Everything you need to know about flexible working: what it is, how it can benefit you, and the best tips to make it a success

Flexible working is by no means a new phenomenon – businesses and freelancers have been experimenting with when and where they work for many years now. But there was little sign of flexi working challenging the 9-to-5 status quo until the pandemic forced a sudden and widespread adoption of remote working, hybrid working, and other arrangements. Due to this rapid change, many of us still have misconceptions about flexible working.

So, whether you’re an employer, employee, or freelancer transitioning to virtual work, our comprehensive guide to flexible working will answer all your questions, giving you the info you need to make the best decision for your business or career.

Table of Contents

• Six types of flexible working
• Benefits of flexible working
• Remote work tools
• How to hire and train remote staff
• Flexible working and mental health

Six types of flexible working

Firstly, what is flexible working?

Flexible working refers to a range of alternative ways of working, compared to traditional office and 9-5 full-time work arrangements.

It’s beneficial for employers and employees to understand the nuances of these options, so they can come to a mutual working agreement that will benefit both. Below, we’ve listed the most popular flexible working policies on offer today. In some instances, a combination of these can be applied to an employee’s contract.

Hybrid working

Hybrid working is one of the more common flexible working policies that employers offer. Hybrid working involves a mix of working from the office and working from home through the week. How the days are split differs across businesses and employees so, if you plan to implement a hybrid working policy, you’ll need to ensure both sides understand what’s expected of a new employee before they start.

Flexi time

A popular choice for those with a difficult commute or time-sensitive commitments, flexi time allows you to shift your start and finish times. If you want to avoid the rush hour and head to the office late, or leave early to pick up the children from school, flexi time may work for you.

Compressed hours

This allows employees to work the same number of hours each week (e.g. 35), but pack them into fewer days. A good option for those who want to keep a full-time salary but need more personal time.

Part-time hours

Part-time hours mean working fewer hours in the week, compared to a full-time job. Salaries will be adjusted accordingly, which is called pro rata. For example, someone who earns a £50,000 pro rata salary working three days a week will earn £30,000 before tax.

Remote working

Working fully remotely became familiar to many of us during the COVID-19 pandemic, and some employees found it their ideal arrangement. While this is a less common option today, it remains a popular working style for those who live further away from their employer’s office location. Some businesses also exist without a physical working address at all; instead, they employ people remotely, sometimes from around the world.

Job share

A job share involves multiple colleagues (usually two) sharing a single role and splitting it across a working week. This requires a lot of coordination and a positive dynamic between the colleagues.

Benefits of flexible working

So far this sounds like a no-brainer for employees, but what’s in it for employers?

Flexible working arrangements are not without their challenges, but when managers and teams make the right preparations, it can deliver a multitude of business and personal benefits. Let’s look at these in more detail.

Employers’ benefits

• Reduced office costs, where businesses don’t have to cover the overheads of 100% of staff desks every day of the week
• Positive rise in staff attraction and retention through flexible working
• Improved employee satisfaction and productivity – while many managers might disagree, most employees feel that they work more productively with access to flexible working
• Improved accessibility for differently-abled employees

For more benefits, read our blog on the reasons to adopt a flexible working policy

Employees’ benefits

• Save money and time on commute
• Work to your own rhythms
• Improved work-life balance
• Improved employee satisfaction
• Improved mental health

Find out if remote working is for you by reading more of the benefits and challenges of home working.

Remote work tools

If you’re wondering how you could possibly replace an office with a sofa, kitchen table, or café, you’re not alone. The transition to remote working can be daunting. Luckily, a whole industry has emerged to cater for remote workers.

Nearly every aspect of office life can be replicated with clever apps, websites, hardware, furniture, and thoughtful planning of your home workspace and routine. Making the best of remote work tools and techniques can provide a big boost to the effectiveness of remote working teams.

Employers should research and invest in these tools and techniques to maximise the productivity of their remote-working staff. We’ve made a list of our favourite apps and tips in our guide to managing remote teams.

For those who need a break from the home, there are many co-working spaces that offer both the focused and social side of an office.

How to hire and train remote staff

Some of the biggest challenges in a flexible working environment include hiring and training staff, not to mention creating a strong team camaraderie. However, there are tried and tested ways to onboard new staff remotely and make them feel every bit a part of the team as those working from the office.

Firstly, all your training materials should be accessible online, and the new starter should be provided with hardware capable of video calls.

But, equally important is the social side.

Efforts must be made to bring a new remote team member into the fold, and businesses are using a variety of methods to achieve this. These include assigning new starters a ‘work buddy’ who will take them under their wing, arranging online team-building exercises like Zoom quizzes, and regular 1-to-1 check-ins to ensure the new starter feels comfortable.

There are many more parts of the process to consider for remote workers, so read our full guide to onboarding staff remotely for up-to-date expert advice.

Flexible working and mental health

One of the most common reasons for employees to request flexible working stems from a desire to improve their work-life balance and mental health. In the wake of the pandemic, this is at the front of many jobseeker’s minds when considering a new position, so HR and hiring managers should pay attention.

Studies have shown that the positive knock-on effects of offering flexible working include:

• Higher employee satisfaction
• Higher engagement
• Higher productivity
• Greater loyalty to the company
• Reduced absenteeism
• Reduced burnout

However, it was also found during the pandemic that the isolation of working from home can cause its own mental health problems. Lack of socialising with the team, alongside a lack of guidance or support from managers can have a negative effect on some employees.

Therefore, if an employee for any reason is unable to work from the office, special efforts should be made to mitigate any potential feelings of isolation or stress. Many lessons on how to tackle this were learned during the pandemic, and you can gain further insights on these through our webinar on improving employees’ mental health remotely.

–

There’s no doubt that flexible working is here to stay. Employees have made their wishes very clear, and many businesses now see the flexi-working model for the huge opportunity it is.

Whether you want to scale down some long-unused office space, create a happier and more engaged company culture, or have some feet on the ground in a new territory, allowing employees more say where and when they work has many proven business advantages.

For employees and jobseekers, breaking up your weeks between office and remote work ensures you develop both your collaborative team skills and resourcefulness in a solo setting.

It’s certainly not the end of office life, but – for both employees and employers – flexible working is a very welcome evolution in the world of work.

–

Our consultants are experts in flexible working and can advise on how to use your policies to best attract top candidates. Get in touch with your requirements today to set up a consultation.

The post What is flexible working? appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

Hybrid working is one of the most popular forms of flexible working. Since the enforced remote working during the pandemic, many employers have subsequently adopted a hybrid working arrangement. A number of studies show this to be the perfect compromise for both employers and employees – the latest statistics show that 74% of businesses globally now offer hybrid arrangements.

Despite it now being a part of many contracts and job adverts, people on both sides of the table still ask, what is hybrid working? In this guide to hybrid work, we’ll bring you up to speed on the definition and the latest statistics around productivity and employee satisfaction.

Definition of hybrid working

In a hybrid work arrangement, the working week is split between days in the office and days in a remote location (often the home, but there are many co-working spaces to work from too!)

The ratio of office to remote days varies from company to company, and sometimes from employee to employee, but is typically a 3:2 split one way or the other. However, as we move further from the height of pandemic disruption, we’re seeing more businesses requiring a 4:1 office:remote split.

Hybrid working allows flexibility in the place an employee works, but not the hours. For more information on flexi-hours and other types of work arrangement, read our guide to flexible working.

Why adopt hybrid working?

If you are yet to implement a hybrid working policy for your business or are yet to work in a hybrid role, you may be looking for evidence of its value.

Luckily, the last few years have provided a vast amount of data around every aspect of hybrid working. This can help you craft the most effective policy for business performance and employee wellbeing, answering important questions around engagement, productivity, and employee attraction.

Let’s look at the data.

• Does hybrid working increase productivity?

Despite many businesses and managers being gripped by ‘productivity paranoia’ during and after the pandemic, the data tells a different story. The vast majority of employees (87%) report being productive when remote working, and Microsoft are seeing productivity on their Office 365 products continuing to rise in 2023.

Employees being less active when working outside of the office environment is an understandable concern for managers but, time and again over the last few years, research has shown these fears are unfounded. As long as efforts are made to keep hybrid working employees engaged through smart management and regular social interactions, company productivity will not only hold firm – it will often rise.

• Attraction and retention

Recent data shows that 53% of workers in the UK prioritise work-life balance over location and benefits when making career choices. This gives hybrid work policies a huge amount of weight when attracting and retaining the most sought-after talent.

Businesses that pay the appropriate amount of attention to their hybrid policy will reap the benefits in a competitive hiring market, and can build the respect and trust with their top employees to ensure they stay loyal for the long run.

Hybrid work best practices

Creating an overarching hybrid work policy is one thing, but the day-to-day admin needed to make it effective is another challenge. Managing hybrid teams has become much more nuanced since the days of Zoom calls in the pandemic. Read on for the current best practices around hybrid working.

• Managing and appraising hybrid employees

As there as fewer opportunities for managers to see their teams in person, the hybrid work model requires a more intentional approach to employee management.

This means setting specific times for one-to-ones, making use of the latest generation of online work tools, and adopting a results-based approach to assessing performance, placing less emphasis on presenteeism. Read our tips on managing remote teams to set yourself up for success.

• Employee engagement and productivity

When the right care and attention is given, the hybrid setup can strike a great balance between focused, solo work, and collaborative, creative teamwork.

The former aspect allows individuals the chance to work to their own productive schedules, while the latter adds the crucial social side that creates a team bond. The results speak for themselves – studies have shown that engagement is highest amongst hybrid employees.

• Employee wellbeing

The effects of hybrid working on employee mental health can be both positive and negative, so it’s important that businesses adapt their wellbeing practices to this new way of working.

Solo remote working can be a blessing for some, but others struggle with a sense of isolation, or may not have the ideal environment to work from home. Managers must understand that different personalities will respond differently to hybrid working, and ensure employees are supported with regular mental health check-ins and social initiatives.

Our interviews with employee wellbeing experts can provide actionable advice on how to support your hybrid team’s mental health.

The long-term view

The option for employees to work remotely and limit the number of people in the office was an effective solution in the era of COVID, but is hybrid work here to stay? The answer from most experts is an unequivocal “yes”.

The hybrid option is adaptable to every individual’s preferred way of working, maximising their productivity. At the same time, it retains some universal rules for employees, such as of 9-5 working hours, ensuring no disruption to team communication, diaries, and deadlines.

Fully in-office roles and industries will of course continue, but that rigid way of working has been shown to be deficient in several ways, not least of all in the area of mental health. With hybrid, nothing is set in stone and, through creativity and ingenuity, it will continue to evolve. The policies will become more nuanced and individualised, while managers will finesse their practices to draw the best out of their teams.

–

Once you have a competitive hybrid work policy in action, it’s time to start hiring exceptional staff! Get in touch with your requirements today.

The post What is hybrid working? appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

When it comes to hiring for a private household, a private chef can be an invaluable addition. However,  hiring a private chef in London or internationally can be a complex process with a number of elements to consider. From figuring out the correct salary and hours, to catering to your family’s dietary requirements, finding the right fit is essential.

Tiger Private works with a wide range of private chefs who are available for one-off events, weekends, seasons or in a permanent, full-time capacity. With varying responsibilities and experience, it’s vital to understand what you’re looking for, what you expect of your chef and the level of culinary prowess your family expects on a day-to-day basis.

What is a Personal Chef?

A personal chef is, in short, a qualified chef that you can hire on a temporary or permanent basis to cook bespoke meals for you and your family, or for an event, holiday or other special occasion. The main benefits of hiring a private chef are:

1. You remove the need to cook, saving valuable time that can be allocated
2. A personal chef uses their expertise to source, prepare and serve restaurant-quality meals in the comfort of your own home or chosen location
3. Personal chefs can come up with balanced, nutritional meal plans in accordance with your preferences or dietary requirements, ensuring that you’re looking after your health, and eating tasty meals

Private Domestic Chef

Private domestic chefs work for one client or several, on a part-time or full-time basis. If they’re working for one client full-time, they will often also live on the Principal’s estate. Hiring a private domestic chef allows for a truly customised meal plan, and completely removes the stress and time taken from preparing multiple meals a day.

Restaurant Chef

A restaurant chef works in a professional kitchen and is trained to prepare meals to a high standard. Private chefs usually have several years of experience working in demanding restaurant environments, often in fine dining. This means that private chefs are extremely capable of working to tight deadlines and above-and-beyond requests.

Why hire a private chef?

A private chef is becoming an increasingly popular option for busy UHNW individuals and families. Hiring a private chef for the night for a dinner party can take the stress out of catering, while hiring a private chef for a weekend – perhaps during shooting season – means your family can focus on more important activities!

A private chef can also assist when catering to complex dietary requirements or eating behaviours. If your Principal or a family member has allergies, eats a restricted diet or simply prefers one cuisine over another, having a private chef can make a huge difference – they can design menus, source ingredients and prepare meals with your Principal’s needs in mind.

How to Hire a Personal Chef for a Week?

Hiring a personal chef for a week can be the perfect way to elevate a busy or special time for you and your family. Simply call or email our team on +44 207 917 1803 to brief us on your requirements. The longer the lead time the better, as it will mean we can perfectly cater to your needs, however it’s not uncommon for us to be able to source someone at a moment’s notice! Regardless of whether you need someone in London, rural UK or internationally, we can help.

Once a professional has been selected, we will handle all the paperwork on both sides. The candidate will submit a timesheet at the end of the week which is sent to your email for approval. Once approved, we will pay the candidate directly and send you an invoice.

Tiger Private’s chefs are highly experienced, capable and are available to be hired on a temporary basis. To turn a holiday or special occasion into an unforgettable experience, consider hiring a personal chef for a week as a top professional handles the kitchen and cooks delicious meals.

Read more about temporary private hiring

Hire a Personal Chef for a Week

Whether you’re pressed for time, have a taste for exquisite food, or just want to kick back and relax whilst an experienced professional cooks a meal for you and your family, either in the comfort of your own home, on holiday, or for a special event – there are many good reasons to hire a personal chef for a week.

For more information about chef recruitment, get in touch with Tiger Private. We have a wide range of chefs available immediately for temporary placements and permanent positions and can provide advice on how to hire a private chef.

 Email Tiger Private

The post Hiring a private chef: what you need to know appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

How To Hire Temporary Staff

All businesses will have a need for short-term or project staff from time to time, but your business may have been forced to muddle through because you don’t know how to hire temporary employees.

This is where a leading temp recruitment agency comes in!

In this guide we’ll take you through the whole process of how to hire temporary staff, from identifying whether you need temp support, to the consultation, hiring, and payment of temp staff.

Identify business needs

It’s best practice for all businesses to constantly assess their changing needs. Both internal and external forces can create new, unforeseen gaps in the capacity of your workforce. Reasons for requiring temporary staff could be:

• Short-term project work that needs to be completed
• Tight deadlines that require extra resources
• Knowledge or skills gaps while a permanent position is vacant
• Maternity/paternity cover
• Sickness cover
• Holiday cover

You should have a clear idea of what the need is before approaching a recruitment company for temporary staff.

Outline the job role

Temp staff will often be working on similar tasks to permanent staff , so you may think the job specification will be the same. However, it’s important to draw up a new job specification to detail the temporary role, as there will always be some key differences in what is expected of them. It’s also worth noting that there’s a difference between a job ad and a job description!

You can find out more about outlining the temp job role with our guide to creating an employment contract.

Identify the right candidate

By this point, you’ve approached a temp recruitment agency and spoken to a consultant about your needs. The next step is working with your consultant to build a picture of the perfect candidate for those needs – their work experience, achievements, skills, passions, and values.

A good recruiter will have a rigorous candidate registration process in place that establishes the answers to these questions, thereby closely matching employer to employee.

Create a Compelling Job Ad

If you want to attract the best candidates, it’s advisable to spend time on writing a job advert. Tiger’s consultants are experts at turning your job specification into a compelling ad that will catch the eye of talented candidates. We’ll work with you through the writing process to be sure you’re happy with the finished ad before we list it.

Use a Job Description Template

The job description will be key to defining the role requirements, and we have job description templates ready to go for many different roles. Whether you’re seeking staff for business support, private, or hospitality positions, these templates will take a lot of the leg work out of creating an attractive job description, and what’s more – they’re free!

Start Recruiting

Once we have a clear picture of the role and your ideal employee, and your job ad is live, we can start recruiting in earnest. Our skilled consultants will begin matchmaking based on your specifications, and bring you a shortlist of the best-suited candidates who have expressed an interest in the temp role.

Review Applications

Now it’s over to you. Our consultants will be on hand to answer any questions about the shortlist, and can source more candidates from our large pool of talent, should you need them. You can also find more tips on the review process in our blog on how to screen CVs.

Set up Interviews

When you’ve chosen the candidates you’d like to interview, we will help arrange the time and place. This could be in-person or virtually via phone or video call.

Hire Temporary Staff

Now that you’ve found a great new temp employee, all that’s left is to have them sign on the dotted line. You may have a contract of temporary employment written already but, if not, Tiger can take care of all contracts and payroll. This way, you can focus on welcoming your new member of staff to the team and getting to work.

Temporary Recruitment Agency

Tiger Recruitment are experts at recruiting exceptional staff for a wide range of roles and industries, from start-ups to SMEs and multinational corporations. Having recruited temps for employers of choice for over 20 years, we are well-equipped to help you find the right candidate for your business needs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you employ someone temporarily?

Any business can hire temporary staff – all that is needed is a contract of temporary employment. However, it is usually much easier for employers to work with a temporary recruitment agency who can find someone with the right skillset and experience quickly, and has the payroll process ready to go.

How do I hire casual labour?

Casual labour is another name for temporary or fixed-term employees. You can hire these workers through the same channels as temp staff, for example a recruitment agency like Tiger.

How long can I employ someone on a temporary contract?

There is no limit to the amount of time a temporary employee can work for a company. Temporary roles can range from one day to upwards of a year.  After 12 weeks of continuous employment with the same employer, a temp employee is subject to Agency Worker Regulations, giving them the same rights as permanent employees.

However, fixed-term contracts in the UK have a limit of four years, after which the worker will automatically become a permanent employee, as per UK employment law, unless the business can show a legitimate reason that they should not become permanent.

How do I write a temporary contract of employment?

A temporary contract of employment must include the following details:

• Name of employee and employer
• Start and end date of employment
• Job title
• Job duties
• Salary
• Holiday entitlement
• Sick pay entitlement
• Benefits
• Termination clause
• Company policies

You should refer to a specialised contract lawyer before putting the contract into use, to be sure it is legally correct.

–

Now that you have a better understanding of how to hire temporary employees, don’t hesitate to get in touch and let us know exactly what you need.

The post How to hire temporary employees appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

The Basics

Address: The Shed, 122 Palace Gardens Terrace, London, W8 4RT

020 7229 4024

https://www.theshed-restaurant.com/

A Snapshot

Shabby-chic restaurant, providing an eclectic mix of menus. From 6 course tasting menus accompanied by sustainably sourced wine pairing to generous A La Carte options, offering fresh and seasonal produce. The Galdwin Brothers bring rustic Farm-to-Fork dining to the heart of Notting Hill, bringing the stunning Sussex countryside to this little pocket in London. Their hyper-seasonal produce ensures zero-waste as well as exceptional quality food straight from their farm in West Sussex. Located a couple of minutes’ walk from Notting Hill Gate station, this restaurant promises a great evening of delicious dining or a seasonal set lunch menu.

The Food

We started the tasting experience with a mushroom marmite éclair, egg confit, cornichon caraway crispbread and spiced carrot puree with crispy sage. To put it simply, a homemade eclair filled with the most delicious melt in the mouth mushroom confit. We wish we could have taken the filling home! It was the perfect start to our tasting voyage and it really got the tastebuds going, without being too heavy. It was paired with a nutty vintage wine.

We moved on (quite swiftly!) to our next course, arriving on a plate fresh out of the fridge, a perfectly chilled Hampshire trout crudo with wasabi Chichester and beetroot puree. The wasabi was very mild and the trout was smooth with the perfect texture, complimented with the sweet earthy beetroot kick. The dish was extremely aesthetically pleasing, simple and delicious.

At this point we went slightly off-piste and ordered a dish which was not on the tasting menu, scallops. Arriving in a shell, they were huge and perfectly cooked. Hidden under a blanket of apple confit, these went down a treat and the only downside was that there was only one!

Next, we tasted their homemade Sussex chorizo from the farm, Hung yoghurt and crispy kale. Arriving in a stone ramekin full of different textures and spices. The tangy Chorizo was softened with the yoghurt and had an added crunch on top of the crispbread. The portion size was perfect, even though we could have eaten more of it, we knew we still had three more courses to go! The blush rose Nutbourne wine also delivered flavor to the dish, another delicious local wine.

As pasta lovers, my colleague and I were thrilled to see ravioli on the tasting menu. Paired with a light and fruity Dog Point Sauvignon were beautifully homemade parcels filled with asparagus and Somerset pecorino. The filling was textured and not too pureed, which can sometimes be the case with ravioli. Coated in a thick sauce, the dish was filling and we were questioning how we were going to fit in two more courses!

Alas, we managed! Lyons Farm sirloin beef, parsnip puree and red wine jus. For me, it was not your typical steak but tasted more like roast beef with gravy – still delicious! We did expect it to be a little more melt in the mouth, being a sirloin cut, but the taste was excellent and accompanied well with El Cipres Malbec. A heavier red that I personally wouldn’t drink on its own but was lovely with a meal.

The pudding was a salted caramel chocolate torte with Chantilly cream and a raspberry sauce. Although we were very full at this point, it was a delicious way to end the meal. The torte itself was rich, but the cream and raspberry ensured it wasn’t too heavy and added an extra kick of flavor. It paired nicely with the sweet Coteaux du Layon and I just wish we had had room to finish it!

The Venue

Buzzy yet relaxing atmosphere with a lovely hum of diners, groups of friends, couples, and colleagues. We sat next to the kitchen and while this can sometimes feel stressful in some restaurants, we didn’t feel like that at The Shed. Instead, we could see all the delicious dishes being served, which had us wanting to come back to try the A La Carte menu. We were intrigued with every dish they brought out! The waiters and waitresses wore countryside inspired checked shirts which we loved. It really felt like we were in a country eatery rather than busy London restaurant. The shabby chic interior consisted of exposed brick, lots of natural light and eclectic mix of wooden chairs.

In Summary

A wonderful evening filled with delicious food and an abundance of wine, transporting us away from busy London life.

The post In Review: The Shed appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

I hosted a webinar with three mental health specialists – Jo Yarker from Affinity Health at Work^[1], Business Psychologist Julie Osborn^[2] and Ruth Cooper-Dickson from Champs Consulting^[3] – who offered their tips for employers managing employees’ mental health during the pandemic.

They cover:

• Tips for managers in looking after their own mental health
• The importance of wellbeing and social check-ins with employees
• The signs that employees may be suffering from mental ill health
• How to keep furloughed employees engaged in the social side of the workplace
• Tips for future planning
• Great online mental health resources

Watch the webinar in full below:

Looking for more guidance to help navigate the coming months? Our future of work after COVID-19 article will help! You can also find out more about alternative working arrangements in our guide to flexible working. Our HR recruitment specialists are also on hand to help with your recruitment needs.

[1]http://affinityhealthatwork.co.uk/

[2]http://julieosbornpsychology.com/

[3]http://champsconsult.com/

The post Watch: Improving employees’ mental health remotely appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

Onboarding staff is one of the most integral stages to the recruitment process. As you know, carrying out comprehensive and effective onboarding ensures that your employees will have the best possible chance of successfully integrating into their new role, team and company. Conversely, poor onboarding may impact turnover, staff morale and training, which can prove to be a costly exercise.

The recruitment and onboarding process has had to adapt to the growing phenomenon of remote workers on flexible working arrangements, with some virtual employees working far from the company office, or even in another country. Onboarding new staff remotely is therefore a reality that every business should be prepared for.

So, how do employers onboard effectively without meeting new staff in person? These are our top remote onboarding tips.

A guide to onboarding remotely

The pandemic forced businesses around the world to transition to working from home – and  flexible working remain a popular benefit among employees. However, few employers are as well-prepared as they should be to go through the onboarding process remotely. The good news is that, with proper planning and guidance, it can be done well.

Throughout the remote onboarding process, it’s important to remember that new starters may feel an increased level of stress and anxiety. With this in mind, regular check-ins and extra learning time are all the more important for them to learn the ropes.

If you’ve never onboarded remotely before

If, like many businesses, you’ve never onboarded a new starter remotely, there are a few things to prepare before you start. First, decide who’ll lead the onboarding process – typically this will either be a member of HR or the line manager. Whoever it is, they’ll need to be available to be quite hands-on throughout the first month as they’ll be busy facilitating regular video calls and training sessions. They should also create a realistic four-week agenda for the new starter to help structure the process.

Next, IT will need to facilitate the software or technology needed to onboard remotely (including training platforms, video or messaging technology) and the logistics of shipping laptops, computers and other hardware to the employee.

Finally, notify the wider business that you’ll be onboarding remotely and ask for their cooperation. It’s essential to include as many people as possible to the process as this will help create connections and improve your new starters’ integration within the wider team.

Before the new starter starts

Check in with your new starter before their start date to reassure them everything will go ahead as planned, as this will go a long way to alleviate any concerns.

We spoke to one of our personal assistant candidates, Jordan, who was recently onboarded remotely by a global management consultancy firm in London. Jordan explained that, “there’s so much anxiety coming into a new (virtual) workplace, so when HR called to reassure me everything was going ahead and I would have my hardware and agenda by a certain day, it really helped. They really put themselves in my shoes and answered every question that I thought of but was too afraid to ask.”

Sending a starter pack can also go a long way to making new employees feel excited and welcomed. This could include an agenda for the first month, a staff handbook, any applicable handover notes, HR policies, a personalised welcome letter from the owner/CEO/MD, company values and information on annual leave and benefits. If possible, try to be creative – you could include branded merchandise such as a notebook, pen, mug, USB stick and a small pot plant, for example. If you already have a starter pack in place, adapt it to include step-by-step instructions on using the systems and clear contact information for key members of staff.

Download this checklist to help ensure everything is organised before the start date.

First day of remote onboarding

The first day is one of the most important in the remote onboarding process. Start by sending around a company-wide email to introduce the new starter. Next, video call the new starter to run through the agenda for the week. If you’re in the HR team and have set up orientation video calls with the employee’s team and manager, offer to act as a friendly face by sitting in on these initial introductions. These calls should set out the training plan, set expectations and any short- and long-term goals around workload.

Lastly, organise an HR catch up for the first week, which will give them an opportunity to ask about company-specific information like the annual leave policy, benefits, the HR portal and essential contacts for IT and other team members.

First week of remote onboarding

For the rest of the first week, organise training sessions with members of their team. If you’ve organised a work buddy, ask them to talk the new starter through company culture and values (including what to expect when everyone returns to the office).

Later in the week, start introducing other managers/key staff in the company to explain what they do and how they’re likely to work with your new recruit. This will help them understand the structure of the company, especially when they can’t see it in-person at the office.

To help foster a sense of camaraderie while onboarding candidates remotely, set up 20-minute social calls with members of the team to learn about each other on a personal level. There’s only one rule – they can’t talk about work!

Finally, organise a debrief at the end of the first week. Go over the agenda to ensure everything has been completed and the new starter is happy with their progress.

Jordan found the main challenge of the first week to be “information overload”, as new employees are left to their “own devices to try and make sense of [new information]”. As such, the person responsible for onboarding should make themselves as available as possible to the new starter so they don’t feel overwhelmed.

It’s a good idea to break up video meetings with training sessions and social calls to prevent them from feeling inundated with information. There’s the possibility the onboarding process will take more time than it would normally in the office, so feel free to space out training sessions as necessary.

Download this sample calendar to help plan the first four weeks of a new starter’s agenda.

Best practice

The agenda for onboarding a candidate remotely will be different for every business. However, employers should always keep in mind the following best-practice tips to ensure a successful remote onboarding process.

Above all, ensure the new starter feels supported by the business by having access to HR, their manager or their work buddy at all times. In her new company, Jordan was assigned a buddy who called her regularly over the first two weeks. She said they “talked about things outside of work, like what we’re watching on Netflix. This was so important because you’ve lost the social interaction you’d normally have in an office.”

Put time aside to introduce the new starter to the company’s values and culture, as this is something they may not absorb by themselves at home. You can do this by encouraging socialising with virtual coffee dates and team building activities to improve collaboration within remote teams. Jordan explained that because “more people have reached out now I’m at home than if we were in the office, I feel a lot happier in my role.” As her company has taken time to include her in social activities like “Friday beers via Zoom and company-wide quizzes to meet people,” she’s been left with a positive impression of the workplace and its culture.

While setting out the agenda before the employee starts is essential, review it on a weekly basis via 1:1 check-ins. Listen to feedback and adapt if necessary. There’s no need to put an excessive amount of pressure on someone starting a new role, as this may foster negative feelings. Jordan reiterates that employers should “think in the shoes of the person who has come on remotely. It’s really, really overwhelming so you need to make time to check in!”

For longer-term performance and training/development goals, aim to review on a monthly and quarterly basis. This will reassure your new starter that you’re invested in their growth within the company.

Remote Onboarding Resources

If you’re onboarding remotely for the first time, you need to prepare the right tools. Below are a few resources that may help.

Essential check-in questions

When conducting regular check-ins, ask the right questions in case you need to adapt the process accordingly. Below are some example questions to ask when onboarding remotely:
How has the onboarding process been for you?
Are you happy in your role?
What’s your favourite part of the role?
What are you finding most challenging?
What do you think of the company culture?
Is there anything you want me to go over again with you?
Is there anything I can do to make this experience easier?
How do you feel about using the system/tech/software?

Virtual training tools

If your company isn’t familiar with virtual training, we’ve compiled a list of tools you can use to onboard the new starter. These include:

• Screen sharing/1:1 learning via video meeting software like Zoom or Skype
• Internal online courses/orientation videos
• External online courses via providers such as New Skills Academy
• Creating simple quizzes via Google forms or Survey Monkey

If you’re looking for additional hiring advice, read our complete interview and selection guide for employers.

If you’re looking for top talent for your roles, get in touch with your requirements!

The post A comprehensive guide to onboarding remotely for the first time appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

As specialists in virtual assistant recruitment, we’re no strangers to the benefits of working from home. However, sometimes, it’s nice to get out of the house, experience a new environment and plough through a productive day. That’s where coworking spaces come in. Now on every other corner in London and other major cities across the UK, these spaces are an excellent alternative to the traditional office for freelancers and those on flexible working arrangements. We explored the four of the best on the market in part one, now find out about the final five:

5. Central Working, multiple locations across London and UK

Built on an ethos of collaboration and communication, Central Working aims to provide sophisticated office space and comprehensive support systems to remote workers and start-up businesses across the UK. There are seven spots in London, spanning from White City to Shoreditch, four in regional UK (Reading, Slough, Manchester and Cambridge) and four international outposts, each with varying facilities. Depending on the location, you can expect to find features like meeting rooms and phone booths, showers, free coffee and kitchen access, breakout spaces and 24-hour access. Prices aren’t publicly available, so you’ll need to get in touch with the relevant office to find out what they can do for you.

Check out centralworking.com for more information about your closest location.

6. Work.Life

At Work.Life’s five London and two regional UK locations, there’s much more on offer than just a spot to plug your laptop in. On top of the “ninja-fast, sumo-stable” wifi, an endless supply of coffee and seven day access to their offices, it also offers its members mood booths, standing desks, a running club, local discounts, beer and pizza nights, networking opportunities, food tastings, a breakfast club and visiting wellbeing services, including yoga and massage. With spots in Bermondsey, Camden, London Fields, Clerkenwell and Hammersmith, as well as a regional outposts, Work.Life is perfectly placed for productive periods. Prices start by the hour (£3.50+VAT), the day (£30 +VAT) and per month (£350 +VAT).

Check out work.life for more information about your closest location.

7. The Allbright

The AllBright, named after Madeleine Allbright, is the UK’s first female-focused space for working women. Located in the heart of Mayfair the luxurious members’ club is designed for women to create, connect and collaborate, all while surrounded by products created by women. A membership, priced at £750/year provides access to meeting rooms, a restaurant and cocktail bar, beauty bar, fitness area and library, as well as a schedule of events, talks, networking opportunities, exhibitions and debates.

allbrightcollective.co.uk

Credit: Uncommon

8. Uncommon

If you’re looking for something a little more luxurious in your co-working space, turn to Uncommon. It combines wellbeing with work, across three distinct locations that aim to make you feel good about where and how you go about your day. Each space has a roof terrace and an abundance of indoor plants, a bespoke soundtrack, custom scents designed to help you focus, specifically designed lighting and ergonomic furniture. This is on top of the 24/7 access, super-fast internet, coffee lounge, meeting rooms and break-out spaces, bike storage, showers, standing desks and a full calendar of events, including Tuesday Tea Time and Thursday drinks. An in-house nutritionist and access to a range of fitness classes complete the offering. Monthly memberships start at £249 +VAT for a hot desk.

Uncommon has five locations: Liverpool Street, Fulham, Highbury & Islington, Holborn and Borough. Check out uncommon.co.uk for more details.

9. Plexal

Located in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in east London, Plexal calls itself a “home for innovators”, where over 800 tech-focused creatives can work and collaborate in a campus-like environment. Across 68,000 square feet of office space, members can grab a hot desk at £240 per month (+VAT), up to a private, sound-proofed office from £1375 per month (+VAT). With a busy calendar of social, networking and thought leadership events, this is the perfect choice for sparking your next great idea.

plexal.com

Missed part one? Catch up here.

Looking for virtual assistant vacancies? Tiger Virtual can help. Get in touch today!

The post Nine of the best coworking spaces in the UK: Part Two appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

Working a virtual job offers plenty of benefits (here are four reasons to consider a remote-working job), not least the fact that you don’t need to leave the house to start work. You can set up a perfect home office, but after weeks in the same location working by yourself, working at home might not be so positive after all! That’s where coworking spaces come in.

A somewhat recent phenomenon that has grown alongside flexible working, these spaces fill the void between cafes and offices and are popping up all over London and further afield in the UK. They offer freelancers and remote workers the chance to work in a professional environment with all the resources at their fingertips – without committing to a traditional office. Here are the first four of our nine best coworking spaces.

1. WeWork, 50 Locations around London

No list of coworking spaces would be complete without a mention of WeWork. The American company has made a huge splash in the UK market, having opened 50 spaces across London, including Hammersmith, London Fields, Southbank and Paddington, all of which are among the best coworking spaces London has to offer. Memberships range from a hot desk to a private office and start from £299/month. Features include unlimited refreshments, fast Internet, private phone booths, meeting rooms and break-out spaces, as well as on-site staff, 24/7 access and events during the week. Best of all, every office is designed the same way, so there’s no stress about getting lost within its walls.

Head to wework.com for more information about your closest location.

2. Forward – Frome, Bristol and Taunton

London isn’t the only city with coworking facilities. Forward takes the phenomenon outside the big cities, with spots in Frome, Bristol , Taunton and soon, Exeter. The facilities differ based on the venue, but can include a café, event space, meeting rooms and video call booths, showers and bike racks, fast Internet and parking. Memberships start at £25/month for 8 hours, but go up to £150 for unlimited use. Its only downside is its hours – access is only available during working hours, Monday to Friday.

Check out forwardspace.co.uk for more information about your closest location.

Credit: Soho Works

3. SOHO Works, Shoreditch

The latest offering from SOHO House, SOHO Works offers 16,000 feet of coworking space right opposite Shoreditch High Street station. Memberships start at £400/month for a hot desk, but shared desks (with lockable storage) are also available. But just what do you get for the investment? There are weekly events that cover everything from brand-building to meditation classes and designing pillowcases, as well an on-site café and bar, members kitchen, phone booths and meeting rooms, a library and reading room, showers and lockers and a roof terrace. SOHO Works also offers mail and stationary services, photo studios and tech support.

sohoworks.com/shoreditch/

4. Campus London, Kings Cross

Not content with continuing digital domination, Google has also opened a coworking space a short walk away from Liverpool Street and Old Street tube stations. Campus London has something for every remote worker, ranging from the free café to designated coworking spaces. The former is a freelancer’s dream, with free wifi, a constant supply of coffee and no pressure to purchase anything. All that’s required is free membership, activated through an orientation session held weekly. For something a little more established, the coworking space, run by TechHub, allows you to rent desks and conference rooms.

http://www.campus.co/london/en

Still not spotted the coworking space that’s just right for you? Read part two for more of our favourites.

Register with us today to find your next remote-working or virtual role.

The post Nine of the best coworking spaces in the UK: Part One appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

You’ve worked hard to put together the perfect team, but the newest member has opted to work from home. And now others are snapping up the company’s flexible working offer, leaving you as the manager staring at a half-empty office and managing a remote team.

This is a common problem in the modern workplace, but the secrets to encouraging collaborative working in a remote team still boil down to five simple concepts.

• Regular communication
• Shared routines
• Respecting boundaries
• Clear expectations
• Socialising

More than ever, employees want to choose when and how they work, and there are many reasons for employers to adopt flexible working too. But equally this comes with its managerial challenges, not the least of which is encouraging collaborative working in a remote team.

You may by worried that your close-knit team will be undone by this individual way of working, so we’ve put together the best actionable tips on how to manage a remote team.

Communication is key

We often take for granted how much information is picked up in an office through general conversation, whiteboards and non-verbal cues. So how can you replicate that easy back-and-forth between a team in an online situation?

The first step is to ensure that everyone, especially yourself as the manager, is easily reachable via computer or phone during work hours. Depending on your budget, you may even want to invest in work phones and laptops to ensure everyone is on a level playing field in terms of hardware capabilities.

From there you can explore the many options for group messaging and calls. The list is endless, but we recommend:

• Microsoft Teams
• Slack
• WhatsApp
• Zoom

These services help create the open-plan office feeling, with whole-company group chats and video calls, down to smaller teams and one-to-ones. Encourage your team to be active in these chats, asking questions, sharing useful links, and celebrating each other’s wins. This virtual ‘water-cooler’ will keep the group tight even when they’re miles apart.

Build routines and respect boundaries

Clear and accessible lines of communication between all members of the team will help everyone’s work flow smoothly. However, when everyone is easily contactable, there’s a risk of blurring the lines between working hours and personal time. When managing remote teams, setting clear schedules of when people are expected to start and end their work day helps everyone stay coordinated, and feel respected.

Part of this scheduling should be designed to protect your time as a manager. To avoid being constantly bombarded with messages and phone calls from team members looking for guidance, block out regular times in the week to have one-to-one video calls.

Use shared online tools

Group chats are a great start, but shared virtual spaces go so much further than that. There’s intuitive, easy-to-use software for sharing calendars, project timelines, spreadsheets and more.

Teammates can plan for when their colleagues are on annual leave and help keep each other on target for deadlines, while you as a manager can efficiently monitor progress across all ongoing work. Some of the best shareable calendar and project management tools available include:

• Trello
• Calendly
• Monday
• Asana
• Google Calendar

Onboard correctly to create a sense of engagement

For new starters, joining a remote team can be especially stressful. Without face-to-face interaction, new team members can feel they aren’t gelling with colleagues, and the much-needed collaborative environment will suffer.

Managers need to take great care when onboarding these staff to ensure they feel welcomed, understand what’s expected of them, how they can reach you with any questions, and when they will receive feedback. Read our comprehensive guide to onboarding staff remotely for a crash course in this integral part of managing remote teams.

Facilitate team learning

What better way to help your remote team see eye-to-eye than by giving them the chance to learn skills that are new to them all? Not only will the challenge bring them closer as a team, but the skills acquired will boost performance as well as future-proof the company with the latest tech and industry best-practice.

If you, as manager, have knowledge you can pass on, why not organise a video call workshop for the whole team? Or throw yourself into the classroom with them through online learning platforms, such as our partners New Skills Academy. Other platforms we recommend are:

• Future Learn
• EdX
• LinkedIn Learning

Don’t forget the fun!

It may not be the first thing on your mind when considering how to manage a remote team, but the fun and social side of work can bridge the geographical divide between colleagues.

Encouraging remote team-mates to keep in touch through group chats or with a quick video call is the simplest way to ensure they don’t miss out on the social side of work. But if you want to take things a bit further, why not try some of these ideas:

• Bingo/trivia game on a Friday afternoon (keep an ongoing scoreboard to really get the team engaged!)
• Daily wellbeing email from someone in the team
• A virtual exercise/yoga class at lunchtime
• Virtual team away days – companies like Wildgoose host games where your team can compete against each other

—

Transitioning a strong team dynamic from the office space to online is no walk in the park, but when done with care and attention, it can be achieved successfully. With the above guidance, you can give your staff the autonomy to work in the way that they feel comfortable, while also maintaining the camaraderie and support base that a great team offers.

If you’re ready to add more exceptional members to your remote or in-office team, get in touch with our consultants today!

The post Six tips on managing remote teams appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

Working from home or your favourite café was until recently considered the preserve of freelancers and creatives, but we all know that’s no longer the case. As flexible working and the use of home as an office is taken up by employees in more sectors, many of us are thinking it’s time to set up a work-at-home office. There are plenty of benefits and challenges to home working, so to help you tackle them, here are some home office essentials to consider when creating an environment where you can work effectively!

Start with your workspace

Many of us discovered during the pandemic that home working isn’t quite as comfortable as you’d think. Working from the kitchen table, couch, or even bed for hours at a time can leave you stiff and aching all over. So, appropriate and functional seating at a proper desk should be your top priority, as it will allow you to look after your body and aid in your ability to be productive. We also recommend working in a space with natural light, maintaining a healthy posture and adjusting the height of your screen to be at eye level. There are plenty of options for hardware designed to improve your experience while working on a laptop or computer. We recommend investing in:

• Adjustable computer chair
• Laptop stand
• Mobile phone stand
• Wireless keyboard
• Wireless mouse (ideally vertical)
• Ergonomic mouse pad
• Footrest

Prepare your computer and tech tools

It’s incredibly important to make sure your technology is as good as possible while at home, that your internet connection is fast and the computer you’re using is up to date. It may also be worth researching apps you can use to help you complete your daily tasks, such as Scannable for PDF scanning, Zoom for group video calling and Slack for instant messaging between your team. There are a multitude of apps for remote team working out there which may make everyday processes far more efficient. Even though we’re physically isolated, technologies like these allow us to work collaboratively like never before.

Minimise distractions

Distractions are inevitable in any workplace, but they can be a little harder to ignore at home, where it’s friends, family or pets vying for your attention. It’s therefore advisable to establish boundaries. This could be anything from working in different parts of the house, to setting periods without talking. If anyone has to take calls, it might be a good idea to designate a separate room for this so the rest of the house doesn’t become distracted. This way, you can transform a space normally designated for eating or socialising into your productive work haven!

Set your working hours and stick to them!

It’s easy to lose track of your usual nine-to-five without the obvious signs you’d receive in the office – colleagues leaving for home, cleaners arriving or your scheduled train. Studies have shown that people find it harder to switch off when working from home, so we strongly advise you to set out a timetable that you can stick to. Routines like taking a coffee or lunch break in another room, or clearing away your workspace at the end of the day act as clear signals to your brain for when to work and when to relax.

The mainstream adoption of flexible-working contracts for a large swathe of employees is doing great things for work/life balance. However, to ensure that it’s sustainable, it’s important to create an environment at home where you can find focus, and also keep the personal and professional separate.

Whether you’re looking for a flexible, remote, or office-based role, register with us today to start your search for the perfect job!

The post Remote working for the first time? These are your home office essentials appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

If you’re in a personal assistant job, you may have considered moving into a more flexible role. Flexible working has been increasing in popularity for a number of years, even before the COVID-19 pandemic brought the idea of alternative ways of working to mainstream attention. According to research from the Trades Union Congress (TUC), the number of employees who regularly work from home has tripled since before the pandemic, while ONS statistics show flexi-time has increased by 33.54% since 2013

It’s not hard to see why the popularity of working from home is on such a sharp rise. Offering additional flexibility, removing the need to commute and higher levels of productivity, it is often a preferred option for many full-time workers. However, just like any endeavour, working virtually presents its own challenges, not least isolation and overworking. Below, we look at the pros and cons of remote working.

Advantages of remote working

An environment to suit you

One of the most commonly noted benefits of remote working is flexibility. It allows you to adapt your working hours based on your schedule and accommodate tasks that require being at home. It also allows you to adapt your working environment to your needs, changing the lighting, temperature, setting and background noise as needed.

More time, more money

Working from home also reduces the need for a commute, saving time and money and increasing morale – after all, who wants to spend hours travelling to and from work? These time savings can also result in a better work/life balance, as you have more time for maintaining your physical and mental health.

Master your to-do list

From a productivity perspective, virtual workers are reported to get more work done, as meetings become more effective and there are less distractions in the form of co-workers. You may also find you take fewer sick days as a remote worker, as you’re less likely to take a day off for a mild illness. Taking less time off makes it easier to stay on top of your workload and deliver outcomes effectively and efficiently.

Build your self-reliance

There are also opportunities for personal and professional development that come from independent working. Being separate from most people within your company and the influence of your colleagues will force you to become more resourceful and solve problems by yourself. For example, you might be able to do a quick Google search to solve a minor IT problem, rather than approaching the IT department as a first port of call. You might even be able to pick up a few additional skills along the way by watching online tutorials, which can help to boost your professional confidence.

Challenges of remote working

Lack of socialising

Working remotely also has its challenges. For starters, working from home is often isolating and can see you not talking to anyone for hours on end. In line with this, maintaining an employee community and connection to your colleagues can prove difficult. With no way to chat over a cup of tea or check in to see how your colleagues are faring, there are fewer opportunities to connect, engage and build a sense of camaraderie. It also reduces your exposure to the overall company mission and values, as you are removed from the office environment.

No more 9 to 5

Virtual working can make switching off difficult, as the boundaries of working hours may become blurred – is it appropriate to be answering emails at 7pm? According to research from Zapier, remote workers are more likely to overwork, as the lack of the office routine makes it harder to disregard tasks outside of business hours.

This is supported by findings from a report from the UN’s International Labour Organisation (ILO), which found that 42% of regular home workers dealt with insomnia, while 41% suffered from stress. This was attributed to the blurring of boundaries between professional and personal lives and the ease of which workers can complete supplemental tasks outside of traditional working hours.

Losing motivation

For some, working from home also introduces the risk of slacking off or getting distracted. Without your team or managers around you to spur you on, it can become harder to stay engaged, or perhaps that quick home task takes longer than expected, or you’re distracted by a visitor. It also restricts performance monitoring and, in some instances, can increase the danger of being overlooked for promotions and career progression.

The pros and cons of working from home are highly influenced by personality types; some thrive in a quiet, self-motivated setting, while others work best in the buzz of a busy office. Finding the right balance is important for you to excel in your job and career.

If you’re looking for a remote working role or to transition to a virtual job, Tiger can help, register with us today!

The post The benefits and challenges of working from home appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

It’s been called ‘The Future of Work’ and ‘The Next Great Disruption’, but does flexible working make sense for your business?

The pandemic forced us all to adapt to new realities, not the least of which was the swift and sometimes stressful shift to remote working for a huge number of employees. While many of us initially saw this as a short-lived solution, as the lockdowns dragged on, it increasingly became a way of life.

With studies last year indicating more than half of employers expect a surge in flexible work requests from their employees after the pandemic, it’s clear the flexi option needs to be given serious consideration if a company wants to stay at the forefront of their industry. In fact, even before the pandemic, research found that as many as 87% of us wanted more flexibility in our work structure, so it’s no wonder that it has become the preferred way to live and work for a lot of Tiger’s candidates.

However, not every employer is convinced by the new dynamic, and feel that its merits remain unproven. This cautious approach could prove costly in the long run though, as we’re seeing candidates go so far as to turn down roles that require 5 days a week in the office. So, in what ways can flexible working be shown to provide benefits for both parties?

Focus on what’s achieved, not what’s perceived

As we’ve mentioned in a recent Forbes article, the pandemic had a significant effect on the culture of presenteeism and long-hours working. The happy result of the reduced micromanagement was that both employers and employees could stop measuring their worth on sometimes misleading metrics like number of hours worked, and focus instead on what has actually been achieved. Less clock-watching takes a load off employees’ minds and frees up much-needed mental energy for delivering exceptional work.

Lower costs on office space

Post-lockdown studies have shown that, on average, surveyed companies are reducing their office space by 30%. These companies are shifting to flexible work options like hot desks, with fewer staff on-site on a given day. Of course, this can reduce overheads significantly, and a quieter office has its own perks, as we’ll see in the next point.

Empowering all personalities in your workforce

Naturally, working from home isn’t for everybody, and many employees thrive in a busy, fast-paced office. But we often neglect those who hit peak performance in quieter settings. Flexible working gives these employees more control of their environment, so they can maximise their productivity and work to their natural rhythms.

A less stressful commute

With more employees taking up the option of a hybrid work-week, the once ubiquitous morning sight of packed trains, buses and gridlocked traffic isn’t such a sure bet anymore. With fewer nerve-jangling commutes, employees are arriving to offices still brimming with morning energy and raring to go. Companies can also offer commute-easing incentives to encourage employees into the office more regularly, such as cycle-to-work schemes, hot desks in more nearby offices, and flexible start times.

Stay ahead in a competitive talent market

Increased market confidence has put the ball back in the employees’ and jobseekers’ court, and businesses hoping to attract the top talent would do well to keep flexible working at the forefront of their offers. This type of tailored benefit shows respect for employees’ wellbeing, and could give you the edge over your competitors.

Increased job satisfaction

Another welcome effect of increased employee autonomy is a deeper sense of satisfaction in their role. They feel more valued and trusted by their employers, and a greater ownership over the work they’re doing. They are thus much more likely to remain loyal to their company, and are a great advert for attracting further talent.

It’s more and more apparent that flexible, hybrid working is here to stay, and is becoming a key enticement for talent. Our Hybrid Working Survey report digs deeper into just how important it is for jobseekers, so be sure to request your copy today.

The post Reasons to adopt a flexible working policy appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

Attitudes and expectations around work are changing more rapidly than ever, and what once worked like a charm to entice the best employees won’t always be so successful. That’s why it’s vital to think about how you can attract employees with benefits, keeping them up to date and competitive. One of the many reasons to adopt flexible working is that it’s by far the most popular employee benefit, and thus the most effective for staff retention and attraction.

The flexible approach to work comes in many variations, so businesses should try to think creatively when establishing their policies: a one-size-fits-all approach is unlikely to be popular with everyone. Wherever possible, flexible working terms should be negotiated with individual employees, as flexible working styles will depend on the person, their team, management and the company itself.

Below are the five types of flexible working employers should consider offering.

Remote working

Full-time remote working gained many new converts during the pandemic, and they’re not about to give up their ‘new normal’ easily. While having employees completely off-site may concern some employers, you can’t ignore this highly desirable option. With the right safeguards in place, such as secure remote servers for remote employees to log in to, and regular communication throughout work hours, studies have shown that productivity isn’t adversely affected, and may even improve!

Hybrid working

Not all employees want to give up the camaraderie and team culture completely, and will jump at the chance to split their weeks between collaborative office work and focused days at home. This office/home split is now very widespread, and despite some misconceptions about hybrid working, it’s proving to be a perfect middle ground for businesses of all sizes.

Flexi-hours

Flexible working hours allow employees to change their core business hours, updating their start and finish times to best suit them. Additionally, it can also mean that business hours are extended. This can be a huge help to parents who need to pick up children from nursery or school, or employees with other care obligations. To prevent too much disruption, employers will often stipulate that workers using this benefit must be present in the office during core business hours, and work a standard eight-hour day.

Job share

Job sharing, where two employees share one full-time role, is particularly popular among return-to-work parents, or those who want to work part time. Of course, it requires careful communication between the two parties to ensure nothing is missed. At Tiger, our job-sharing employees typically overlap one day a week for this reason.

Reduced hours

A reduction in work hours is also an option for those wanting to work flexibly. Examples include employees’ shortening their lunch breaks to leave work earlier, as well as employees compressing their standard working weeks into fewer days.

In addition to these examples, flexible working may also mean that employees need to demonstrate flexibility to benefit the team. If an employee is based in another time zone, for example, it could mean that they work to suit the head office’s hours, or agree to change their WFH day to cover another employee.

In every case, a successful flexible working arrangement should take an individualistic approach, with management and teams working together to recognise these options as legitimate ways of working. Learn more about this alternative way of working in our guide to flexible working.

If you’d like to speak to a consultant about hiring best practices, or if you’re looking to recruit, get in touch today!

The post The best flexible working practices for staff attraction and retention appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

As virtual jobs continue to rise in popularity, thanks to new technology and flexible working setups, more and more people in personal assistant jobs are becoming a virtual assistant. With added flexibility and convenience, it has become a fantastic option for those looking to even out their work-life balance.

However, the transition to a virtual assistant role requires plenty of forethought and preparation – it’s not just a case of dropping everything on Friday and starting up on Monday. So if you’re interested in how to become a virtual assistant, look no further than the following tips:

Plan ahead

Becoming a virtual assistant won’t happen overnight. It’s worth putting a plan in place as early as possible. Because you’ll likely be setting up as a freelancer, you need to treat the endeavour as a business, setting targets for business development, pitches and completed work. You can even create a path plan, identifying milestones and the skills and experience needed to reach them.

Network

When starting out, it’s all about who you know. Start networking with decision makers, calling on old acquaintances and connections to build a database of potential clients. One of the best ways to find potential clients and useful contacts is via LinkedIn, so spend time learning how to use LinkedIn effectively.

Another fruitful avenue for networking is with fellow ‘digital nomads’ working remotely. These could be other virtual assistants, or freelancers in other fields who may nonetheless have good advice and connections. Your best chance to meet these peers (and to have a break from the home office!) is in co-working spaces. Find out more about the best co-working spaces in the UK.

Get online

As part of becoming a virtual assistant, it’s imperative to make sure your online presence represents your brand as well as possible. These days, setting up an impressive and professional-looking website is very simple through services like WordPress and Squarespace. Having an easy-to-find online space with up-to-date contact details and information about your services will be one of the biggest drivers of new business. You should likewise treat your LinkedIn profile as a shop window, ensuring it reflects your achievements, services, and career aspirations.

Research

Do your research before engaging any clients. Know what the industry standard pay rate is, what normal turnover rates are and the average weekly hours. This will protect you from being taken advantage of, but it also shows prospective clients your depth of knowledge in your field.

At the same time you should learn all you can about businesses or clients you’re approaching. Show them from the start that you have an understanding of their work, their industry, and what would be required of you. This will certainly pique the interest of target clients.

Invest

Make sure you have all the equipment ready to go. This includes a fast computer and internet connection, microphone, headphones and, of course, a quiet space to work. For help setting up your own personal den of productivity, check out our guide to creating a home workspace.

—

The move from PA to VA is a natural one in the increasingly online world, but it’s not always obvious how to become a virtual assistant. If you keep these principles in mind you’ll have a much greater chance of success as you head off in this exciting new direction!

Looking for a virtual role, or in need of a VA? Tiger can help – get in touch today.

The post From PA to VA: How to become a virtual assistant appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

Originally posted on Forbes, 22nd February 2022

Hybrid working is here to stay. Countless studies show that workers relish their newfound work-life balance, not to mention the time and money they save by not commuting to the office every day. And if their flexible working options don’t pass muster, they won’t stick around, with 72% of workers saying they are likely to look for a new job. Employers who are serious about holding on to top talent will need to be prepared to meet this demand, as many already do. However, several recent studies suggest that hybrid working, when different people are in the office at different times, might not be all it’s cracked up to be. It could create workplace divisions, they say, stall career development and be detrimental to employee health and mental wellbeing. So, how can employers overcome the potential pitfalls to unlock hybrid working’s full potential?

Proximity Bias

The first charge leveled against hybrid working is the threat of proximity bias – the idea that managers tend to rank people who sit alongside them in the office more highly than employees who are working from home and therefore out of sight. According to the Future Forum Pulse survey (January 25, 2022), this bias is now the number one fear among business executives, with 41% saying they are concerned about inequalities between those working primarily in person and those working primarily remotely, up from 33% three months earlier. The risk is that people who aren’t in the office as frequently as their co-workers could be overlooked for promotion – the so-called Zoom glass ceiling limiting their career opportunities – with bosses seeing those who lean towards remote work as somehow less committed.

The Great Divide

Experts warn that women could be at a particular disadvantage in a hybrid future. They probably won’t go into the office as much as men due to childcare duties and family commitments, which are easier to manage from home.

Global data from the Future Forum Pulse supports this. It found that 84% of men work in the office all or some of the time, compared to 79% of women.

According to Amanda Blanc, CEO of leading British insurer Aviva, the problem is that women might not be around “when some of the conversations are being had and they could miss out on opportunities.”

That not only means personal development and career opportunities. It could also mean that women are passed over when there’s a challenging project – or they’re simply less connected than their in-office colleagues with what is going on across the company.

Health Issues

People aren’t just jeopardizing their careers when they work remotely, it seems. A new study suggests they could also be affecting their health and mental wellbeing.

More than 8 in 10 people leaders report that hybrid working is exhausting for employees. Workers, too, say that they find hybrid more emotionally draining than fully remote arrangements and even full-time office-based work.

For some, hybrid offers the best of both worlds but for others the switch in routine and the need to maintain two workplaces appears to be taking its toll.

A Way Forward

Despite these potential downsides, we know that employees want and now expect hybrid working. So, how can employers ensure that the benefits shine through for everyone?

Dispensing with traditional, outdated views of remote working is an important first step. The notion that an employee who is working from home for however many days a week is less dedicated or less able to contribute is a relic of the pre-Covid past.

Creating the right conditions for remote and hybrid workers to succeed is also key, which might include:

·        Defining and communicating what remote working means for your organization. Do you expect workers to be in the office a set number of days or can individuals or teams set their own hybrid-working schedule?

·        Evaluating employee performance objectively so that it’s less about hours worked and more about impact and outcomes

·        Expanding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts to provide equal opportunities for everyone, regardless of where they work

·        Ensuring that people who are working remotely feel as connected as their in-office co-workers. For example, meetings should either be held online by default so that everyone has a consistent experience or scheduled for the days when the full team is in the office

·        Reskilling managers so that they are better able to support and collaborate with their teams in the new, more flexible future of work

·        Providing guidance for employees so that they are able to work smart, such as encouraging them to set healthy boundaries and have clearly defined work hours when they’re working from home

The Road Less Traveled

As offices go back and employees and employers find their hybrid working feet, teething problems are inevitable. However, with the right policies, processes and practices in place, businesses can escape the prejudices of the past. And they can capitalize on their positive experience during the pandemic when remote working rightfully earned its place in the future of work. No longer the preserve of working moms or viewed through a negative lens, it can work for everyone. Welcome to flexible working 2.0.

The post Three Hybrid Working Misconceptions, Busted appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

If you’re thinking of hiring domestic staff to take on some of the burden of running a household, we can help.

In this blog we’ll take you through each step of the hiring process, from identifying your household support needs, to creating a job description, interviewing, and finally recruiting experienced staff.

1. Assess Business Needs

Everyone’s household needs are different, and to ensure you’re spending money in the right place when hiring domestic staff, you should do a full assessment of your personal needs before approaching a domestic recruitment agency.

2. Identifying the specific roles and responsibilities you require

The needs of your household will inform the type of staff you hire. Your requirements may be any combination of the following:

• Chauffeuring
• Childcare
• Cleaning
• Close protection
• Cooking
• Estate management
• Gardening
• Groundskeeping
• House management
• Laundry

You will need to learn which roles can cover these tasks. Read our blog on how many household staff to hire to find out more.

3. Creating Job Descriptions

An accurate and detailed job description is one of the most effective tools when hiring domestic staff. Recruitment consultants will help you finesse the document to target the most relevant, experienced candidates. You may even wish to use one of our job description templates to speed the process along.

4. Advertise Job

With your job description ready you can now work with your recruitment agency to craft an appealing job advert. This will include the description, as well as details of salary, benefits, and a small amount about the household they would be working within. Job adverts will typically be posted on your recruiter’s own jobs board and, with your permission, partner job boards they work with.

5. Screen CVs

As applications for your domestic role begin to come in, your recruitment consultant will build a shortlist of the best candidates, cutting out any that lack the relevant experience. To decide which of these shortlisted candidates to interview, you will need to screen their CVs carefully, something your consultant will be able to assist with. Check for relevant experience, skills, values, and previous employers who could be contacted for referrals. You should also run a DBS check on all applicants before progressing to the interview stage.

6. Interviews

By this point you should have a strong understanding of a candidate’s employment history and skillset. The interview is a chance to get a better idea of their values, and to test some of those skills. As domestic staff will have close contact with your personal life, it is best practice to conduct face-to-face, or at least video call interviews, to find out whether you feel comfortable with them.

7. Recruiting Candidates

When you have made your choice on a new employee for your household you will need a formal contract to finalise the recruitment process. If this is your first time employing someone, we can help with writing your contract – use our free contract of employment template to get started. Remember, you should still consult a lawyer to be sure the contract is legally binding.

Tiger also offers a payroll and contract service, which can take on much of this work and give you some distance from employees, if you prefer more privacy.

8. Onboarding Candidates

The final step in hiring domestic staff is the onboarding process. With household support, this will involve basics such as orienting them around the property, drawing up their schedule, and laying down any ground rules to follow while they are on-site. If you hire a butler or hire a house manager, much of the training and onboarding process for other household staff will then be handled by them.

Managing Your Domestic Staff

Household employees require ongoing management, and this aspect of hiring domestic staff should be planned for well in advance. If the daily admin becomes too much work as the domestic team grows, it’s advisable to hire a house manager or butler.

Looking To Recruit Domestic Staff

Whether you’re looking for housekeepers, butlers, or gardeners, temporary or permanent, we can provide you with exceptional staff. Our expert team will advise on hiring for any role and any property type, so please get in touch with your requirements and we will be happy to set up a consultation.

Frequently Asked Questions

What types of household staff are commonly hired?

The most commonly hired household staff are housekeepers and nannies. Housekeepers are able to perform a range of duties, such as cleaning and cooking, making them an affordable option for small- to mid-sized properties. Specialist domestic staff such as butlers, gardeners, estate managers and close protection are less common.

How do I create a job description for domestic staff?

A job description for domestic staff should include details of their duties, the type and size of the property they will be working in, the terms of employment, (temporary, permanent, full-time, part-time), and the living arrangements of the owners (how many occupants, whether there are children or pets). Our job description templates can help you to create this document.

How do I find qualified domestic staff candidates?

The best way to find qualified domestic staff for your household is to work with a domestic staff recruitment agency. They can advise you on the type of staff you need, assist in creating the job advert and posting it on job listing websites, and screening potential candidates to find the best fit. Speak to our consultants to find out more about our recruiting process.

How do I conduct effective interviews with domestic staff candidates?

To conduct effective interviews with domestic staff you should first have a full understanding of what will be expected from the member of staff. Write a checklist and ensure each of the following is clear in your mind:

• Tasks to be covered by the domestic employee (have a job description ready)
• Terms of employment (start date, hours of work, permanent/temporary, part-time/full-time)
• Salary
• Holiday allowance
• Any non-negotiable house rules

You should also set your limits for any negotiable aspects such as salary, bonus, holidays etc.

What should I look for in a domestic staffing agency?

It is best practice to partner with a domestic staffing agency with dedicated specialist consultants, and especially ones with experience of working in domestic roles. These consultants will work to your specific brief and have a deep knowledge of the type of staff that would best suit your needs.

The post Hiring household staff appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

Just like the houses they work in, household staff come in all sizes and structures. In this guide, we will help you put together a team that keeps your home in order and your family looked after, wherever your property is located, and no matter the size.

Read on to learn about each of the household staff roles and their average salaries. Before that, however, you will need to understand your unique household requirements.

Calculate your household needs

If we were to ask you, ‘How many household staff do you need’? how would you respond? There are several factors to consider:

• Size of your property – larger houses will need more cleaning staff, and likewise larger gardens will need more gardeners or a groundskeeper. You might even need to hire an estate manager.
• Size of your family – if you require kitchen staff, the size of your family could affect your chef recruitment needs.
• Age of your children – if you have young children up to around eleven years old, you may wish to hire a nanny.
• Your lifestyle – how busy you are and how often you are away from your property could influence your chauffeur hiring or security recruitment

Types of staff

Once you’ve calculated your needs, you should research the types of household staff and the tasks they cover. Some will have the skills to cover several job roles so, when it comes to hiring, it’s worth enquiring about this.

Let’s look at the most typical household staff.

Butler

The role of butler is one of the most varied of all household staff, and they can be an invaluable help if you have a particularly busy lifestyle. Their responsibilities include greeting and waiting on guests, answering phone calls, looking after the family’s schedule, cooking, housekeeping, managing other staff, and more. The best butlers can often perform many other tasks as well, making them a more cost-effective option for mid-sized properties.

• Butler average salary (2023): £60k-£80k p.a.

Chauffeur

As your on-call driver, a chauffeur is of great benefit to you in countless situations. Perfect if you live in a remote area, need to work on the go, or are often back and forth from the airport.

• Chauffeur average salary (2023): £50k-£70k p.a.

Chef and kitchen staff

Chefs and kitchen staff are a great help to a single working homeowner, or a household where both partners work and need help preparing dinners and schools lunches for their children. Depending on your schedule, you may want to hire a private chef full-time, part-time, or even temporarily for a summer house or dinner party.

You should also consider whether a private chef is necessary, or if a butler or housekeeper with cooking skills will cover your needs. Private chefs are specialists who will create highly bespoke meals, but their salaries may be much higher as a result.

• Private chef average salary (2023): £80k-£100k p.a.

Close protection

If you are a HNWI, UHNWI, or well-known person, a close protection officer is a must. They are highly trained and qualified specialists who will provide protection for yourself and your family at home, locally, or abroad. How many you wish to hire also depends on the size of your family and your property, and it is best practice to consult a specialist who can assess your risks and advise accordingly.

• Close protection average salary (2023): £40k-£60k p.a.

Estate manager

For significantly larger properties, including those with multiple buildings and extensive grounds, an estate manager is highly recommended. An estate manager will oversee all maintenance and upkeep of the properties and grounds, such as hiring building contractors, landscapers and groundskeepers. They may also manage household staff.

• Estate manager average salary (2023): £60k-£85k p.a.

Gardener

A well-kept garden can make all the difference in turning a house into a home, so for mid-to-large size properties, a gardener is a worthwhile investment. Their expertise will ensure your green space is presentable all year round, ready for garden parties or a morning coffee on a sunny day. Properties with large amounts of land may even require a groundskeeper to tackle issues like pests and security.

• Gardener average salary (2023): £40k-£45k p.a.
• Groundskeeper average salary (2023):  £35k-£45k p.a.

Housekeeper

If you’re looking for a simple all-round option to keep your small to mid-sized property in top shape, a housekeeper is a great choice. Sometimes called maids or servants, the duties of a housekeeper include cleaning, laundry management, stocking cleaning products, and occasionally greeting guests and cooking. These last two tasks are not always completed by housekeepers, so you will need to enquire with your recruitment consultant, but if you can find a housekeeper with experience in all these areas, they can present a more cost-effective alternative to a butler.

• Housekeeper average salary (2023): £45k p.a.

House manager

If you have decided to hire several of the above positions, you may be feeling overwhelmed by the logistics and schedules. A house manager is the perfect remedy for this. They will oversee all household staff, arranging their schedules, pay, holiday, and sick leave. As your point of contact for all other members of staff, they streamline many processes, and can help advise on additional hiring needs.

• House manager average salary (2023): £50k-£70k p.a.

Live-in couple

In larger properties needing constant work and attention, a live-in couple is a practical solution. They are often entrusted with a combination of housekeeper, chauffeur and butler tasks, taking care of all aspects of household running. Due to the necessary closeness of the relationship between the family and live-in couple, great care needs to be taken to find the right match between both parties. Your recruitment consultant will advise you on this.

• Live-in couple average salary (2023): £40k-£50k p.a.

Nanny

If you are juggling young children and a busy lifestyle, you may benefit from hiring a nanny. Nannies can be hired on an ad-hoc basis when needed, or as a permanent live-in or live-out member of the household. You may also wish to hire a travelling nanny to accompany you on family holidays. Qualified nannies will typically provide care for children from birth to around eleven years old.

Assessing your staffing needs

Now that you have a better idea of the different specialists you can hire for your household, you can match them to your needs and budget. Make an honest assessment of the tasks you’ll need assistance on and those you can handle yourself.

Managing household staff

Before hiring household staff, you should also consider how you will manage each member of the team – setting their schedule, assigning tasks, arranging payment and booking their time off. With a smaller team, you may be able to take care of this admin yourself but, if you don’t have the time, there are alternative options.

One option is to hire a house manager to handle staff and be your single point of contact for the whole team. Another is to take advantage of Tiger’s payroll services. We can arrange contracts and payment for your staff, taking on the burden and liability. Get in touch  with Tiger Private to find out more.

Hiring household staff

Once you have a firm idea of the type of household staff you need, it’s time to begin hiring. Domestic recruitment agencies are the best route to securing experienced, vetted staff for every position. Our consultation process is thorough and allows us to fully understand your personal situation and find the best staffing solutions for your property. We’re always on hand to discuss your needs, so make a hiring enquiry today.

FAQs

If you’re still asking how many household staff do you need, read our frequently asked questions below.

What staff are needed for a house?

The type of staff needed for a house depends on the size of the house and lifestyle of the family. Housekeepers are usually the most common roles, while more specialised staff like estate managers and butlers are suitable for larger properties and homeowners with busy lifestyles. Speak to a domestic recruitment consultant to help assess your needs.

What are the duties of household staff?

Household staff perform duties including cleaning, laundry, cooking, gardening, chauffeuring, close protection, groundskeeping, childcare, greeting and entertaining guests, serving meals, household budget, staff management, and estate management.

What is the English household staff hierarchy?

The modern household staff hierarchy typically consists of a butler, household manager, or estate manager at the head. Staff that report to them include housekeepers, kitchen staff, gardeners, chauffeurs, nannies, and close protection.

The post How many household staff do you need? appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

Your new job advert has only been live on job listings sites for a few days and it already received a hundred applications, and growing. With numbers like that, how can you sift through CVs to find the gems?

In this guide, we’ll talk through how to screen CVs effectively, breaking down large volumes of applications into manageable shortlists of the most promising candidates.

Once you’ve mastered the CV screening process, check out our Complete Interview and Selection Guide.

The Importance of Effective CV Screening in the Hiring Process

Learning how to screen CVs of applicants promises huge benefits for yourself as the hiring manager, and for your business. Cutting a longlist of candidates down to only the best fits will save time in the interview process, not to mention save money that might otherwise be wasted on a poorly-chosen employee.

Understanding the Basics of CV Screening: What to Look for and Common Mistakes to Avoid

Screening a CV can be broken down into five key steps:

• Understanding the job description
• Categorising candidates
• Evaluating key skills
• Identifying red flags
• Scoring the CV

By following this plan, you will be able to filter out inappropriate, unqualified candidates, and keep hold of those with the perfect skillset and values. You will also be able to identify those who may not be perfect on paper, but show promise in unexpected ways.

Familiarise Yourself With The Job Description

The first step in analysing an applicant’s suitability for a job is to improve your own knowledge of the job. The job description will lay out all the tasks, alongside expected skills and experience of a successful applicant, so this should be your first port of call. Becoming completely familiar with every aspect of the role will help you quickly spot CVs that tick every box, those that are lacking, and those that have enough transferable skills to catch your attention.

Categorise Candidates

Once your job advert is live, you may well have a flood of applications in a short time. This can be overwhelming, so it’s helpful to have a plan to keep on top of everything. You can cut out much time and effort by categorising applications after a first quick review:

• Qualified – these candidates meet all the criteria of your job. Applications in this category will receive a more in-depth review, and likely an interview
• Possibly qualified – candidates who may not meet all the criteria, but show promising signs. These will be given consideration, and several will secure an interview
• Unqualified – for candidates who do not demonstrate the required criteria. This is the ‘no’ pile, and will greatly speed up the screening process

Evaluate CV For Key Skills

With your applications categorised, you can begin taking a closer look at the CVs to find those with the strongest and most relevant skill set. Pay attention to any desirable qualifications, training, on-the-job experience, and transferable skills that could benefit the role in question. The latter skills are always worth evaluating, as they bring a new approach to the work that could identify areas for improvement.

Identify Red Flags

A red flag on a job applicant’s CV could be an unexplained gap in their employment, a series of short stints with different companies, or unusual career changes. Everyone’s career path is different, and some are very varied and interesting, but these signs could point to someone who isn’t as engaged as they will need to be for the role you are hoping to fill.

If these candidates secure an interview, it’s important to question them on these aspects of their career and determine whether they are enthusiastic about this potential role and committed to the long term.

Score CVs

When you have categorised and evaluated the CVs, give each a score. It could be a grade, a mark out of 10, 100 – score it however you like, but try to do so in the most neutral way, based on the evidence they’ve given for their suitability.

It’s important to strive for neutrality in the hiring process as a way of tackling unconscious bias. Despite our best intentions, there is always a risk of unconscious bias based on gender, sexuality, race, or religion playing a part in our choices. A scoring system can help cut down this risk, and improve a company’s diversity, equity and inclusion hiring, which has many benefits.

For example, you could create a checklist of the most desirable skills or qualifications you are looking for, each gaining one point for the candidate. This way you can build an unbiased list of the top candidates to take to the next stage of the hiring .

How Tiger Recruitment Can Help

Our consultants see hundreds of CVs week after week and are experts at sorting the wheat from the chaff. They will work with you to cut down applications into manageable shortlists, to which you can then apply your own critical eye.

If you’re ready to find top talent in a more efficient and effective way, reach out today with your requirements.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you screen CVs effectively?

When faced with a large number of job applications, a hiring manager can screen CVs more effectively by following these key steps:

• Understand the job description in-depth
• Categorise applications as qualified, possibly qualified, and unqualified
• Evaluate the skills, qualifications and experience detailed on each CV
• Identify any red flags such as unexplained gaps in employment
• Score all CVs to determine which will progress to the next stage

How do you filter out CVs?

You can filter out CVs of job applicants based on whether they match the criteria you deem necessary to perform the role. The criteria are up to you, but the cut-off point should be strictly followed in order to speed the process up.

The post How to screen CVs: a comprehensive guide appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

Table of Contents

• Diversity in hiring
• Writing a job specification
• Writing a good job ad
• Creative candidate attraction strategies
• What to look for in a CV
• How to conduct an interview
• Tailoring interview questions
• The offer process and securing a candidate
• Best practice onboarding process

We have matched exceptional jobseekers with fantastic businesses since 2001 and, for those looking to recruit staff, the hiring process has changed drastically in that time. Even prior to the pandemic, we were already seeing the desires of both businesses and job seekers shift.

Now, we’re seeing another dramatic shift in hiring. Both the pandemic and the calls for increased diversity in the workplace in 2021 have forced many businesses to transform their recruitment processes. From the conversations we’re having with businesses in the wake of this, it’s clear there is a need for a simple, straightforward guide on the basics of hiring.

The following is a comprehensive article that breaks down each step of the hiring process, from job specifications to best induction practices.

Diversity in hiring

Diversity is about including, embracing and empowering a range of people by respecting and appreciating their age, gender, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexual orientation and education. Diversity is important because everyone deserves to have the same opportunities in the workplace. However, due to discrimination, prejudice and systemic racism, this is rarely the case. So, if a workplace promotes diversity and inclusion through actionable initiatives, it can help provide opportunities for those from underrepresented groups.

Everyone brings a unique perspective to the workplace and, if an office is diverse, these different perspectives can make organisations stronger and more successful. There have been many studies to support this, one being the McGregor-Smith Review, which found that the benefit of having a representative black and ethnic minority workforce would add an additional £24bn a year to the UK economy, which represents 1.3pc of GDP[1].

Protected characteristics under the Equality Act

Legally, unlawful discrimination is dealt with under the Equality Act 2010[2] (applicable in England, Scotland and Wales). There are nine protected characteristics under the Act:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender reassignment
• Marriage and civil partnership
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Race
• Religion or belief
• Sex
• Sexual orientation

The Act states that unlawful discrimination includes:

• Direct: Someone is treated less favourably than someone else because of one of their protected characteristics
• Indirect: When an employer applies a criteria to all employees, where as a result, those with shared protected characteristics are discriminated against
• Harassment: Unwanted behaviour that relates directly to someone’s protected characteristic – could be in the form of intimidation, humiliation, hostility or offence
• Victimisation: When an employee is treated unfavourably because an employee has made a complaint, raised a grievance or given evidence in respect to a complaint about discrimination

The Act states that employers must not discriminate against those applying for employment during the recruitment process.

Effective tools in encouraging diversity include:

• Blind CVs
  • Removing names, ages and genders from CVs before they are passed to the hiring manager
  • These can be still read in a certain way, so should not be the only measure put in place to remove bias
• Skills testing
  • Using skills tests as the first step in the recruitment process can help jobseekers progress through to the following stages in the recruitment process, based entirely on their skills
  • This can help remove bias based on protected characteristics in the first stage of the recruitment process
• Creating a role-based scorecard for interviews
  • Using a set scorecard for each interviewee which is weighted towards essential skills/ characteristics – this can make interviews more objective
• Diversity targets
  • These can be based on the location of the office (reflecting the general population of that area)
  • Communicate your diversity targets to your recruiter in the first instance
• Including a hiring metric based on diversity
  • If an employee’s potential contribution to the diversity of a team is taken into account in the recruitment process, it will result in a more diverse talent pool

Find a more comprehensive guide to diversity in recruitment, read our diversity and inclusion in the workplace guide. If you’re looking for a diversity and inclusion or freelance HR consultant to help your business, get in touch today.

Writing a job specification

A job specification (job spec) or job description is a document created for candidates to understand the details of the job, before they apply for it. It’s an easy way for them to understand what the job will entail and conclude if it’s the right position for them.

Why is a job spec important?

• It will convey the company’s expectations for the position in a transparent way
• It helps the business stay competitive in the market, as well as prove its investment in employees through details about benefits and company culture
• It will help distinguish between suitable candidates and those who don’t have essential skills or requirements
• It makes the recruitment process easier from the very start, as the job spec clearly sets out expectations
• It gives the candidate a clear understanding of the role and what’s expected from them
• It can attract and entice candidates
• A good job spec comes across as professional and organised, helping to represent the employer brand in a positive light
• The more detailed the job spec, the easier it is for a recruiter to find the best possible person for the role

Format of a good job spec:

• Information about the company
• Day-to-day duties
• Requirements/skills/experience needed (this can be separated into essential and desired categories)
• Personal attributes
• Benefits for the role

Writing a good job ad

If you’re not using a recruiter, it’s likely you will also write a job advertisement for the role, in-house. The ultimate goal of a job ad is to attract the best talent, so it’s worth taking the time to write a fantastic ad.

While you want to attract the best talent, it is essential that all role expectations are communicated clearly and understood by the employee before any type of commitment is made. If a role includes a large amount of administration or irregular hours, mention it – otherwise, a discrepancy between what an employee expects and what can you deliver could arise.

Other elements to consider when writing a job ad include spelling and grammar, tone of voice, a clear heading, simple language and enthusiasm. Writing the best possible job ad will also reflect positively on your employer brand, which ensures your opportunity is considered by the right candidates.

There are also common mistakes that we see many employers make when writing their own job ads. The following are some things to avoid:

• Exaggerating the position or company
• Ignore company culture
• Be evasive about salary

What’s the difference between a job ad and a job description?

Remember, a job ad and a job description are different: a job description describes what a candidate does for you, whereas an ad should focus on what you can for them.

If using a recruiter, it’s likely they will write the job ad for you, once you’ve provided them with a thorough job description or spec.

Creative candidate attraction strategies

Our MD, Rebecca Siciliano, hosted a webinar in March 2019 where she offered her expert insight to hiring managers around creative attraction strategies in times of uncertainty. She discussed:

• Going above and beyond what’s enshrined in law
• Creative attraction trends
• Streamlining your hiring process
• Remuneration and reward
• Work-life balance and flexible working
• Working initiatives and career progression
• Sending positive messages to candidates

Find the full session below:

When looking to attract talented candidates, it’s useful to think outside the box (and the traditional job ad). It could be as elaborate as a creative job ad or as simple as setting up a strong referral process. Looking for inspiration to get you started? Head over to our blog on creative ways to attract the best talent.

Remember, by 2025, millennials will make up three-quarters of the workforce[3], so it’s incredibly important you take them into account as part of your attraction strategy. You can do this by investing in your digital presence. They were the first generation to grow up surrounded by digital technologies, and as such, will rely on the internet for information about your employer brand. Invest in building a digital presence that’s attractive to the best talent, with consistent messaging and experiences across all sites. Don’t be afraid to use social media for sourcing – LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Glassdoor can all be effective.

What to look for in a CV

When looking at candidates’ CVs, it’s important to know what to look out for with a quick scan of the document. Below, we outline what we look for in a great CV, along with common misconceptions we’ve heard along the way.

CV Layout

So, what should a CV look like? Look for:

• Consistent formatting
• Correct spelling/grammar
• No more than two-three pages in length
• Simple design and font use

Education

Education is clearly important, but often employers will rule out candidates who don’t have a bachelor’s degree, even if they are clearly intelligent (e.g. strong A-levels but have chosen not to go to university). We see this quite often when hiring personal assistants and office managers. Remember, if you do rule out a candidate based on their university qualifications, you’re at risk of narrowing your pool of candidates and potentially excluding your dream hire!

Interests/achievements/further information

These sections are a fantastic opportunity to learn more about a candidate on a personal level, behind the CV. This, in turn, gives you a better indication of their personality and if they are likely to be a good fit for your workplace. It’s also a good indication of the level of imagination and creativity a candidate possesses, as there isn’t a lot of room for individual expression on the rest of the CV. As recruiters, we actually use this information to help us do just that, so we would highly recommend more than a cursory glance at these sections.

Soft skills

It can be tempting to hire prospective employees based on specific skillsets, past experience, and referrals. Personality type and soft skills like patience and enthusiasm, however, factor into workers’ success just as much (if not more) than their ability to carry out the role. Unlike industry experience and technical skills, soft skills often cannot be taught, though they can make or break a successful onboarding process.

While CVs may outline the soft skills of a candidate, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to completely understand the breadth of these from this alone. Therefore, you should always try to go into soft skills in more detail in later stages of the process.

Movement on a CV

A number of employers find a CV with a little movement unusual, or an indication that the candidate won’t stay in one role for long. While this may have been the case in the past, it’s now very normal for a candidate to ‘hop’ from one role to the next, particularly millennials.

When you review a CV of a job-hopper, consider the following points:

• The calibre of the companies they have worked for
• Why they might have left their previous roles (ask your recruiter for more information about this if you’re unsure)

Essentially, hoppy CVs aren’t the necessarily a negative thing, so never exclude a candidate based on this reason alone.

For more tips, read our blog on how to screen CVs.

How to conduct an interview

Effective interview techniques are essential to get the most out of the experience. If done well, you’ll better understand your employees’ motivations and be better equipped to nurture their desired career path for the benefit of your business.

As the interviewer, it’s your job to make the candidate feel at ease in the situation (as they are probably nervous) when conducting interviews. Remember: a calm, informative and honest interview will ensure the candidate performs at their best, allowing you to ultimately make the right decision. It’s also a good idea for hiring managers to prepare for an interview beforehand.

Set the scene for the interview

There are different types of interviews, mainly consisting of 1:1, panel and group assessments, with 1:1 being the most common. By explaining the format of the interview and what the candidate can expect, this will allow them to feel comfortable and will make for more effective interviewing.

Make interviewees feel at ease

If the candidate feels at ease, you will get the best out of them in the interview and have a more accurate representation of their character/ skill set. If working with a recruiter, brief them on what the interview will entail so that they can prepare the candidate on what to expect.

This includes:

• Who will they be meeting?
• What is the interview type (i.e. panel, telephone, video)?
• Will there be a skills or psychometric test?

In the interview, you can make the candidate feel at ease by adopting friendly, open and warm body language. As mentioned above, start the interview by outlining what the candidate can expect. It’s also a good idea to give the candidate an overview of the company and the role as this will allow them to settle in and calm their nerves before answering questions.

There are topics you should avoid venturing into during the interview, as they have no bearing on the candidate’s ability to perform the role successfully. These include those topics to do with protected characteristics (as mentioned above), but also questions about social media accounts and leading questions.

Structure of interview

In the beginning, reiterate what structure the interview will follow and give the candidate an overview of the company and role. This is an effective interviewing technique as it will make the candidate feel at ease and give them time to tailor their answers and choose the best examples.

Next, talk through a candidate’s CV and experience. This, alongside targeted questioning, will take up most of the interview. The goal here is to find out about the candidate, their previous experience and what they’re looking for in a new role. Questions to ask at this stage may include:

• Their reasons for leaving
• Why they want to work for the company
• What can they bring to the role

After your questions, give the interviewee a chance to ask their own. This allows them to show an interest in the role and company, as well as proves they’ve done background research into the company.

End the interview by explaining what the next steps might be and when the candidate can expect to hear feedback. Regardless of how well the interview went, always thank a candidate for their time and finish on a positive note.

How long does a job interview take?

The length of the interview depends on the role, the level of experience and the number of stages in the interview process. We recommend a minimum of 20 minutes for a first-stage interview (if there are several stages). A single interview could take up to 45 minutes, but try not to keep the candidate too long, especially if they are meeting different people.

Tailoring interview questions

While it’s important to tailor interview questions depending on the specific role the candidates are applying for, there are a number of general questions employers should always ask in an interview. Below, we break down the specific types of questions that can be asked when assessing a candidate.

Different types of interview questions

There are different types of questions that an employer can ask when conducting interviews. These include:

• Open and closed questions – closed questions have a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response, whereas open interview questions are those which require further explanation from a candidate.
• Competency/behavioural questions – these are designed to test/ask questions about a candidate’s specific skills or behaviours
• Situational – focuses on a hypothetical circumstance and asks how the candidate would react in that situation
• Probing – often used to learn more about the candidate’s personal qualities, skills and experiences, based on their initial answers to questions

A combination of both competency and situational questions will provide you with a holistic view on a candidate’s thought process and problem-solving abilities. These are open questions and will therefore require the candidate to tell you a bit of a story and paint a complete picture of their experience and approach to work. These should be defined ahead of the interview with the desired competencies in mind.

Closed questions can be useful too. These are the ones that only need the one-word answers. They have their place, especially in an interview environment where you might be asking prospective permanent staff technical questions to test their understanding. Equally, if you’re rushed for time, closed questions can be a speedy way of generating easy conversation at the start or end of a meeting.

Competency-based interviews are becoming increasingly popular, with companies opting to ask broad questions that reveal a candidate’s skills and personality behind their CV.

What is a competency-based question?

Competency-based questions typically lead a candidate towards describing a situation and/or task.

For example, you may start a question by saying:

• Tell me about a time when …
• Give an example of when …
• Describe a time when …
• Have you ever been in a situation where …

Competency-based interview questions always require an example of something a candidate has done in the past (to use as an example of their competency or behaviour in a certain situation).

Pros of competency-based interviews

Competency-based interviews allow you to use a set script or a score-based system for assessing candidates. This typically means that all candidates are asked the same questions, allowing there to be a fair interview process in place, where every candidate has an equal opportunity to shine. Competency questions force candidates to recall their personal experiences, which may then be elaborated on.

Finally, these questions allow candidates to show they have all the experience and capabilities to do the job well.

Cons of competency-based interviews

As with every type of interview, there are cons associated with using competency-based questions. In some cases, candidates spend so much time preparing polished answers that they unintentionally give the impression they have a robotic personality. Also, some may struggle with the open-ended nature of the questions and end up giving poorly constructed or unclear answers. Typically, these are the most challenging types of questions — some employers report that they find candidates will freeze if they feel they’re put on the spot with a competency-based question. Finally, if an interview focuses exclusively on competencies, a candidate might not get the opportunity to convey their emotions or motivations.

Examples of competency questions

Influencing or persuading others:

• Tell me about a time when you were able to change someone’s viewpoint significantly
• Tell me about a time when you were asked to do something that you disagreed with

Interpersonal and team skills:

• What experience have you had working with a team?
• Which skills and personal qualities have you contributed to the teams you have been a part of?
• Tell me about a time when you used tact and diplomacy
• Tell me about the last time you had a disagreement with someone
• Tell me about the most difficult person you have worked with
• What have you disliked in your past jobs?
• What kinds of people do you enjoy working with?
• What qualities do you admire most in others?

Communication skills:

• Tell me about a time when you were successful in getting crucial information from another person
• Tell me about a time when someone misunderstood what you were attempting to communicate to them

Personal adaptability, energy and resilience:

• Tell me about a time when you felt under pressure
• Tell me about a time when your work or ideas were criticised
• Tell me about a time when you felt frustrated by your work

Self-management, self-motivation and self-knowledge:

• Tell me about a time when you acted over and above the expectations of your role
• What have you done that shows initiative and willingness to work?
• What are three major accomplishments from your last role?
• What does ‘success’ mean to you?
• What does ‘failure’ mean to you?
• What motivates you at work?
• What are your interests outside work?
• Tell me about a major problem you have encountered and how you dealt with it?

Problem solving and decision making:

• Tell me about a difficult decision that you have made
• Tell me about an unpopular decision you have made
• What significant problems have you faced in the last year?
• How do you work under pressure?
• How would you motivate an employee who was performing poorly?

Conflict management and ethics:

• How did you resolve conflict in the groups or teams that you were a member of?
• How would you resolve a dispute?
• Tell me about a time when you bent the rules. When is it okay to do so?

Personal and career objectives:

• What are your short- and long-term goals?
• What are the most important things you are seeking in a career?
• Who do you admire most and why?
• Why do you want this position?

Knowledge of the organisation and role:

• Why did you apply for this position?
• What skills and personal qualities are essential for success in this role?
• What would you like to know about this organisation?
• What do you believe you can contribute to this organisation?
• What do you know about our organisation?
• Why are you interested in working for our organisation?
• In what kind of work environment are you most comfortable?
• What qualities should a successful manager possess?
• Describe the relationship that should exist between a supervisor and those reporting to him or her

Work experience:

• Tell me about the best job you’ve ever had
• What did you enjoy most or least about your last job?
• What extracurricular activities are you involved in?

Ability, competence and achievement:

• What two or three accomplishments have given you the most satisfaction? Why?
• What do you feel qualifies you for this position?

Stress questions:

• How do you react to criticism?
• Can you accept criticism for poor work?
• What causes you to lose your temper?
• Aren’t you overqualified for this role?
• How long would you expect to remain with this organisation?

Essentially, what you’re looking for is someone who can positively contribute to the business by using their pre-existing knowledge and any new skills they learn on the job. It’s important to establish that they possess the relevant skills for the advertised role, which can be conducted through a small skills-based task.

The offer process and securing a candidate

Congratulations! All your hard work throughout the interview process has paid off and you’ve found your dream hire! Below, we outline the next steps to take to ensure you win over your chosen candidate as quickly as possible.

The pre-offer stage

The offer process is an integral part of securing your dream candidate. Essentially, strong communication and acting quickly are key.

This process begins before interviews start, as communicating timings and setting expectations around the interview process are absolutely essential. If working with a recruiter, talk to them to learn important information, such as where the candidates might be in recruitment processes for other positions and salary expectations.

Offer and acceptance

When making an offer to a candidate, this usually begins with a verbal conversation. During this talk, you may mention salary, benefits, an expected start date and reference requirements.

In some cases, there may be some negotiation and working around a counter-offer from the existing employer.

Once the candidate accepts, you will be able to get in contact with them directly (if you’ve been using a recruitment agency up to this point). At this stage, the contract and offer letter is sent to the candidate.

Elements to include in the contract/offer letter

There are a few key points to include in a contract or job offer letter. These include:

• The job title and key duties
• Compensation, benefits and terms i.e. start date, working hours, notice period, probation period
• The name of their direct line manager

You will also need to carry out any background and reference checks and talk to the candidate about when they will hand in notice with their current employer (if applicable).

Finally, communicate any final information pre-starting with the candidate. This could include the start date/time, who to ask for on arrival and how the onboarding process will go ahead.

Best-practice onboarding process

The hiring process doesn’t end at the candidate’s acceptance of the job. Without a smooth introduction to the organisation in the days following their acceptance, you are in danger of alienating your new recruits and impacting their motivation and productivity.

Effective inductions are timely, organised and engaging. The aim is to inspire and excite new starters while giving a good first impression of the company. They should set out an organisation’s mission and vision for them, while educating them about the company’s history, culture and values.

Your employee onboarding process could take up to three months, depending on the level and scope of the role. HR staff, line managers or the office manager can help onboard new staff. We’ve outlines the best practice for onboarding below:

Planning the onboarding in advance

A successful onboarding process doesn’t begin from the new employee’s start date. As soon as the individual accepts the role, you should be managing your new recruit’s perception of the organisation’s brand and the team they’re about to join.

How to structure a new starter’s first day

On a new starter’s first day:

• Welcome them in and show them around the office, all the facilities and their desk
• Introduce them to their line manager, colleagues and senior managers
• Put in place a well-planned timetable
• Make sure they’re aware of any soft benefits that they can take advantage of on a daily basis (casual Fridays, free lunches etc.)
• Tailor the induction to suit the new employee — for example, a graduate’s onboarding is likely to be different to a new employee who has extensive experience with other companies, or someone returning to work after a long absence
• Provide them with a training manual that they can refer to which includes all company procedures, including health and safety and company information

A new starter’s first weeks

It’s a good idea for HR to organise catch-ups with individual managers once they’ve started the role. Communicate to managers that this is an important step in the new starter’s onboarding process, as it will also help them to feel as though senior staff are taking a genuine interest in them and their skills.

The first few weeks are the most important time for any new starter. In this time, they’ll form an opinion of your company which will be hard to change if it isn’t a positive one.

Send around an email asking their colleagues to introduce themselves so that they have informal introductions over a few days. Introducing them to everyone at once will be overwhelming and the new recruit is unlikely to remember any names. Organising a buddy who can take them for lunch and show them around the local area is also a good way to relax and orientate them.

Continue holding regular catch-ups and check-ins, and allow different team members to take part in the induction process to draw on their own skill sets and give them some responsibility when training the new starter.

Planning a new starter’s initial workload

Recognise that a new employee will take some time to be able to work at their full capacity. If you enforce deadlines too quickly, you could get the wrong impression of their capabilities as they may be tempted to rush tasks in order to deliver them on time. Small mistakes are likely be made while the new recruit is taking in all this new information, so try to set them small tasks and evaluate their performance after each is completed, ensuring that you give constructive feedback.

Remote onboarding

If onboarding remotely, it’s important that:

• Any necessary hardware is sent to a new starter’s home office
• They have scheduled video calls with their team, their line manager and the person leading their induction
• They have a new-starter guide which outlines all of the systems used for communication e.g. Skype, Slack, Zoom
• They are provided an e-version of their induction schedule
• They are included in any virtual social events with the company
• Their buddy contacts them regularly about work or otherwise

Remember, the onboarding process can be overwhelming for a new starter. It’s important that everyone in the office reaches out and makes them feel welcome.

If you’d like any additional guidance on recruiting new staff, get in touch with us today and we’ll be able to guide you through the process. If you’d like to request the PDF version of our Interview and Selection guide please email us at marketing@tiger-recruitment.co.uk.

[1] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/594336/race-in-workplace-mcgregor-smith-review.pdf

[2] https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/contents

[3] https://www.catalyst.org/research/generations-demographic-trends-in-population-and-workforce/

The post Interviewer’s guide on candidate selection appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

Never has there been a time when employee mental health has held such weight in workplace conversation. And with good reason – such is the extent of worker burnout, depression, and disengagement that, according to the World Health Organisation, 12 billion working days are lost globally each year due to mental health-related sick leave.

However, while the COVID-19 pandemic is the main cause of this crisis and subsequent widespread mental health concerns, it also brought the topic of mental health to the fore.

The post-pandemic landscape

While it was very welcome, the shift in focus to employee mental wellbeing during the pandemic was in many ways out of necessity. Now, three years on, priorities are inevitably shifting once again, sometimes with mental health slipping off the agenda.

Health coach Michelle Flynn of Michelle Flynn Coaching has seen this first-hand. She explains that some companies have taken the view that, “we’re just back to normal so we can stop worrying about supporting people’s mental health”. Sadly, however, this means cuts in resources for mental health initiatives: “Due to world economics some companies have had to make to decision to reallocate budgets to other things.”

Ruth Cooper-Dickson of Champs Consulting has also seen companies scale back their mental health focus: “There are organisations that have the attitude of ‘we did wellbeing and mental health in 2020, 2021 and 2022…’”, believing that the necessary work has been done. This is despite the fact that “we’re starting to see the real ripple effect of the pandemic now”, with recent studies from Asana showing that 70% of workers have experienced burnout.

It’s not all negative though – at the other extreme, some companies are doubling down on employee mental health services. These businesses have seen the benefits that initiatives brought during lockdown and, as Michelle explains, have realised that they “need to continue to support people in the long term, because happy people make businesses more money.” In fact, studies have shown that investment in employee wellbeing raises productivity by up to 5%.

Clearly, we’re still living in the long shadow of COVID, and one of the most noticeable holdovers is hybrid working.

The pros and cons of hybrid working

One of the biggest complicating factors of the post-pandemic working world is the divisive nature of hybrid and remote working arrangements. For some, the enforced remote working during lockdown sparked severe work-related stress; Ruth explains how “people were working from their bedrooms; not everyone has the luxury of an office space at home”. Michelle adds that the isolation was also a factor: “Loneliness is one of the biggest causes of depression and is one of the reasons why people’s mental health was a challenge during lockdown”.

On the other hand, working from home was a revelation for some, particularly those who relished the autonomy and found a new level of efficiency, alongside a better work/life balance. Michelle points to “the convenience of it, the saving of money, being able to be around your children. Lots of people have seen their kids take their first steps when they never would have had that opportunity before.” For her, “the hybrid model is a really great sweet spot”.

However, not all employers agree that hybrid working works; the challenge is finding a balance that keeps productivity high, while offering employees an arrangement that works for their mental health.

Encouragingly, many innovative businesses are doing their part to develop new ways of remotely managing employees and their wellbeing.

Adapting for the future

As employees’ work arrangements become more individualised, full teams may only be in the office together once a week, or not at all. This has given rise to managers scheduling regular team meetings via video calls – an effective alternative for the team’s work management, but less so for their personal wellbeing. As Michelle observes, “When you’re on the phone or when you’re on video, you don’t necessarily spot the warning signs”.

So, how can managers keep on top of the team’s wellbeing remotely? For Ruth, general wellbeing catch-up calls with remote workers are a must, but it’s also about effective time management and avoiding “back-to-back Zoom meetings” that disrupt workflow and pile on stress. For hybrid workers, it’s important to ensure that they don’t bring the isolated mindset to their in-office days: “Are they actually doing that connecting work rather than just sitting at a desk and working in silos?”

It can be hard for us to leave our working-from-home habits at the door when we enter the office; both Michelle and Ruth advise employers to encourage a collaborative atmosphere on days when teams are in the office. They note several proactive companies that are continuing the positive mental health spirit of the pandemic with initiatives such as wellbeing talks, breathwork events, and yoga sessions. These function as enticements to return to the office, opportunities for staff to socialise and, of course, offer beneficial mental health workouts.

Finding the balance

The need for a better work/life balance had topped the mental health agenda for many years pre-pandemic, but 2020 brought its importance into stark relief. As we all became more reliant on technology, so we became used to being able to reach each other at any time, from anywhere. This blurring of personal and work time is an ongoing issue, as Ruth has found: “Those boundaries aren’t necessarily respected around evening work, evening emails, weekends, holidays, or vacation time. People stay online because it’s easier than having to come back to an inbox full of emails”.

Michelle agrees: “I talked to some people in customer service who are working from their kitchen and dealing with difficult customer services calls and have no separation between their kitchen and what’s happening at work.” For some, it’s bleak: “Now, it’s not working from home; we are living at work”.

While such a lifestyle is certainly not sustainable, thankfully it hasn’t gone unnoticed by attentive employers. Ruth works with companies who are taking steps to firm up those boundaries: “I’ve seen some organisations that have quite clear strategies and policies for managers to consider when they’re contacting their teams”. Michelle relates: There are “companies who are putting in times in the day that you cannot book any meetings”, and who are training managers to use email scheduling to send emails within work hours, rather than out-of-hours when the thought occurs. Another of her clients has implemented a rule that, “every Friday morning everyone starts work an hour later and you’re meant to use that hour to go for a walk”.

The financial benefits of change

The silver lining of the COVID cloud reveals an increased willingness by employers to listen to employee concerns. Many more business leaders are realising that employee mental health must be prioritised: It doesn’t come at the expense of profits and productivity because the long-term benefits far outweigh the short-term costs.

This is exemplified by staff retention. In fact, employees struggling with work-related mental health issues are nearly twice as likely to change jobs compared to those whose wellbeing is prioritised.

Employer brand also sees a boost when wellbeing initiatives are front and centre. Ruth can attest to this: “Gallup have proven that the number one requirement for millennials and Gen Z is wellbeing”.

The financial benefits of investing in employee wellbeing are clear: businesses stand to lose up to $340 per day from mental health-related sick leave. Weighed against the cost of initiatives like hybrid working, flexible hours and management training, the decision to set aside time and resources for a healthy team is an easy one.

Growing pains are inevitable when making changes from within, but you need only look at the increasing millennial and Gen Z demographic in the workforce to see where the future lies. These younger employees, as Ruth observes, are “able to talk about feelings to be able to be open about how they feel”, and – in the process – are de-stigmatising the topic of mental health. As their voices inevitably become louder, the best businesses will strive to get ahead of the curve, creating a more adaptable working life that empowers and invigorates employees, to everyone’s benefit.

The post New attitudes, old challenges: employee wellbeing in the post-pandemic world appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

Receiving that ‘Congratulations…’ email after weeks of applications, interviews and stress can be a huge rush. You spring out of bed buzzing with energy, get to the office an hour early and work harder than ever, thrilled to have seized this dream role!

But how many of us know where this story is heading? The 9-5 becomes a 7-11, the ‘cool’ boss is at boiling point, and no one else in the office is smiling…

Just like a whirlwind romance, a new job can quickly sour after the honeymoon period. As has been reported, the pandemic prompted a lot of people to rethink their careers and take bold steps to change them. For some, the choice to leave one company for another has proven to be the right one. Others, however, are finding the grass isn’t always greener. In their haste to leave an unfulfilling job, they’ve overlooked the importance of doing in-depth research on a company that looks like a perfect fit.

So, how can you tell if a job opportunity is right for you? Here are some green flags to look for in a prospective employer.

Positive workplace culture

Take a look at any successful company’s website and social media. Chances are you’ll see photos of the team enjoying away days and after-work drinks like a group of old friends. This is a great indicator of a company striving to regularly bring a team together – the importance of which can be forgotten in the current excitement around hybrid and remote working. You may even wish to reach out to your potential colleagues for their own experiences in the office.

Transparent diversity & inclusion initiatives

Many companies have clearly defined policies around Diversity & Inclusion, often available to view on their website. While this is a good start, it’s worth looking at the reality in their team via social media, review websites like Glassdoor, and by asking questions in the interview process. If there’s a lack of diversity, an honest answer from the interviewers is still a good sign of their awareness of the issue and the need to address it.

Good communication and flexibility during the hiring process

Applying and interviewing for jobs is stressful at the best of times, but not hearing a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ for weeks at a time can be unbearable. Regular updates from the recruitment team show there is as much respect for the candidate’s time as there is for the company’s. During this back-and-forth it’s also good practice to pay attention to how accommodating they are with interview dates and times. If a company is understanding of prior commitments in your calendar, such as the school run, it’s a good hint at how flexibly it will treat you as an employee.

Clear career progression opportunities

The classic “Where do you see yourself in five years?” could just as easily be countered with “Where do you see me?” While we certainly don’t advise being quite so forward, the point stands that a company needs to be able to show there are real opportunities for you to progress beyond the role in question. Training and development initiatives and examples from its current workforce are the best proof that a company values your professional growth.

Respect for work-life balance

The importance of a healthy work-life balance has been in the spotlight for a while now, encouraging employers to place much more emphasis on it in their job adverts. But this is an easy area for them to fall short in due to our 24-hour connectivity and ability to work remotely. In the interviews, be sure to delve into any benefits offered like holiday, flexible hours/days, personal days, life-coaching, and mental health initiatives.

–

What connects all these positive indicators is the proof that a company acts on its word. If you can see the employer puts its money where its mouth is, or at the very least is transparent in its shortcomings and efforts to amend them, you can rest easy that this is a company with a human approach to business.

If you’re ready to take the next steps in your career evolution, and would like advice and help finding a role and company that will match your principles, please get in touch today.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. Feel free to read more on our Insights page.

The post Five signs that a company is a great place to work appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

Table Of Contents

• Introduction
• Money Talks
• Development and Training
• Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
• Flexible Working
• Employee Wellbeing
• Relationships At Work
• Summary

Introduction

At the close of 2022, Tiger Recruitment hosted a roundtable event, bringing together a select group of HR leaders across a range of industries. The discussion focused on their experiences of employee retention and acquisition.

There are plenty of reasons why staff leave their jobs — from low salary, poor management and lack of flexible working through to a long commute. According to Forbes, however, the most common reason an employee leaves is because of a toxic company culture, which ranks number one for 62% of jobseekers. With this in mind, the ever-evolving challenges that HR leaders face are far from simple.

Throw in the cost-of-living crisis, and employers now face even more pressure to improve working conditions for their employees. With junior jobseekers and graduates receiving lower salaries, compared to the average UK business support salary at £40,656, graduate retention and attraction came up time and time again as a key concern among our HR leaders. Is it possible to attract entry-level staff without the same attractive salary that might be offered to those with more experience?

In 2022, workplace trends, like the Great Resignation and quiet quitting, exploded, prompting many to reconsider their retention strategies. From boosting salaries to protecting employee wellbeing, read on to discover what our HR Leaders will be investing in over the next 12 months.

Money Talks

Our latest Salary and Benefits Review revealed that 51% of UK office workers received a pay rise in the last 12 months — almost twice as many as 2021 (28%). While that might not present too much of a shock, given the current cost-of-living challenges the UK is facing, what may surprise employers is that many employees are prepared to receive less money overall (inclusive of salary, benefits, bonuses), in return for an increased base level of pay.

As bonuses are usually positioned as a job performance incentive, some employees aren’t confident that their performance will be accurately evaluated. Those in roles without commission also have less faith in the bonus system, as the value that they bring to a role has more vague indicators of performance. According to Employer News, 83% of HR professionals believe that compensation should be linked to performance. With this in mind, it’s no surprise that new employees who are yet to ‘prove themselves’ have concerns about the effectiveness of bonuses.

Some employers are experiencing an increase in requests for salary rises from junior candidates, due to a generational trend of open discussion about salary ranges. With 64% of UK-based employees wanting greater transparency from their employers about pay practices, and over half of employees across the US wanting to know what everyone at their organisation is paid, it’s clear that the push for more open communication is strengthening.

What employers are finding difficult, however, is not the request for transparency, but the lack of variable allowance across different industries, roles, type of pay, and experience. If these factors are omitted, the reality of an individual’s desired pay may fall short of their expectations.

At our roundtable, employers spoke openly about graduate salaries, with most — in light of the cost of living — agreeing there is a growing pressure to increase them. Many have altered their graduate bonus and salary structure, to accommodate for higher salaries with lower bonuses.

Employers mentioned that they were getting to the stage where the grads that they hired five years ago were starting to think about buying a home. But with the cost to buy being so expensive, these employees were looking to move further out. One employer expressed how disruptive this was for the business, and that they were planning financial support options for employees looking to buy their first home, to retain talent effectively.

Key actions

• Consider offering financial support to long-term employees looking to buy their first home. This will help to retain staff who are debating whether to relocate.
• If the budget doesn’t allow for an increase in the overall employment package, increase the base pay and reduce bonus.
• Only consider pay transparency or banding if you can accommodate variations across experience, sector and role type.

Development and Training

Career development remains a leading factor in employee retention. In our Salary and Benefits review, over 40% of jobseekers reported that career development was a priority in their next job. Around the table, HR leaders made it clear that their retention efforts were focused on strong employee development structures, regardless of role or industry.

Some shared how they had realigned their career development framework to prioritise visibility in their structure. In doing this, they found employee feedback overwhelmingly positive as a result of all staff being able to map out a clear path of personal progression.

Some HR leaders said that they were trying to improve the level of training offered to roles that traditionally lacked in this area. For example, one company was in the process of launching a new training programme with the Institute of Executive Assistants and Administrators. This employer also planned to implement a top-to-bottom training plan, allowing for a diverse group of employees with varying experience to capitalise on peer-to-peer knowledge sharing, thereby encouraging transparency at the same time.

Training, as part of graduate apprenticeships, is a key focus for 2023. Many are evaluating these, with the majority seeing apprentices working weekends and unusual working hours, due to off-the-job training requirements. Following a full day of learning and working, many employers received negative feedback from their grads and a contributing factor to feeling burnt out.

The training and development piece for grads is a key focus for employers, with most leaders at the roundtable saying that they find graduate employees the hardest to retain. In the Wiley Edge 2021 report on graduate retention, 16% of employers surveyed found that a staggering 51% – 100% of their graduate employees typically leave the business within 24 months. A further 38% found that between 21% and 50% leave within two years. With this in mind, HR leaders at the roundtable were either thinking of scrapping apprenticeships completely, or had done so already.

KEY ACTIONS

Retention efforts should be focused on strong employee development structures, regardless of role or industry

Prioritise visibility in the career development framework, so staff can take greater ownership of their personal progression within the business

Extra hours and “tick-box” exercises enforced in certain graduate apprenticeships are proving to have a negative impact on graduate retention. Companies should consider assessing these schemes, by requesting feedback from their graduates

Equity, diversity and inclusion

Diverse workplaces make better decisions 87% of the time. Research has also shown that diverse staff are more innovative, creative, and faster problem-solvers.

The push for a more diverse workplace is still front-of-mind for many employers. HR leaders at our event declared that their diversity and inclusion had improved across the board, and that they are still reporting rising numbers in their data.

Several employers have made significant progress as a result of establishing ED&I committees, with one claiming they were inundated with applications for the committee elections. Another stated that increased maternity and paternity payments have been a great success in regards to a more inclusive work environment. With new strategies in place, employers also have more accessible data on ED&I, which has been pivotal in their plans to make further changes.

One leader said that by requesting ongoing feedback on their ED&I initiatives, they are able to ensure that new strategies are well received, and gain greater insight into the thoughts of a wide range of employees.

Although progress is being made, equity, diversity and inclusion remains an area that still needs sustained and continued attention. The majority of employers agree that moving forward, actively hiring a more diverse workforce is essential in striving for equality.

It’s still as important as ever for employers to be part of the change, and at Tiger we will continue to champion the efforts made for progress. If you are looking to improve your ED&I, here are a few tips on how to do so.

Education

• Education can be in the form of training, discussions, and open communication. A good place to start is by creating an ED&I guide for staff.
• Learn from previous mistakes; educate yourself and your employees on what can be improved.
• Lead by example as an employer; pass on the importance and benefits of inclusion in the workplace.

Reach wider audiences

• When writing job openings, descriptions should be catered to reach broader audiences. These jobs should also be sent to a wider net of platforms and outreach programs.
• Advertise your company values on ED&I. Most companies forget to celebrate their workplace culture in their job listings, website, and media channels, but this should be a very visible part of your employer brand.

Communication

• Inclusive language is very important and a powerful tool for managers to open up internal communication.
• To make sure you are using inclusive language, avoid biases, slang, and expressions that discriminate against groups of people.
• By asking your diverse workforce for feedback you will ensure transparency as well as ownership of your actions.

Offer meaningful opportunities

• Take an individualistic approach to career development by nurturing talent and asking people what they want. Offer equal opportunities and be inclusive of all diversity groups.
• Set measurable goals, whether it be through quotas or feedback. Use this data to help direct progress in the right areas.

Foster at all levels

• From management level down to graduates, diversity should be a consideration when hiring for any position.
• Whether via blind CV, skills testing or widening your candidate pool, make a commitment to remove biases from the recruitment process.

Offer better workplace flexibility and policies

• Allow employees to take time off for religious holidays that may not be officially observed by the company.
• Be flexible with RTW parents and offer competitive parental leave.
• Ensure your office is well-equipped with inclusive facilities, including wheelchair access and non-gendered bathrooms.
• Offer the option for flexible working hours.

KEY ACTIONS

• Actively align the recruitment process into DE&I initiatives, involving key stakeholders and training managers where needed.
• Review existing policies to make sure they’re inclusive. Installing an ED&I committee in the workplace can support internal change.
• Even with improved ED&I data in 2023, more still needs to be done, as equality figures remain unbalanced across the board. Hold those in management accountable to change.

Flexible working

In the second half of this year, we saw a wave of employers insisting on workers returning to the office full time and, as a response, many employees started to look elsewhere. While most people enjoyed the flexibility of WFH and found greater productivity, some employers were not convinced. According to a BBC report, 87% of workers believe they’re performing just fine, while only 12% of employers say they have full confidence their team is productive.

Many of the HR leaders that we spoke to said that, post-pandemic, they had asked workers to come in three days a week, but received a lot of pushback. People couldn’t benefit from the savings of a five-day season ticket, and, as a result, some employees were asking companies to expense the difference. Under the assumption that remote working was a permanent fixture, some staff relocated further away from their offices during lockdown and were more resistant to coming in for three days.

Since then, most employers have decided to judge flexible working on a team-by-team basis. Certain businesses have found this altered approach to be a popular strategy, as there is not a one-size-fits-all solution. As for travel expenses, the HR leaders we spoke to were unanimously opposed to reimbursing these costs.

However, the rise in cost of living has shed light on the pressures for employers to help out with rising energy prices. As remote working has become less affordable, some employees have campaigned for businesses to reimburse their energy usage whilst they’re working from home.

Uswitch estimates that full-time home workers increase their daily gas use by 75%, while electricity use is predicted to rise by 25%.

If an employee is seeking financial support, employers agreed that encouraging them to return to the office would help with the reduction of home energy usage. Collectively, our HR leaders agreed that they would rather increase salary then recoup energy bills.

Being inclusive of new starters has continued to be a struggle in the remote landscape. Some employers have emphasised the importance of new employees being in the office in the first few months of their role, even if their role is fully remote. By having direct access to their superiors, some employers have noticed learning has been faster, and new starters have built better relationships within their teams.

That said, some employers felt that we should perhaps be embracing the new way of working to be more accommodating to the younger generations, by finding better solutions in the remote world. One HR leader expressed that it’s just a matter of showing them the right tools and changing the mentality of how leaders can knowledge-share. By adapting how we mentor, we can provide learning and development opportunities without forcing them back
into the office.

While hybrid working has its benefits, employers have noticed a greater risk of burnout in those that work exclusively remotely. Some have said that remote workers are more likely to work longer hours to try to keep up with the workload. Given these circumstances, employers have encouraged these members of staff to attend the office more. In doing so, they’ve resolved workload anxiety organically by collaboratively sharing the load without the fear of bothering colleagues over the phone.

At our roundtable, the concluded outlook on flexible working, was that flexibility goes both ways. On the whole, employers were more open to offer flexibility to those employees who showed willing and, in return, met the needs of the company.

• Recent evidence suggests that companies with a 90% remote workforce reported being just as happy with manager-employee face time as those with a 10% remote workforce. Of those with face-time concerns, engagement and culture – not productivity – emerged as the primary challenge.
• 1.8% According to the ONS labour productivity report, output per hour worked was 1.8% higher in Quarter 2 (Apr
  to June) 2022 than the average level in 2019, pre-pandemic.

KEY ACTIONS

• Employers should stand by employee flexible working, as productivity remains higher compared to those working in the office full time.
• There’s no one size fits all to hybrid working. Flexibility should be judged on a team-by-team basis, allowing managers to decide what works best for their individual teams.
• If employees are looking for help with their energy usage and/or travel expenses, consider implementing a designated cost-of-living bonus rather than a reimbursement.

Employee Wellbeing

More than 50% of employees want employers to do more to support their mental wellbeing, and feel that workplace stress and anxiety can result in increased absence and dissatisfaction with their job. With this in mind, employee wellbeing has been in the spotlight. By implementing workplace support, employers have noticed a positive shift in office morale as well as sustained productivity. Some have been actioning an individualised approach, whereby one-to-one coaching and therapy sessions are offered to help employees build coping mechanisms when confronted with anxiety and stress.

The wellbeing of newer members of staff is of particular importance, especially those with limited work experience, as they’re less likely to ask for help when their workload becomes overwhelming. Many employers believe this is partly because new starters don’t feel completely comfortable yet within their team relationships, which could be hindered by the lack of social exchanges in remote working.

Successfully onboarding a new employee into the workplace is all about trying to provide opportunities for the new employees to build key relationships and make new connections, whether they are working from the office or from home.

Small interactions can make all the difference when integrating new starters into the workplace. Many employers have encouraged their senior management to take initiative and the time to introduce themselves to new starters whenever they catch them in the office. Saying hello by the coffee machine or sparking conversation in the communal areas of the office, are all simple but effective ways in making a less intimidating work environment.

Relationships at work

According to m3, half of people stated that company culture is the most important factor when deciding whether to accept a new role, while 41% said that culture is one of their main considerations. This suggests that publicising and promoting the company culture should form a key part of the recruitment process, yet businesses are failing to effectively capitalise on this opportunity. Disappointingly, one in 10 businesses do not promote their company culture to potential new employees at all.

While flexible working remains highly sought after, the office social life has become tumbleweed to some. In the hybrid world of working, Friday has become a popular WFH day for many employees — a world away from pre-pandemic Friday evenings when co-workers would gather and go for drinks.

The HR community has had their fair share of challenges in reintroducing a post-pandemic social life to the workplace — with one notable issue being the increased popularity of sobriety. In fact, 26% of 16–24-year-olds are not interested in drinking alcohol at all. Our HR leaders recommended social activities such as sporting events, bowling and even candle-making workshops, with the most creative approaches being the most well-received among staff.

KEY ACTIONS

• HR leaders are planning more inclusive work events that cater for sober employees.
• With Friday evening socials off the table, employees are enjoying more activity-based social activities.

Summary

In 2022, we witnessed trends like the Great Resignation and quiet quitting, which formed the basis of recurrent recruitment and retention difficulties. In response, we have also seen employers prioritising the upskilling of their existing staff to compensate for hard-to-fill roles. If you’re doing this, we encourage you to put in place a clear career development
plan. This allows staff to progress in new areas of the company or role, motivated by a supportive structure and the promised rewards of expanding their skillset.

In 2023, we expect to see the ratio of job vacancies to candidates to be more equally matched, ahead of the Great Rebalance. The January “big move”, where employees leave positions in the new year after bonuses are paid, is a trend that we see repeated year upon year. With this in mind, we advise employers to recognise the employees that have gone the extra mile in their EOY appraisals, and to consider offering competitive salaries and career development training for the new year.

At Tiger, we expect to see flexible working a continued attraction to jobseekers in 2023, and we encourage employers to offer hybrid working as part of their employment package. Like many of the employers at the roundtable, we suggest judging flexible working on a team-by-team basis, to better meet the needs of the employees and company.

At our roundtable, job perks were a discussion highlight in the context of 2023 retention strategies, and we were pleasantly surprised to hear about some of the innovative ways companies were prioritising employee wellbeing. Organised activities such as massages and mindfulness lessons were most popular among staff, with the consensus being that these directly impacted improved morale and positivity.

Free office lunches were also suggested as an easy win. Employers noticed an increase in office attendance when they provided food, and plan to continue organising free meals as part of making a small difference with the cost of living. One HR leader also mentioned that this was a great way for new starters to socialise with other staff, as they found attendance was up and everyone took some time to chat whilst on lunch.

As many as two thirds (67%) of employees who have free food at work class themselves as “extremely happy” or “very happy”.

Some HR leaders are also finding value in employee apps that provide financial advice, mindfulness techniques, yoga etc., which employees can access at any given time. Some of these include Welbot, Headspace for Work and Ben. Private financial planning was another retention strategy that some employers were looking to help their employees with in 2023.

KEY ACTIONS

• Ahead of the January big move, recognise the employees that have gone the extra mile in their EOY appraisals, and consider offering competitive salaries and career development training for the new year.
• The key to retention in 2023 is securing a strong benefits package. Where relevant, this should also be updated to suit the hybrid working model.
• Employee wellbeing is in the spotlight for 2023. HR leaders are trying to incorporate mindfulness into the workplace, as well as perks that make employees feel valued.

The post Retention and Acquisition Trends 2023 appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

Are you considering a career as a private nanny?

There are fewer more rewarding jobs than caring for children. Working alongside parents, nannies have a direct hand in raising their charges from infancy through to early school days, seeing the fruits of their hard work as the children mature.

But make no mistake – it is hard work, and it takes a certain personality to be a great private nanny. We spoke to one of our most experienced private nannies about the lessons she learnt in her time caring for many children of different ages.

Read on for her invaluable insights into this challenging, but hugely fulfilling role.

Work with an agency

As a new nanny, signing up with a recruitment agency is a must. A nanny recruitment agency is a trusted source of job opportunities, and can protect you from unscrupulous employers.

Our expert observed, “I always tell them to go to an agency first” as it “allows you to feel safe” having a third party involved. An agency can be especially useful if you’re working abroad, as “you have a touch point back at home if something goes wrong”.

Keep a professional distance

It’s only natural to feel emotionally involved with the families you’re working for, especially if it’s a long-term arrangement. But, as our expert found out for herself, it’s important not to become so attached that the personal and professional boundaries blur. Her advice is to strive to be “a much valued, financially appreciated member of staff”.

Set boundaries and look after your health

Caring for children as a career can be a very intense experience and, as our expert notes, “even a low-key nanny job is still a 12-hour day”. Employers with busy lives will also often require last-minute cover or additional hours; she relates there have been many times when she has “had to tell a friend ‘I’m so sorry, I’m stuck at work’”.

To avoid this disruption to your personal life, be sure to talk with your employers before you start a new job. Set clear boundaries about the hours you work, and the overtime you’re willing to do.

Have an endless supply of activities

A lot of your time as a nanny will be spent keeping the children entertained. So, it’s important to always have something fun up your sleeve, no matter the situation: “typically what I do is an AM activity and PM, especially when children are still napping”.

It’s good to include both indoor and outdoor activities to best engage the children throughout the day: “The inward bound could be messy play or craft, outward bound would be National Trust property, things like that.”

Be nurturing

Being in close contact with children at such a formative time in their lives means you can have a huge and positive impact on their development. The activities you do and attitudes you instil in them can help create healthy, happy and curious children.

Our experienced nanny is a “big believer in time outdoors, time in nature” and reading: “children should read independently and also be read to”.

Talk with your family to determine what values they wish their children to take on as they grow, and always keep these in mind when planning how the children will spend their time with you.

If you’re a nanny and are ready to work with a new family, head to our jobs page to begin applying.

The post Tips for new nannies (from an expert nanny) appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

Preparing for a job interview can be a daunting experience, especially in a highly competitive job market.

So, how do you stand out from the competition? To help you make a great first impression and optimise your chances of acing the interview and securing your dream role, we’ve compiled a list of ten winning interview tips.

Ten tips to help you ace your interview

1. Do your homework

This is a critical yet often overlooked component of interview preparation. When you are invited for an interview, ensure you research the company and show that you have done your due diligence. This also includes research on your interviewer.  Employers may not be willing to offer a role to somebody who has failed to demonstrate a genuine interest in the organisation and role in question.

It is always good practice to research what a company does, what their values are, and what differentiates them from their competitors. Be ready to talk about what that means to you and how it aligns with what you are looking for.

2. Read the job description carefully

Ensure you are prepared to answer questions about how your experience relates to the job description. The hiring manager will use your answers to determine your suitability for the role.

Draw upon examples from your experience that demonstrate that you have a particular skill or core competency the company is looking for. For instance, if the role you are applying for requires someone who can manage multiple projects at once, the hiring manager might ask you to share an occasion where you used that skill in your professional experience.

Refresh your technique to be able to manage competency interviews and frame your answers well.

3. Dress appropriately

The way you present yourself in a job interview will influence the interviewer’s impression of you and the overall success of the interview.

Choosing the right attire is an important step, as each organisation will have different expectations for what their employees should wear.

A finance company may have more professional requirements for employee attire compared to a tech company; therefore, it is imperative that you consider how you’ll dress and ensure it’s appropriate for the company you are meeting with.

Good presentation is as important for a video interview as it is for face to face. Check out our video interview tips.

4. Make a good first impression

Making a good first impression can determine the degree to which you are successful in your interview. The way you introduce yourself, shake the interviewer’s hand or interact in the initial conversation, all play an important role in the outcome of your interview. So, arrive on time, remember good posture, a friendly greeting, and most importantly, smile!

5. Pay attention to your body language

Effective body language can help you convey a positive message to the interviewer and is an important indicator of your confidence and interest, regardless of whether you are attending a face to face or virtual interview. You should pay attention to your posture, avoid slouching and sit up straight.

Don’t cross your arms on your chest as it creates an invisible wall between you and the hiring manager, and steer clear of excessive hand movements.

6. Prepare three personal facts about yourself

As much as the interview is to assess your professional skills and abilities, employers also want to learn more about you as a person. Sometimes this question can throw you off in an interview.

Think about your interests and hobbies, volunteering projects, or anything else that you feel comfortable talking about that will help the interviewer to develop a more in-depth understanding of you and what makes you tick.

7. Highlight your most relevant transferable skills

Transferable skills are a set of skills and abilities that can be applied to a wide range of different jobs and industries.

This will be extremely helpful for selling your potential, especially if you’re at the start of your career and don’t have extensive experience under your belt, or if you’re looking to transition into a new industry. demonstrating that you have transferable skills will help to convince the hiring manager that you are a good fit for this role, regardless of your lack of experience in a certain industry.

8. Prepare insightful questions to demonstrate your interest

Preparing insightful questions to ask prospective employers in an interview will help you to come across as interested, enthusiastic and engaged. Asking strategic questions shows that you have conducted in-depth research into the company and that you have a strong interest in the role in question.

For example, you may wish to ask about the key challenges of the role, career progression opportunities offered by the company, or the company culture.

9. Be yourself

As cliché as this sounds, it’s probably one of the best pieces of advice you could receive.

Pretending to be someone you are not or providing misleading or dishonest information about your background or experience won’t lead to a successful outcome. Employers want to hire someone who is honest and transparent, and if you simply focus on being yourself, it will pay off.

10. Send a thank-you note

Finally, sending a thank you note or email after an interview is not only an act of courtesy, but also demonstrates your enthusiasm for the role.

Sending a simple email to thank your interviewer for their time will make you stand out in their memory.

Job interviews don’t have to be an intimidating experience, the key to reducing job interview stress is thorough preparation and practice.

Following our 10 must-do tips will fast-track your route to your dream job.

If you’re interested in receiving interview guidance or if you are looking to make a career change, we can help! Submit your details or apply for a job here.

The post Ten tips for a successful job interview appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

The Basics

Address:

One & Only Royal Mirage, Arabian Court, Dubai Marina, Dubai, UAE

A Snapshot

Trèsind is located in the heart of Dubai, a beautiful venue situated in the One & Only Royal Mirage. As the birthplace of innovative Indian cuisine, it is an award-winning restaurant. Here, guests are offered a chance to experience Indian fine dining in an imaginative and visual way, where each dish has a story to tell. Trèsind has restaurants in Dubai, Kuwait and Mumbai.

This restaurant has become one of Dubai’s most sought-after restaurants and has been recognised in the inaugural Dubai Michelin Guide and MENA’s 50 Best Restaurants.

A Bit Of Background

Bhupender Nath is the Founder who made his debut with Trèsind in 2014. He has since opened restaurants in two other countries. Bhupender is a passionate entrepreneur and has been named F&B Heavyweight of the Year. He works alongside Chef Himanshu Saini who is considered one of the youngest tastemakers in Indian cuisine. For these reasons, Trèsind is a must-try spot in Dubai.

The Food

The food at Trèsind is renowned as one of the best Indian fine dining restaurants in Dubai. The presentation is impeccable, the service excellent and each dish’s ingredients and story is explained as it’s served. If you are a lover of modern Indian food, then this is certainly a venue to try. The menu is impressive with the option of a la Carte or a tasting menu and wine pairing.

We opted for the premium tasting menu which offers several tasting courses, each dish bringing flavourful combinations. Each dish is served with a story by the waitstaff, and some are even prepared in front of you.

We started with a selection of small, bite-sized amuse bouche dishes which included an arugula pani puri rote and cannoli samosa with tomato chutney. This was a real standout, as it tasted fresh and had the perfect balance of flavours.

Our starter, which was a prawn and asparagus salad, was packed full of spices. Following the salad, we were surprised by a mouth-watering and tender Blackmore wagyu steak, served alongside molcajete chimichurri chutney and truffle mushroom. Next came a white chocolate and black lime bon bon to cleanse our pallets in time for the main course.

Our main dishes included chicken khassi curry, barramundi salan and lamb kofta served with onion chilli paratha. Each dish was vastly different but complimented one another well. The fish melted in our mouth and had just the right amount of spice.

To finish the meal, a black forest mithai tart was made in front of us. For fans of the theatre, this is a dish not to be missed!

The Venue

Walking through the One & Only, the beautiful interiors and accommodating staff were hard to miss. The ambiance is perfect for couples, meeting clients and large groups.

In Summary

Entertain clients with a memorable dining experience or bring a foodie fan to indulge in all the flavours and smells of Trèsind. This restaurant is an ambiance-filled, five-star experience guaranteed to impress.

The post In Review: Trèsind Dubai appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

When it comes to onboarding, the office manager’s job isn’t just about setting up a new starter’s computer, phone and official documents. They are in the unique position of working across all departments, so should also play an integral role in the successful onboarding of new employees through more informal means. We recommend partnering with the HR department to ensure everyone understands their roles and that all aspects of the process are covered.

We’ve outlined three ways an office manager can play a crucial role in settling in a new starter.

Prepare Their Team

One important thing to do beforehand is prepare the team for the new hire. You can do this by encouraging them to invite the new hire out to after-work drinks, organising a team lunch or setting up a team-building activity for the first few weeks they’re at the company. Depending on the role, HR may have organised a person to act as a mentor for them, or they may be receiving a hand over from their predecessor. Check this person has all of the materials and information they need to start this process. If the previous person wasn’t in the role and you hired a temp to fill the gap, ensure the temp has at least a few days handover with the new hire as well.

Talk to Senior Staff

The new starter’s manager will be overseeing their workload. If they are experienced, they will know the best way to introduce information – slowly, with regular check-ins and making sure their new hire is coping with their new role.

What about their interactions with other departments? Take the initiative and chat to each manager about a time they will be available to introduce themselves to the new starter. Once confirmed, make sure you remember to pop it in their calendar so they don’t let it fall to the wayside. This way, it’s guaranteed that the new employee will get some face time with the people around them, and it gives them an opportunity to find out how their role will interact with the rest of the office. This also encourages co-working and collaboration in the office, which is beneficial for productivity and ideas.

Communicate With Them

A new starter’s first day is daunting to say the least, so try to make your interactions with them as friendly as possible. It’s usually HR or the line manager’s role to go over company policies and make introductions, so sit back and wait until they have absorbed this information. Meet them within their first few days to reinforce anything they’re unsure with. Learn about them and make sure they’re aware of any benefits that may be of interest to them. This might be the company’s flexible working policies or social nights out. If you’re working remotely, it’s still important to set up a meeting a few days into their job so you can check in with them.

Above all, it’s important to work with the existing staff so this transition is as easy as possible for your newbie! You’re a natural conduit between HR, management and the new starter’s team; by ensuring everyone is aware of their responsibilities during this time, you’re proving yourself to be an invaluable part of the business’ success.

Check out our other workplace insights to keep up with our latest tips and office trends, or read our Interview and Selection Guide for employers.

The post Three Ways an Office Manager Can Help Onboard New Staff appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

The Basics

Münsterhof 8,

8001 Zürich

Snapshot

The Zunfthaus zur Waag, based in the heart of Zurich’s old town, is one of the hottest addresses in the city when it comes to Swiss cuisine. From classic “Züri Geschnätzlets” with Rösti to “Kalbsleberli”, this guildhall combines all Swiss culinary classics. The restaurant offers an authentic piece of Zurich history served on a plate and embraces the hospitality in this historic 17^th century house.

A Bit of Background

The Zunfthaus zur Waag was the meeting place of the linen and wool weavers from 1440 and a place where people used to come and go, meet, eat and drink while discussing political, economic and social subjects. Since 1636 it has been a restaurant and, until today, people continue to do the same as they did in the old days –dine, drink, chat and debate together. It is an inspiring house; you can feel the history as soon as entering the imposing building.

The Food

The food at the Zunfthaus is a variation on traditional Swiss cuisine while at the same time sophisticated in presentation and taste.

As a starter, we enjoyed oven-baked pumpkin topped with goat cheese and walnuts on an apple-celery salad, alongside a truffled celery soup.

For the main course, we adored the traditional sliced veal “Zurich style” with Rösti  and the Swiss whitefish fillet with lemon dill butter, young leaf spinach and boiled potatoes.

To complete the meal, a Swiss chocolate souffle served on raspberry and vanilla sauce.

Needless to say, the dishes were absolutely delicious!

The Venue

Even from the outside, the Zunfthaus zur Waag stands out in contrast to the other buildings. The old weaver’s house is painted in discreet light blue and every window seems to be illuminated. Upon entering, a high and heavy iron door must first be opened before climbing the stone stairs up to the second floor, where the restaurant is located. Once there, we were greeted by the maître d’, our coats were collected and we were quickly escorted to our table. The hall is furnished in dark blue tones with wooden elements, giving it a charming elegance.

In Summary

Overall, we had a wonderful evening. The atmosphere was very friendly and welcoming. We would highly recommend the Zunfthaus zur Waag as a superb place for both business lunches and special occasions with families or friends.

The post In Review: Zunfthaus zur Waag appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

Welcome to From the Tiger’s Mouth! Tiger Recruitment’s podcast series is the number one place for workplace insights, thought leadership and topical issues across the global job market. In each episode, we’ll be inviting an expert guest to share their thoughts and advice within their professional field. Whether you’re looking to reinvent the way you run your business or to hear new opinions and ideas on the state of the market, we’ve got you covered! So, if that sounds like your kind of thing stay tuned!

Listen to previous episodes on Apple and Spotify.

S1, E3 From the Tiger’s Mouth: How can HR promote gender diversity

Tiger’s Head of HR Recruitment, Nicola Watson sits down with Megan Hunt, Head of HR at AllBright, to discuss how policies can create greater gender balance.

AllBright is powered by a group of change-makers and ambitious women, committed to creating an equitable world. Megan shares how their mission is driven internally – from levelling the playing field to creating greater opportunities for all.

Listen to the episode below!

The post From the Tiger’s Mouth: podcast for HR professionals appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

Every year, Tiger Recruitment releases a Salary and Benefits Review. This year we collated the data from a survey of 2,202 employees.

What’s included in the report?

The report combines data from survey respondents with Tiger’s wealth of in-house expertise, to share detailed market insights, salary benchmarks and trending benefits, designed to optimise your employment offering and secure the best talent. We surveyed professionals working across business support, private, finance and accounting, HR, digital and hospitality roles. 

How the report can benefit your business

A high quality, independent salary survey is a key component in your compensation strategy and will help you stay on target to attract and retain the best talent in your industry.

Having access to a comprehensive data set ensures that your HR team stay abreast of changes in the employment market and has a thorough understanding of pay rates and trends, helping you to maintain your competitive position.

The report provides valuable statistical insights into the markets in which your business competes for talent and serves as a benchmarking tool enabling your business to make informed remuneration decisions.

Referring to credible survey data can also help to increase employee motivation as it will be clear that diligent decisions have been made around compensation.

Highlights of this year’s salary survey

The results of this year’s survey highlight what employees and jobseekers want and to what extent they feel their expectations are being met. We surveyed a total of 2,202 professionals, 80% of whom were based in London, working in small to very large companies. 

A selection of the major findings in this year’s review include:

• Movement among jobseekers is forecast to continue, with only 20% planning to stay in their current position and 43% planning to change jobs within the year
• Over half of jobseekers (51%) say that salary was the most important factor in attracting them to their current role
• Work-life balance is a close second on the list of jobseekers’ wants, with 69% championing this alongside job location (60%)
• Coming in just one percentage point behind location (59%), benefits packages have taken on a new significance to employees, moving up the list by four places since our last review
• With 46% of jobseekers ranking an employer’s DE&I commitment as a top priority, directing HR resource to this area is key to securing the best talent
• Hybrid workers who have flexibility, when it comes to their work arrangement, are the happiest of those surveyed, closely followed by fully remote workers
• Almost two thirds (59%) agree that employers should pay higher salaries if people work from the office full-time

Request your copy of the Salary and Benefits Review here.

We hope you find the document useful. Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

The post Salary and Benefits Review 2023 appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

Interviews can be daunting, but it is important to remember the client has chosen to meet with you because they believe you have the necessary skills and experience, and might be right for the role. If you keep this in mind to settle any nerves about your abilities, you can focus on showcasing your other strengths – the soft skills, work ethic and values that will prove to the employer that you are right for the role.

Below I’ll highlight my suggestions on how to set the best first impression in interviews, from my experience as a recruitment consultant at Tiger Private.

Punctuality

It sounds obvious, but punctuality is essential. It will ensure you can perform to the best of your ability in the interview without feeling flustered or panicked about the time.

With train strikes, traffic jams, road works and signal failures, lots can get in your way! Check your route the day before and on the day of the interview and leave plenty of time for your journey. You must remember that the client does not know you, therefore, if you are late for your first interview, it is easy for them to assume you are always late and always unreliable. If you are running late, don’t panic – most clients are understanding, just be sure to communicate with your consultant. Clients are much more likely to be forgiving if we can pre-warn them.

Sometimes, being too early can be a cause of frustration for clients. If you are more than five minutes early, use the time to make certain of the meeting spot and gather your thoughts over a quick walk around the block, or a coffee.

Appearance

Interviews are formal occasions, so it is best to reflect this in your appearance, even if the job you are interviewing for does not require formal dress. The client will appreciate the effort you have made on your presentation. A smart appearance will give the impression you are prepared, professional and fully invested in the opportunity.

Preparation

Prior to your interview be sure to do any research and understand the job description. You will find the benefits are threefold. Firstly, it will help you to feel more confident, especially when you see parallels between your experience and the requirements for the role. Secondly, it will help you to choose which parts of your skillset to highlight when talking with the client. Finally, the client will be impressed that you have spent time understanding the requirements for the role, it will be a signal that you are engaged, switched on and interested in the job.

Avoid technical hiccups!

Increasingly, first-stage interviews are held online via platforms such as Zoom, WhatsApp video and FaceTime, as they are convenient and time efficient. Making a good first impression via video relies upon logistics to help eliminate technical issues. Use this checklist to ensure you are prepared: check your internet connection, ensure your laptop/mobile is fully charged, find a quiet place to have the call where there is a neat, professional backdrop (aim for a plain white wall whilst sitting at a desk, avoid bedrooms or a backdrop of a bed).

Confidence

My final tip is: be yourself, smile, and remain engaged. If you have followed the previous four recommendations, your chance of any mishaps will be low, so you should feel at your most confident and prepared. Remember, Tiger put you forward for the role because we feel you are a good fit for the position, so take that self-belief into the interview!

–

For more advice on job hunting, check out our jobseekers resources page. If you’re just starting out your search, register with Tiger today.

The post Five tips to make the best first impression in interviews  appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

This year has already shown how exciting the future of technology is and the enormous potential it holds for humanity. Technological advancements are coming in thick and fast, transforming the way we live, interact and work. If you work in tech and are hiring digital staff, you’ll already be well aware!

No matter how hard you try to stay on top of this flood of software, gadgets and trends, sometimes the pace of technological innovation outruns us all. So, it’s good practice to regularly set aside time to take in the tech landscape and reorient yourself – particularly if you’re a professional looking for a job in tech. We’ve been doing just that and have singled out five tech advancements that will have a big impact on your working life for years to come.

These are some of the exciting trends in technology we’re following closely:

1. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)

AI and ML have already revolutionised the way we use technology, and this trend is set to continue. AI writing tool ChatGPT has been on everybody’s lips this year, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Companies from Google to Snapchat are beginning to incorporate AI tools into their platforms to improve user experience. Many other AI-powered devices and applications will follow suit, becoming ever more sophisticated, personalised and widespread, thereby improving efficiency and decision-making in industries like healthcare, finance, and manufacturing.

Professionals in many industries have already been discovering new ways to streamline their work with AI tools, from helping to write blog posts, to creating marketing plans, and even spotting errors in coding.

2. Internet of Things (IoT)

The Internet of Things is the name given to the increasingly large ecosystem of internet-connected devices. These days, this includes everything from doorbells to watches and baby monitors, and the list is growing.

The IoT will continue to connect devices and sensors, creating a vast source of data that can be analysed and utilised to enhance various sectors, including smart cities, transportation, and agriculture.

3. Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR/AR)

From its humble beginnings as gimmicky sci-fi goggles, VR (and later AR) has grown massively in quality and application. With mega-corporations like Google and Meta investing heavily, these technologies will continue to improve, making it possible to create immersive experiences for users in various fields such as gaming, education and healthcare.

4. 5G Technology

5G networks will provide faster and more reliable connectivity, enabling improved data transfer and supporting the growth of IoT and other emerging technologies. As the networks are rolled out in more locations, including developing markets, the possibility for increased global trade and seamless collaboration between businesses will skyrocket.

5. Quantum Computing

At the cutting edge of tech innovation is the hugely exciting quantum computing. This ground-breaking technology will revolutionise data processing, allowing for faster and more efficient computation, with potential applications in fields such as cryptography, logistics, and drug discovery.

–

Overall, the future of technology looks incredibly promising, with many exciting advancements on the horizon that will help to solve some of the world’s most significant challenges. But they will also have untold impacts on our personal and working lives. Keeping one eye on these evolving technologies will ensure you’re in a good position to seize the opportunities they present.

We work with digital and tech professionals who have the skills and knowledge to keep your business at the forefront of its field. Get in touch today to benefit from their expertise.

The post Five tech innovations you should know – and how businesses are using them appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

The basics

16 Bury Street, London, SW1Y 6AJ
+44 207 930 6767
www.quaglinos-restaurant.co.uk

A snapshot

Quaglino’s is a long-standing feature on St. James’s social scene which is famed for its nightlife among its more sedate neighbours. PAs, Quaglino’s is a great choice if you’re looking for an evening of entertainment as a backdrop to your dining experience.

Tiger rating: 3.5/5

Great for: Entertaining evening guests

A bit of background

Quaglino’s began life back in 1929 when Italian restaurateur Giovanni Quaglino first founded the venue, and throughout its colourful history it has regularly attracted a long list of royalty and A-lister guests.

Since then, it has undergone various makeovers and today, its décor harks back to a by-gone era of opulence, grandeur and affluence. It’s the perfect backdrop for evening of dining and entertainment, but lunch guests may feel like they’re at the dress rehearsal.

The food

Our party arrived at Quaglino’s for a lunch meeting; upon arrival we were enthusiastically greeted by attentive hosts before being guided down a gold, red carpeted sweeping staircase into the opulent main dining room.

We ordered off the a la carte lunch menu, which has a succinct array of elaborate contemporary European dishes that cater for meat eaters, pescatarians and vegetarians alike, yet with no particular theme or apparent speciality.

When we booked our table, we were asked whether our party had any dietary requirements or special requests – one vegetarian and no truffle, we said – and our waiter astutely confirmed our requests while we browsed the menu.

But when we ordered the deliciously creamy cauliflower velouté to start, it arrived without the parmesan tuile and girolle mushrooms that were listed on the menu, which was a bizarre confusion with our dietary requests. A small apology followed with no offer to replace the dish or remove it from the bill.

Aside from this faux pas by the waiter, who was otherwise reliable, the several other dishes ordered were good; the rump of lamb was just the right amount of pink and was accompanied with a divine jus that was full of deep flavours, making this dish the highlight.

We were also impressed by the chicken terrine, which was rich, meaty and everything that a terrine should be; but again, the menu described a ‘pickled vegetable’ accompaniment that didn’t appear on the plate.

And then there was the pan-fried cod with mussels: although the fish was plump and beautifully cooked, it rested in an exceedingly salty mustard-coloured broth which felt unnecessary for the delicate fish flavour.

Perhaps we wouldn’t have noticed these slipups had we been distracted by an evening show, but for our afternoon lunch, they were too notable to ignore.

The venue

Nothing about Quaglino’s is understated; from its dramatic lighting, underground labyrinth of dining areas and Hollywood icons adorning the walls, to its huge central bar with oversized vases and gilded stage complete with velvet curtains – it is certainly out to impress.

And it is impressive – it’s hard to imagine what lies beneath its sober exterior – yet this extravagance creates a feeling of expectation which, without the buzz of the evening clientele beautifying the sumptuous bars, makes the atmosphere feel quite sedate.

It’s all so carefully choreographed: the décor, the waiters, the lights, the bar… It feels as it could easily be a film set. And on the day we dined, there were various photoshoots in private dining areas taking place, which only contributed to this.

So, in all, would we recommend Quaglino’s? Yes, certainly. It’s a beautiful venue which comes alive at night. But PAs, your principals might not be as impressed at lunchtime without the accompanying entertainment.

The post In review: Quaglino’s, the extravagant dining room appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

The basics

27 Poultry, EC2R 8AJ
+ 44 (0)20 3828 2000
www.thened.com/restaurants/cecconis

Cecconi’s became an overnight sensation when it opened its Mayfair doors back in 1978. Since then, several Cecconi’s restaurants have opened, much to the delight of Italophiles around the globe, with Cecconi’s, City of London being the latest. Without a doubt, the food held its own against the backdrop of exceptional décor and style of The Ned.

Tiger rating: 4.5/5

Great for: Breakfasts, business lunches, after-work suppers, after-work drinks

A bit of background

Enzo Cecconi was the youngest ever general manager of Venice’s world-famous Cipriani before he opened his doors in Mayfair back in 1978. Bringing the delights of Italian fare to Londoners with a theatrical twist and notes of Venetian sophistication, Cecconi’s was an overnight hit and was soon the go-to hangout for A-listers and royals alike.

The venue

If you haven’t yet been to The Ned or are familiar with the building, it is worth a mention. Minutes from Bank Station and the bustle of the City, you walk into what feels like an extravagant 1920’s film set. The former Midland Bank’s banker hall boasts 3,000 square metres of space, emphasised by its incredibly high ceilings and some 92 verdite columns. It’s no wonder that nine restaurants fit comfortably. Soho House Group have preserved the 1924 building perfectly; the website even encourages you to go in search of the building’s ‘secrets’, such as the vault. Hidden behind the bank’s original 20 tonne door is the vault bar – also home to some 3,800 safety deposit boxes which line its walls.

The food

Sitting in the Cecconi’s corner of the great hall, it was truly difficult to order from such an impressive menu. As we ordered, I was amazed at how well we could hear one another in such a huge space. (I wondered how they must have reached the decision that housing a potential 1000 covers in one space wouldn’t be too much for the ear drums to bear.) Sipping on a delicious chardonnay from northern Italy, we awaited our Italian fate. The signature tuna tartare and the calamari fritti arrived promptly. The calamari was cooked just as it should: tender and succulent, encased in a flawless crunchy light batter. The tuna was fresh and succulent. If I had to criticise, the tuna dish might have been a little more flavourful. The chilli didn’t add to the dish other than its vibrant red colour; I’d hoped the capers to add more salty punch; and the rocket was fine.

The main event

When in Rome, one must order the pasta. Out came the crab ravioli and lobster linguini. The pasta was absolutely delicious on both sides. The crab ravioli was a dish I had enjoyed in other establishments but Cecconi’s do it differently. Within these little perfect pouches was just crab! No ricotta, no herb, no spring onion. Just crab. This dish evidently tips its hat to the subtle flavour of crab meat, and I loved it. The simplicity of it was the perfect accompaniment to the pasta and delicious sauce. It was perfect. If my boss wasn’t in attendance I might have ordered another one.

My colleague ordered the lobster linguini which was nothing short of theatrical as it entered stage left on to the table. An impressive lobster tail nuzzled picture-perfect cherry tomatoes and al dente linguini which wrapped itself around generous morsels of tender lobster and rich sauce. Sadly, the sauce was slightly too rich, so she wasn’t able to finish.

As we nursed our full bellies and congratulated ourselves on our good fortunes, the dessert menu arrived. After the compulsory, ‘oh no but I couldn’t possibly’’s, we committed to sharing a lemon tart and vanilla ice cream. Sweet, Sour, Crunchy and Smooth danced on that plate in perfect unison.

In summary

I want an excuse to go back, and pronto. Cecconi’s at The Ned won’t fail to impress the most discerning of gastronomes. If you’re a PA looking to book a sure thing for your boss and clients, or a Private PA requiring an impressive venue and food combo in the City, look no further.

The post In review: Cecconi’s at The Ned, the latest jewel in the City’s crown appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

The basics

42 Albemarle St, Mayfair, W1S 4JH
020 3011 5900
gymkhanalondon.com

In India, a gymkhana is a member’s club where high society locals can socialise and participate in sporting activities before retiring to drink and dine the night away.

In London’s Mayfair, Gymkhana is a Michelin-starred Indian restaurant that pays homage to this same concept, offering exceptional sub-continental flavours that challenge, ignite and satisfy the senses.

Tiger rating: 4/5

Great for: business lunches, after-work suppers, group dining

A bit of background

Gymkhana is the third restaurant from patron-chef Karam Sethi, who is also the creative force behind Marylebone’s Trishna. It threw its doors open in 2013 and raised through the ranks, taking home a Michelin star and the top spot in Restaurant Magazine’s Best British Restaurants in 2014. While it no longer retains its number one ranking, the Michelin star has stuck around – and rightly so. It continues to dominate the city’s Indian culinary scene, delivering diverse fare that combines the sentiment of home cooking with the highest-quality produce.

The food

The menu takes most of its inspiration from the North India, meaning richer textures, deeper flavours and a liberal dose of spices. Since we’re there for lunch, we opt for the lunch menu, a very reasonably priced three-course extravaganza. The adventure starts with three different types of papadums – lentil, cassava and tapioca – served with shrimp and mango chutneys. The tapioca papad is most reminiscent of prawn crackers: light, crunchy and the perfect textural accompaniment to the sweet mango jam.

The starters range from soft shell crab with Bombay bhel (puffed rice) to mattar paneer pao with a sesame and peanut chutney. Two of our party beeline for the crab, whilst the third opts for the duck egg bhurji with lobster and Malabar paratha. The bhel is a revelation – puffed rice is complemented by the fresh bursts of cucumber and tomato and the crunchiness of roasted peanut. While the crab is equally as textural, the entire dish would have benefited from a sauce or chutney as it’s quite dry.

In contrast, the duck egg bhurji is a masterclass in silken egg, folded with lobster, tomatoes, onion and chilli. Accompanied by a flaky yet buttery paratha, it’s a luxurious way to start the meal.

The mains will challenge even the hungriest of eaters, with sides galore. The tandoori guinea fowl is marinated for over eight hours before cooking in the tandoor. It’s served with a green apple chutney that cuts through the marinade, offering a balanced sweetness. The Hariyali bream is coated in what we could only describe as an Indian-inspired salsa verde, fresh and fragrant with a bright green hue. The accompanying tomato kachumber is made by charring the tomatoes over charcoal to remove the skin and then combined with chilli, spring onions, ginger, baby plum tomatoes and coriander stem, creating a great complement to the spinach and coriander-based marinade.

Our final main dish is the kid goat keema, a beautifully complex combination of minced goat and fenugreek, topped with potato matchsticks with a side of brioche buns and chopped onions. It’s a surprise of a dish, decadent in its flavour and offering more with each bite.

On the side, classic staples like daal and naan are elevated through the subtle use of garlic and saffron respectively, while the vegetables are cooked with the same attention as the main dishes. In fact, this small side was nominated by one of us as a favourite – not because the nominated mains were lacking, but the sides were just as finessed.

Everything is incredibly flavoursome, so we struggle to finish what’s in front of us. But this doesn’t mean we don’t have room for dessert. Instead of opting for one each, we share the stewed fig kheer, a cool rice pudding spiced with the likes of cardamom and nutmeg. By the end, we’re rolling up the stairs.

The venue

The first thing you’ll notice upon walking into the cosy space is the smell – the wafts of the tandoor oven hit your nose almost immediately, preparing your stomach for the feast to come. We have a reservation and are promptly seated downstairs, sans coats, with the maître d’ warning us of every unexpected step. The two spaces may not appear that visually different, but on closer inspection, there is purpose in their design. Upstairs, the space is informed by the idea of a traditional restaurant, with high ceilings, retro fans and marble table-tops. Downstairs, the feel is a little more intimate, harking back to the idea of a 19th century tearoom. Brass and dark wood panelling complement the rattan chairs and heritage photos of times gone by. Paired with the lighting, quiet background music and embellished furnishings, it was an ideal escape from the blustery weather outside.

However, if we could, we’d be opting for one of the private vault rooms, found on either side of the lower ground floor. The secluded areas can each seat up to 14 people and hold the option of either enjoying a set menu or designing your own.

No matter where you sit, expect attentive service, with water glasses filled at every opportunity and waiters attuned to our every move.

In summary

Gymkhana combines colonial style with the hallmarks of home cooking, offering refined dishes that are both surprising and impressive. With interiors reminiscent of its namesake, and service that leaves nothing to be desired, it’s a sure-fire winner for any PA looking to book a decadent culinary experience for their principal.
—
Looking for more spots to eat and drink in London? Check out our reviews of Quaglino’s and Cecconi’s at the Ned.

The post In Review: Gymkhana, Mayfair’s mod-Indian masterpiece appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

The basics

Address: High Street, Bray, Berkshire SL6 2AQ

Telephone: +44 1628 580 333

thefatduck.co.uk

A snapshot

The Fat Duck is a brand synonymous with experimentation, liquid nitrogen, multi-sensory adventures and Heston Blumenthal. But while the cynics might presume his flagship restaurant to be little more than extravagant gimmicks and a pricey wine list, we found his three-starred tour de force to be a unique and exhilarating gastronomic experience.

Tiger rating: 4.5/5

Great for: business lunches, social lunches, group dining, special occasions

A bit of background

The experience at three-Michelin-starred Fat Duck begins a month before D-Day, when we receive a questionnaire asking, ‘What makes you feel like a kid in a sweet shop?’ and ‘What nostalgic memory transports you to the moment?’ This proves to be a sign of things to come, as the experience at Fat Duck is ALL about nostalgia, fond childhood memories and the transportation to a different time. Blumenthal’s concept is simple, but the execution is anything but, and while some have criticised him for taking his attention away from the food and towards gimmicks, I’d argue that all these elements – the toys, science and storytelling – are critical elements in waking our inner children.

The food

Upon arrival, the menu (which lists some 17, 18, or 19 courses) is presented as a map. We are informed by the ‘storyteller’ (yes, that’s the official job title) that we are all travelling together on a summer holiday to the seaside. Each course represents a particular experience on the trip. We opted for the wine pairing, which ventured beyond the classic champagne, white and red to options such as orange wine and sake. For me, the wide range of alcohol was a little excessive. If I had my time again, I’d choose one nice bottle and stick to it.

The menu (or map) is made up of the following:

1. The day before we go: Are we nearly there?

2. Morning: Rise and Shine, it’s breakfast time

3. Mid-morning: First one to see the sea

4. Afternoon: If you go down to the woods today

5. Evening: Are you ready for dinner

6. Bedtime: Of to the land of nod

7. And then to dream

At each of these stages, we enjoy between one and five courses – all of which are introduced by our storyteller. Intermittently, we are surprised by a nostalgic memento they’ve prepared (a result of the questionnaire we had filled out ahead of time). For example, I had mentioned that apple trees and pine cones reminded me of childhood memories; at one point a mini apple tree took centrestage, as pine-scented dry ice enveloped the table.

At breakfast time, we enjoy an eighties-style breakfast menu in the form of a ‘variety pack’ of cereal, ‘tea’ and ‘coffee’. As to be expected, nothing is what it seems. The cereal represents crunchy morsels of full English flavoured breakfast bites. The hot drinks are, in fact, half hot, half cold creations.

Our trip to the seaside is a thrill. We enjoy ice creams, chase crabs in rock pools and listen to the waves crashing on the shore. In literal terms, this translates to salmon, avocado and horseradish ‘twisters’, crab and passionfruit 99’s, crab velouté, and the famed ‘Sound of the Sea’. The latter actually involves plugging in earphones and listening to waves crashing. A favourite moment involved watching the waiter pour velouté over the crab ‘shell’ and seeing it dissolve as the storyteller explained that the naughty little crabs ran away.

The trip to the woods received mixed reviews among our party. Our first mushroom-based course wasn’t well received, however the hotly awaited mock turtle soup was every bit as delicious as we’d hoped, as was the toast sandwich.

So far, it’s been a fantastic day out, but our storyteller informs us we need to dress for our three-course dinner. We go on to enjoy the more ‘traditional’ dishes of the evening – and they are exemplary. It occurred to me that Heston might use this moment to smirk at those who accuse him of hiding behind gimmicks: there’s no doubt that he can do classic fine dining with the rest of them. The results are a perfect balance of texture, flavour and decadence.

At bedtime, the lights above our table dim and lullabies start to play. A sleepy-looking white dish arrives on a floating pillow (literally). While outstanding in its presentation, the dish was a bit milky for all our tastes.

To conclude, a dolls house-style sweet shop is trundled over to our table as the storyteller cranks the leaver, prompting various drawers to pop open and bestow us with the final quirky treats of the day.

The venue

The venue was refurbished in 2015 following a £2.7m renovation but, on first impression, the fruits of their investment are not obvious. The physical venue is, simply put, underwhelming. Perhaps the money went towards research and kitchen equipment instead?

The restaurant is easily accessed from London and is handily located near Heathrow Airport. One member of our lunch party even took a 15-minute cab to the airport directly from the restaurant. There is also an excellent selection of lodges and B&Bs nearby to which you can retreat afterwards.

In summary

Everything about the food, the menu and the experience was thrilling. Personally, I loved the attention to detail and the personalisation of the menu to our individual preferences. If I were to return, I’d make a couple of changes. Firstly, I’d go for a walk afterwards. Secondly, I’d steer away from the wine pairing. The combination of champagne, sake, white wine, red wine, orange wine and dessert wine was just a little excessive for the senses, when sitting alongside the sheer variety of the food.

PAs, if you’re planning a trip yourselves – or for your principal – it’s an unforgettable and unique experience. A tip: ask the restaurant to surprise them with a tour of the wine cellar before the food is served. It’s a treat.

The post In Review: The Fat Duck appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

The basics

Level 33, The Shard, 31 St Thomas Street, London SE1 9RY

+44 020 3011 1257

hutong.co.uk

A snapshot

Located well above London’s skyline on Level 33 of the Shard, Hutong delivers refined Northern Chinese flavours in a sophisticated and luxurious space. With jaw-dropping views as the backdrop, it’s a dramatic way to enjoy dim sum, Peking duck, Shandong seafood and other modern Asian dishes. It’s perfectly placed for London Bridge and Southwark-based workers, but with such a unique setting, it’s worth the trip from anywhere in central London.

A bit of background

Hutong is the London flagship of the Aqua Restaurant Group, a Hong Kong-based hospitality venture. Its brother resides in their home city, where it has developed a reputation for delivering fiery flavours in what can only be described as a sumptuous setting. The London outpost isn’t much different, albeit a little more Anglicised. With two private dining rooms perfect for business lunches or client dinners, a menu full of words like dumplings, enoki mushrooms, Sichuan chilli and pak choi, and cocktails inspired by similar ingredients, it has everything you or your principal need for a luxurious Asian adventure.

The food

We’re there for lunch so opt for the Experience Lunch menu. However, should you or your principal have more time, or are there later in the day, there are signature menu and à la carte options.

We open with a colourful display of dumplings, resplendent in pink, green, yellow and translucent. These are not your classic Chinatown combinations; each colour represents what’s inside. The pink is rose champagne and shrimp, the green seasonal mushroom and cabbage, and so on. Each one is a perfect parcel of flavours, beautifully balanced but as always, benefitting from a dunk of soy sauce.

From there, we move onto classic poached monkfish in lamb broth, enhanced by the interesting inclusion of Szechuan pepper and goji berries. Soon after, our table is heaving with dishes – sautéed cuttlefish with gong vegetable, enoki mushroom and Sichuan chilli sits by crispy beef tenderloin with bell peppers, dried garlic and black bean. Accompaniments include wok-fried pak choi in a garlic sauce and pickled vegetable fried rice. Each dish is a masterclass in texture – the cuttlefish is drowning in a gorgeously red broth and thanks to those Sichuan chillies, has us reaching for our water glasses more than once. The beef is lightly fried, crunchy on the outside but tender inside. The pak choi and rice cut through the richness of the other dishes, while soaking up all their juices. We finish with a refreshing mango pudding, perfect for cleansing the palate.

Cocktails are just as flavoursome, with combinations such as Peking-duck-infused Hennessy cognac, roasted sesame syrup, chocolate bitters, angostura bitters and chocolate and sesame seed pancake. For those wishing to abstain from the hard stuff, there is also a small range of mocktails, as well as a selection of Chinese teas.

The venue

Because of its location, getting to the restaurant is a bit of an adventure itself. After passing through security, the lift offers a direct route to the 33^rd floor, where you’ll be ushered up the stairs to the reception desk. The restaurant is spread across the edges of the building in order to take full advantage of the view. With dark wooden furniture, touches of red and textured walls, as well as ‘tree’ with wishing well ‘leaves’, it’s a decadent take on traditional Chinese interiors.

There are also two private dining rooms – appropriately named Shanghai and Beijing. The former looks over Tower Bridge and the City and has capacity for 16, while the latter boasts views of St Paul’s and the London Eye and can seat 24 guests. These options are worth considering should your principal be entertaining, creating the illusion of intimacy and privacy.

Whatever you do, make sure you make a visit to a bathroom. They’ve extended the floor-to-ceiling views here, making for one of the most dramatic bathroom visits you may ever have.

In summary

Hutong takes Chinese fare to a new level of luxury – both figuratively and literally. The prices are far beyond that of Chinatown, but in a location like this, it doesn’t matter. Make a booking for you or your principal’s next lunch or dinner – they’ll be floored by what’s on offer.

—

Tiger specialises in the matching of outstanding support staff with employers of choice and UNHWIs in London, regional UK and internationally. If you are looking for a new challenge, get in touch today!

—

Photos by Paul Winch-Furness

The post In Review: Hutong appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

The basics

21 Heddon Street, Mayfair, London, W1B 4BG
+44 207 287 4029

A snapshot

Nestled in the pedestrianised Heddon Street, just seconds from the hustle and bustle of Regent Street, Piccolino is a homage to everything Italians hold dear – good food, good wine and good company. With three distinct dining spaces – including an expansive streetside terrace – it has everything you could need from an Italian feast.

A bit of background

Piccolino Heddon Street is one of 21 Piccolino restaurants peppered throughout the UK, all of which sit under the Individual Restaurants banner. While different in design and offering, each venue is united by an appreciation for the simplicity of Italian ingredients, offering seasonal menus that span from salumi boards and antipasti to pasta, pizza and secondi. With all the usual suspects appearing throughout – bruschetta, burrata or bistecca, anyone? – a visit will transport you to the cobblestones of the boot-shaped country with just one bite.

The food

Indecisive eaters be warned: you’re going to need to do some research. Piccolino’s menu spans seven pages – and that doesn’t include dessert. We’re there for a lazy lunch, so opt for both starters and mains. While the antipasti plate, stacked high with the likes of fennel salami, parma ham, bresaola, buffalo mozzarella, Sardinian pecorino and truffle honey, is incredibly tempting, we choose two of the antipasti options – grilled asparagus with soft-poached egg and herb breadcrumbs and beef carpaccio with Venetian dressing, rocket and Grana Padano shavings.

The asparagus was fresh, perfectly al dente and enhanced by the runny egg and texture of the breadcrumbs. The carpaccio was texturally opposite but just as balanced, with exactly the right amount of rocket to cut through the richness of the beef and Grana Padano.
From there, it was onto the mains. The ravioli granchio showcased the distinction of ingredients beautifully, with hand-made parcels coated in a simple yet sophisticated chilli, lemon and shellfish butter. The classic Sicilian flavours of the tuna were executed beautifully and when paired with a couple of sides, made for a healthy yet hedonistic option.

The venue

The simplicity of the menu isn’t mirrored by the restaurant’s design – instead, it’s an opulent dedication to the palazzos of the Italian elite. The large terrace features both booths and tables but is generally shaded, meaning you can graze on your antipasti without worrying about the cheese melting in front of your eyes. Upon entering, it’s impossible to miss the gilded bar running along the back of the space, where bartenders in bow ties mix up negronis and Aperol spritzes. Diners that sit to the right of the space are given a front-row look at the culinary magic happening in the open kitchen, where the well-oiled team of chefs turn out dishes with precision and care.

Downstairs sits the multi-use cicchetti bar, which can also be hired out for events or dinners, sitting up to 100 guests. Every Friday and Saturday night, sharing plates and Venetian tapas are consumed while listening to the tunes of a resident DJ, offering the perfect way to welcome the weekend.

In summary

With a central location, expansive menu, diverse dining areas and dedicated event managers, Piccolino has everything your principal needs for an large Italian culinary adventure. Whether it’s a team lunch, after-work drinks or 100-strong celebration, it has something for every occasion.

The post In Review: Piccolino Heddon Street appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

The basics

4 Redchurch St, London E1 6JL
bratrestaurant.com

A snapshot

Ex-Kitty Fisher’s chef Tomos Parry has ventured out on his own with Brat, a relaxed yet refined outpost in Shoreditch’s culinary corner, Redchurch St. Posh without pretence, this is contemporary British cooking at its best, with an open grill, elegant Spanish flavours and a menu that reads like a map of the Isles. Sophisticated enough for a corporate lunch, Brat is the type of place your principals can disappear into, concentrating on more important matters – what’s on their plate.

A bit of background

Welsh chef Tomos Parry made his name at Kitty Fisher’s, the Mayfair restaurant that has welcomed the likes of David Cameron and Kate Moss through its doors. With Brat, he offers creatives and City workers a chance to indulge in his simple fire-focused cooking, where seasonal ingredients are allowed to shine through a Basque lens. With the food looked after, Tomos teamed up with Dan Keeling of Noble Rot for the wine list, where plenty of left-of-centre options are offered by the glass.

The food

There’s something for everyone on Tomos’ menu, with sharing plates to start and individual mains for when you decide relinquishing even one morsel is way too much. We start with shishito peppers; samphire, melon and Carmarthen ham, and wild rabbit with blood sausage and beans. The ham was the standout and epitomised Tomos’ culinary philosophy – understated yet complex on the palate. The wild rabbit did feel a little heavy-handed on the oil, but with the house bread on hand to soak everything up, we didn’t mind too much.

We opt for individual mains, choosing the Herdwick lamb and lemon sole, with garlic potatoes and red peppers as sides. Both proteins were treated with the utmost respect – the lamb was cooked to perfection and served with sautéed greens, while the lemon sole was finely filleted and balanced beautifully. Were we here with a bigger group, the 1kg turbot would have been our first choice – the signature dish is grilled over charcoal as a whole fish and then rested in the wood oven before being served.

Had we any room left for pudding, we’d be ordering the burnt cheesecake with peaches and lemon tart. We also didn’t opt to indulge in a tipple but were intrigued by the options on offer and would partake upon return. If your principal is a sherry fan, they’ll find a treat within the pages of the drinks menu, with options by the glass and the bottle.

The venue

Brat is situated above another restaurant in a building that used to house a strip club. However, not one ounce of its previous occupants is obvious; when we visit at lunch, the room is bathed in light thanks to large windows that dominate one wall. Wood-panelled walls and timber tables ensure the space is warm and welcoming and despite being packed in close to our dining neighbours, we don’t feel claustrophobic. The service is relaxed yet attentive, with abundant smiles and water glasses constantly refilled. Coupled with the room’s design, Brat’s ambience is one of its shining stars, allowing guests to truly enjoy the experience.

In summary

Brat brings refined British cooking to Shoreditch, offering visitors a polished dining experience sans white napkins and tablecloths. With a seasoned chef at the helm, a wine list that keeps you on your toes and an atmosphere that’s hard to beat, it’s a fantastic option for your principal’s long business lunches or drinks after work.

All photos: Benjamin McMahon

The post In Review: Brat appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

The basics

8-10 Pollen Street, Mayfair
London W1S 1NQ
020 7290 7600
www.pollenstreetsocial.com/

A snapshot

Housed in a Georgian house just moments off bustling Regent Street, Pollen Street Social does a roaring business lunch trade, offering a spot for clients to indulge in Michelin-star dining without the stiff tablecloths and uptight service. The diverse set of menus celebrates the best of British produce, paired with a comprehensive wine list that’s sure to tickle even the pickiest of taste buds.

A bit of background

Pollen Street was the launchpad for Jason Atherton’s restaurant empire, his first solo venture after leaving Gordon Ramsay’s kitchen way back in 2011. Since then, he’s opened restaurants in far-flung culinary hotspots, including Hong Kong, Shanghai, Dubai and St Moritz, as well as expanded his hold over London with Social Eating House, City Social and Hai Cenato, amongst others. Pollen Street set the standard for what was to come – it received its first Michelin star within six months of opening, a feat followed by Social Eating House and City Social.

The food

Menus span from the three-course lunch menu to the nine-course tasting extravaganza, with the option for a la carte sitting squarely in the middle. There are also vegetarian and vegan-specific menus for those looking to stick to plants.

Regardless of your dietary requirements, each menu reads like a random collection of Michelin-level pantry ingredients. However, the skill of Jason and Head Chef Dale Bainbridge lies in bringing them together to create dishes that are, to quote one of our group, ‘bloody tasty’. As with most starred menus, servings are delicately sized, but rich in flavour and texture, leaving no-one wanting.

There’s an emphasis on British seasonality, with the menu detailing just how far the ingredients have travelled to get to your plate – suckling pig travels just 289 miles from Cumbria, while cultured butter originates just 56 miles away in Oxfordshire.

We open with a selection of amuse bouches, a riff on the traditional English high tea, setting the tone for what’s to come. While all the starters we enjoyed were impressive, the pressed Norfolk quail and duck liver, served with truffle-dressed vegetables and a liver toastie; and raw Orkney sea scallop with pickled kohlrabi and nashi pear, are the standouts. While sitting at opposite ends of the decadence spectrum, both are executed beautifully, with refined touches that elevate each bite.

The mains are equally as inspiring – while initially dubious of the chocolate vinegar served with a saddle of fallow deer, it proved a masterstroke, adding a tartness to the tender protein. The seabass is also cooked perfectly, served with shellfish fondue and crushed potatoes. We interrupt our journey towards dessert with a detour to cheese – presented in all its glory on a drinks trolley. The waiter is excellent at explaining the provenance and peculiarities of each block, before slicing off magnificent morsels for us to nibble on.

Disappointingly, dessert is where Pollen Street falls short – the pistachio soufflé is overly sweet, despite the 70% chocolate accompaniment. Luckily, the wine more than makes up for this oversight – the sommelier takes on the preferences of our party and exceeds all expectations, leading one of us to take note of her suggestions for next time.

The venue

Pollen Street Social is split into two minimalist dining rooms – the first dominated by a dark-wood bar and the second surrounded by contemporary art and linen hangings. Despite the number of people in each room, it’s never overly noisy, nor too quiet – the perfect atmosphere for a business lunch. Should your principal be looking for something a little more intimate, there’s also a private dining room downstairs, which also doubles up as a sommelier’s room, should they be wine-inclined. It looks through to the development kitchen, where Jason and Dale’s team experiment with new combinations.

In summary

Pollen Street is the ultimate business meeting destination. It’s private enough to discuss confidential matters, yet buzzy enough to impress, with a beautiful British menu to boot. With the option for a quick lunch, or a lazy afternoon working through the nine courses of the tasting menu in the private dining room, there’s something for every principal.

—

For access to Tiger-approved partners, PA events and other restaurant-related insight, why not apply for membership of The PA Collective®?

The post In Review: Pollen Street Social appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

The basics

85 Piccadilly, London, W1J 7NB
0203 1468 666
hide.co.uk

A snapshot

Behind the imposing wooden doors at 85 Piccadilly sits a three-level culinary extravaganza, dedicated to celebrating the finest ingredients and the very best in technique. With room for 180 covers spread across three floors and an all-day dining offering, HIDE has something for everyone at every time at the day.

A bit of background

HIDE was one of 2018’s most-hyped openings and it’s not hard to see why. Celebrated chef Ollie Dabbous is at the helm, having closed his hugely successful first restaurant, Dabbous, to focus on his new venture. In his new, multi-million-dollar kitchen, he continues with the ethos that earnt Dabbous its critical acclaim, focusing on the best ingredients and transforming them into refined and considered dishes. With the fare well and truly looked after, it was up to Mayfair wine merchant, Hedonism Wines, to look after the drinks offering. With over 4000 drops on offer, the restaurant is an oenophile’s playground, with options ranging from a £9 glass of 2016 Georgian amber wine to a £120,000 bottle of 2004 Penfolds Block 42.

The space is worthy of the culinary offering, with floor-to-ceiling windows and an all-round creamy wood aesthetic. It’s understated and creates a peaceful environment, regardless of which floor you’re on.

The food

The food offering depends completely on where you’ve chosen to eat. If it’s the tranquil Above you’ve found yourself in, it’s a tasting-menu-only affair, with the option of a three-course lunch menu or six- or nine-course degustation.

If you’ve opted for the slightly more casual Ground, the choice is in your hands, with a concise and curated a la carte menu. When we visit, it’s on this level that we find ourselves, coats tucked away and bags placed on a thoughtfully placed stool by our table.

We open with the burrata, served with confit tamarillo, basil and fennel pollen; the charcoal-baked flatbreads topped with wild mushrooms, stracciatella and lemon thyme, and the soft-shell crab tempura with Thai basil and green peppercorns. All three appear together on a large tray and are explained so that we’re under no illusions about we’ve ordered. Whilst decidedly different, they are beautifully presented and let the freshness of the produce shine.

From there, we share a main dish of glazed octopus, served on a bed of spiced wheat, oregano, artichokes and pistachios and served with a sauce that we mop up with the stems of the charred broccoli we’ve ordered on the side. The octopus is tender and subtly sweet, sitting up there with some of the best we’ve had in recent memory.

While we don’t have time for dessert, the cheese trolley we spot in the corner is incredibly tempting and would be sure to please the pickiest of dairy aficionados.

Wine-loving principals are well-looked-after by Hedonism’s supply of special drops. While there is a curated 70-page wine list thanks to the sommelier team, should your principal fancy something a little special, an iPad is on hand to digitally browse Hedonism’s selection. Their final selection will be delivered to the table within 15 minutes.

Should your principal be more of a cocktail connoisseur, the cocktail list from Below is sure to have something to tickle their fancy. It features some of the world’s rarest spirits, and just like the food menu, the focus is on flavour, with a menu that changes as the weather outside does.

The venue

This is not a venue done by halves. As soon as you walk through the statuesque front door, you’ll find yourself looking admiring the winding staircase that connects all three levels. The bespoke creation sets the tone for the rest of the aesthetic, with light timbers, natural ceramics and a nature motif. This deliberate choice means that the space avoids the stuffiness of other fine-dining establishments, instead creating an atmosphere of warmth and belonging.

Should your principal be dining in Above, they’ll find themselves making eyes with passengers sitting on the top level of London’s iconic red buses, thanks to the floor-to-ceiling windows that look over Piccadilly. Luckily, when the buses move on, they reveal sweeping views of Green Park, the perfect backdrop for the dining experience.  While Below doesn’t have the views, it does have three private dining rooms, as well as a walk-in wine cellar, where diners can choose their own bottle.

We hear on the grapevine that HIDE is also home to a car lift, so should your principal value complete anonymity, they can enter and leave without any exposure to the outdoors at all.

In summary

HIDE is a welcome addition to the hectic Piccadilly area. As soon as you step off the street, it’s clear that you’re in for an absolute treat – no matter where and when you dine. With multiple private dining rooms, a Michelin-starred chef behind the pans and arguably London’s largest wine list, it has something for every business breakfast, lunch, dinner or drink.

The post In review: HIDE appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

The basics:

65A Brushfield St, London, E1 6AA

020 7101 0093

Blixen.co.uk

A snapshot:

Backing onto Spitalfields Market, Blixen is a Victorian bank turned into a European grand café with a twist. The perfect spot for a lunch meeting with Wi-Fi and power points available in amongst the comfy booths.

A bit of background:

Opened in 2015, Blixen has become a mainstay in Spitalfields (and on Londoners’ Instagram feeds) with its dreamy dining space and conservatory paired with colourful and vibrant food. This was the first restaurant from owners Clive and Penny Watson, and after a history of refurbishing pubs around London, their extensive experience comes through in this East End haven.

The food:

The menu is full of inventive dishes with influences from all corners of the globe. Here, you’ll find a beef burger listed against a bao bun bhaji – in other words, there’s something for everyone. The menu also features the option to choose a small or large portion, so you can order a few big dishes to share, or enjoy them all to yourself.

When we visited, we decided on the chimichirri spiced ricotta, where the soft ricotta and crispy nduja filo pastry contrasted nicely on the plate. We weren’t disappointed on taste either, with pops of fresh tomato and crunchy pine nuts tying the dish together beautifully.

For our main dishes, we opted for two very different offerings – the crispy gnocchi and the aforementioned bao bun bhaji burger. The gnocchi boasted decadence all the way, thanks to the truffle running through the delightfully cheesy sauce.

The bao bun burger was a creative addition to our menu, with the bun surprisingly crispy and the spicy bhaji balanced beautifully by the tomato and onion chutney. Both of the plates offered great portion sizes, enough to be satisfied but safe in the knowledge you won’t be put into a food coma when you’re back in the office.

To pair with the food, we resisted the cocktail menu and picked the fresh house sodas, choosing from flavours like pineapple, mint, pink grapefruit and thyme. The cocktail list reflected the international influence with the Sake Puppy with orange bitters, or the Levante with tequila, turmeric and a cayenne pepper kick sounding delicious.

We unfortunately didn’t have time for dessert, however the warm banana pudding with chocolate sauce and ginger ice-cream sounded like heaven on a plate! If your team has the time, definitely make sure you save room for pudding.

The venue:

The venue is a drawcard here, as there is a space to suit every occasion. The grandeur of the dining room, where high ceilings, gold accents, marble and warm lighting make for an impressive spot to wine and dine. If you’ve booked a table for a weekday lunch with your team, however, the conservatory is the way to go. It’s light and airy, with plants hanging from the ceiling, the walls and by the tables: a veritable oasis of tropical greenery. Paired with the mismatched chairs and tables of various sizes, the vibe in this area is laid-back.

We chose a table along the windows facing the hustle and bustle of the markets. During our visit, only a handful of tables were occupied around us, so you could definitely host a long meeting without needing to rush.

In summary

Blixen is a great location for a relaxed and informal team meeting, with friendly and attentive staff and a menu that spans continents.

If you’re a PA, EA or a lifestyle manager, you may also be interested in our PA Collective®. We have a list of directory partners with whom you can secure preferential rates, an exciting calendar of events and a forum for you to share tips and tricks.

Feature Image provided by Blixen

The post In review: Blixen appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

The basics:

19 Old Park Ln, Mayfair, London W1K 1LB

020 7447 1080

gridironlondon.com

A snapshot:

Gridiron brings a contemporary, pared-back version of Mayfair sophistication to Old Park Lane, with no white table cloths in sight. This is the place for your principal to wine and dine clients, with high quality food and drinks from some of London’s biggest players.

A bit of background:

Situated in the Como Metropolitan Hotel on Old Park Lane, Gridiron is the brainchild of Mr Meatopia Richard H. Turner, and opened at the end of 2018. With Turner on executive chef duties, it’s clear that the open fire and charcoal pit are his influence.

Paired with an exciting cocktail selection by the Venning brothers (responsible for Dalston’s understated Three Sheets bar and several other equally cool spots around London), and acclaimed wine list from wine expert Fiona Beckett, there remains little doubt that guests are in for a treat from both the kitchen and the bar.

The food:

As you’d expect from a modern live-fire grill, the menu has a great selection of meat and seafood, including different steaks, cuts and types of fish. The great thing about Gridiron, however, is that the menu offers a few fantastic vegetarian options as well, so both carnivores and veggies will be satisfied. This is in part due to Turner’s interest in how different food reacts to the open flame, from the Lake District’s famous Herdwick lamb to delicate locally-sourced vegetables.

When we visited, we ordered a variety of dishes including a great tomato salad with produce from the Isle of Wight. These came out as an explosion of colour on the plate, with a variety of sizes paired with basil and delicious sourdough. We were also recommended the Cornish lobster and angel hair pasta, which would have been a perfect option for a decadent, light starter.

We opted to try the burger with Ogleshield cheese and were surprised when the waiter didn’t ask how we wanted the meat. It turns out there’s good reason for this – it was cooked to a perfect medium-rare as the patty contains bone marrow, and needs to be at a specific temperature so it melts, leaving behind a delicious, juicy burger.

We also sampled the grilled summer polenta – a crispy, hearty vegetarian option plated with sweet caramelised onion and sundried tomato.

On the cocktail menu at Gridiron, it’s not unexpected to find unconventional ingredients like miso, pickled onion and clear milk. This can mean that there’s an element of trust required when ordering, but Max and Noel Venning definitely know what they’re doing. We were treated to a lemon, truffle, caviar and vermouth masterpiece; it was so well-balanced and refreshing it was hard to stop at one!

For dessert, we chose the mille-feuille and a pavlova. The mille-feuille was a perfect stack of light flaky pastry and cream, complimented with acidity from red berries and cherry sorbet. The pavlova arrived with theatrical mastery as we discovered pockets of peach and lime flavours hidden beneath meringue shards. If we could have our time again, we would’ve definitely taken up the suggested wine pairings, which included a 20-year-old Tawny port.

It’s clear that through their expertise, the names behind the menu at Gridiron have confidence in what they’re offering up, and this comes across throughout the dining experience.

When booking a table, look out for guest chef takeovers of the restaurant which will offer unique and exclusive menus. Tom Brown of Cornerstone and Selin Kiazim of Oklava and Kyseri, have both had a turn in the kitchen here.

The venue:

With booths lining the dimly-lit dining room, there’s space for diners to relax and enjoy a long lunch or dinner. The ambiance is sophisticated and charming enough to impress an important client, but would equally provide a fantastic venue for a date night. The charcoal fire pit is a striking thing to walk past while being seated, a visual cue of what to expect on the menu.

On our visit, the wait staff were extremely attentive, open and knowledgeable about what made the offering special. We visited at lunch time, when only a few other tables were occupied which made for a enjoyable, intimate setting. Book your principal and their guest in for a dinner slot if they want for a livelier atmosphere.

In summary:

Gridiron fits right in to its Mayfair location, offering a great spot for your principal to wine and dine visitors.

Tiger regularly reviews restaurants around London to bring you the best venue for your next lunch meeting or client dinner. If you’re a PA, EA or a lifestyle manager, you may also be interested in our PA Collective®, with its list of directory partners, events and a forum where you can share tips and tricks with your fellow PAs. Click here to find out how to apply.

IMAGES PROVIDED BY GRIDIRON

The post In Review: Gridiron appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

The Basics:

15 Berkeley St, Mayfair, London W1J 8DY
020 7290 9222
noburestaurants.com/london-berkeley-st/home/

A snapshot:

Situated amongst Mayfair’s premium sushi restaurants, Nobu is a jewel in the crown of high-end Japanese food, just off Berkeley Square. Whether you’re looking for a quick lunch-time bite, or a lavish five course meal, Nobu caters to all requirements and will satisfy any sushi lover.

A bit of background:

Nobu is the world’s most recognised Japanese restaurant, known for its innovative new style and cult celebrity following. Founded by world-renowned Chef Nobu Matsuhisa and A-lister Robert De Niro, Nobu is sleek, sophisticated and chic. With restaurants located all over the globe, it’s a name at the forefront of most cities’ culinary landscapes, and for good reason. Whether you’re looking for a modern take on Japan’s finest, or a luxurious place to stay at a Nobu hotel, this popular chain has it all.

The food:

At first glance, the menu may seem overwhelming with a large variety of Japanese delicacies on offer. However, the staff are on hand to guide you through and offer recommendations to suit, in a charming, friendly and efficient way. As this was our first visit, our waiter was extremely helpful and recommended we opt for variations of the bento box: one Classic and one Deluxe. This turned out to be the perfect choice, as we had many popular dishes to savour.

Both bento boxes arrived as a pair, with one cold platter and one hot. The cold platters offered an array of assorted sushi, beautifully served and mouth-wateringly fresh. As well as the sushi, the cold Classic platter was accompanied by a sashimi salad topped with a marvellous Matsuhisa dressing. The Deluxe served a best-selling toro sashimi salad yuzu miso – a personal highlight of our visit.

The hot courses followed, made up of three different dishes per box. Nobu’s signature black cod with miso is a real treat and one not to be missed in the classic bento box. Alongside the richly-flavoured cod were spiced vegetables with rice and delicious creamy tiger shrimp. We would recommend the Deluxe for meat lovers: the superb and succulent grilled beef tenderloin teriyaki was an absolute winner! Served medium-rare, perfectly pink and expertly executed, but we wouldn’t expect anything else from the master of sushi himself. Accompanied by spicy garlic scallops and langoustine tempura, this finished off our meal in an equally flavourful way.

This lunch for two was the perfect showcase of Nobu’s finest. We were able to try out numerous dishes which we found to be faultless combinations. Thanks to generous portions and great service, we left incredibly satisfied.

The venue:

We found Nobu to be welcoming with a friendly buzz, making it ideal for an intimate business meeting or social occasion. Unassuming from the outside, the restaurant is a large space spread across two floors. On the first level, a stylish bar caters for both relaxed business meetings and casual drinks. The open-plan second floor is spacious and bright, with a wall of windows overlooking the buzz of Berkeley Street.

In summary:

Perfectly understated from the outside while delivering on perfect flavours and execution, Nobu is an ideal venue for your principal when seeking a quiet but atmospheric lunch spot.

All images supplied by Nobu

The post In Review: Nobu appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

The basics:

20 New Change, London EC4M 9AD

020 3971 2600

theivyasia.com

A snapshot:

The Ivy Asia is one of London’s hottest new restaurants, offering Asian-themed cuisine and extravagant décor that’s designed to impress. Situated in the heart of the City overlooking St. Paul’s Cathedral, this restaurant is a must visit for a principal looking to impress clients with its lavish dining room and location.

A bit of background:

Following the success of Ivy Asia in Manchester, restaurateur Richard Caring has launched his second Ivy Asia site, adding to The Ivy group of now 32 restaurants. Since its opening in November 2019 (on the site which previously housed Jamie Oliver’s Barbecoa restaurant), tables have been in high demand. We were lucky enough to find a table for two on a Friday lunchtime, but we did have to book in advance.

The food:

The stylish menu offers diners the option to order both small and large dishes ideal for sharing. From sushi and sashimi to miso black cod and wagyu beef tataki, the selection of dishes recommended to us was just the right amount to leave you feeling satisfied. The waiter gave us some great suggestions to make sure we didn’t miss out on the popular dishes. We enjoyed these for the most part, however the miso black cod was a little underwhelming, which left us wondering that they may need a little more time to perfect this dish.

At first glance, we did query how dishes such as buttermilk chicken made it onto the Asian menu, however, when served with an Asian-inspired twist (avocado and jalapeno sauce in this case), it complemented the other dishes’ flavours perfectly and was absolutely delicious. The small dishes were the highlight of our meal and we could’ve stayed there all afternoon picking at the sharing plates. The prawn skewers were cooked to perfection, while the dumplings were so tasty we ordered two more plates.

The venue:

Ivy Asia is well worth a visit, if only to gawp at the incredible interiors. If you’re looking for wow factor and a destination to impress, this venue has it all. From the illuminated green glass floor to the life-sized samurai statues, the beautiful panoramic views of St. Paul’s Cathedral are barely remarked upon by guests. This extravagant and luxurious setting is the perfect place to entertain clients or celebrate a special occasion.

Based in the middle of London’s corporate hub, the atmosphere at The Ivy Asia is lively and buzzing with excitement no matter the time of day. We visited for weekday lunch, and the restaurant was at capacity, proving this is definitely one of the most popular restaurants in town right now! The restaurant is also in possession of a late license with a DJ until 2am on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. If you’re looking to book for a small group, their private dining space (the Edo Room) for 20 showcases spectacular Asian-themed artwork, black and gold accents and an uninterrupted view of St. Paul’s.

In summary:

The Ivy Asia is a glamorous and lavish restaurant serving Asian-inspired dishes, providing a perfect setting for client entertainment.

Image credit: The Ivy Asia

The post In Review: The Ivy Asia appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

The basics

Park Chinois

17 Berkeley St, London W1J 8EA

parkchinois.com

A snapshot

Reminiscent of a Gatsby era speakeasy with a far east twist, Park Chinois is culinary endeavour into an indulgent past. Equal parts fine dining and jazz club, this establishment transports you to another time and place entirely.

Great for: business lunches, social lunches, group dining, special occasions

What you can expect

Dim Sum but make it gourmet. Peeking into the menu, you are assaulted with options. Exciting, and at times overwhelming, there is something for everyone. Whet your palette with the Chef Selection Dim Sum – truffle, caviar, and sea scallop – four perfectly portioned bites of fusion flavours. The Wagyu beef gyoza are not to be missed – the crunchy dumpling parcel perfectly complements the delicate flavour of the beef. The salt and pepper squid is an upmarket take on a familiar favourite. The hand-pulled Ho Fun noodles with slow braised angus beef and braised crispy 5 spice pork belly are a delight. With an infinite combination of plates, this menu inspires the diner to imagine the possibilities – both in the future and in the past…

The venue

Now let’s get to the point – most of us are here for a show. Low tables, red velvet seating, and mirror-panelled walls pull you into the dining room – you are here for the long haul, so get comfortable. The Salon de Chine offers weeknight dining with live jazz. The music is pleasant, unobtrusive and provides the backdrop for an evening of good company. Downstairs, the Club Chinois is the main event – a dimly lit cabaret performance where dancers and acrobats contort themselves on tables.

This is Shanghai’s answer to Moulin Rouge.

This is not your familiar neighbourhood dim sum spot.

The post In Review: Park Chinois appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

The Basics

52 Haymarket, London, SW1Y 4RP
Number: 020 8017 1788
Website – www.fallowrestaurant.com

A snapshot

Although Fallow is relatively new to the London restaurant scene, you will want to book your table well in advance. Having gained the attention of social media with their famous breakfast bun, Fallow has become a popular eatery since it’s opening in 2019. With something for everyone on the menu, their contemporary dishes using carefully sourced ingredients do not disappoint.

What you can expect

A menu that caters for everyone, and the most delectable sharing plates! We were greeted first by a friendly waiter, whose name, we have forgotten, after a few glasses of (very well recommended) wine. Having quickly glanced at the menu, we wanted everything! After some back and forth with our hugely knowledgeable waiter – we decided to let him take the reigns. We started off with the festive stuffing flatbread, which was Christmas in a bite! Shortly after, we enjoyed Chloe’s favourite – the famous corn ribs – which are slices of corn on the cob, fried and covered in a seasoning, which we could only describe as addictive. Next, Annie’s favourite, the flamed mussels coated in a bacon butter sauce, which were unforgettable! Lastly we halved the Fallow burger – covered in braised short rib, bacon, shallot, and cheese – just as sensational as the dishes that came before. We both agreed that Fallow would make the perfect lunch treat, and as soon as we left, we went to book again…

The venue

We were quickly greeted by the lovely ambience and warmth of the  restaurant. The lighting was intimate, and we did have to, embarrassingly, get our torches out to read the menu. The staff were nothing but exceptional and were clearly very well educated on the wine and food menu, which made us feel like we were in safe hands!

In summary

Considering we have already planned our next trip; we would highly recommend! Perfect spot for a business lunch, celebration and a dinner for your Principal’s family. Just make sure to order the corn ribs and mussels!

The post In Review: Fallow appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

The basics:

44 Grosvenor Square, Mayfair, W1K 2HP

020 7596 3200

Thebettermentmayfair.com/restaurant/

A snapshot:

Situated in grand hotel The Biltmore, Jason Atherton’s latest venture is a wonderful edition to Grosvenor Square. From the modern sophistication of the dining room to the menu that celebrates local ingredients, this is the place for your principal’s next lunchtime meeting in the West End.

A bit of background:

The Betterment is the newest restaurant from ex-Maze chef Jason Atherton. Atherton’s first restaurant post-Ramsay was Michelin-starred Pollen Street Social, and his latest venture captures the same essence of celebrating British produce in new and exciting ways. Atherton has moved fellow Michelin-starred, ex-Ramsey chef Paul Walsh from City Social to head up the kitchen, where they’ve collaborated on a carefully designed menu to appeal to a wide range of palates.

The food:

There’s no doubt that Atherton has his sights on a Michelin star for the Betterment, and with good reason.

On our lunchtime visit, the attentive staff offered leather-bound menus that showcased a set menu and a la carte options, alongside an extensive cocktail and wine selection.

Atherton and Walsh’s focus on locally-sourced ingredients is illustrated by the comprehensive list of main ingredients within the menu, alongside the exact location they’re sourced from (all in the UK of course). This celebration of British cuisine showcases everything from Scottish langoustines and venison, to kale from Ormskirk.

The first pleasant surprise was the delicious warm, malted bread loaf with salted butter. The second was the attention to detail by the wait staff, exhibited in little touches such as sweeping away crumbs after we’d devoured it, or recollecting the orders of each party and suggesting a wine pairing: all these served to make us feel at home.

We had opted for a couple of meaty main dishes alongside plant-based sides. First up: the ox cheek tortellini. This tender, green pasta was filled to almost-bursting with an incredibly rich, melt-in-your-mouth filling. The dish was completed to perfection with a foam that served to have the dish glisten on the plate.

The highland venison arrived as two tender pieces, accompanied by crispy red cabbage and sweet quince, and a venison jus poured table-side. The combination of the crisp textures, juicy, medium-rare meat with the sauce reminiscent of Christmas dinner. Not overly-gamey and cooked to perfection.

Our side dishes – the confit Basque peppers and the onion flower – were the perfect accompaniment. While the peppers were sweet, soft and juicy, the stand out was the onion. It’s a stunning centrepiece, unfolding from the centre of the plate like a crisp flower. Served alongside a silky mayonnaise, the natural sweetness of the onion perfectly enhanced the crispiness of the fanned layers.

The venue:

The dining room can accommodate a range of dining preferences, from a two-person lunch to a larger party in one of two private spaces, called the Aquarium and the Chairman’s room. The main dining room, with its green and gold colour scheme, succulents and coloured glasses, offers a playful twist on traditional elegance. It’s also cleverly sectioned to enhance a more intimate dining experience, perfect for a relaxed lunch meeting.

The semi-open kitchen showcases an exciting atmosphere without the noise, while little touches such as stools for bags and an impressive wine cart offered up to all tables, are impressive.

In summary:

Whether they’re visiting London and looking for the best of British dining experience, or they’re a local entrepreneur seeking something different to delight the senses, The Betterment will enchant.

Tiger Recruitment’s PA Collective® has specific insights, directory partners, events and an online forum. If you’re interested in applying, click here.

IMAGES PROVIDED BY THE BETTERMENT

The post In Review: The Betterment appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

The first Friday in March is National Employee Appreciation Day, a chance to recognise the contribution your temporary and permanent staff make to your business. While it may be tempting to go all out with a catered lunch or one-off celebration, we’d argue the best way to show your employees you care is by implementing long-term solutions that allow them to do their best work. Best of all, it usually doesn’t require a big budget.

Develop a culture of gratitude

Every person working for you wants to feel like they are being noticed and appreciated, so it’s time to start communicating this. Whether it’s a simple thank you, or introducing a section on your company’s intranet that celebrates employee achievements every month, a little recognition goes a long way.

Trial flexible working

Flexible working is increasingly becoming a necessity for most employees – a study by Timewise found that 87% of employees say that they work flexibly or would like to. Therefore, why not trial some sort of flexible working scheme within your business? It could be as simple as offering the chance to come in early so they can leave early, or work from home every now and then. It shows that you trust them to get their work done and recognise that they have a life outside of work.

Invest in learning

Research conducted by totaljobs in 2018 revealed that 9 in 10 employees want their employer to offer more training courses, while 68% of employees have changed jobs because of a lack of learning and development opportunities.² Therefore, why not show your employees you care by hosting lunchtime learning sessions, or allowing time during the working week to catch up on training initiatives? Encouraging an ethos of learning will make employees comfortable and enthusiastic about taking control of their career progression within the working day.

These programmes can also help with attracting new talent – when hiring an executive assistant or recruiting a PA, offering learning and development opportunities can be a huge plus.

Allow for internal mobility

It’s not just a case for onwards and upwards – sometimes, employees will look to their company for help in changing careers. For example, an office manager may be looking to move into HR, or a PA might find they are interested in corporate social responsibility. Whatever the shift, you can show support by welcoming this change and providing the resources wherever possible.

Review your internal communication strategies

People don’t want to feel excluded from decisions that directly relate to them, so if you haven’t already, now is the time to consider a regular internal communications scheme. Maintaining a transparent approach on business performance, goals and future plans will allow your employees to see how they fit into the grand scheme of things and in return, encourage buy-in. They’ll feel more valued if they know what’s going on, and are given the opportunity to express their wins, concerns or gratitude.

–

When embedded into your culture, these strategies can also assist with your recruitment strategies. If you are looking for help with PA recruitment or secretarial recruitment in London, Tiger can help. Get in touch today!

1. https://timewise.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Flexible_working_Talent_-Imperative.pdf
2. http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/two-in-three-workers-quit-due-to-a-lack-of-learning-and-development-opportunities

The post Five ways to show appreciation for your employees appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.

If you’re looking for the best PA recruitment agency in London, it can be difficult to know where to start! We’ve put together a few things to check with your agency if you’re looking for a PA or hiring an executive assistant.

Service-driven recruitment

It’s important that the recruitment company you choose is driven by service, rather than seeing their candidates and clients as numbers on a board. The initial meeting is the best time to ask questions that will reveal if they will go the extra mile for you. For example, ask for their referral rates of candidates and/or repeat business rates from other clients. As candidate care is often a strong indicator of service, it might also be worthwhile asking how often they keep in contact with their candidates through candidate care days or similar initiatives. Feel free to also ask your consultant if you can obtain a verbal or written reference from a current client.

In addition, the best PA recruitment agency in London should provide you with additional resources that support you throughout the hiring process. These might include job description templates, interview technique workshops or written material, and examples of behavioural and situational questions. Finally, an excellent recruitment agent should be abreast of market trends, communicating these to you in the form of salary reviews, thought leadership publications and a regular schedule of events with expert speakers.

Specialist experience

When you are introduced to your consultant, complete your research to find out how experienced they are. Start with their LinkedIn profile, going on to ask how they source their candidates and their industry experience. Another mark of a specialist recruitment consultancy is the agency turnover (again, look to LinkedIn for this). This is important, as your recruiter should be a long-term partner in developing a well-rounded talent strategy for you.

No candidate ownership

Candidate ownership means that consultants essentially share the fee of a placed candidate. If one consultant registers a great candidate but another consultant places them in a role, the fee is split. This can be problematic as it may mean that you don’t necessarily receive the best shortlist of candidates for the job. Internally, there might be some jostling among consultants, where your consultant is holding bias towards their own candidates over and above others – who might be better suited to your role. It may also be the case that another consultant encourages the use of their below-par candidate for your role.

An agency that doesn’t have candidate ownership means that candidates are shared freely between all consultants, and will only be recommended if they are right for the role. For this reason, it’s more likely you’ll be sent fantastic candidates based on their merit and your consultant’s true belief that they will be the perfect fit.

Tech and AI developments

The best secretarial agency in London will stay up to date with technology to ensure they deliver to you the best possible service. For example, they may have an app for candidates to update their availability in real time, meaning that the candidate database is up-to-date. Another way an agency can embrace trends is through implementing AI in candidate testing. This is beneficial for clients as improved practical and behavioural testing will give you a more holistic overview of the candidate’s on-the-job practical skills.

If you’re looking to hire a personal assistant in London, get in touch with us today!

The post Looking for the best PA recruitment agency in London? Here’s what to look out for. appeared first on Tiger Recruitment.