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For up to date news about Ten2Two and insights on flexible working, visit out blog and follow us on twitter  
October 11 Milton Keynes gets the Ten2Two Touch As we write, Lisa Bramall is frantically putting the finishing touches to the launch of Ten2Two in Milton Keynes, culminating with an event at the MK Gallery on 11th October - please get in touch if you'd like to come along. We're delighted to be launching in MK. A thriving and forward looking commercial hub and a great place to live. MK and the north of Buckinghamshire has, for a long time, been slightly out of the reach of the team based in Berkhamsted but we can now join up to offer people and businesses MK, Buckingham, Bletchley and eventually Bedford a great service. Good luck Lisa! |
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September 2011 Ten2Two Travels South of the River A great launch event on the 15th September at the Stag Theatre in Sevenoaks marked the launch of Ten2Two in West Kent. Andrea and Kirsteen had been working hard during the summer to launch the business and they were delighted when 70-80 women (and a couple of men) came along to lend their support and find out more about what Ten2Two will offer them in the years to come. Our development has focused on counties north of the Thames and we love being able to support businesses to the south of London and the areas with in London served by stations like Waterloo and London Bridge. We wish Andrea and Kirsteen the best of luck. Find their details on the contact us page. September 2011 Back to School means Back to Work September is our busiest time for new members. As many children start full-time education, many Mums thoughts turn to re-establishing themselves in the workplace as their day becomes more flexible and they have more time to devote to other things. For businesses, this is a rich time for the labour market as a whole group of skilled, professional women become available for work in their local areas. This is a great time to talk to Ten2Two if you've been thinking about finding a skilled part-time professional for your business. If you're just returning to work, watch out for news of our member development events. March 2011 Hertfordshire Gets Blanket Coverage from Ten2Two Working Women and local businesses in Hertfordshire will get a big boost with the launch of Ten2Two in East Hertfordshire and North London In early April. Complementing the now well-established areas of West Herts and Buckinghamshire, Ten2Two will serve the communities in some of the major towns north of London including Hatfield, the county's hub of Hertford, Enfield and Potters Bar. Maxine Songaila will be leading the development of Ten2Two as local businesses emerge from a difficult recession. In the next few months she will build her community of professional flexible working women to offer some of the best professional part-time skills available. Women and businesses interested in Ten2Two in the4se areas should contact Maxine by calling her on 07771 627549 or dropping her an email at maxine@ten2two.org. March 2011 Ten2Two looks forward to Spring with the latest Member Events The team at Ten2Two in Berkhamsted welcomed nearly 50 Ten2Two members to two exciting events in February and March. Our 'Get to Know You' meetings combine some great member networking with an opportunity for the team to spend a few minutes with each of the members to talk about them and their requirements. Our 'speed networking approach works a treat and members seem to really enjoy the session. The other event was our popular CV and Interview workshop. Deborah, Maxine and Mandy cram in loads of advice, tips and even mock interviews into a tight two-hour session, leaving the group calling for more! It was great to see how working women are preparing themselves for new jobs. Look out for more events being announced in the coming weeks. December 2010 Ten2Two Comes to Scotland We're delighted to announce that Ten2Two will be officially launching in Scotland in January. With an initial focus on Edinburgh and the areas surrounding Falkirk and Kirkcaldy, the new team led by Nichola Palmer will be inviting professional women to register with Ten2Two and helping businesses in Scotland to take advantage of flexible working and the fabulous pool of talented Scottish professionals who want to work flexibly. Nichola will be talking to professional mums in the playgrounds over the Christmas period. If you're a Scottish business that might need some flexible resources in 2011, or a woman seeking flexible work call Nichola now on 07947 741234 or email her at nichola@ten2two.org. November 2010 Workshop Fattens Up We ramped up the numbers for one of our most popular events this month. Our CV and Interviewing workshop is usually a nice intimate group of nine or ten people. Instead we had about 30 Ten2Two members in a local church hall (not too draughty). Whilst we didn't have the time for some of the one to one support we usually try to give, everyone enjoyed meeting up and exchanging ideas about finding flexible work - plus a million other subjects! Well done to Jane, Mandy and Deborah. 95%+ satisfaction rating for the event and some lovely feedback emails. The 2011 programme of events will be published in early January. November 2010 Take a Generous Handful of about Eight Marketers Mix in five HR and four Operations professionals and stir. Sprinkle a couple of graphic designers and a journalist and organise them on a tray with a couple of PAs and a Finance Manager around the edge as decoration. What do you get? A great group of Ten2Two members getting together for our 'get to know you' event at the lovely Old Mill pub in Berkhamsted. When we look at the calibre of people that register with us it brings to mind the title of an Equal Opportunities Commission report: 'Britain's Hidden Brain Drain'. This highlighted the sheer volume or talented Women that disappear from the workplace after having children, partly due to the unavailability of part-time and flexible work and the difficulty of finding work that uses their skills and experience. If more businesses realised that they can solve their resourcing and support needs easily and affordably through utilising this community it would solve a lot of their problems. Say after me 'Does this job need 40 hours a week to do it well?' June 2010 - Member Get-to-know-you Meetings Ten2Two recently trialLed a new approach to meeting members. We held our first Get-to-know-you meeting for current and new members to meet up with the team and informally network with each other over a cup of coffee. The event was a great success with positive feedback from members and the team so will become a regular feature of our calendar. May 2010 - Ten2Two Members' Views Count At Ten2Two we are constantly looking for new ways to promote the benefits of flexible working. We were delighted recently to take part in a round table discussion where major public and private sector employers debated what they need to do to help women employees fulfil their potential and maximise their contribution. As a follow-up, Ten2Two members have been invited to take part in a confidential survey which aims to get to the very root of what makes women leave organisations and what those businesses need to do to make it viable for more women to work successfully at senior levels. The survey is part of a wider research project being run by LBD Associates, a consultancy which specialises in women's development. The findings will be published in Autumn 2010 in a 'white paper' on Maximising the Potential of Women in Organisations', which will be distributed to leading employers across the UK. March 2010 - Job Market on the Road to Recovery Although there are conflicting indicators of economic performance, the rate of new job growth is one of the vital signs. Growth of permanent staff placements accelerated in February, amazingly reaching its strongest surge since July 2007, according to the latest Report on Jobs published this week by the REC (Recruitment and Employment Confederation) and KPMG. Bernard Brown from KPMG comments: "The latest figures seem to confirm that the UK jobs market is on the road to recovery: Permanent job placements are growing at their fastest pace since July 2007, with both vacancies and salaries increasing. Sectors such as IT & computing as well as engineering & construction that were particularly hit by recession are clearly on the rebound. "However, this all comes with one big warning: The impact of the inevitable public sector recession on the jobs market has yet to be felt and will be played out over the next six to 12 February 2010 - Special Offer for Ten2Two members on Supercamp Bookings Feedback from members always highlights the incredible challenge of finding good and cost-effective childcare during school holidays. Once again, SuperCamps The No.1 Activity Day Camp Provider for Children Aged 4-14 is offering Ten2Two members a discount on their children's' camps. So if you need childcare whilst you're working or you feel the kids would enjoy a day or two of new activities during the school holidays use the promotional code TEN10 when you book and benefit from £4 off per child, per day. For full details of what's going on at your local camp see www.supercamps.co.uk or call the Supercamps friendly team on 01235 832222. (Note that you save the 2.5% credit card transaction fee by booking online.) December 2009 - Christmas News During such difficult economic times finding work, particularly flexible roles can get very frustrating and it can often be hard to see where positive change is going to come from. However, there are periods where a little glitter shines through the gloom, just in time for Christmas. Positive HR A few weeks ago, we gave a two-hour seminar on the practical implementation of flexible working to the Herts branch of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Over 35 HR professionals were interested enough in the topic to spend an evening with us and whilst it was a little disappointing to see the low levels of awareness of this year's flexible working legislation, the whole group was extremely positive and fully engaged. It is good to know that such an influential community in Herts have a better understanding of the benefits that flexible working can offer. Nice Clients We've also talked to many companies this year that have little prospect of taking on new people and quite a few that refuse to consider how flexible working can benefit them by helping to resource and even grow their business affordably. However, in the last few weeks we've worked with some clients that totally embrace the idea because they see the real benefits that people on flexible hours (obviously combined with talent and experience) can offer their companies. We've been able to place a number of local professional people in roles with forward thinking organisations that have been responsive and a pleasure to work with. Arrow Pointing Upwards Finally, while we still wait for BBC news to come up with a graphic for a recovering economy - after months of seeing their downward pointing red arrow that seemed to dominate the Ten O'Clock News - the REC (recruitment's industry body) has published some labour market data which gives some positive signs of recovery in the jobs market. It highlights that:
This is another small pointer to a better 2010. We remember that, following the dramatic cost-cutting that happened following the slump of the telecoms and IT sectors in 2000/2001, shareholders quickly turned from 'cut, cut!' to 'grow, grow!'. The issue was that most of the people that could make the growth happen had been made redundant and the search for talent started all over again. Let's see if this happens again next year. December 2009 - A Great Brand and a Hard Time One organisation that has had a torrid time in the last few weeks has been Maclaren. They've been subject to much media coverage following the USA 'recall' of their buggies as a precautionary response to safety concerns around the folding elbow joint. We'd like to offer our full support to a company that has supported Ten2Two and its members, most of whom are parents, more than any other organisation. There's a lot that can be said about the issues surrounding recent events but overall, we've seen a team obsessed with the quality of their products and deeply affected by the concerns this has raised amongst their customers. During the media storm that occurred a few weeks ago they talked to more customers than they'd ever spoken to before. Many voiced their support (and in some cases their love for their Maclaren buggy) but some customers remained concerned so they quickly freighted in a supply of hinge covers that protect the elbow joint of the buggy and are making them available to all customers. If you have a Maclaren buggy and would like Maclaren to send you a set of covers free of charge, just log on to http://covers.maclaren.co.uk and they'll send some to you. Maclaren stress that your buggy is completely safe if you use it correctly and keep children away from the buggy whilst opening or closing it. November 2009 – Ten2Two Leading the discussion on ‘Making Flexible Working Work’ at the Hertfordshire CIPD. Ten2Two has been invited to lead the next workshop held by the Hertfordshire CIPD. We envisage 20/30 Human Resources Managers and Directors from local businesses to be in attendance. Ten2Two will be encouraging an active discussion on the practical implementation of flexible working including policy awareness, change of work patterns, additional requirements of and demands on the employee, line manager, colleagues and HR. We will be extolling the virtues of flexible working and its effectiveness, particularly when a pro-active and supportive approach is taken. October 2009 - Inspiring Women’s Enterprise – Free Support for Returner’s We have been working in partnership with Wenta, the Watford based Enterprise Agency, to complement our own Member Development Programme. Wenta is currently offering a variety of free programmes for Ten2Two members. So if you’ve been out of the workplace and want to get back to into the world of work or maybe become your own boss, Wenta’s free programme could be perfect for you! The programmes are open to members resident in Herts or Beds who are not currently employed. Wenta can actively help you to develop ideas for your career – via a job or a business – and work with you to drive those ideas forward, covering issues such as searching for employment, CV and interview preparation, promoting yourself together with business planning and development. Best of all – you choose the relevant courses for you! Both group training and individual advice sessions are involved – all in a friendly, welcoming environment. “The programme helped my confidence as well as my ideas to grow and the help and support from the other ladies was fantastic” KG, Welwyn Garden City Programmes run throughout Herts and Beds, with the next courses due to take place in October (Watford) and November (St Albans). To find out more email dawnwills@wenta.co.uk or call Dawn Wills at Wenta on 0845 371 0891 quoting Ten2Two as a reference. Sept 2009 – Ten2Two update on job hunting in the current economic climate The summer has been unsurprisingly quiet for recruitment generally with June being the first time Permanent staff demand has fallen in five years according to the REC, the recruitment industry body. However the REC has just published some labour market data this month which gives the first positive signs of recovery in the jobs market. September's Report on Jobs, which is published each month by the REC and KPMG, shows increases in both permanent and temporary staff appointments, with: • The first growth for 17 months in permanent placements; • The first rise in temporary assignments since July last year; • Increased demand for staff in most sectors compared to this time last year. The REC is being cautious in terms of how to interpret this data as they believe market conditions will continue to be extremely difficult and any increase in demand is likely to remain volatile. However, the positive findings in this report are in keeping with other key surveys issued last week including one from the National Institute for Economic and Social Research. Ten2Two are continuing to work hard with our existing and new clients to promote the benefits of flexible working and there are some encouraging signs from clients, particularly with temporary assignments, which continue to be popular in these uncertain times. Summer 2009 - Digital Marketing Seminar Ten2Two will be holding a seminar on Digital Marketing on the evening of Thursday 18th June from 8pm-10pm in Berkhamsted. As email, Google, social networking and other digital media become ever-more important in the marketing manager’s toolbox, expert speakers will give an overview of this exciting area and show how they link, what’s essential and where things are moving. The event is targeted at Ten2Two members and clients that need a detailed refresher or a push in the right direction. For more information, contact Jane O’Gorman at the office. May 2009 - Ten2Two in the Mail on Sunday Ten2Two was recently featured in the Mail on Sunday (3 May 2009) in an article about women returning to work in a recession. Ten2Two member Lynda Regan, who works with our client Barron McCann, was also featured in the article. We have seen an increase in member registrations since the economic crisis really hit the news in September. As everyone knows, the job market is incredibly tight but we are increasingly seeing businesses interest in flexible working grow as the economic benefits become more compelling than ever. April 2009 - The Appointments Commission Ten2Two hosted a discussion group to investigate why not enough women apply for Non-Executive and Chair positions within our Health Service organisations and how the Commission could attract more women to apply. The Appointments Commission is the independent, not for profit organisation responsible for appointing Chairs and Non-Executive Directors to the NHS, Department of Health and other public bodies. Andrea Sutcliffe, Chief Executive, alongside two Ten2Two members already in non-executive roles discussed the issues with a group of senior professionals. The feedback will support the Commission’s work and Ten2Two will assist the Commission in sourcing candidates in the future. February 2009 - Do you know organisations that don’t do enough on flexible working? We all come across companies that haven’t yet done enough to fully embrace flexible working. Well, from 1 April they’ll get even more encouragement from some new flexible working legislation. Currently, employees with children under the age of six (as well as parents of disabled children and carers) have the right to request flexible working. From 1 April 2009, this will extend to parents with children aged 16 and under, giving a further 4.5 million parents the opportunity to request flexible hours. This will put a greater emphasis on flexible working within businesses and companies will need to be prepared to handle the new changes. We are offering clients consultations, briefings and workshops to help them manage this new change in a positive way and we hope this will lead to more opportunities for members to find flexible roles. If you know or work with HR people or Managers that could benefit from a little help to implement the new legislation or generally improve their flexible working practices, why not suggest they contact us or give us a call and we’ll contact them. February 2009 - IT Member Workshops In response to feedback from members we are considering holding a number of ‘paid for’ IT training workshops at our offices over the coming months. These workshops will include Powerpoint, Excel, Using the Internet and Using e-mail effectively. We anticipate the cost of each 2 hour workshop to be in the region of £25. Again, in response to member feedback these would be held both during the day and in the evening. To help our decision making it would be great to know if you might be interested in attending one of these training workshops (please email jane@ten2two.org) . Expressing your interest at this stage will not obligate you in any way. January 2009 - Appointments Commission We have started working with the Appointments Commission, the independent, not for profit organisation responsible for appointing Chairs and Non-Executive Directors to the NHS and health service organisations. The Commission is seeking more women applicants to these important roles and we will be helping them to understand how they can attract more women and to provide candidates for local NHS and Health Service roles. Initially, we will be hosting a small discussion group of Ten2Two members in April to talk about what their expectations of these roles would be, why this type of role might be attractive to them and what the barriers may be to people applying. Following this, we’re proposing to put together a panel of members whose skills and experience matches the Commission’s candidate profile and submit them as appropriate when roles come up. January 2009 – New Year – Focus on your Personal Development. We are delighted to confirm our Member Development Programme for 2009. This programme is funded by our founding sponsor Maclaren and all workshops are therefore free to members. All events (apart from Dressing for Today's Workplace) are held at our offices in Berkhamsted from 8-10pm and numbers are limited to ensure a relaxed and informal atmosphere that encourages participation and interaction. If you would like to book your place on any of the events, please email Jane on jane@ten2two.org. Further details can also be found on the Member Support section:- • CV and Interview Workshop – Wednesday 25th February 09 • How to be a Successful Flexible Worker – Tuesday 31st March 09 • Dressing for Today’s Workplace – Late April 09 • Returning to Work after a Career Break – Thursday 14th May 09 • CV and Interview Workshop – Tuesday 8th July 09 • Successful Time Management – Wednesday 16th September 09 • Dressing for Today’s Workplace – Mid October 09 • How to be a Successful Flexible Worker – Thursday 12th November 09 |
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