The Small Firms Association (SFA) today launched a new online platform as part of its National Grow, Scale, Succeed campaign to empower small firms to recruit and retain the right people.

In the Grow, Scale, Succeed survey conducted in October 2018, 81% of respondents stated it was either difficult or very difficult to recruit the right people. The new online platform provides content to alleviate this pressure and helps address small firms’ concerns around recruitment, employee engagement, as well as remote and smart working.

The Grow, Scale, Succeed online platform offers:
· Case study videos from small businesses sharing their recruitment tips, how they keep their staff engaged and how Smart Working benefited their business.
· A guideline on where to source new candidates and on the different types of workers.
· Podcasts on creating your job spec, ways to engage your employees, how to co-create a culture, managing difficult conversations and bullying in the workplace.
· Videos and guidelines from Vodafone on improving your connectivity and cyber security to enable remote working.
· A directory of co-working spaces.
· An employment law and health and safety checklist for working remotely.
· A sample flexible working policy which includes remote working.

Speaking this week, SFA Director, Sven Spollen-Behrens said, "With the unemployment rate approaching pre-crisis levels, it is increasingly difficult for small firms to fill job roles. The Grow, Scale, Succeed online platform is the SFA’s response to support small business in the competition for talent."

He added, "We will continue to add new content to the online platform over the coming weeks and months. Our aim is to make it the go to platform for small businesses with recruitment and employee engagement needs and to help them use technology to future proof their business for the changing world of work."

Source: www.businessworld.ie