Rethinking the World of Work

Rethinking the World of Work No matter what industry or organisation you are in, from Engineering, Manufacturing to Legal, Corporate and Public Sector, in the last two years we have all seen vast changes in our working environment. With many businesses adapting to a new working culture. The legacy model of a singular workplace environment is no longer the norm. The evolution of remote home working, hybrid working and the shift towards hands-off management, have presented us with challenges. However, it is how we embrace these challenges which will help businesses to evolve and continue to grow. Some of the key pressures presented in today’s market include: Reducing workplace density– manage the documents onsite to be available online Do more with less – cope with demand variability Maintain/increase efficiency – improve efficiency and speed  How to demonstrate value – customer and employee Audit all work processes – reduce or eliminate repetitive manual tasks Review our assets – using printers/copiers to their full potential Communications – remote workforce, videoconferencing and other digital tools Digital transformation – what it means to you, your team, your customers and your organisation Engagement at all levels –frontline, management and directors An ecosystem approach that brings together all levels of employees and stakeholders will prove more effective than isolated efforts, at addressing your workforce challenges and transition towards digital automation.  We are reimagining how and where work takes place, whilst harnessing lessons learnt from the last 2 years.  Companies and their employees have demonstrated in real-time, that rapid changes in work practices and how people do jobs can be accomplished quickly and effectively.  A similar level of flexibility can be applied in designing how businesses retrain and redeploy their assets to meet the needs of the future. Digitisation and technology will be core to the process of work and tasks, a positive shift in the working culture aided by digital solutions. This is just the start of the journey; Ethos Document Management solutions have embraced these challenges faced by our clients. To find out more, contact us for a free audit of your organisation’s workflow environment. Assess & Design Start by adding, tracking, measuring and analysing your use of paper. ‘Optimise’ might mean digitising or it might mean first re-engineering paper based processes. But, it should follow assessment and be based on its insights to assure results​​​. Secure & Integrate Never forget the bigger picture. Cost, security and agility are the key drivers of digitisation. You won’t get the results you want if you don’t build in security and make absolutely sure that technology, process and people can play together happily​. Automate & Simplify If you’re like the large majority of our respondents you’ll be eyeing up candidates for workflow automation. As you should – it’s where so much of the benefit will come from. All we’re saying is: don’t forget that stage 1 comes before stage 2 or 3.

ISO announcement

Ethos Group Holdings Limited are delighted to announce their ISO 27001 recertification. ISO 27001 is an internationally recognised specification for an Information Security Management System. Ethos recertification demonstrates that we have identified risks and put in place preventative measures to protect our organisation from information security breaches. Having a measured approach top controlling risk, provides reassurance that we have an approach of continual improvement when managing risk, securing systems, secure technology and data, whilst continuing to work hard to stay ahead of new threats.

Increase the availability of your information – from paper and digital documents

Within the business and public sectors, organisations struggle to manage the constant production and daily mass storing of paper. This is made more difficult by the prestigious office locations, such as city centres, which often have limited space. It is impossible to ignore that businesses are now leaning towards electronic filing due to the countless benefits that it offers. We pride ourselves in offering document solutions and secure service to scan, digitise and store your legal documents on a secure platform, using your existing multifunctional print devices. This can be actioned both onsite and offsite, through secure scanning, allowing quick access to important files, from any device. If your business is yet to consider transitioning to paper-less systems, the following outlines a few reasons why organisations are increasingly using document scanning and management solutions to help manage their business documentation. Large scale capabilities With the ability to scan documents onsite or offsite, our secure scanning services provide an efficient method to assure that your documents are fully secure and protected. By implementing our services, compliance with legal and regulatory requirements will be met with minimal effort, whilst also offering significant advantages in keeping information in an electronic form, compared with paper retention. Improved disaster recovery & instant access Do not wait until disaster strikes before thinking about digitising your paper documents. By scanning everything that comes in and out of the office, you can reduce risk and ensure that disaster recovery is fast and easy. Digitising your documents also offers the benefit of instant access from any location on a range of devices. If you are out visiting a client or working remotely, by storing your documents in secure cloud-based systems, you can view and use your data from any location. Legal admissibility standards One reason businesses can sometimes be reluctant to move towards document scanning is not so much the initial costs and setup, it is the concern of legal admissibility of scanned documents. The British Standards Institution accepts that electronic filing is a normal process for organisations and has issued BS10008 best practice guidelines of how files must be managed to be accepted in a UK court as legally admissible. Our offsite scanning services are accredited to ISO9001, ISO14001 and ISO27001 British Standards and as such, conforms to BS10008 best practice guidelines, ensuring that your scanned documents will be admissible in court. By using our expertise and knowledge, you can safeguard the vital information present in your documents. Our scanning and digitisation services continue to gain credibility across all areas of business, as the benefits towards the expenditure, confidentiality and security are apparent. sectors our services excel include the public sector, architecture, corporate, finance, legal and education. For more information and to book a free onsite assessment, please contact complete our contact form below.

#WeAreSupporting Men’s Mental Health Month

Men’s HEALTH STATISTICS November is #Movember, a movement which aims to give boys and men the tools, skills and understanding they need to navigate their mental health and make it through tough times. #Intervention saves lives. 50% of adults experiencing mental health problems, experience them before the age of 14. Suicide is the biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK 53% of all Cancer deaths are men 237 men die from Breast Cancer every year 3 in every  4 suicides are men 16% of men suffer from anxiety and depression For more information on how you can support the #Movember movement, please visit https://uk.movember.com

20 Year National Living Wage

The Living Wage Campaign is an independent movement is an independentmovement of businesses, organisations and people who believe a hardday’s work deserves a fair day’s pay. Employers can voluntarily choose topay the real living wage, providing an ethical benchmark for responsiblepay. The campaign was launched by members of London Citizens in 2001,where parents found that although they were working multiple part timejobs, they struggled to make ends meet. Which left for no energy or time tofuel back into community and family life.The campaign is a great example of how civil society, businesses and organisations can work together to tackle in-work poverty and has gained support across a variety of sectors. Whether that be political parties, the public and first ministers in Wales and Scotland. This year is particularly important, as the campaign turns twenty! This means, that for twenty years the campaign has lifted over 260,000people out of in-work poverty and has delivered over £1.5 billion in extra wages since the campaign began in 2001. It has also helped 0 % of university graduated wiant to work for a Living wage Employer 0 % of the Living Wage network say it has benefitted their business 0 % of consumers agreed that pay should reflet living costs 0 % of Living Wage Employers said it has enhanced their reputation as an employer History of the Living Wage Campaign The idea for the Living Wage Movement, born 20 years ago during a meeting in East London. Citizens UK brought together churches, mosques, schools, and other community organisations to talk about the main issues affecting their communities. From that meeting came a powerful movement, with influential community leaders calling out major employers to pay their staff a National Living Wage. In 2011, the movement went national. The first UK Living Wage rate was launched, and the National Living Wage foundation was created. Celebrating the businesses that chose to go further than the government minimum wage. Present Throughout Living Wage Week, the campaign will be celebrating the strength of the movement and a network of over 8,000 employers. During2020, despite the pandemic and its impact on businesses across the UK, over 2,000 new employers committed to pay a real Living Wage. The employers join over 8,000 Living Wage accredited employers, including those such as Aviva, Nationwide, Burberry, Brewdog and thousands of small businesses. Future Throughout Living Wage Week, the campaign will be celebrating thestrength of the movement and a network of over 8,000 employers. During2020, despite the pandemic and its impact on businesses across the UK, over 2,000 new employers committed to pay a real Living Wage. The employers join over 8,000 Living Wage accredited employers, including those such as Aviva, Nationwide, Burberry, Brewdog and thousands of small businesses. Join us in supporting and celebrating the Living Wage Foundation and the ways in which the foundation supports individuals tackling in-job poverty. Including their new Living Wage Programme and Living Wage Scheme. For more information on The Living Wage Campaign, head to https://www.livingwage.org.uk/living-wage-week 

Ethos Receive Silver Award

Ethos Group Holdings Limited, following on from signing the Armed Forces Covenant in 2020, have continued their journey to support the armed forces community in earnest. Ethos Group are now extremely proud to announce that they have achieved Silver level of the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme from the MoD for their continued support and commitment to those who serve or have served in the armed forces, and their families. To gain a silver Employer Recognition Scheme award from the Ministry of Defence, organisations must show tangible evidence that they proactively demonstrate that service personnel and the armed forces community are not unfairly disadvantaged; this is shown in recruiting and selection processes, and by actively ensuring that workforces are aware of the employer’s positive policies towards reservists and service spouses in particular.  In addition, employers must have demonstrated support to reservist mobilisations or have a framework in place,  and they must provide at least 5 days’ additional special leave for reservist training. Minister for Defence People and Veterans, Leo Docherty MP said: “I would like to thank all the organisations who have proven their support for the Defence community during such unprecedented and challenging times. “The vast range of those recognised this year demonstrates how employing the Armed Forces community makes a truly positive and beneficial impact for all employers, regardless of size, sector or location.” Gill Niblock, a Regional Employer Engagement Director representing Defence Relationship Management “I am delighted that Ethos has achieved this award.  Ethos’s nomination was considered by the London Employer Engagement Board  which acknowledged the effort that went in to the nomination and thanks Ethos for its support to the armed forces community.  I’m really looking forward to working with this company in the future and seeing them make a difference to the armed forces community in all its guises.” Barry Matthews CEO of Ethos Group Holdings Limited I am exceptionally proud to achieve this award as a business, which demonstrates that we can make a difference by positively impacting lives and creating opportunities to change lives within The Armed Forces community- this is a special thing to do ‘ .There will be a formal presentation of the award at the prestigious 2021 ERS Silver awards ceremony later in the year, Covid-19 permitting.

Why businesses should be adopting Cloud

The world is changing and so is the way we work – we no longer go to work, work come comes to us. This is why businesses are making investment decisions, moving from the traditional on-premise IT infrastructure, to either a Hybrid or fully Cloud based solution. Cost Savings Research suggests that cloud adoption could reduce business costs by up to 47%, with an overall drop in capital expenditure on IT services between 30-50%. Security Cloud security provides multiple levels of control in a network infrastructure to afford continuity and protection, with businesses suggesting Cloud makes it easier to meet government compliance requirements. Flexibility Businesses can scale services to fit their needs, customise applications and access cloud services from anywhere with an internet connection. This freedom and flexibility can make significant improvements in business efficiency. Mobility With businesses becoming more flexible, cloud allows instant mobile access to business data via smartphones and portable devices. This allows for greater connectivity between people and important information. Collaboration Cloud makes collaboration an easy process. Cloud streamlines business workflows, improves communication, provides instant access to files, as well as real time updates to business data and documents. Automation Automation through app technology, eases the transition from legacy processes to a more streamlined, efficient way of working. Sustainability The cloud is revolutionising the IT industry in many ways. Businesses consume 77% fewer servers, 84% less power and reduce carbon emissions by 88% – in turn positively impacting the environment Start your digital journey today by registering for a free workflow audit book your audit

Ethos Group Pledge to Support the Armed Forces Community

#WeAreProud Ethos Group Holdings Ltd are delighted to be one of the newest employers to sign the Armed Forces Covenant pledge. The Armed Forces Covenant has seen businesses, local authorities and charities develop a range of policies and procedures that benefit current and former service personnel, as well as their spouses and families. By signing the Covenant, Ethos have gained Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) Bronze award status. ERS encourages employers to support Defence and inspire others to do the same. The scheme encompasses Bronze, Silver and Gold awards for organisations that pledge, demonstrate or advocate support to defence and the armed forces community. Barry Matthews, CEO, Ethos Group comments ‘We are very proud to have received our Bronze Employer Recognition Scheme Award for the Armed Forces Covenant and we are looking forward to working with Trudy Mensa-Bonsu and the team to show our commitment to ERS, and to build on Bronze Level. As a business we are committed to continuing to work to help and support our former service personnel, our current service personnel and the entire defence family. Ethos Group collaborate with recruiters to ensure that veterans and serving reservists and families are given opportunities, our company policies are reflective of the needs of reservists to ensure that they are able to complete training and if deployed are fully supported.’ Signatories of the Covenant make their own promises to support the Armed Forces community and implement these promises through services and projects, such as flexible working patters and leave for reservists to complete training and deployment. Trudy Mensa-Bonsu Regional Employer Engagement Director, Greater London Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Association comments “The Ethos team are really looking forward to supporting the defence family and are highly committed to upholding their Armed Forces Covenant pledges. They have received a bronze award and we are looking forward to helping them progress through the Employer Recognition scheme.” To find out how your business or community organisation can show support, please visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/corporate-covenant-pledge.