Guest blog by Jo Thornell.

Jo Thornell is Director of Sales and Service Excellence at Shakespeare Martineau. The firm was a key sponsor of the Qatar-UK Business & Investment Forum, which took place at Birmingham’s ICC on 28^th March 2017.

Women only account for a sixth of those in senior roles at the UK's top companies, according to the Financial Times. However, women are 35% more likely to go to university, a report from the Higher Education Policy Institute reveals. So, if women are more qualified than they have ever been before, why are they still struggling to secure the UK's top jobs?

Paula Tinkler, Commercial Director at Chemoxy, has come up against some of the challenges women face when trying to move up the career ladder, but now holds a senior role. Here, she explains how we can help more women to do the same.

International Women's Day is a day to celebrate the progress that has been made towards equality, but also to consider how women, men and non-binary people can collaborate further to reach the goal of a gender-inclusive world.

To celebrate International Women's Day, Alison Hughes, Partner at ALC Discovery, spoke with Sally Talbot, HR Practice Leader at Per Ardua Associates, about what the firm is doing to improve diversity and inclusion, her views on whether women can succeed in search and recruitment, and what's coming next in the field of gender equality.

At Per Ardua, Sally is responsible for building and driving the HR and talent practice, including placing heads of HR, heads of talent, reward, organisational development and diversity and inclusion. She is also responsible for driving all diversity and inclusion initiatives and products for the firm.

In April 2017 the government will introduce mandatory new legislation that will require all companies with 250 employees or more to reveal specific information regarding the pay of their employees.

Companies will be required to publish figures showing the pay gaps between male and female employees, which will be made publically available to potential customers, employees and future employees in a bid to increase transparency and fairness.

Emmerdale needs you!

An exciting opportunity to be part of ITV Continuing Drama North has arisen.

Emmerdale are looking for two Makeup Assistants, with solid demonstrable experience and an understanding of the importance to maintain a 'look' throughout filming and to apply makeup and dress/style hair as appropriate. You will have a qualification in hairdressing skills, including cutting / barbering.

In 2011, after years of working in the accounting industry, married couple Lawrence Chai (30) and Stephanie Chua (31), decided to come together to establish their own accounting firm, 3E Accounting, in Novena, Singapore.

Data shows women leaders still scarce in the tech industry

The latest Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track 100 league table revealed that only 11 of the 100 fastest growing companies in the UK are founded or led by women. We’ve crunched the numbers to see what that tells us about the opportunities for female leaders in the tech industry…

Generating additional income to aid your business performance can be hugely beneficial to your success. A business’s finances can sometimes be unpredictable but there are many options for gaining a side income which can aid your business performance and give you that needed boost in those more difficult months.

UK Businesses to Report Gender Pay Gap in 2018

This year, Equal Pay Day marked a gradual decrease in the gap in salaries between full-time employed men and women, 0.2% since last year. Instant Offices delves into what the legal implications and desired outcomes of addressing the gender pay gap are.

Consider this: if someone asked you to continue doing your job for free until the end of the year, would you say yes? In the UK, Equal Pay Day marks the point in the year when women effectively stop being paid, while men continue earning.