Intelligent SME.tech Issue 38 | Page 9

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Top five pain points for UK SMEs when it comes to sustainability

New data published by Rimm Sustainability reveals that more than a third of UK SMEs ( 36 %) find it challenging to understand what they should be reporting on when it comes to sustainability .

Other top pain points include verifying data ( 35 %), the high price points for most sustainability services ( 34 %), complex regulations and standards ( 32 %) and collecting the data itself ( 32 %).

The report , Leading the Charge on Sustainability : Moving from Awareness to Action , highlights the views of 500 C-suite executives from SMEs from a range of industries across the UK and the challenges they face . One key hurdle continues to be sustainability reporting .

The top reasons that SMEs said that they are not taking part in sustainability reporting is that it costs too much ( 31 %), they do not have enough resources to manage the reporting ( 30 %) and over a quarter said that they would find it hard to commit to the standards ( 26 %).

Just one in three UK businesses prepared to handle employee well-being concerns

The number of employees voicing well-being concerns is on the rise , but a significant number of organisations and managers are ill-prepared to address them , according to new research from Mintago .

The FinTech start-up surveyed 503 senior managers within UKbased organisations ( public and private sector ). This revealed that an overwhelming majority ( 87 %) have been approached

by an employee in the past 12 months to discuss concerns relating to their well-being .

Following mental health ( 48 %) and job satisfaction ( 43 %), financial well-being ( 40 %) emerged as the third most prevalent concern that employees spoke to their managers about .

Of those who had discussed financial well-being issues with employees , 68 % of managers cited the cost of living crisis ( 68 %) as the predominant source of concern . This was followed by requests for a pay rise ( 50 %), keeping up with rental or mortgage payments ( 46 %) and worries about debt ( 43 %).

Employment Hero announces UK as European HQ

Employment Hero , one of the world ’ s largest employment management platforms , has announced a Series F growth round of £ 131 million to fuel its rapid global expansion .

The funding ( subject to Foreign Investment Review Board approval ) follows the company ’ s 2022 Series E and takes the total amount of capital it has raised to over £ 325 million , funding it has used to develop an entire ecosystem of products and services through its all-in-one platform that make employment significantly better .

This fundraise , led by global growth fund , TCV , enables the company to make a substantial investment in the UK , which it recently chose as its European headquarters . Over the next 12 months it will further expand its local presence to a team of 180 to help grow and support the 20,000 UK SMEs it already works with . These SMEs , which span sectors including hospitality , construction , care , manufacturing and professional services , are the engine room of the UK economy .