Issue #86 - It's coming home? ⚽
What are the benefits of working from home? | How to manage a WFH request | Is it cheaper to commute? | Side hustle insurance? | Digging the brand with The Long Shot Exp. | Words | Tunes | More
🦾 GO
Can you offer employees work-from-home benefits? 🏡
Welcome to Issue #86 of The Backbone - the fortnightly newsletter from Bionic.
❗ Sorry Issue #86 is late! It's down to a scheduling error and the school run 😬
The UK has around 3.18 million business sites or local units used for VAT/PAYE-based enterprises. If you operate from one of them, your employees may have worked from home at some point during the last few years.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that the number of people working solely from home has halved since June 2020 (down from 38% to 14%). But more than a quarter of workers (26%) still split their time between home and workplace.
ONS figures also reveal what home-based employees find best about working remotely:
Improved work-life balance (78%)
Fewer distractions (53%)
Quicker to complete work (52%)
Improved wellbeing (47%)
Easier to think of new ideas (16%)
On the flip side, the findings also reveal that home workers face the following challenges:
Harder to work with others (48%)
More distractions (26%)
Reduced wellbeing (19%)
Harder to think of new ideas (15%)
Fewer job opportunities (5%)
The type of business you run will dictate whether you can offer employees any work-from-home benefits (there probably aren’t many mechanics who can do their job from home, for instance).
If you are in this position, remote working could offer another revenue stream for your business. Salon owners, for instance, could offer in-home, out-of-hours, treatments. Mechanics might do at-home or roadside repairs.
When considering work-from-home requests, you should consider what’s best for your business and your employees. This means thinking about productivity, well-being, and any financial implications As a business owner, you should also consider insurance if the way you work changes. To help with all of these things, we’ve extended our READ 🗞 section to offer three useful work-from-home guides.
But before that (just in time for the start of Euro 24 and because employees might need a better broadband connection when working from home) here’s the last of our coaching guides, which you can watch below or on the Bionic YouTube channel.
COMMUNITY 🤝
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🗞 READ
How to manage work-from-home requests 🗣
Working from home has transformed the way companies work, rather than sitting on congested motorways or packed trains, employees now have the freedom to pick their working hours and commute from their bed straight to their desks. But, how do you manage an employee’s work-from-home request?
To help make that process that little bit easier, our handy guide is here to help walk you through everything you need to know about working-from-home requests.
Is it cheaper to work from home or commute to the office 🚌
As the cost of living increases in the UK, many people are looking for ways to reduce their day-to-day expenses. With the rise in opportunities for hybrid and remote working, many have started to consider their work routines as a way to keep costs low.
We have analysed every expense of working from home, such as increased usage of WiFi, electricity and energy - even down to boiling the kettle on your tea break. We have compared this with the costs of working from the office, including child care and dog sitters, to get a fair view of the most cost-effective option.
Do you need insurance for your side hustle? 🤹♂️
43% of people in the UK in 2024 are making extra income thanks to a side hustle — on average, they’re earning around £900 a month!
And while making a little extra money is great for your back pocket, what happens if something goes wrong? Unlike most businesses, side hustles don’t legally need cover if it's only you earning, but they can be a lifesaver in times of crisis.
Find out everything there is to know about insurance for your side hustles with this guide.
🗣 SHOUTOUT
#SmallBusinessStory - The Long Shot Exp. 🛹
Les met with Mike Holmes, the one-man maestro milliner behind The Long Shot Exp. They discuss the ups and downs of running your own business, the importance of your brand identity, the brilliance of La Haine, and loads more.
Bionic: How did you start your business?
Mike Holmes: When I started, I wasn’t looking to start a business necessary, I just needed a creative outlet. I was used to working in graphic design but after the birth of our second child, I stopped working in the studio and stayed at home with the kids. I just needed something to keep my creativity going, to be able to play around with graphics and creative branding.
B: What is the best form of marketing for your business?
MH: Our Insta is a business account because then I can tag products. That’s a really easy way for customers to get to our site. We also have a newsletter. At the moment, I get 50% engagement on Mailchimp, the clicks may not be straight to the site, but it keeps people reading the newsletter because they’ve found something interesting.
B: How do you come up with creative ideas for your hats?
MH: Guidelines are great, but rules are there to break, you’ve got to allow certain areas where you can be looser and evolve. For example, someone was cutting trees down the other day, so, we got a load of wood dropped outside, and I just remember thinking the colour was gorgeous. It kind of looked like a cameo effect. So, I decided to create a hat based on that pattern.
B: How are you battling the cost-of-living crisis?
MH: Because of my business size and the fact I still use my home workshop, I’m quite light on overheads. In the winter, I bring out a heater, I previously brought a solar powered lamp too so I could work into the evenings. All my lighting is solar powered.
B: What’s the best piece of advice you’d like to give a budding business owner?
MH: I’d say just do it, but be playful, make sure it’s something you’d be interested in beyond making money. If you’re running your own business, you need to enjoy it even when it’s not paying you well. You have to stick with it through the storms. You have to like it enough when it’s tough and it’s a slog.
Read more from Mike over at the Bionic website. Check out the full interview on YouTube or by watching the video below.
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🔊 LISTEN
Playlist 🎵
Euro 2024 kicks off today (if you’re reading this on June 14) so we’ve been trying out some football-themed playlists. Featuring Buzzcocks, Primal Scream, The Streets, Orbital, The Jam, The Libertines, and more, the soundtrack to The Football Factory was the clear winner.
Podcast 🎙
Sticking with the football theme, this week’s podcast has been chosen by Dan, Senior Customer Experience Manager and Selhurst Park season ticket holder. International Clearance sees British footballers past and present share their experiences playing abroad.
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🚫 STOP
Thanks for making it to the end of another Bionic small business bulletin 🤝🏻
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