Celebrating Pride Month with Outcomers

To celebrate Pride month 2022, we were joined by Bernie from Outcomers, who gave us a talk about LGBT+ in the workplace.

Outcomers is a social and befriending support group for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. Their drop-in centre provides a safe, social, and relaxed environment for the LGBT community and is in the centre of Dundalk town. It has been open since 1997.

They offer services such as:

• Drop-in Service
• National LGBT Helpline
• Health Education Workshops
• Outreach Work
• Befriending
• Social Events
• Information on Physical, Mental and Sexual Health

Bernie talked us through the history of Pride in Ireland, the importance of Pride, and how to make the workplace inclusive. She told us about the legislations that have come into place to protect LGBT+ employees.

The legislations include:

• Decriminalisation of homosexuality (1993)
• Employment Equality Acts (1998-2015)
• Equal Status Acts (2000-2018)
• Marriage Equality Act (2015)
• Gender Recognition Act (2015)

She also answered a few of our employee’s questions at the end which was informative.

If anyone has anything they would like to chat to them about they can call them on 0429329816 or 0876200021 or they can go into their centre in Dundalk.

For more information visit: http://outcomers.org/

Thanks, Bernie for educating our employees about Pride and why it is celebrated.

Posted bySaoirse MoloneyinCompany NewsEvents

Bright Open Day in the Duleek Office

On Tuesday the 29th of June, Bright opened its office to the members of the local community of Duleek to show the available positions across our various departments within the company.

Our employees from HR, Sales, and Support attended to give office tours and speak about the available positions in Bright.

It was great to be able to open our doors to the community of Duleek and make people aware of the jobs available to them on their doorstep.

We look forward to hosting more of these in the future.

Posted bySaoirse MoloneyinCompany NewsEvents

Thesaurus Customer Update: July 2022

Welcome to Thesaurus Software's June update. Our most important news this month include:

• Living wage to replace minimum wage in Ireland

• Safeguard your Business with Thesaurus Connect

• The Bright Way: Our New Company Values

Posted byEleanor Mc GuinnessinCustomer Update

Learning at Work Week 2022 at Bright

At Bright we encourage continuous learning and development amongst our employees, however, it’s not always in a payroll or accounting way!

This week was Learning at Work Week at Bright, where we wanted to put focus on the personal development of our employees.

So we asked our employees what special talents or skills they had and would volunteer to show them to all of our employees.

Over the course of the last few days, our volunteers ran virtual workshops to educate our staff.

On Monday we joined a scouting expert Mike who showed us how to tie knots. We learned that they are many different types of knots and what each type is used for. The staff was able to follow Mike’s instructions with their own ropes or string at home.

On Tuesday, mixologist Andy showed us how to make cocktails, perfect for after work on a Friday evening. He gave us tutorials on how to make a Berry Bramble, Mojito, and a Strawberry daiquiri, which looked delicious. Andy gave the ingredients prior to the workshop so staff had time to buy them to follow along with him.

On Wednesday, Tibor gave us an insight into what to expect if you were going on holiday to Hungary. Whether you’re going on a city break to Budapest or partying in Balaton, Tibor gave us a great insight into the food, places to visit, and some basics of the language.

On Thursday, musician Ben rolled back the years to when he used to host percussion workshops before his time here at Bright. Those that were lucky enough to be in the Duleek office got to test the instruments for themselves. There was a great atmosphere in the office and the participants had so much fun playing the drums.

Many thanks to all our volunteers for hosting these workshops, our staff really enjoyed them and we look forward to seeing what next year’s learning at work week has to offer.

Posted bySaoirse MoloneyinCompany NewsEvents

Rory’s Stories talks to Bright employees for Men’s Health Week

On Friday 17th June we were joined by Rory O’Connor also known as Rory’s Stories, who openly spoke about his struggles with addiction and mental health to mark Men’s Health Week.

The conversation was light-hearted as many would know Rory for his comedy content on social media which made his story more engaging. He spoke about his battles with addiction and mental health.

Coming from a background with the love of the GAA, Rory was asked to write a book about the GAA, something that he was passionate about. The book titled “The Rory's Stories Guide to the GAA” was his first published book and reached the top of the charts upon its release. With the success of his first book, he published a second and a third with the fourth on the way.

Those who were in the Duleek office on the day watched it together with their fry in the kitchen. There was a great atmosphere and a few giggles along the way. His talk finished with a Q&A session in which he told us what to say if someone approached us saying they struggled with their mental health and his greatest achievement in his career so far.

One of our employees said “it was just amazing, so glad I attended. It was funny, sad in a relatable way, and very inspirational. thanks so much for organizing, I feel renewed”

Rory’s story is a great example of if you put yourself into a positive mindset a positive outcome comes along with it.

Thanks so much to Rory for his session, our staff really benefitted from it.

Posted bySaoirse MoloneyinCompany NewsEvents

Living wage to replace minimum wage in Ireland

It was announced this week that a new living wage, to replace the current minimum wage, is to be phased in for Irish workers, starting in 2023. A living wage is an hourly rate of pay calculated to be the minimum amount that a worker needs to earn to cover the basic cost of living.

The memo which Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar has brought to Cabinet proposes that the living wage is to be set at 60% of the median wage in a given year. Based on this percentage, if the living wage rate were introduced today, it would be set at €12.17 per hour.

Minimum wage in Ireland

The National Minimum Wage was first introduced in Ireland in April 2000 and was also roughly 60% of the median wage at the time. The minimum wage has increased by around 47% since it was first introduced, but it has not kept up with the average earnings or the cost of living.

Since 1st January 2022, the National Minimum Wage is €10.50 per hour for those aged 20 and over.

Rates for other workers are as follows:

What does the living wage mean for employers?

The national minimum wage will remain in place until the living wage rate is fully phased in, in 2026. The minimum wage rate will increase between now and 2026, closing the gap between the minimum and the living wage. However, the full living wage may be introduced faster or slower than the proposed time frame, depending on prevailing economic circumstances. The Tánaiste has said that the reason the living wage is being introduced gradually is because if it is brought in too quickly businesses could close, or employees could see their hours cut. Leo Varadkar will consult with various interested parties, including employer and worker representative groups, unions and the public on the draft plan.

The living wage is just one of the improvements to workers' rights to be introduced over the coming years. Other changes we are set to see for employees is the introduction of statutory sick pay and automatic enrolment onto pension schemes.

Subscribe to our newsletter to keep up to date on legislation changes, webinar events, special offers and other payroll related news.

Related articles:

• Auto Enrolment Update: Everything you need to know
• Safeguard your business with Thesaurus Connect
• Auto enrolment for accountants: Lessons learned from the UK

Posted byElaine CarrollinWages

Safeguard your Business with Thesaurus Connect

Safeguarding your business for the future is crucial. This could mean protecting your business against threats like cyber-attacks or implementing changes that ensure your business can grow successfully. Streamlining your current business processes can allow you to work more efficiently, while also preparing you for business expansion or any unforeseen events the future might bring.

How to streamline your business

To improve your business, it is essential to keep up with the latest technology. Examples of this could be backing up your data to the cloud, going paperless, or using an employee self-service app to take care of HR tasks.

Payroll software, Thesaurus Payroll Manager, offers a cloud-extension product called Thesaurus Connect that is a one-stop shop for all your business's payroll and HR needs. Thesaurus Connect offers a number of features that can help you to streamline your business processes, and safeguard for the future.

Never lose your payroll data

Cyberthreats are extremely common, in 2021, it was reported by the Irish Examiner that 90% of Irish businesses had seen a rise in cyber-attacks in the previous twelve months. Therefore, backing up your data to somewhere other than your computer’s hard drive is vital for keeping you and your employees’ data safe. Using cloud storage to back up your data is not only convenient for the user as it doesn’t require the use of external hard drives, but it also helps ensure that your data is safe from hackers or cyber-attacks.

Thesaurus Connect, when used alongside Thesaurus Payroll Manager, can help protect your company against ransomware attacks by storing all your payroll data in the cloud. Thesaurus Connect automatically backs up your payroll data to the cloud every 15 minutes, and once again when closing down the employer file, making sure your data is safe. You can restore a backup on your PC or you can simply download a backup onto a new computer, making it easy to access, anywhere, any time. This means that should the worst happen, for example, if your computer is stolen or damaged, you will always be able to retrieve your payroll data.

Employee self-service

When you connect your payroll software to Thesaurus Connect, you can invite your employees to access the employee self-service app. This can be downloaded on any smartphone or tablet device, or it can be accessed through an internet browser. Through the app, your employees will be able to access and download all their new and historic payslips, meaning you won’t need to distribute them or send them past payslips when they are requested. This will give you more time for other important tasks, rather than wasting time trawling through files. As well as this, if your employee’s personal details change (e.g., they move house or change mobile number), they can change these details themselves through the employee self-service app.

Documents which you want employees to read can also be uploaded to Thesaurus Connect’s online dashboard. You can then choose which employees will have access to these documents, and employees will be able to view them through the employee portal. As a lot of employees now work remotely or work a hybrid working model, sharing documents through Thesaurus Connect can be a simple way of ensuring that important documents are read, such as contracts of employment or a staff handbook.

Manage annual leave with ease

As an employer, it can be difficult to juggle many tasks at once. One task which is essential, but can become difficult to manage, is dealing with annual leave requests from employees. Thesaurus Connect allows your employees to request annual leave through the employee app. You can then approve or deny the request from Thesaurus Connect’s online dashboard. This allows you to deal with annual leave requests in a way that is transparent and fair. Through the online dashboard, you can also view a companywide leave calendar, which allows you to easily track which employees are on leave, and the type of leave they are on. Other team members can be delegated the task of dealing with annual leave requests for selected employees, taking another job off your plate.

Ultimately, Thesaurus Payroll Manager’s cloud extension, Thesaurus Connect, will help you optimise your time, safeguarding future growth and development.

Why not book a free 20 minute demonstration of Thesaurus Connect to see the benefits for yourself.

Related articles

• Thesaurus Customer Update: June 2022
• The Bright Way: Our New Company Values
• Bright at Accountex 2022

Posted byRoss GrahaminPayroll Software