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AAT Business Update Information October 2020
Important AAT Business Update (PLEASE READ ASAP)
AAT Business Update – Organisation Change Proposals Information Pack (Strictly Confidential)
AAT Business Update – October 2020 (Private and Confidential)
Proposed roles:
Trade Mark and Patents Records Administrator DRAFT for purposes of Consultation
Finance Assistant (Accounts Payable) DRAFT for purposes of Consultation
Grant – Records Administrator DRAFT for purposes of Consultation
Communications Cascades
AAT Communication Cascade – August 2020 (click here for the YouTube Link)
AAT Communication Cascade – July 2020 (or click here for the YouTube Link)
AAT Communication Cascade – June (Part 2) (or click here for the YouTube Link)
Communication Cascade – 1 June 2020 (or click here for the YouTube Link)
Communication Cascade 24 April 2020
AAT Communication Cascade update – Coronavirus – Government’s Job Retention Scheme – 7 April 2020
AAT Communication Cascade – 3 April 2020
Operations Committee Updates
Operational Committee – Update 2 – Thornchella continued, IP Inclusive, Project Updates and more…..
Operational Committee – Update 1 (Summer Party Edition)
Business Continuity Team Updates (please note that you can still join in the Competition Time, just email Ian from your personal email address to be included)
Final BC Update – 22 September
BC Update 26 May (updated with Ian’s swan lake attempt…)
BC Update 15 May (please see the Intranet post re. Mental Health Awareness Week here)
Furlough Updates
• The Furlough FAQ’s 01.09.2020 is here, this has been updated for September 2020.
• The COVID-19 Temporary Policy Changes (Updated 210820) has been updated again to reflect the temporary arrangements.
How your pay is calculated whilst on Furlough
Process for reviewing furloughing arrangements
Furlough Staff
We are grateful to all of you who have agreed to a temporary period of Furlough, which will assist the firm enormously during this unprecedented time. Please see below for details of others who are currently furloughed:
Payslips
You can access your Accu8 payslips external to AAT via going to https://www.myepaywindow.com/ online. Note, your username is your work email address, unless you selected something different when you first set yourself up. If you have forgotten your password, please email jlw@aathornton.com (from your personal email address) so she can reset this for you.
Discounts
You should all know that all staff have access to BUPA rewards, even if you are not part of the BUPA scheme. Whilst this gives deals / offers on all sorts from travel (ah the good old days…) to clothing, it also offers discounts on food – you can save 4% on Tesco, 3% on Asda and 7% on M&S. You just purchase the e-voucher online and then use when you go in store to buy. Please see the link here – https://bupa3.xexec.com/.
Wellbeing Resources
Employee Assistance Programme – as always, you can contact our EAP on 0800 0305182 or via their website https://healthassuredeap.co.uk/ and this can be used using the following login details:
login: a.a
password: thornton
NEW The NHS has a produced tool to help people to assess/better understand any feelings of anxiety/depression they may experience particularly as a result of our lives changing in such a short space of time, including lockdown and managing the stresses of working from home, furloughing, financial worries etc https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/mood-self-assessment/. This may be useful to you or a family member and as it is an external link the results are not accessible by AAT. Once you have completed the assessment tool some useful resources will be identified. You can also speak to your line manager, Karen/Jilly or utilise the Employee Assistance Programme (as above).
Aviva Stress Helpline and Bereavement Helpline – both available 24 hours per day and there is no limit to how many times you can contact them. (Please note, to use these you must be in the pension scheme so, therefore, the Aviva Life Assurance Scheme.)
Health Assured Webinars – to view webinars ‘How to look after our wellbeing during coronavirus’, ‘Parental mental health’ plus many more,
Yoga with Adriene – Free at home yoga and meditation – 15 minutes
Yoga for beginners – 21 mins
30 days of yoga – apart from 1st episode that teaches you breathing (45 mins) each day is approx. 20 mins
For neck, shoulders and lower back – 10 mins
Prohab Health series of videos to help keep you well when sitting at your homeworking desk – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu1OHrEEK_hjcMcJPN1T5Lg
NEW! Geoff’s forfeit – and the winner is…
Summer Party prize winners, and Geoff forfeit for the Partners!
NOW That’s what I call a BD update!
AAT Book Club: NEW! AAT Film Club – Review of On the Basis of Sex, Film for 9 Nov
AAT Film Club – Review of Enola Holmes, Film for 26 Oct
AAT Book Club – Details of the book for September
AAT Book Club – Details of the book for August
AAT Book Club – The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
AAT Book Club – A review and details of the book for July
AAT Film Club: AAT Film Club – Review of The Boy that Harnessed the Wind, Film for 12 Oct
AAT Film Club – Review of Official Secrets, Film for 28 Sep
AAT Film Club – Review of The Host, Film for 14 Sep –Update on where the film is available
AAT Film Club – A review of Knives Out and details of the film for 1 September
AAT Film Club – A review of Twelve Monkeys and details of the film for 17 August
AAT Film Club – A quick review and details of the film for 20 July
AAT Film Club – A quick review and details of the film for 6 July
World Mental Health Day 2020
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It was World Mental Health Day on 10 October. The event is run annually by the World Health Organization. The theme this year is “mental health for all“, and goal is to increase investment in mental health: https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-mental-health-day/world-mental-health-day-2020. Please see below for links which may be useful to you, and please remember that we have Wellness Wednesday’s every week, film club once every 2 weeks and book club once a month which you can drop in and say hello and gives a chance to talk about anything non-work related (you don’t have to have seen the film or book don’t worry!). Hopefully see you at, at least one soon 🙂 Supporting your mental health whilst working from home – https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mhfaengland_supporting-your-mental-health-while-working-activity-6720779932944896000-ij-M Look after your mental health and wellbeing if you are staying home – https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mental-health-foundation_look-after-your-mental-health-and-wellbeing-activity-6717705120869560320-0jrv/ |
AAT Virtual Drinks 25 September 2020 – the link to the video for those who missed it.
Please see some links to Inter Change People Development on mindfulness, building resilience etc.:
https://www.interchangepd.com/building-resilience/
https://www.interchangepd.com/responding-well-in-unprecedented-times-sustaining-well-being/
https://www.interchangepd.com/deep-breathing-and-meditation/
https://www.interchangepd.com/mindfulness/
Leadership/Management Development Resources
Martin Coburn Resilience Webinar – Update
Following on from the intranet post last week, the recording of the Resilience Webinar is now available – you can listen to the recording and download the accompanying crib sheet here by visiting this page.
From my own (Karen’s) experience, it was a good opportunity to reflect and think about what resilience is, why it’s important. In the current challenging circumstances we find ourselves in, it was a timely reminder of the importance of checking in with ourselves and our actions and thinking about what our teams need. The takeaway points were that leaders who are more resilient:
• Are less likely to give up when they experience failure
• Are willing to take more risks to succeed
• Are more persistent and optimistic about their chances of success
• Have higher levels of confidence
• Create higher levels of engagement
• Keep their staff motivated
And essentially…..they get stuff done!
The research covered in the webinar is data driven and has some surprising findings, particularly around what competencies to focus on to build resilience, but it seems pretty clear that greater resilience amongst leaders = greater business results. If you are interested in some personal development and finding out how to build resilience, it is worth a listen and making a plan.
Things to do
Please see the attached for an update on our fundraising for Mental Health Awareness Week, being paid to our charity, Alzheimers, with links to some of the videos and pictures sent in: Mental Health Awareness Week Email 21.05.2020 – includes links to videos sent in
Mental Health Awareness Week Email 21.05.2020 – CEP’s video
The Best Online Music Events to Keep You Dancing at Home https://www.eventbrite.com/c/the-best-online-music-events-to-keep-you-dancing-at-home-cwwrkfd/
Five ways to manage your wellbeing as a parent during lockdown – please see the attached link https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zrmhscw.
Free Courses
Open University are running some free courses which you may find interesting https://www.open.edu/openlearn/free-courses/full-catalogue
Resources for Kids (many of these are up to 18 years so please check age appropriateness of individual resources)
– Harry Hill video on how to make a coronavirus puppet https://youtu.be/lxkXfE-O7lk
Some resources to help with kids at home:
Another friend who is a painter has suggested the following activity for kids who are stuck at home whilst the schools are closed. Essentially kids are asked to copy one of her paintings then send a picture to her by email. She’s created a link with an explanatory video: https://libbypage.eu/copyalibby/ (Art)
More awesome free learning websites:
https://www.starfall.com/h/
https://www.abcya.com/
https://www.funbrain.com/
https://www.splashlearn.com/
https://www.storylineonline.net/
https://pbskids.org/
https://www.highlightskids.com/
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/
https://www.coolmath4kids.com/
http://www.mathgametime.com/
https://www.uniteforliteracy.com/
http://www.literactive.com/Home/index.asp
http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/
https://www.switchzoo.com/
https://www.seussville.com/
https://www.turtlediary.com/
https://www.e-learningforkids.org/
