making very large investments in plant and machinery, which we aren’t.

Now we need to make sure our systems are also ready for claiming the Employment Allowance from next month.  We’re not of course caught by the exclusions for public sector companies or domestic workers, so we will be able to claim that £2,000 in full, which is good news.  But we need to make sure that we claim it through the payroll, and hope that HMRC’s systems are ready to receive the claims.

After the RTI debacle I’m not holding my breath.

Tags:

You might also be interested in

Replies (2)

Please login or register to join the discussion.

By mrme89
24th Mar 2014 10:29

There's one particular department at my place of employment where the managers sister in law works in the same dept. There are also two sisters within the same dept.

Horrendous atmosphere caused by constant [***] about people in other depts - it doesn't feel particularly pleasant just walking through that part of the office.

 

My partner is a semi-senior for a care company. There are two siblings in the same office there - more or less the same atmosphere as my employment.

 

I'm sure it works in other company's for some people, but I don’t have any experience of it.  

Thanks (0)
By [email protected]
24th Mar 2014 12:48

Horrendous atmosphere..

I was recently speaking to the owner of a Stationery Firm who had decided that the atmosphere had got so bad that he just wasn't replacing his staff when they left. He just joined an 'umbrella' type organisation that specialised in the Stationery business and they handle all his back office functions for him. Just leaves him to go out and sell to the clients. We seem to get quite a few small accountancy firms that are enquiring about doing the same thing. Office banter can be a great boost, but if the atmosphere just gets unpleasant, you start to wonder why you bother.

Thanks (0)