Business and Economics

Contractor calculators are very useful tools that enable you, as a contractor, to gain an estimate of your take home pay each week or month. They’re a vital tool to giving you an idea of how contracting life will be, factoring in the rate you charge for contracts and whether you’re affected by IR35 or not. Brookson bring you a look into how using a contractor calculator can help you get a better idea of your income so that you...

With the launch of iOS 11, Apple have introduced NFC capabilities to a much wider audience of smartphone users, enabling businesses to interact with and market to their customers in far more creative and engaging ways. For those who are not familiar with NFC (Near Field Communications), it’s a technology that allows contactless communication between an NFC enabled device, such as a smartphone, and an NFC chip. These chips can be embedded into a range of promotional products such as...

Digital currencies are changing how transactions are handled and although they’ve been here for a while, people are still trying to understand the impacts.  If you are like most people, you probably know that digital currencies are considered digital gold for this age. For most entrepreneurs, it’s important to pay special attention to ensure you have a good chance to keep up with the competition. Cheaper and faster bank transfers Today, banks move money slowly and international money transfers can...

Most businesses waste time. Whether it’s pointless internal emails, unnecessary meetings or poor organisation – too many companies lose too much valuable time. Many of the emails, meetings and organisational issues will stem from poor processes. If you want your business to be a smooth-running well-oiled machine then you need to roll your sleeves up and consider these five factors, which can cut out productivity-sapping wasted time. Conduct a full review Don’t even start trying to change anything with your...

Thanks to the Internet, the way that we work has changed dramatically. In addition to connecting colleagues around the world and eroding the barriers between consumers and information, the Internet has enabled a whole new class of service work: the “gig economy.” For a relevant example, consider a London takeaway spot. Food that was once delivered by a full-time courier is now sent on the back of a part-time, freelance bike messenger who works for another company entirely. You might...

Economic experts have today suggested the UK should reverse Brexit in order to avoid the severe consequences of a messy breakup. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published a report that puts forward the case for a dramatic rethink on the agenda. Its findings have already been hailed as the “final nail in the coffin for the already long-buried notion that Brexit will benefit our economy”. But even with EU negotiations stalled there are growing signs that the UK economy...

Inflation has hit the lowest income families hardest since recession because they spend the most proportionally of any income group on utilities, which have shot up in price over the decade. Lower income families are also likely to have been hardest by inflation since Brexit, due to the rise in the price of food and non-food essential items, which they spend disproportionately more on. While many ‘big ticket’ items have actually fallen in price over the last 20 years: cars are 12...

More misery for five million public sector workers as their wages take yet another hammering GMB says public sector workers are at breaking point as inflation hits three per cent. The latest ONS figures show CPI is up to 3 per cent from 2.9 per cent - a five-and-a-half year high. The rise means more than five million public sector workers will see an even bigger real terms wage cut due to the pay cap. On average, each public sector...

It doesn’t matter if you’re a corporate giant like Apple, or a local business that sells actual apples; hiring international staff can have a variety of benefits. From diversifying work culture and building foreign partnerships, to skilled staff at a lower cost and acquiring specialist talent, there is always a reason to at least consider overseas employee relocation. But, despite the benefits of international employee relocation, there is often concern amongst recruiters about the expenditure of resources required for such...