Stress comes in many forms and can be caused by many factors, especially pressures at work.
Statistics from the Health and Safety Executive show that in the UK during 2017/18 roughly 600,000 workers suffered from some form of workplace related stress, depression or anxiety which led to a total 15.4 million working days lost in the same period.   
 
The public sector is especially affected by these issues. Staff in education, human health, social work and public administration and defence on average experience higher rates of stress and mental health issues than any other industry (HSE, 2018).
 
The important first step to being able to manage your stress is to identify the cause. It could be the pressure of a specific project, difficulties with a colleague, having responsibilities that you find overwhelming or, inversely, you could feel that you don’t have enough work and aren’t experiencing change in your life. Whatever it is, take some time to reflect on your personal situation.
 
Once you know why you’re stressed you’re in the best position to be able to resolve it.
 
Here are 5 tips to help you manage your stress:

1. Be active & healthy
   Performing some form of exercise or physical activity can help alleviate the intensity of the stress you’re feeling. This will help you assess what is stressing you out with a calm mind. Exercising will also help you sleep better, which combined with a healthy diet will give you the energy to tackle the root cause of your stress.  
    
2. Be proactive
   If you’re feeling stressed because of an issue that seems to be looming over you but that you know you have the ability to influence or resolve, the best approach is to take control. The more you let an issue linger the more stressed you will feel, so begin by taking small steps towards the solution.
    
3. Learn to let certain things go
   Not every situation is in your control and there will be factors you can’t influence. It is an important skill to learn to accept the things you can’t change and to concentrate on the things you can.
    
4. Work smarter, not harder
   Prioritise your tasks to focus on those that will make a difference. Certain tasks may be urgent, certain may be important, others may be both and some will be neither. Complete the tasks that are both urgent and important first, the urgent tasks next and slowly start to make progress on those that are important. The rest can wait.
    
5. Talk to someone
   Talking about your stress and the cause can not only help distract you or release the tension, it may help you think of solutions that you couldn’t before. At work your HR department are a great first port of call and are there to make sure you’re happy at work. If you don’t feel comfortable speaking to your Human Resources team, then reach out to family and friends.   

 

This article contains public sector information published by the Health and Safety Executive and licensed under the Open Government Licence. Also contains public sector information published by the NHS. 

From stress to success for Further Education Colleges

At Morgan Hunt, on the last day of January, we invited a group of Financial Directors from the Further Education (FE) College sector to join us and a great speaker to get a better insight from the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) into what they think the benchmark is for a financially successful college as well as the likely impact of the insolvency regime on the FE sector . 


Matthew Atkinson
Director of Provider Market Oversight
Education & Skills Funding Agency 

The speaker was Matthew Atkinson, Director of Provider Market Oversight, leading the Transactions Unit in the Education and Skills Funding Agency at the Department for Education. He spoke passionately on the subject and gave robust but clear advice to the group. His teams deliver and support (via investment) implementations of restructuring options developed in the Local Area Review process. 

The team also oversee the provision of Exceptional Financial Support and carry out reviews on Sixth Form Colleges wishing to become Academies.

Post the Local Area Review and in light of the Special Insolvency Regime, he acknowledged that the Further Education sector is going through a challenging financial transition and the lack of a comprehensive review for this area of education has hampered its evolution. It is complicated with over 12,000 courses and 2,000 awarding bodies across the UK. Margins can be low, as colleges are capital intensive organisations with their regional markets having differing impacts on employer and student availability. This is especially the case in rural areas.

Please read on to pick up the key points here:
 

We’re not the bad guys

The EFSA is monitoring all FE colleges, but of course the level of scrutiny for colleges varies according to the level of financial risk in which a college finds itself. The body provides intervention with the best possible outcome in mind for the learners and the college. Many organisations have been in denial about their cash position and their ability to find a positive cashflow solution. This can vary due to colleges’ liabilities and the effect of the local employment area.

The team will look to reverse the set of conditions which put the college in a stressed financial position. So, the guidance is to seek advice early even if senior leadership prefer not to raise the alarm.
 

Focus on selling jobs not courses

The main thrust of the discussion was that Further Education colleges would find a better way to financial success by preparing their annual financial forecast with their key audiences in mind: their learners and local employers who both benefit from a student’s academic success. 

A key takeaway was that colleges are not selling courses, they are selling jobs! And therefore, it is extremely important to keep in touch with organisations in the local employment market to ensure there is demand for the skills the students will learn. The difference between colleges’ utilisation of assets such as real estate also provide different opportunities. The whole balance sheet needs to be considered as well as the profit and loss forecast.
 

Forecast, Forecast and Forecast

Typically, the sector has made reference to historical data to determine future spend and demand. This has to change to forecasting that commences in October, which focuses on the education of 16 to 19 year olds as the core source of income. This allows for better commercial planning and market insight for the following academic year. 

As with all forecasting there are pitfalls: the optimism bias of the Governors, the challenge of managing real estate to reduce costs or provide an income, and finally, acknowledging when the forecast highlights loss or a high need for cash. If a loss is forecasted, this is the time to approach the EFSA, not wait until the college has run out of money.
 

Own your Business Strategy

FE appears to be complicated but at the centre of its success, just as for any other independent organisation, is a business strategy. The simple formula to organise planning begins with good leadership. The leaders assess the demand both from Learners and Employers for the product which in the end is a job, create a compelling offer in the form of the curriculum and finally communicate the plan. Clearly communicating the organisation’s purpose, teaching aims and outcomes, to the key audiences of employees, learners and employers is vital.

Matthew advocated considering employing senior members of staff with commercial experience. Just as a Sales Director would consider building networks with local buying groups or influencing bodies, a college ought to map those routes to market. For instance, the local Chamber of Commerce, employers and schools will provide a great business barometer and promote the opportunities at the college.

Often missed is a consistent and clear communications plan. Once the financial and business planning is complete, the leadership must engage with its audiences to win hearts and minds for the plan and include teams to become ambassadors for the positive changes and opportunities at your college.
 

The Golden Thread

This phrase is used to highlight that business strategy runs from the business goals to the measures of success. For FE Colleges this relates to some key plans:

• Market engagement plan
• Curriculum plan
• Teaching plan
• Real Estate plan

And the communications plan will enable the message stemming from these building block plans to define who you are, what you are good at and what you will become as an organisation.
Insolvency sounds bad – is it?

Members of Matthew’s team,  including himself, have been Insolvency Practitioners. Insolvency sounds like failure to most people’s ears but at the heart of administration in this sector is the preservation of provision for existing learners. 

Often for FE institutions the rescue plan has been pre-packaged by the EFSA and is delivered by the administrators after consultation with the college on the final deal. Re-brokerage is an option and common in this sector as unlike other institutions in the education sector, colleges have independent status. So although it is administrators working with a college team, they are carrying out the due diligence, not defining the outcome.

Mergers and acquisitions are becoming common for FE institutions but this too can be positive. Many can consolidate teaching staff, reallocate building use and ultimately create a much more compelling offer for employers and learners.

Whichever the proposed solution, closure is the last resort.
 

Final review

There are lots of income opportunities in this sector; the introduction of T-levels will offer a true alternative to the traditional routes to University, for example. But like all products, you need to have the operational strength and investment planned before rolling out the offer. Some courses such as those with digital or computing content may require capital expenditure for IT equipment and infrastructure – how could this be funded?

Colleges have lots of real estate; these are assets. Consider how else space can be reconfigured or an income derived from third parties. 

In the end, the EFSA exist to aid the sector manage its finances to give good value to the UK tax payer. They look forward to working with colleges, they are clever and keen teams – get in touch!
 

Knowing when it’s time to find a new job. Whether we are especially happy with our current role or not, mostly we are passive job seekers. That is, we are not actively looking for new jobs but might consider a position if we were offered one and its terms were attractive. Yet there is a point at which we decide that we are no longer satisfied with the current state of affairs and become active job seekers.

This usually entails actively searching online jobs portals for suitable roles, rewriting our CVs, getting them out there and speaking to recruiters. There are several scenarios that tend to tip us from one category into the other, some of which are rational and some of which are emotional.

We describe four types that may tip the balance:
 

You don’t have a job

It sounds self-evident that you would be looking for work if you are not currently employed, but this is not always the case. People who have been out of work for a period of time can become very daunted by the application process and lose their confidence, and it can be difficult to get out of this mindset. The best thing to do in this situation, if you have prior experience, is to speak to a recruiter (like Morgan Hunt) and get some advice and reassurance about what kind of role you should look for and how to get your confidence back.
 

Your life circumstances have changed

Many changes in our personal lives can affect our approach to work. If you have just had a child, have suffered a protracted illness or are nearing retirement age you may want to work less hours and find that you are more suited to a part-time role.  You may find that you would prefer a less stressful line of work or you may feel that you want to increase your earnings and go for a role that is more challenging but provides you with better prospects and financial rewards.
 

Your current role lacks prospects

The first two reasons aside, this is the one that tends to motivate people to look elsewhere. If your current role is going nowhere, you are unlikely to get a promotion and you’re not enjoying your work enough to make up for this, then you should certainly think about looking elsewhere. You may even find that the elusive promotion you’ve been waiting for suddenly turns up when you get offered a role somewhere else, so it’s always worth considering your options every few years or so.
 

You are looking to make a career change

Sometimes people work in a particular sector or for a single company for many years and decide they want to do something completely different with their life. This is becoming more and more common as people tend to change jobs more often in any case, and there is nothing to be said against it aside from the fact that if you do decide to make this kind of move you should ensure you have the necessary skills or qualifications, or you could find yourself in a tight spot.
 

Your role is made redundant

This is now more common than you think. There is no longer any shame attached to redundancy but it can certainly catapult you from being a passive job seeker into an active one.

If the redundancy is voluntary then clearly there is a decision involved on your part. Its important to remember that when being made redundant you are entitled to a redundancy package, and this can often be quite generous so not only can it give you the opportunity for a change in career it may also give you some breathing space to think about what you want from your next role and to prepare your CV to match this. Most people walk out of a redundancy all for the better.

If you’d like to discuss why and when it’s best to start re-thinking your career path, get in touch with our recruitment experts here at Morgan Hunt.