Marketing tools and techniques are constantly changing, and as a business owner, it’s easy to feel like you’re always playing catch up. From AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini to navigating GDPR rules or creating content that actually resonates with your audience, there’s always something new demanding your attention. If you’ve got a junior marketing assistant, are they ready to keep up with all these changes? And if not, how do you get them there without spending a fortune?

Investing in your team's professional development is a strategic move that will positively impact any business. Having employees in your team upskilled in Project Management will result in improved project outcomes through enhanced planning, effective risk management, efficient resource allocation and improved communications. 

No doubt you have heard of AI by now, but should you be using it in your marketing strategy?

In today's rapidly evolving job market, upskilling and reskilling have become essential for individuals and businesses alike. The UK government's Skills Bootcamps initiative offers a fantastic opportunity to acquire in-demand skills and boost your career prospects. Skills Bootcamps, funded by the Government, are a fantastic way to learn a new skill whether you already have experience in your chosen subject or are an absolute beginner. These short courses typically last 6-weeks and can easily fit around your existing work/commitments. 

The last few years have seen seismic shifts in employee behaviour due to various social, political and economic influences. For organisations worldwide, it’s meant an increased number of resignations as employees seek new opportunities for growth and development. 

Challenges in leadership are more significant than ever. With 85% of businesses feeling the effects of the ‘great resignation’, filling the leadership skills gap and finding the right candidate for the job can be difficult.

The looming and ever-growing skills gaps are a worry for businesses across the globe. As global talent shortages continue and the expectations of employees increase, recruiting and retaining the right talent to plug skills gaps can be difficult.

Employees are at the heart of your business. Without them, you’d be unable to achieve most of your goals. That’s why employee retention is so important.

Employee satisfaction has always been an essential part of a business, impacting engagement and retention. In fact, it’s been found that low job satisfaction is a primary cause of resignation for 26% of employees.

Employee engagement is an integral part of what makes a successful business. A survey conducted by Harvard Business Review found that 71% of respondents ranked employee engagement as ‘very important’ to achieving overall business success.

Today, companies are struggling with a lack of skilled talent in the labour market and high staff turnover rates. Plugging payroll gaps from outside the firm is becoming challenging, which leads to poor organisational performance. Add to that The Great Resignation and the issue grows bigger.

Becoming a team manager is a great achievement and a significant milestone in your career that’s definitely worth celebrating. But leading a team also comes with its fair share of challenges and pitfalls — which no first-time manager should underestimate.

When defining what makes a good manager, the ability to make tough, strategic decisions is always high on the list. In fact, it’s one of the most important qualities a manager should possess when leading a team.

With more than six million employees in managerial roles across the UK, line managers are an essential aspect of workplace structure. They ensure the daily running of a group or department and they’re also dependable employees who know how to get results for your business.

The requirement of good communication is a given in any workplace. In a managerial position, this is essential for the overall success of a team and, in turn, your business. In 2021, an estimated 86% of employees and executives cited the lack of effective collaboration and communication as the main causes of workplace failures. The importance of effective communication is often overlooked and can leave employees feeling undervalued in their roles.

As with any role in the workplace, it’s important that any newly hired or recently promoted manager is trained to deal with the pressure of their new senior responsibilities. However, this is often not the case, with an estimated 85% of new managers not getting any training before becoming a manager.

New managers can only thrive in an organisation when they have the support to naturally develop them into influential leaders. The transition from a team member to a leader is a big jump, but you can support them with a comprehensive leadership training programme designed to help them and your business thrive.

Apprenticeships can be beneficial for both employers and employees. For employers, they provide you with an opportunity to build a culture of knowledge sharing, where upskilling in the workplace becomes the norm.

There are some common misconceptions when it comes to apprenticeships. People often think of them as an option for 16-year-olds fresh out of high school. However, apprenticeships can actually offer many benefits to people at any stage of their career.

Most people want to progress in their careers. They want to take on more responsibilities, continually develop their skills and increase their salary.

Do you have plans to transform more of your staff into leaders? If so, there are specific skills they’ll need to develop to get there.

Every business needs leaders. They’re the heartbeat of an operation, invaluable to providing strategic direction and play a crucial role in motivating the rest of their team.

Traditionally, most businesses would look externally to recruit new employees. Nowadays, many hire from the inside. In this blog, we outline the advantages of hiring internally instead of recruiting external talent. These include:

Digital marketing can play an important role in the growth and success of a business. This is because it allows you to reach the right people, in the right place and at the right time.

Your digital marketing team has a key role to play in the overall success of your business. Not only will they plan your online marketing strategy, but they’ll also collectively work together to deliver it and help you meet your goals.

In a recent survey, 59% of businesses named upskilling as their top priority in 2021 and beyond. So, what is upskilling in the workplace? And what are the different benefits it can offer to your business?

Digital marketing courses are ideal for professionals to fast—track their understanding and gain hands-on skills in digital marketing. However, there’s a vast range of options available and the learning outcomes can vary depending on which course you enrol your employees on.

More and more jobs require digital skills for employees to be successful in their roles. However, a recent study found that the UK is heading towards a digital skills shortage disaster.

We’re living in the digital age. More consumers are turning online and more businesses are investing in forward-thinking technology, too. This means your employees need to up their digital game so businesses like yours can continue to succeed.

It’s crucial that your employees have a comprehensive understanding of marketing and the relevant skills needed to succeed in this digitally-driven space. At Ascento, we’ve developed a range of digital marketing courses aimed to make this happen.

What is Crisis Management?

If you’ve seen us mentioned in Business Live, Insider Media and other regional publications, Ascento has now become employee owned and operates for the benefit of the employees of the company, allowing all employees to share in its success and ensure the long term future of the business.  

As it's Employee Ownership Day, we thought it was time to comment on why we made this decision. Outgoing Founder and Managing Director Chris Ash, says “I have been really excited to step aside as the sole owner of the company and cannot wait for the whole team to share in the next exciting stage of our journey. 

Becoming employee owned means we are stronger together, means that we can all share in our successes and the culture will continue to strive through a collective spirit and drive.”

The Importance of the new Apprenticeship Roadmap

The road to a quality apprenticeship has been released as a new guide. Its goal is to assist employers in comprehending the stages required in providing high-quality, successful apprenticeships in their organisations.

The guide provides employers with links to information and tools at various phases of an apprenticeship journey to assist them in ensuring a quality experience for their apprentices, thereby increasing retention, achievement, and, as a result, the returns that apprentices provide. The guide is a step-by-step guide for employers of all sizes. We can also utilise this to better understand the role of employers in the apprenticeship process.

Similar guides for end-point assessment organisations and trainees will follow the road to an excellent apprenticeship. They highlight the collaborative approach required in delivering apprenticeships, together with the provider guide to delivering high-quality apprenticeships.

What is the Apprenticeship Roadmap? 

• Apprenticeships helped 86 percent of employers build skills that were relevant to their business.
• Apprenticeships helped 78 percent of firms increase productivity.
• Apprenticeships assisted 74 percent of firms increase the quality of their product or service.

The Candidate

It is important to reach and recruit from the largest pool of candidates, whilst fully understand the commitment required to have an apprenticeship on board and comprehending any additional support needs.

The government offer support in recruiting from helping you create an apprenticeship service account, to helping you locate an apprenticeship training course and a training provider with the help of find apprenticeship training as well as supporting you recruiting an apprentice to establish your own apprenticeship opportunity. They will also post your apprenticeship position on find an apprenticeship if you make one.

You have control over the recruiting process through out and for more information here.

Funding and Employer Responsibilities

Understanding what funding is available to employers and knowing what are the responsibilities when employing an apprentice is really important to everyone involved.

The government may be able to assist you in paying for apprenticeship training. Whether or not you pay the apprenticeship levy determines the amount you receive. If you have a pay bill of less than £3 million per year, you will need to contribute 5% to the cost of the apprenticeship with the remaining 95% being funded by the government. To find out more, refer to here which covers England and rest of the UK through the links shown.

The Job

Any job within your organisation needs to be fully planned in and supported. You need to ensure that your apprentice can spend at least 20% of their time as off-the-job training.

Your apprentice will receive two sorts of training during their apprenticeship. During your apprentice's usual working hours, a training provider provides "off-the-job" instruction. This programme will teach your apprentice the knowledge, skills, and behaviours required to acquire occupational competence as outlined in the apprenticeship standard. 

You, as the employer, will provide ‘on-the-job' training. To help your apprentice accomplish the task you've recruited them for, you'll need to provide training and supervision.

Training and Assessment Provider

You need to find the right training provider that you feel confident in working with. It is critical to select a training provider that is appropriate for your company. You need to consider how well they communicate about the training with you, what other companies have to say about them and what their apprentices have to say about them. 

You will need to negotiate on the price of the apprenticeship with them and ensure that you carry out an initial assessment prior to learning commencement.

Commitment Statement

Employer must sign a commitment statement with their apprentice and training provider before they begin their learning and training. The following items must be included in the commitment statement:

• the planned content and schedule for training
• what is expected and offered by the employer, the training provider and the apprentice
• how to resolve queries or complaints

Mentoring and Training

Two of the main questions that need addressing on this roadmap about Mentoring and Training are:-

• Have you noted and tracked apprentice development throughout the process to ensure they are on track?
• Is your apprentice receiving the right career guidance, mentoring and learner support to ensure success?

Mentoring and Training are so important to your organisation and you need to find the right training provider who will preferably work in line with your strategies, priorities and fulfil your main requirements. The best providers will work in partnership with employers to ensure the programmes we deliver to their staff are tailored to meet their requirements. 

End Point Assessment

End-point assessment (EPA) is a test of your apprentice's knowledge, abilities, and behaviours over the course of their apprenticeship, confirming that they are occupationally competent.

Employers in the sector created the assessments, which are carried out by independent agencies known as end-point assessment organisations (EPAOs).

Celebration

Many organisations consider joining the Apprenticeship Ambassador Network. Through their own employees, they show a strong commitment to apprenticeships and/or traineeships. They have a strong profile in their industry or region, and they represent a wide range of occupations.

Moreover, every year the Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers are announced and your business can also enter the National Apprenticeship Awards.

Progression

Once the apprenticeship is over, you need to consider what happens next and what merits come from completing their apprenticeship, this might be a promotion, a higher income, or the opportunity to specialise further in their chosen subject to enhance their career further.

According to a new McKinsey survey of 100 executives* from various industries and across different locations, nine out of ten firms will combine remote and on-site working in the post-pandemic future of work. During the epidemic, production and consumer satisfaction have both concurrently increased, according to the report.

In light of this news, Microsoft is working on a new version of Outlook, its email service, in anticipation of the broad adoption of hybrid working, in which people split their time between home and work. A new MS Outlook feature will ensure staff can collaborate across different working environments. Every day, it seems, a major corporation makes a new announcement about its ‘future of work' plan, and experts seem to agree that hybrid is the way to go.

At Ascento, we have embraced remote working and now we’re moving towards hybrid working when required. Many companies and their teams have spent months analysing policies and strategising on how and, more critically, where the workforce might resume some kind of normalcy following the pandemic.

So to help you and our client base, we’ve put together 10 tips on how to make hybrid working work for you, so here goes:-

So to help you and our client base, we’ve put together 10 tips on how to make hybrid working work for you, so here goes:-

1. One to one sessions - To begin with, schedule one-on-one sessions with your personnel in order to better understand their requirements. While some people benefited from the flexibility of working from home, others might require face-to-face interaction in the workplace.
2. HR policies - Ensure you communicate clearly with your employees or partners. Communicate your expectations and develop HR policies to clarify how and where your employees could work, and established flexible working hours, all while ensuring that employees were held accountable at specific times.
3. Technology that serves - Put money into the right technology to ensure employees have more autonomy, whilst bridging the physical and digital worlds so they can work efficiently no matter where they are.
4. Virtual and the physical - On an office-by-office basis, tailor your policies to the wants and needs of our employees. We now have a full understanding of remote working, virtual gatherings and online meetings. Now is the time to consider flexible practices and solutions that can work for teams and collaboratively within companies moving forward.
5. Personal development no matter what - Continue to train staff no matter where they work the most ‘hybrid wise’, this is in light of a survey by Lane4 consultancy* suggesting that almost three in 10 employees received no training to support their professional development while working in a hybrid environment.
6. Treat everyone right - Consciously remember staff who work remotely within your business structures and practises, since the Office for National Statistics suggested employees who worked predominantly from home were less likely to receive bonuses or pay rises.
7. Flexibility matters - Try to think differently or outside of the box as physical space and remote interactions will continue to play a significant and relevant role in our workplace culture, thus for the time being, a model that gives individuals more flexibility in where they work is likely to be the best option. It is also critical that businesses alter their workplace environment to make it a place where people can collaborate rather than just work for the sake of working.
8. Cyber proofing - As a matter of urgency, business leaders must examine corporate resilience and cybersecurity initiatives. It is critical that they consult their personnel. According to IBM, 'human mistake' is responsible for 95% of successful cyber-attacks. Ensure this process is consultative to strengthen working relationships with staff, thus meaning less costly mistakes happen in future.
9. Customers needs and wants - If you work in B2C, try to evolve everything as leaders must think more like customers and assess if current products and services are satisfying changing demands and expectations.
10. Survey your staff - Ensure that you field the opinions of your staff via employee opinion surveys and digital focus groups to understand how our people are feeling, what matters most to them and what support they may need. This means you are always in touch with how people are feeling and you can work quickly to resolve anything that arises.

According to Personnel Today, the number of employees reporting mental health worries is up 24% since May 2020, research has revealed from Mental Health Awareness Week.

I qualified as a Mental Health First Aider in July 2019 and the course had a profound affect on me. The Mental Health First Aid course is designed to provide employees and managers with the expertise and confidence to recognise symptoms of mental illness in the workplace. It teaches them how to help workers who are struggling with these problems enabling them to seek assistance.

The main outcomes of the course are to ensure you have:-

• a thorough understanding of mental health and the factors that influence it
• practical knowledge of the causes and symptoms of a variety of mental illnesses
• confidence to step in, reassure and support a person in distress using the mental health first aid action plan
• enhanced interpersonal skills such as non-judgemental listening
• knowledge to help someone recover their health by guiding them to further support - whether through self-help resources, internal support such as EAP, or external sources such as their GP
• an understanding of how to keep themselves safe while performing their duties
• a quick reference card for the mental health first aid action plan

'A Plan for Jobs’ Extended

Following on from the recent Government Budget 2021, it was announced that extra money was available for the apprentice cohort from April 2021 onwards on top of the total package of support amounting to £30 billion made last year. As part of the economic response to coronavirus, the government launched ‘A Plan for Jobs’ and subsequently, this has been extended out with further incentives for employers also.

As we have seen in our working lives, the pandemic has accelerated the switch to Digital by 4-6 years as noted by the European Investment Fund (EIF) and remote working “Zoom like” meetings are now the new-norm.

With Digital and Management skill gaps being discussed in many media forums, now is the time to take a look at apprenticeships that are vocationally aligned with industry and their employees, to positively impact job roles and workplaces in the UK.

The hard work of leaders, tutors and staff at Ascento Learning and Development has been recognised within a recent report following on from our recent progress monitoring visit from Ofsted.

Further to todays Written Ministerial Statement by Secretary of State  for Education announcing the expansion of the Governments Skills Bootcamps, we are delighted to announce our involvement in this project. As a specialist provider of digital marketing qualifications we have created four digital marketing pathways that are available free of charge to residents of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.

One of the biggest adaptations organisations have had to make as a result of Covid-19 is the mass migration of staff from the workplace to their homes. In April this year, figures show that 46.6% of the employed population did some work from home and that 86% of those did so as a result of Covid-19.

The graphs below illustrate how this is broken down via region and age group.

As we find ourselves in the middle of the second national lockdown in 8 months and with countless industries and whole sectors being on the brink of collapse, the subject of training and developing staff is understandably not at the top of anybody’s to do list at this juncture.

1. Have a dedicated workspace

I have left my November Blog contribution until now as we look forward to the new democratically elected US president and look forward to the possible impact that a more outward-facing America will bring to the world economy and stability. At least now we can look forward to a period of increasing certainty and confidence. Whilst writing this I am also pondering the uncertainty that the latest COVID 19 lockdown is having and will continue to have on us all. Economically the Bank of England figures estimate an 11% contraction to the economy in Q4 compared to the same Q4 last year. In economic terms, the percentage is enormous and certainly, whilst not a ‘Crash’ level definition is unsustainable. The bank has pumped into the economy (Quantitative Easing) an additional £32,000 per household during 2020. An unbelievable figure, that will ultimately mean the amount of money the UK Government is borrowing, especially, now that the furlough scheme has been extended to March 2021 will be way past 100% of Gross Domestic Product.

As part of the economic response to coronavirus, the government has launched ‘A Plan for Jobs 2020’ with a total package of support amounting to £30 billion being made available. Part of this support package was the announcement that the government were “going to pay employers to create new apprenticeships”.

During most of August, I was on leave and enjoying the remains of the summer heat and the last of the lighter evenings. Consequently, I didn’t sit down and capture any musings in the form of a blog. That didn’t mean however I didn’t have lots to capture or wasn’t constantly musing about what the autumn would bring for us all.

It has been made crystal clear by the PM and the government, that the get back to work message sits clearly on the shoulders of those of you in the organisation making the productivity and safety decisions that will inevitably come back to bite you fairly quickly if you don’t get things correct, right from the off.

As we emerge from lockdown, we wait to see what the real and practical effects of the COVID 19 crisis are having on our economy, society, organisations and individuals, I thought I would avert my gaze away from attempting to predict the economic future and shift towards the leadership qualities that are going to be required across all organisations to deal with the future instead.

The Truman Show is one of my favourite and most terrifying childhood films, and I imagine if you’ve seen the film you’re currently wondering what it could possibly have to do with marketing. We’ll get to that soon enough.

Firstly, I need to address that the research for this post and the topic of the post, might just make this my favourite piece of work that I’ve ever written. For those that don’t know me, I’m a big movie fan, so taking one of my favourite pastimes and mixing that with my favourite aspect of marketing was a no brainer. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Top 5 Fictional Brands.

Writing this at the end of a sunny week in June, it’s easy to think that the auto-reset function on our society and economy will kick in and everything will snap back to ‘normal’. 

I've got this wrong. It's not the V, U or L of economic recovery that might occur. It's the worst of all worlds, it's a W.

Over my last few blog postings, I have covered the work and theories of John Maynard Keynes and the impact that this had on the post-war economic recovery. This, I admit was purely by accident and not by design, as I never expected that only a few posts later I would using his work as part of a recovery discussion from what will be our worst economic depression for more than three hundred years.

In my last blog called “Unprecedented times require realistic expectations of what the future may be like”, I commented on what our future economic recovery may look like and used the letters V, U and L as visual representations. I wrote this during the latter half and the beginning of the first week in April when predictions of infection rates, deaths and both the social and economic impacts were just that, predictions.

Last week I explored the first set of strategies to positively impact your business during a time of crisis. As the COVID-19 crisis moves on, you should hopefully now have a toolkit designed for short-term survival.

In this blog we will move onto exploring the offensive strategies designed to help your business survive and ultimately grow.

An offensive approach – is about planning for longer term survival and essentially adopts a promotion-based approach, with positive moves that aim to provide upside benefits.

Having been a student of Business and Economics for too long to mention, I have never been in a position to observe and comment like this before. I have written and commented on the good times and the bad and all of the bits in between when the good times seemed to last for a long time. My first real memory of economic policy shift came as Thatcher came to power and began the change to a market-led system, where ‘Trickle Down’ policies and privatisation replaced state control and the Keynesian theories previously discussed were sent to the ‘Seldom Leant’ shelf in the library of theories. I can recall the miners strike vividly and the shocks the policy changes had on unemployment figures. 

Most of us will be aware of all the support being made available to businesses and individuals amid the current COVID-19 crisis; however not much has been said about how you can actually positively impact the current situation you or your business is experiencing.

Little did I appreciate when I posted my last blog with John Maynard Keynes as its main protagonist that I would be writing the next one, over which such a short passage of time has seen the Bank of England, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund together with the new Chancellor, employ every economic tool in the toolbox to try and avert a global meltdown, including those commented on by Keynes.

I’ve been Amazon shopping again this week. I love books and love browsing in a bookshop, but I have to admit when it comes to ease of use and just overall convenience Amazon delivers. So, this week following a newspaper article I read at the weekend I have bought The Lost Decade 2010-2020, and what lies ahead for Britain, by Poly Toynbee. £8.99 with free delivery on Prime if you have it. Having read an excerpt in the paper, I was hooked and made the purchase. Not read it yet, so I will let you know how it performs.

2020 is now here and has come with many promises in regards to social media marketing. With new technologies, platforms and trends coming up regularly, it’s hard to keep track on what to do and how to stay relevant to an ever-changing audience. 

Delivering innovation for your organisation is about spotting and keeping creativity and entrepreneurship. In my previous blog, I wrote about how hard it was for organisations innovate and change over time. The greatest catalyst for innovation for many is crisis/disaster, which in itself forces the issue of innovation and change as it becomes a fight or flight situation. Wouldn’t it be better though if innovation was incremental and less reliant on a dangerous cliff edge situation? For this to happen, this requires any organisation to foster and nurture a culture of innovation and change. In this case, innovation is easier to think of in terms of Creativity and Entrepreneurship.

If you are working with third party agencies, you might worry about losing control over a side of your business, or having to spend more time managing the agency than actually doing your own job! Working with an agency should be helpful and hassle-free, and even if it's not at the moment, you will get there.

In my first year at University, I read the brilliant book by Rosabeth Moss Kanter called “When Giants Learn to Dance”. Amongst other themes, she explored how extremely large multinational organisations were still able to remain flexible, dynamic and responsive to the business environments they were operating in. In other words, how they were continuously able to innovate and change in spite of their size. At the time in the early 1990s this was seen as the Holy Grail of business success, being large enough to withstand the buffeting of the wider business environment, yet at the same time having a culture that enabled rapid and assertive responses to the challenges they were facing.

I’m going to start with a bold personal statement, Branding and more specifically, using your brand elements for marketing purposes, is my favourite part of this industry. There’s so much to branding that you can fall in love with, whether that be the ability to have your audience cling to your every word, the opportunity to make your audience laugh, smile, cry or empathise. It might even simply be learning the skill to produce some beautiful Ad creative.

Following my previous three contributions regarding both the requirement to demonstrate increases in productivity and its potential impact on a workforce, I thought I would bring this theme to a close with some thoughts as to how this may link to the potential routes and twisting roads that we may be traveling down to get out of our current economic position of dithering around the edges of a full-blown recession.

High levels of productivity cause huge personal welfare issues amongst all staff, which then overspill into family, social and health issues. Similarly, low levels of productivity damage the rate at which an economy grows and after the economic lag has been accounted for produces low wage increases, a lowering of disposable income, lower spending power and ultimately a complete downturn in the economy which may lead to a recession.

In this post, we'll look at how you can get more engagement on Instagram. Since the photo and video-sharing social network was launched in October 2010 it has experienced phenomenal growth. Here's how your business can take advantage.

Google Analytics is a free website analytics service offered by Google that gives you insights into how users find and use your website. Google Analytics helps you not only gather data but also make sense of it.

Welcome to the final post in our 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. Since its launch over two years ago in April 2017, the Levy has had a profound impact on individuals and businesses up and down the country.

Over the summer break, we sat on the beach and by the pool and for the first time since last October when I was last away, I did nothing. It’s a great feeling, that ‘doing nothing’ when all you have to think about is what drink to have next and is 11 am too soon for one! It takes a while to settle into that mindset as humans we are genetically and socially programmed to be doing, in spite of the fact we are human ‘beings’, where ‘being’ should be enough, we should really be called human ‘doings’ because we have to ‘do’ to survive.

Welcome to the penultimate article in our 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. Over the course of this series we’ve put the Apprenticeship Levy under the spotlight and uncovered everything there is to know about it, from who needs to contribute to who’s eligible to use it - and everything in between. Now it’s time to take a brief look at how best to put those funds into action. You’ve looked into the Apprenticeship Levy, read our series on it and you’re all clued up. You know what funds you have access to, you’ve opened an online account and you’re ready to go… what next?

This is the 16th article in our 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. In our previous piece, we talked about which providers you were able to spend the levy with and whether or not there were any limitations. In this piece, we’re looking at who you can spend the levy on. Are there any limitations to who you can enrol as an apprentice? Is there a greater incentive to choose one individual over another? Let’s review...

This is the 15th article in our 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. Along the way, we’ve uncovered everything there is to learn about the levy, including who’s eligible to pay, who has access to the fund, and the various ways in which it can benefit businesses of all sizes. Having access to something like the Apprenticeship Levy is a huge boon to businesses and they’re glad to have it, but not a lot businesses are aware of the various ways in which the levy can be utilised. One of the most common questions on the Internet at the moment is, “Can I choose who I spend the Levy with?” and the answer, to a certain extent, is yes - but there are rules you need to be mindful of. 

Welcome to the 14th post in our 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. Throughout the series we’ve covered everything employers and apprenticeship candidates could possibly need to know about the levy, including how it works, who’s eligible and what you can do with your funds. Though the levy scheme itself was launched in 2017, many employers still have questions about how they can best utilise their allocated funds. One of the questions we’ve noticed crop up time and time again, is whether or not the Apprenticeship Levy can be spent on graduate development. The short answer is yes, but there are some fundamental differences to traditional graduate programmes. 

This is article number 13 in our 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. We’ve talked in-depth about all aspects of the levy throughout this series, covering everything from contributions and eligibility, right through to how the funds can be used and what apprentices should expect. Since the Apprenticeship Levy was first launched in April 2017, it’s made apprenticeships more accessible to all and actively encouraged businesses to tap into apprenticeships as a way of improving or expanding their workforce. One of the most common questions people ask about the levy is whether or not there are any age restrictions. Far from being a restriction, this is actually one of the ways in which the Apprenticeship Levy truly shines.
 

Welcome to the twelfth article in our 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. Throughout this series, we’re breaking down the myths surrounding the levy and explaining, post by post, how it could benefit businesses of all sizes throughout the UK. Over the past few weeks, we’ve explored who is eligible to contribute to the levy, which businesses are entitled to use the funds and how those funds can be spent.

All too often I hear or overhear a generic complaint in organisations across all staff in that they feel they are not ‘listened to’, ‘not heard’ or ‘there’s no point in saying anything as nothing ever changes anyway’. It is a common ‘gripe’ and actually comes out of the communication brand of ‘gripes’ that exist in all walks of life and across all organisations. Even in organisations that claim they have got communication nailed, it all too often rears its head as an issue.

As I’m sitting here writing this article, it’s cloudy and wet outside and has been all week, as we have a yellow weather warning for the East Midlands that will continue into the weekend. However, when it’s gorgeous outside and I’m either in the office or working from my dining table at home, the last thing I want to do is remain cooped up inside and so will procrastinate over the work at hand.

This is the eleventh article in our 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. With each post, we’re trying to increase employers’ understanding of the Levy - how they can use it and how it can benefit their business. We’ve been on quite a journey over the past 10 articles, covering everything from eligibility and access, to how the funds can be spent and what can be achieved. While we may have touched on a few of the benefits in previous posts, now feels like a good time to review the key benefits of the Apprenticeship Levy and why it should be on your business’ radar.

Economists regard productivity gains as the most important driver of rising living standards over the long term. However there are ongoing fears that Brexit will be sapping the strength of the UK economy over the next decade. A key measure of growth in the economy is 'output per hour of work' and this slumped in 2018 according to the figures, as the UK managed only a quarter of the rate of productivity growth seen before the financial crisis.

Here's a recording of our recent webinar 'Marketing research and audience profiles'. We hope you find it useful.

Here's a recording of our recent webinar 'Making Marketing Measurable' with Simon and Oliver. We hope you find it useful.

Welcome to article number 10 in our eighteen part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. Our goal with this series is to help employers make the most of the levy fund, including how to assess your eligibility, how to access the funds and where to spend them. In previous articles we’ve gone into some detail on how the levy works and how the funds are raised. We’ve discussed which businesses are required to contribute and how smaller businesses can gain funding to train both new and existing staff. In this post, we’re going to look at which courses are available through the Apprenticeship Levy so you can decide whether or not it might be a good fit for your business.

Welcome to the ninth article in our 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. In this series, we’re exploring everything there is to know about the levy in order to help businesses make the most of it. So far, we’ve examined what the levy is and how the funds are raised, and even gone into detail about how to set up a digital account and start using whatever funds you’re entitled to. In this article we’ll be focusing on one very simple idea - what does the levy allow your business to do?

This is the eighth article in our 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. The UK Government launched the levy programme back in 2016 in a bid to create 3 million new apprenticeships by the year 2020. It’s a fantastic way for employers to fund apprenticeships and grow their teams, but many firms are still a little unclear on what the levy is, how it works or how it can benefit them. That’s why we’ve put this series of articles together. In recent articles, we’ve talked about who is eligible to contribute, how you can access funds and whether or not the levy can be used to fund in-house training programmes. This time we’re talking about the expiration of levy funds and whether your business needs to be concerned.

Welcome to the seventh article in our 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. The levy is a new initiative from the Government that aims to create 3 million new apprenticeships by 2020. In recent articles, we’ve talked about who is eligible to contribute to the levy, how smaller businesses can access funds, and how to setup your online portal and start spending money on courses. This time we’re going to be focusing on whether or not it’s possible for you as a business to use levy funds to develop your own learning and development programmes.

Many people dream of owning and running their own business, being their own boss, not being beholden to the whims and fancies of other people or an other organisation generally. Many people never actually take the step and make the dream a reality, whilst others, you just cannot hold back.

Search is continually evolving. We know this. We know search changes and we know that Google like to keep all of us on our toes in understanding what latest activities lead to hitting that desirable position #1.

So, you will all have heard of Emotional Intelligence (EI). It’s been around a while now, actually since Daniel Goleman’s 1995 book. However, before this, In 1983, Howard Gardner's Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences introduced the idea that traditional types of intelligence, such as IQ, fail to fully explain cognitive ability.

This is the sixth article in our 18 piece series on the Apprenticeship Levy. The one thing you should never do with apprenticeships is invest in them for the sake of just making sure that your levy pot is spent. As with any kind of business investment there should always be a clear business need in the first place, with a demonstrable method for ensuring a return on investment.

This is the fifth article in our 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. Along the way, we’ve learned what the Apprenticeship Levy is, who’s eligible to contribute and use the levy, and what levy funds can be spent on. In our last piece, we confirmed that levy funds can be used for both new and existing employees, but must be spent on approved apprentice courses through the Digital Apprenticeship Service (DAS) portal. This piece will be a direct continuation and go into more detail about DAS. Read on to learn how to create a DAS account, how to use it, and how to spend your valuable funds.

In my last article, I comprehensively worked through the key components of strategic thinking and how it can operate within an organisational context. Of course, strategic thinking goes nowhere without the ability to strategically plan. In other words, put the thinking into action.

This is the fourth article in our 18 piece series on the Apprenticeship Levy. So far, we’ve explored what the Apprenticeship Levy is, who’s eligible for contributions and who has access to the funds. In this piece, we’re going to be expanding on the last point and asking how Apprenticeship Levy funds can be spent. Can they be used to pay wages or cover travel costs? Can they be used to set up an apprenticeship programme or fund apprentices from existing programmes? These are all common questions, so let’s break things down.  

“Alexa, play my ‘concentration’ playlist", would be something that I might say to my Amazon Echo as I prepare myself to get stuck into some background reading, data finding and thought splurging activities, if I had an Amazon Echo that is. You see, I’m rather sceptical about this development and honestly, this technology. I’m sure it has its uses and benefits for a lot of people, but personally all I find myself doing is trying to make Siri say something funny. Usually it isn’t. When that fails I’ll research some of my favourite people, but how much more can I know about Ryan Gosling?

I once worked with a colleague who always put a block in their diary across Monday morning. No one could disturb them, no phone calls got through. The place could be burning down, but they wouldn't leave their office. The door was locked and bolted from the inside (not quite, but you get the idea). in the diary for every Monday morning, it simply stated two words; "Strategic Thinking". On Monday afternoons, they were always in a foul frame of mind.  Asked how the morning has gone,  the reply was always the same - "dreadful, I've not been able to do anything"! The colleague, made the same mistakes every week for nearly forty-seven weeks a year. By simply blocking time out and calling it the thing they wanted to do, they honestly thought that it would happen, they would be able to think strategically. That's simply not how it works.

This is the third article in our 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. In our last post, we talked about whether or not it’s okay to use levy funds to train existing staff and what processes are involved.

This time, we’re turning our focus to the fund itself and how it’s generated. If you're eligible to pay into the levy, how is your contribution calculated? And how much of the fund will your business have access to? If you’re not paying into the fund you may still have access to levy funds, but how does that work? 

This is the second article in our 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. In our first post we talked about the levy in general, how it is calculated and what it means for employers. In this article, we’ll be paying particular attention to employers who aren’t quite ready to hire new staff and want to learn whether or not they can use levy funds to train their existing employees.

This is the first article in an 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. In this series we’ll be exploring what the Apprenticeship Levy means for employers, looking at everything from how the levy is calculated and who has to pay it, to what it can be spent on and how it can be used strategically. However, we’re going to begin the series by asking the most basic of questions to set the scene - what is the Apprenticeship Levy and where did it come from?

Health warning.

This may upset your boss who attempts to micromanage you and only believes in presenteeism.

If you’re pondering this question right now within your organisation you would be forgiven for coming to a quick conclusion that yes, a loyalty scheme is the answer- after all why wouldn’t it be? Offering your customers the chance to be rewarded for repeat custom is a win/win situation, surely? The organisation benefits from repeat sales and returning visits, whilst the customers are offered discounts/perks for their continued purchasing. Well, actually it may not be that straight forward.

Analytics are usually a polarising topic, stereotypically we have two elements- the ‘numbers people’ and then the ‘content people’. The pattern goes, as I’m sure you can guess, that the numbers people love analytics. They can’t get enough of them whilst the content people, well, they don’t even know they exist- right?

Well actually, that’s not true. So if that sounds anything remotely like what you currently experience then you need to change things up and shift those ideas. Analytics are an incredibly powerful tool and most importantly they benefit the ‘content people’ the most!

 If you love creating content or running engaging campaigns, how do you know if the imagery you designed or words you wrote are resonating with the reader? How do you know the reader is actually who you wanted the reader to be? The answer- Stone cold data. (I’m really trying hard to resist the urge to make a Stone Cold Steve Austin reference, but mainly out of fear that no one will recognise this and you’ll think that ‘bottom line’ is referring to profits or ‘3:16’ to the time.)

This is the final post in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties and this time we’re talking about complacency. Complacency sets in when we allow ourselves to get too comfortable at work and it can sometimes happen without us even realising. In this series of articles we’ve talked about risk-taking, ambition, proactive learning and leadership - all of which boil down to this idea of not letting ourselves get too comfortable.

This is the nineteenth piece in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties and this time we’re talking about learning. All the people you look up to in your professional life are likely to have one thing in common - they never stop learning. Just like life itself, your career is a journey. You should always strive to develop your knowledge and acquire new skills, and your twenties are an absolutely perfect time to develop this habit.

This is the eighteenth piece in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties and this time we’re talking about ambition. Picturing where you’d like to see yourself a decade down the line can be a real motivator, particularly during those stressful periods when your workload is high. We all have things that we strive for, and it’s a good idea to start laying the groundwork for those goals early in your career. In fact, laying that groundwork can even help with your day-to-day performance at work.

This is the sixteenth piece in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties and this time we’re talking about mentoring. Some roles will automatically assign a mentor figure - someone you can speak to about your concerns at work in order to be more effective in your role. While this is increasingly common in larger organisations, it’s not always a given. Even if you have been ‘assigned’ a mentor, there’s no harm in taking advice from other sources as and when you need it.

Whilst the media continues to cover the current snow storms hitting the UK and, rightly, highlight the plight of many in the face of travel chaos, school closures and business challenges we at Ascento like to look at the positive side of things. So how is The Beast from the East good for your business?

This is the fourteenth piece in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties and this time we’re talking about weaknesses. We all have them. Most of us are happy to talk about our strengths, but weaknesses are something that most of us would rather forget. The thing is, that can actually be counterproductive when it comes to getting on in your career. Knowing your strengths is important, but it could be argued that knowing your limitations and weaknesses is even more vital. Here’s why…

This is the thirteenth post in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties, and this time we’re focusing on reliability. We touched on some elements of this in our article on commitment, but the importance of demonstrating reliability cannot be overstated. You want to be a rock for your colleagues - being so will earn you a great deal of kudos and respect. However, you should also respect your own shortcomings and say in advance when you might be about to let someone down.

This is the twelfth article in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties, and this time we’re talking about how failure can sometimes be a good thing. We all make mistakes from time to time, but one of the things that defines us is our ability to learn from them. In fact, many would argue that success can’t be reached without a few failures along the way - we shouldn’t think of ‘failure’ as such a negative word. All it means is that we tried something that didn’t quite work, in order to find out what does work. Even science is built on this very premise.

This is the eleventh article in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties, and today we’re talking about commitment. In other words, always following through on promises and finishing what you start. The last thing you want to do is gain a reputation for being a ‘non-finisher’. As you get on in your career, you’ll find that this reputation becomes increasingly hard to shake off, so don’t start down that road. This doesn’t necessarily mean giving up all of your free time to finish a task because you’ve over-promised - it’s more about being open and honest with yourself and your colleagues.

This is the tenth article in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties, and this time we’re focusing on the art of communication. Communication skills are vastly underappreciated in most workplaces. Many of us get through day-to-day work life without really thinking about how we communicate, but it really does penetrate every aspect of who we are and what we do. Whether you’re sitting at a desk typing emails, making phone calls or working face-to-face with people in a group, how we put ourselves forward can have a huge impact on our careers. 

This is the ninth article in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties and it's all about analysing your strengths and weaknesses. We all want to perform well in our roles at work. If you’re a twenty-something trying to make your way in a busy working environment, you should absolutely use your initiative and play to your strengths wherever possible. At this stage in your career, it’s okay to make mistakes so long as you can rectify them and learn from them. However, a big part of knowing your own strengths and value lies in understanding your weaknesses.

This is the eighth article in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties and it's all about leadership. There are no doubt people in your workplace that make leading look easy. Those managers and supervisors who can effortlessly direct projects and motivate people to meet deadlines. That’s because part of being a good leader is acting well under pressure and being able to handle the responsibility of crucial deadlines. Chances are, these people in your company have been honing these skills for decades, so where does that leave you as a twenty-something who’s still relatively new to their job? Here’s a secret: you don’t need to be in a superior position of authority to be a leader.

This is the seventh article in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties and it's all about playing well in a team. In past posts we’ve covered networking, thought leadership and the importance of good planning, but none of this matters if you don’t have the collaborative mindset to work well in a group.

We’re now up to the sixth in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties. Last time we focused on the importance of thought leadership and how it can help you carve out an identity and stand out among your peers. This time we’re focusing on something that even career veterans still struggle with from time to time - planning. 

This is the fourth post in our series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties. In the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing lots of useful tips and advice in these articles to help you master the early stages of your career and rise quickly through the ranks. In this post we look at how to network and why it’s important.

This is the third post in our series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties. In the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing lots of useful tips and advice in these articles to help you master the early stages of your career and rise quickly through the ranks. This week we look at the importance of commitment.

This is the second post in our series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties. In the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing lots of useful tips and advice in these articles to help you master the early stages of your career and rise quickly through the ranks. Next up, how to stand out from the crowd.

This is the first post in our series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties. In the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing lots of useful tips and advice in these articles to help you master the early stages of your career and rise quickly through the ranks. First on the list is learning how to take risks.

Having spent the last few days at the Inbound 2017 conference in Boston MA, I was fortunate this morning to attend a keynote interview with the former First Lady, Michelle Obama.  A truly inspirational lady, who talked about her experiences during President Obama’s two spells in Office as well as what she has been involved in both during and since. 

May 1st 2017 brings great new opportunities for employers looking to invest in their workforce.  I was recently asked to talk on a local radio station in the Sheffield Region to talk about the benefits of learning & development and apprenticeships to employers.  The questions and responses are below...

Having been to various events and held many meetings over the last few weeks it's time to share some of the frightening comments and positive experiences I've had around the apprenticeship levy from both training providers and employers. Hopefully this helps inform some of your thinking and planning now we're in apprenticeship levy land.

Instagram is quickly becoming a go-to staple for many of its users. With 600 million monthly users and 400 million daily users it’s about the time to start asking ‘are you using this incredible tool well enough?’ 52 million images are shared every day and 1.6 billion likes distributed on a daily basis. It’s time to ask, are you really doing all you can?

RESULTS ANNOUNCED

For many managers one of the greatest challenges is being able to balance the needs of the organisation, with the needs of their role and the people within their teams. Successful leaders have learnt the art of becoming personally effective therefore providing more time to focus on what is truly important in order to drive success.

Registration is now open for the apprenticeship service

 The much-awaited digital apprenticeship service is now open for registration. If you are a large employer with a wage bill of over £3 million a year you should register now.

Finally, the long awaited apprenticeship consultation has been evaluated and the Government has published its rules around the apprenticeship levy and apprenticeships in general post April 2017.  This post is a must read if you are either a large employer who will pay the levy or a smaller employer considering or currently investing in apprenticeships.

Last time we talked about the digital apprenticeship service and how you need to start planning now. If you have not already used the free planning tool provided by BIS then I strongly recommend that you do so in conjunction with this post. If you need help with this please feel free to let me know once you’ve finished reading.

As a levy paying employer you will need to register for the digital apprenticeship service in order to manage and essentially spend the apprenticeship levy funds and the 10% Government top up. Whilst it is not possible yet to register, it is possible to start to think about and plan how you will manage this process.

 You’ve started paying your levy via HMRC and have funds building up in your Digital Service apprentice account:  What next? 

The greatest shake up of Apprenticeships and how they are funded in England is fast approaching. Consultations with employers and the education sector have taken place, education ministers and even Prime Ministers have come and gone -  it is full steam ahead with Apprenticeship reform.