The firm carrying out this research, accountancy and business advisory firm BDO, has found a 7% increase from the previous year, from 726,342 to 777,718. 

 

Although they didn’t perform quite as brilliantly, the North West’s small businesses also did well over the same time period, with 13,271 new jobs (a 9% increase).

 

The FTSE firms in the North West, of which there are 11, reduced their number of jobs created by 0.5%, while still managing to increase their turnover slightly from £52.1bn to £55.8bn

 

Ed Dwan, partner and head of the North West at BDO, said: "North West businesses continue to perform well, experiencing strong employment and turnover growth. While small businesses in the region are thriving – reporting a 9 per cent increase in job creation – mid-market companies continue to power the regional economy.

 

"Despite the continued uncertainty around Brexit and the resulting political and economic concerns, mid-market businesses have remained resolute in their ambitions, targeting growth and creating more than 51,000 new roles during the last year.

 

"It’s hugely encouraging to see the economic engine continuing to create jobs throughout the UK. These high-growth, entrepreneurially spirited businesses are the lifeblood of our economy and warrant significant attention from central government."

 

Source: Insider Media North West

 

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An influx of new staff is the perfect opportunity to check whether or not your time and attendance system is as efficient as it should be.

 

Many companies are still using paper timesheets to record their employees’ hours and calculate their weekly or monthly payslips. There are many disadvantages for using these still in 2019. For example, if your timesheets are submitted monthly it is unlikely that employees will be able to remember their exact hours for the whole month. 

 

This would then lead to incorrect payslips, which could cause problems with the employees. You can even encounter problems with outside authorities if you don’t realise that unreported overtime has put an employee over the Working Time Regulations or under the National Minimum Wage.

 

Here at Time and Attendance North West, our time and attendance system records everyone’s entrance and exit from controlled doors, using either smartcards or the more expensive but more secure biometric measurements of hands or fingerprints. So there’s no more chance for employees to forget timings.

 

All the entrance/exit data from our system is exportable into a format suitable for all major payroll programmes. 

 

The software automatically calculates whether employees’ shifts and hours would make them breach the Working Time Regulations. One less thing to worry about! 

 

We also have the Self Service Module, which can be accessed from a browser or from your mobile via the app (available on Android and iOS). This enables employees to sign in and out and request holiday if you cannot use the physical clocking terminals.