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The network has grown from strength to strength and continues to be run by students, who volunteer their own time.

Ricky, who is now a fully qualified Children’s Nurse, having graduated last year, said: “The network was fundamental during Covid-19. Not only did we keep people connected, we educated and kept students up-to-date with relevant information and alleviated any anxieties they were experiencing. We have had an overwhelming amount of support from lecturers up and down the country, and this sees our network advertised to child nursing students in both educational and NHS settings across the UK.” Ricky’s efforts saw him become the recipient of a global healthcare award for ‘excellence in nursing and midwifery’ as well as being selected as a finalist in the national Nursing Times and Royal College of Nursing (RCNi) Awards. He also went onto win the Good Nurse Award in the Hereford Times Health and Social Care Awards.

For information visit worcester.ac.uk

Robert Weston, who leads the law firm’s Contentious Trusts and Probate department, has been named in the legal guide’s highest rated Hall of Fame list for his consistently excellent service and advice to clients in complex wills and inheritance cases. Meanwhile, Mr Chandler also moves up the individual rankings where he has been given Next Generation Partner status.

Also singled out for praise this year is Sally Morris, partner and head of the firm’s Employment team, who was named as a “leading individual” for the first time. Partners Sam Pedley and Clare Regan were also highlighted. Andrew Davies, Partner and Managing Director at mfg Solicitors said: “It’s always a proud moment for any of our lawyers or departments to be ranked in the Legal 500, but this really is a special year.” Firms and lawyers are recommended on merit.

There are so many tools available now to measure how our employees are feeling, such as Vibe or Officevibe. There is even tech to gamify employee recognition, such as Bonusly and OneUp. On a recent webinar with YuLife on ‘Creating a Culture of Vulnerability’, there was talk of using an emoji feature within Slack for remote workers to share how they feel in real time.

In this world of remote and hybrid working, it is more important than ever to find a way of making sure we are connecting with each individual in a way that is appropriate for them. For the extraverts, they may not need a prompt to come forward and tell us how they are getting on… but for others, a more gentle approach using tech, could help them to open up. Research shows that younger workers such as Millennials and Gen Z’s are so used to tech and gamification in their day to day lives, that this could be the most natural way to reach them in the workplace. One thing is for sure, the tech on its’ own won’t cut it – whatever software we implement to support employee engagement, it needs to be part of a much wider strategy around meaningful communication and recognition.

Sadly, it is a fact that when times are hard, the incidence of financial abuse increases. Victims of financial abuse can experience money being withdrawn without their knowledge, pressure to pass over bank cards and sign over other assets, even including their house to their abuser. Dealing with this type of abuse successfully can be a long hard process in itself, and as with many things, being able to prevent or mitigate the worst of it is undoubtedly better. Powers of attorney for your property and financial matters are the right place to start. They can be made by anyone over the age of 18, so long as they can demonstrate their understanding of the document and how it works. Powers of attorney are powerful documents and authority must be given to those we trust to look after us should we lose mental capacity or become unable to carry out our affairs in our usual way. In the right hands, attorneys can protect us from rogue tradesman, nuisance calls and aggressive selling, individuals “over keen” to help with shopping or banking to name but a few issues. Every lasting power needs to go through a registration process which is taking several weeks; so, if you or a family member is concerned about untoward financial management going on, you can discuss having a temporary general power put in place to allow your attorneys to take more immediate control. As before, you must be over 18 and clearly understand the document, which in themselves, only last a year, but this is plenty of time to allow for the lasting power to be completed and registered. The take away message is that trusting your attorneys is absolutely key and if you have any worries and concerns about who to appoint and how it all works, please come and talk to us, it might be the best thing you do today.

Annabel Kay If you believe a close friend or family member is vulnerable or unable to look after their affairs, we provide a specialist service for vulnerable clients. Contact Thursfields on 0345 20 73 72 8, email info@thursfields.co.uk or visit www.thursfields.co.uk to learn more.

The digital workplace is completely changing how employees interact and work together, how companies support their clients and customers, and how they carry out business in general. Implementing a workplace transformation is not just about commodifying services and support or a money-saving exercise, it’s a strategic move for any business. Establishing a digital workspace will impact all areas of your business and deliver valuable business outcomes.

To create a digital workspace, IT teams or service providers need to bring people, processes and technology together to provide a reliable, secure and effective employee experience anywhere, at any time and on any device. This involves seeing beyond traditional workplace environment models and instead thinking about how employees can serve their customers better using digital technology and provide a better user experience for customers and end users. A well thoughtout digital strategy helps businesses increase revenue, attract and retain talent and beat the competition in a digital world.

Many businesses want to carry out a digital transformation in order to improve their processes and services. A complete digital workspace involves the implementation of cloud solutions, unified communications, data solutions, as well as IT support for all of these. Only when these are all used in conjunction is a truly collaborative and effective digital workspace achieved.

Most digital workplace models tend to include five main components; communication, security, storage, analytics and management. These are not all necessarily essential, but a combination of these elements will ensure you have the tools you need in place to run your business efficiently.

Digital workspaces increase productivity by introducing self-diagnosis and self-help tools that enable users to resolve their own IT issues. They can also boost efficiency by helping different business units work together more effectively, allowing them to share resources quickly and easily.

Digital technologies can automate some aspects of customer experience, helping to drive down costs and improve service quality. With digital workspace environments, customers are able to move easily between support channels such as phone, chat or bots whilst progressing along the customer journey.

Organisations are becoming more and more data-lead due to the level of detail data insights can offer. Using digital workplace technology such as machine learning, performance analytics, service desk data analytics engines and dashboards, businesses can inform key executive decision-making processes.

More and more of the current workforce are now looking for flexible and remote working. A digital workspace will help engage, motivate and retain existing employees and attract new talent. More advanced digital workspace policies let employees choose their own devices to suit their individual working style. These policies use a persona-based model to provide end users with a workspace bundle which is fit-for-purpose and tailored to their needs.

» Work flexibly » Meet virtually » Use the power of social media » Integrate software tools » Collaborate and co-author in real time » Analyse your own data