More business owners are swapping rigid 9-5 schedules and traditional office environments in favour of flexible space and remote working as an option for saving costs, retaining employees and encouraging a healthy work-life balance. With this in mind, Instant Offices investigates what industries are leading the way for remote working and how to overcome the typical challenges of managing a remote team.
A 2016 study conducted by Vodafone involving 8,000 global employees and employers found that three-quarters of companies worldwide have already switched to flexible working options. 61% believe that it had increased …

By Kelvin Summoogum, Founder and CEO of miiCare
 When you are running your own business you have a lot on your plate. If you find yourself in the position where a parent or other elderly relative needs support it can create additional stress and worry. It is a balancing act; finding ways to ensure loved-ones are safe and cared for while fulfilling the demands of your business.
Thankfully, technology is already empowering the elderly to stay in their homes safely for longer. For example, loneliness can be alleviated through user-friendly smartphones, tablets, …

By Professor John Hunter, Tharos
 Getting any product to market is a challenge but with scientific products there are added hurdles.
If your product is in medical equipment, food & nutrition, veterinary, health etc. it will need rigorous testing and supporting evidence to gain credibility with, and confidence from potential buyers a well as meeting regulatory requirements.
After many years of research and testing my company, Tharos™, launched Equinectar®, an enzyme-enriched feed supplement for performance racehorses.
The journey from getting the science right to raising investment has been a significant challenge. Let me …

Written by Conor McArdle, Brighter Business
Work takes up a large slice of our time, but it has to fit around family and social life – and returning to work after parental leave can present some challenges, particularly if you are a business leader. For many new parents, there’ll be a spectrum of emotions to contend with, from excitement and nerves, to a tinge of guilt and dislocation. So, if you’re a new mum or dad preparing to return to work, you may want to think about putting practices into place …

The attention spans of time-poor UK workers are suffering as a result of multi-screening across their devices at work when they should be concentrating.
According to a survey of 1,002 UK workers in full or part-time employment carried out by Probrand.co.uk, 89% confess to ‘tech multi-tasking’ – or checking their devices during meetings.
A further 81% are also guilty of doing so when they are actually carrying out other tasks at work.
Checking emails is the number one task Brits will compulsively undertake in this manner. However, bosses need not worry too much, as in these cases at least, workers are it seems focused on something else …

Traditional employee benefits like flexi-time and sabbaticals are declining in popularity, giving way to a growing demand for social and learning-based perks at work.
A study of 2,315 UK workers published in the 2018 Great Perk Search Report by Perkbox, the UK’s fastest growing employee benefits platform, employees are increasingly keen for companies to offer them clubs and activities that they can enjoy with their colleagues, such as knitting and book clubs.
These were more popular amongst workers than even ‘traditional’ benefits like sabbatical opportunities (64/100), free drinks on Fridays (69/100), Christmas parties (73/100) and flexi-time (83/100) – with …

A new study has revealed how much you need to save around the world, whether you’ve been laid off or want to quit your job, to start a web-based venture
Quebec, Canada is the best city if you want to quit your job for launching an online business, requiring an individual to save £14,380, the equivalent of 4.6 months salary.
17 cities across Canada, France, Belgium, Italy, Norway, Finland and Switzerland in the index offer sufficient unemployment benefits so that if an individual was laid off from their job, they could launch …

By Sudha Mani, Toastmasters International
We can prepare and practice an excellent speech or presentation but things can still go wrong. The positive news is that there are ways to handle most situations that will help you to continue with your presentation and get well-deserved praise or applause when you have finished.
An issue can arise primarily from 4 situations: technical issues, challenging audience members, those moments of brain freeze and the pressure of a Questions & Answer session. Let’s look at these in turn.
Technical issues
Even when you’ve arrived early to test …

Company Name: Scholastic Book Parties
Scholastic Book Champions have access to sell a brilliant range of discounted children’s books from over 70 publishers from home, online, at schools, nurseries and home-based parties. It costs just £15 to sign up and you can start immediately, earning commission for yourself and free books for schools too!
Our Scholastic Book Champion roles are designed to be flexible and sit alongside your current work or home commitments – allowing you to work as much, or as little as you want.
You don’t need any experience – you …

TIME-POOR workers in law and accountancy are not doing anything to relieve stress outside of work – ironically often due to not having the time – according to new research out today.
A survey of 1,015 UK adults in employment carried out by learning marketplace, Obby.co.uk, revealed that professional services workers – such as those in accountancy and law – are the worst in the UK at actually taking the time to relieve their stress levels, with 58% admitting they do ‘little or nothing’ to manage these.
Professional services workers were closely followed by …