It's not always easy to know whether someone is classed as an employee or as a contractor. Many managers would want it one way or the other but unfortunately it’s not up to management. Others such as HMRC or an Employment Tribunal will make the decision.

Managers can find it extremely attractive to ‘employ’ foreign staff resident abroad. Engaging workers in foreign countries is complex. In many cases it is better to trade at arms length through business to business agreements, paying against invoice. But that won't suit many firms, particularly where they have constraining upstream contracts. They must employ workers locally. Here are all the issues for firms wanting to gain worker services in both EU and non-EU countries.

Many software development firms pride themselves in being able to tackle almost any software task. They elicit requirements, or build prototypes, and code databases, business logic, algorithms and user interfaces without any particular market or industry focus. Others productise. Over time they standardise and focus. But what new jobs are needed to make this happen?

This blog builds on our previous discussion on the EU Settlement Scheme. It highlights action managers need to take to enable staff to make short-duration visits to EU countries for academic, sales or technical activities. We point out that business trips will need to be planned in the future. It won't just be a case of booking a flight and putting equipment in a suitcase.

The issue is not if a four-day week would be beneficial to the nation and to its people. That argument’s been made and there are plenty of examples of how well it works. The issue is that our firms are incapable of reducing the working week because shareholders aren’t in it for the long term. And our employees aren’t prepared to earn less or invest in themselves either. It's impasse - but here's an action plan.

We hear bad things about the NHS. We are led to believe that all staff are stressed to blazes and unable to function properly in a broken system. But far from it. My conclusions from my brief period as voyeur are that these guys know how to make a system work. I think industry can learn a lot from the way that hospital staff interact. Here's the story that illustrates how.