News - Small Business Insider

Boosting Business by Training Paralegal Employees

Posted on June 16, 2022 Written by Administrator

Whether it is drafting employment contracts or ensuring that debts are chased and collected, it is very likely that someone on your team will be performing tasks with a legal element to them. This requires an element of expertise. Of course, staff can be trained to systematically do the job, but would it not be better to offer them qualifications to give a better understanding of, not only what they are doing, but also why?

Today it is more important than ever to retain good staff and create a positive working environment. Not only because a happy employee means a happy business, but also because well trained and qualified staff can help promote your business and give your customers/clients confidence.

In the legal sector, many law firms employ ‘paralegals’. Some of whom may want to eventually become solicitors but there are many who do not – they wish to retain their paralegal status as a career in its own right. It is quite common for a law graduate to apply to a law firm for a ‘paralegal’ position. However, just because they have gained a degree, it does not mean that they necessarily know the practice and procedure of law. A law degree means that they should have knowledge of academic and substantive law. However, it requires further training to be an effective and useful paralegal (i.e. one that can offer genuine service to your firm and not just do the filing, make the tea or carry out a bit of research). To be trained and educated to perform certain tasks is the key to the success of any employee and therefore ultimately of any company. This is why sponsoring your staff to gain further knowledge is a must.

A very famous entrepreneur (Sir Richard Branson) once said that as long as you keep your employees happy, they will make your business successful. This premise is paramount in maintaining a healthy and contented workforce and a healthy and successful business. There is nothing worse than an employer regarding their staff as replaceable commodities: a ‘there’s plenty more to fill your role if you don’t like it’ mindset. Employees need to know that they are respected members of the workforce. Not only that, they must be given proper remuneration and recognition for the work they do. Employing an individual at a basic wage may satisfy them initially as they may be grateful for the employment in the first place, but that is not sustainable.

The businesses that retain their employees are those that regard them as ‘the business’ and without them, there would be no business. Far too often you hear about individuals who say, ‘I am only in this business to cream off the income and make myself a fortune’. It is usually these businesses that have a huge turnover of staff and fail to be sustainable.

But legal training is not just about retaining employees, important as that is. It also about giving confidence to the person carrying out the tasks. With greater knowledge and greater confidence, they will be more effective, will need fewer hours spent managing the work they do, and ultimately, they will instil trust in the clients they work with. In addition, proper training helps to ensure that tasks are carried out accurately and thoughtfully, and potential problems are identified because the person doing the job has a deeper understanding and knowledge of their work and its implications. Following the right legal procedures is not only the right thing to do, but it will also ensure that should an issue need to be taken further, perhaps all the way to a tribunal or court, you can be sure of your legal position and have a stronger chance of winning the case.

Paying for your employees to be trained and qualified must be budgeted for if you are to sustain the objectives and aims of your business. In employment law terminology, as an employer, you owe a duty of care to your employees, and your employees owe a duty of loyalty to their employer. A duty of care means that you must nurture your staff, make them feel secure and safe in their employment and give them a reason to be happy to wake up with a smile on their face. A duty of loyalty needs to be earned and by looking after your employees, you will see that loyalty grow.

So, whether you are a business needing that extra legal expertise or a law firm wanting to retain your paralegal staff, it is a good strategy to sponsor them through some extra training.

Training courses can now be delivered in many different ways – in-house, remote at set times, remote at times to suit you, and in-person in a college setting. They can be anything from short intensives to longer term courses carried out alongside normal working hours. There are so many options that there is really no reason not to sponsor an employee to boost their skills. And training does not need to be expensive either. For example, NALP Paralegal qualifications start at £450 at the basic level.

So, ask yourself these two questions: Is it worthwhile nurturing your employees to encourage them to nurture and help your business grow? Is it also beneficial to have your customers and clients gain more confidence about liaising with your well trained and qualified staff?

If the answer to both these questions is ‘yes’, then you know what to do.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amanda Hamilton is Chief Executive of the National Association of Licenced Paralegals(NALP), a non-profit membership body and the only paralegal body that is recognised as an awarding organisation by Ofqual (the regulator of qualifications in England). Through its Centres around the country, accredited and recognised professional paralegal qualifications are offered for those looking for a career as a paralegal professional.

Web: http://www.nationalparalegals.co.uk

Twitter: @NALP_UK

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NationalAssocationsofLicensedParalegals/ LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-hamilton-llb-hons-840a6a16/

Whatever Your Décor, Make Your Hotel Greener

Posted on June 16, 2022 Written by Administrator

If you are running a hotel, there is no excuse for not being aware of the increasing importance customers put on green credentials. Almost a decade ago a TripAdvisor survey warned that two-thirds of travellers take environmental issues into account when choosing hotels, transportation and meals. [1] Since then, pleas for the planet from the likes of David Attenborough and Geta Thunberg have likely only increased the number of hotel customers making bookings based on green considerations.

Climate change policies and legislative changes, including the recent green claim code announcement, make now the perfect time to switch to sustainable products and services. Making the switch to environmentally friendly products and operations often leads to both short- and long-term savings, reduces waste, engages your guests, and boosts efficiency. For example, climate NGO Wrap found that hotels saved $7 for every $1 invested in reducing food waste and 70% had recouped their investment within just one year. [2]

Here are a few easy swaps to make a difference in your business and join the sustainability movement:

The Low Flow Toilet Retrofit

Add a toilet tank bag to existing toilets to save up to 11.4 litres of water after each flush!

Toilets can use up to 14 litres of water per flush wasting valuable freshwater resources and raising your water bill. [3]

While dual flush toilets are rising in popularity, they are often costly, are used incorrectly, are poorly made, and take a long-time to install on a large scale. [4]

Toilet tank bags are an inexpensive retrofitting option that is quick to install and very effective in reducing water consumption in hotel rooms and throughout the facility. Savings can be realized in the short-term and as climate change threatens freshwater accessibility—raising the cost of water—this is a great solution to help use the water we have more thoughtfully.

Towel Transition

Switch from white towels to dark towels for a longer life cycle, better sourcing options, and fewer harsh chemicals entering the environment.

Whether your towels are hired or bought outright, the transition to dark towels will make a huge difference for the environment and your bottom-line. The textile industry is one of the most highly polluting, generating a fifth of the world’s industrial water pollution. [5]

Dark coloured towels are better for the environment since they can be made from post-consumer recycled materials, reclaimed textiles, and scraps, and do not require bleaching, whereas white towels often require virgin resources and bleach to ensure a white finish, and then require large quantities of chemicals to maintain their colour.

QR Coded Menus

Swap traditional printed room service and restaurant menus for QR codes to save resources, reduce waste, and reduce costs.

When the pandemic flipped the world on its head, printed menus quickly went out of fashion. Print menus require resources for paper, ink, lamination, and binding, and often need to be reprinted if they are damaged, updated with new menu items, or simply out of style. Additionally, in the wake of the pandemic, regular sanitization is also needed for those menus to be used between guests.

These unnecessary steps take resources from the environment and contribute to waste at every level from production to maintenance – all for a product that has a short life cycle. Swapping physical room service menus in exchange for easy to scan and use QR codes will help your hotel save money. It will reduce the need for menu reprints and sanitisation while increasing hotel website traffic as guests scan a link to look at your menu.

Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products

Reduce waste and environmental toxins while saving money and improving indoor air quality by swapping outdated, toxic cleaning products for natural, eco-friendly professional cleaning solutions.

Commercial and professional cleaning products are filled with toxic chemicals that are costly (financially and environmentally) to produce, harmful to use, and detrimental when washed back into the environment. These products often contain allergens that cause long-term health issues, and many cleaning products negatively impact the guest experience as they worsen air quality. They also hurt the environment and biodiversity when run-off spreads to local ecosystems, particularly water systems, which are then destabilised by the introduction of harmful chemicals like triclosan, phosphates, phthalates, and more. [6]

By using eco-friendly products, run-off from your facility will have low to no toxic chemicals since they are made from natural, biodegradable ingredients with few allergens. Many come in biodegradable packaging making end of life disposal easier too. [7] [8]

Green cleaning products can also be made out of products already found in your hotel. This saves money and allows your hotel to advertise that some cleaning products are made in a closed loop life cycle. For example, using citrus peels and vinegar from an on-site kitchen to make a natural all-purpose cleaner.

Many eco-certified cleaning companies offer professional-grade, eco-friendly cleaning products that can be bought in bulk – allowing additional savings on cost and packaging.

Shower Product Dispensers

Swap out expensive, wasteful, single-use shower products in guest rooms for refillable dispensers containing environmentally friendly, cruelty-free products.

Individually packaged shower products like mini shampoo, conditioner, and body wash that must be replaced after each guest can become very wasteful and costly. This is especially a problem if a guest only uses a little bit of the product and then throws it out. Another issue is that many eco-friendly vendors will not sell in a single-use size due to the waste associated with the excess plastic packaging, which takes years to degrade, harms ecosystems and fills ever diminishing landfills. Switching to shower product dispensers allows guests to take what they need and avoid waste while remaining sanitary. This easy swap also allows you to have more options when choosing products to include in your hotel, including eco-friendly, cruelty-free, locally made natural shower products available at a lower cost in bulk.

Summary

By choosing these few, simple swaps you can make a genuine difference to your guests, your bottom line and to the future of the planet. Many suppliers are already stocking kinder options, whether it is for cleaning, personal care, towels or bed linen. And sites like Beyond Bamboo have specific sections for the hospitality sector to help buyers access certified products they can trust.

But remember, for these changes to be most effective, you need to make sure that potential customers know that you are doing your bit. Be sure to tell your staff and guests about the planet-friendly changes you have made. This information becomes a talking point and a reason for guests to tell others about their experiences.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Divya Vaghela is from Beyond Bamboo, a global community of sustainable products, services and suppliers working as a collective to restore and rejuvenate the planet. With a consumer marketplace, a B2B supplier portal, a knowledge hub and a team of passionate people dedicated to triple bottom line reporting, Beyond Bamboo aims to help us all do well by doing good.

Web: www.beyondbamboo.online

Twitter: https://twitter.com/beyondbambooRT

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beyondbamboo.online/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beyondbambooglobal/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beyond-bamboo-global/

[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewbender/2013/04/22/survey-two-thirds-of-travelers-want-green-hotels-heres-how-to-book-them/?sh=774b8e32e2fa

[2] https://wrap.org.uk/resources/business-case-reducing-food-loss-and-waste/hotels

[3] https://www.thegreenage.co.uk/tech/water-saving-toilet/

[4] https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-the-wednesday-edition-1.5744950/dual-flush-toilets-are-wasting-more-water-than-they-save-says-u-k-water-utility-1.5743509

[5] https://www.nrdc.org/issues/encourage-textile-manufacturers-reduce-pollution#:~:text=Textile%20mills%20generate%20one%2Dfifth,by%20burning%20coal%20for%20energy

[6] https://www.aspenclean.com/blogs/sustainable-living/the-environmental-dangers-of-using-cleaning-products

[7] https://puracy.com/blogs/lifestyle/reasons-to-use-natural-cleaning-products

[8] https://www.thespruce.com/reasons-to-start-green-cleaning-today-1706950

Picking The Right Architect Is Essential For Your Small-Scale Property Development Project

Posted on June 9, 2022 Written by Administrator

The most important thing you will need to do to successfully complete a small-scale property development project is putting together the right team for that project. Just because one person was good for a previous project doesn’t mean they will be good for every project. This is something that applies particularly to architects.

I once partnered with a friend (his name is Rob) on a development project. He’d had an old light industrial building that he no longer needed and wanted to know what he could do with it. However, his story had begun a few months before I was approached.

Rob was acquainted with an architect, the only one he knew, so he’d first asked them to see whether there was scope to develop the building. Several months and £10,000 later, the architect produced a set of drawings. And as plans go, they were impressive. The existing building would be demolished to make way for three 2-bed flats and a studio. There would be granite worktops and gold taps, plus they’d even included one of those fancy electric turntable things that allowed cars to be parked in tight spaces. It was all very smart and rather high-end.

The architect had then suggested that planning shouldn’t be a problem, and once they’d received a further £10,000, they could move things on to the next stage. At this point, Rob felt a little uneasy about parting with even more cash and somewhat belatedly gave me a call. Having visited the building and seen the plans, several things were obvious.

Firstly, the market for studio flats in the area was non-existent. The architect had simply been trying to make use of some left-over space, however Rob could be left with a final flat that he couldn’t sell. Secondly, the building was situated in what could only be described as a less-than-desirable part of town. Not a ghetto, but certainly not somewhere you’d find granite worktops and gold taps. Or fancy parking turntables, for that matter. Finally, I had strong doubts that the plans would get planning consent as the new building was out of character with the street scene, particularly the row of listed cottages next door over which it would loom. But apart from these issues, I loved it.

In the end, I agreed to help him develop it, and we did something completely different. Instead of demolishing it, we converted it to residential use under permitted development which neatly sidestepped most of the planning issues. Then we built five entry-level one-bed flats, which our estate agent said would sell much quicker than two-beds or studios. And because permitted development doesn’t carry a parking requirement, we didn’t need to install a fancy turntable, which gave us a lot more space. And there wasn’t a granite worktop or gold tap in sight.

Now, you might be thinking, hold on a moment; that architect sounds like a bit of a sharp practitioner. Taking my friend for £10,000 and proposing to build a white elephant; surely that can’t be ethical? Ok, here comes the cautionary part. Rob made several fundamental mistakes, although to be fair, they are all too easily made. Firstly, he didn’t give the architect a proper brief, so basically, the architect had free rein to design whatever he liked. Pretend if you will that I’d asked you to design me a car, and you’d knocked up a natty two-seater sports coupe. If I then complained that I couldn’t get my eight kids in the back, you’d quite rightly say that I hadn’t mentioned that this was a requirement. In Rob’s case, it’s not the architect’s job to do some market analysis to see what type of development would sell; that should have been Rob’s job as the developer.

Neither did Rob check out the architect’s website. Had he done so, he would have noticed that they specialised in high-end luxury houses and wouldn’t know a commercial conversion if one jumped out of a dark alley and bit them on the backside. Asking them to tackle this project was like hiring Frankie Dettori to ride in a donkey derby. In other words, all architects can design homes, but many have specialisms. It’s horses for courses. Asking a high-end architect to design a cheap and cheerful conversion project was not the way to go. Instead, Rob should have looked around for an architect with that specialism rather than talking to the only architect he happened to know.

All that said, I do feel that the architect in this case, while not technically at fault, could have had an ‘are you sure about this’ chat with Rob before banking his cash. But ultimately, it’s a case of caveat emptor. As for the planning issue, they’d got as far as asking the planning authority about the principle of building their new design but, in my view, had misinterpreted their response. Still, we shall never know since events took a different path. A path, incidentally, that required far less capital and which could be completed in half the time since we weren’t demolishing anything. Good old permitted development.

So, where does that leave us when it comes to finding a decent architect? Our cautionary tale exposes a couple of golden nuggets, which I’ve included below, along with a few others you might want to have in mind:

1. Make sure you set a design brief

Any architect is going to want to know what to design. Do your due diligence to determine what will sell well and who your end customer is. Talking to local estate agents will give you a great steer here, as will looking at what has been built recently in the area. The more specific you are, the less margin for error your architect will have, and you should be able to get a great design at the first attempt.

2. Pick an architect with relevant experience

It’s the horses for courses argument. You want to find someone with plenty of experience working on the type of project you will be building. Whether you’re tackling a development project or simply building an extension, it pays to go with an architect who’s familiar with the species. Ask to see some past projects similar to your brief.

3. Have a beauty parade

Don’t pick the first architect you come across that can do the job. Make sure you’ve at least three in the frame, and then make sure you go and see them all in person. Get quotes from each of them. If it’s a practice instead of a one-person operation, be sure to speak to the person with whom you’ll be working.

4. Ask about freebies

There will be times when you want to call your architect to discuss an in-principle idea. It happens all the time. You’ve just seen a great little opportunity but want to know if such-and-such is feasible. You want your architect to take ten minutes out to have a quick look and give a non-binding opinion. What you don’t want is for your architect to say, ‘that will cost £500, please send me a written design brief, and I’ll get back to you in a month’. So, check this out BEFORE you appoint your architect, but make it clear that you’d fully respect a fair usage policy when it comes to freebies.

5. Get referrals and testimonials

Ask around to see who comes recommended. Speak to contractors and project managers to see who they would recommend. All architects look the part on their websites, but the proof of the pudding will come from talking to their previous clients. Ask to speak to a client who has had a completed project and one that is ongoing. You’re looking to establish how responsive the architect has been, how easy to deal with, and how well they have interacted with the contractor and the rest of the team. Also, ask whether there have been any design errors and how they were rectified.

6. Learn how to block plan

When considering a potential development opportunity, a key question right off the bat is ‘how many units can I build on this site?’. If you have to ask your architect every time you look at a deal, it will soon get expensive and time-consuming. Instead, learn the art of block planning yourself, and then compare your ideas with the architect once you know the deal is worth taking to the next stage. Challenge your architect to do a better job than you have – after all, they’re supposed to be the experts.

7. Have a reserve list

Not only may you be encountering a variety of projects that might suit different architects, but you’ve also got no way of knowing whether your first-choice practice will be available when a deal comes along. It’s always sensible to know who your backup B Team will be, not just for architecture but also for every other member of your professional team.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ritchie Clapson CEng MIStructE is a veteran property developer of almost 40 years and co-founder of propertyCEO, a nationwide property development and training company that helps people create a successful property development business in their spare time. It makes use of students’ existing life skills while teaching them the property, business, and mindset knowledge they need to undertake small scale developments successfully, with the emphasis on utilising existing permitted development rights to minimize risk and maximize returns.

https://propertyceo.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/propertyceotraining/

https://www.instagram.com/propertyceotraining/

https://twitter.com/Property_CEO

https://www.linkedin.com/company/propertyceo