Employees’ well-being should be at the top of every company’s agenda all year, not just on Blue Monday. Dawn Leane gives five easy tips for leaders to best support the people in your organisation. In addition to the ongoing impact of COVID-19, we are currently experiencing dark mornings and nights, insufficient funds, Dry January, and busy work periods, resulting in stress levels being at an all-time high. The Health & Safety Authority are advising that “there is a mental health fallout from COVID-19. While the virus is a public health issue, it affects individuals’ wellbeing, sense of security and stability, performance, and resilience. This will also affect their work, how they perform at work and the attention they can afford to give to work.” If ever there was a time for employers to go the extra mile to support employee well-being, it’s now. Here are five deceptively simple ways to support employees. Encourage regular breaks It is important to get outside for at least 20 minutes a day, preferably in the morning. Daylight and fresh air promote vitamin D production and better sleep. While remote working should increase flexibility, it can lead to poor work practices, such as employees feeling they must always be available because they have lost sight of the boundary between work and home. As with all wellbeing initiatives, employers can have the greatest impact by actively setting an example, rather than just giving tacit permission. Bring people together Research shows that 80% of 18 to 34 year olds keep low or anxious feelings to themselves. Social interaction brings significant benefits, both mental and physical, providing an outlet for such feelings. Employers can create opportunities for greater connectivity by celebrating life events, hosting coffee mornings or virtual lunchtime quizzes, issuing newsletters or activating employee recognition schemes. These activities will help reduce feelings of loneliness and isolation, while encouraging positive relationships among colleagues. This is particularly important for new hires who may not have the usual opportunities to integrate. Promote employee assistance programmes Most organisations provide structured employee assistance programmes. However, employees may not always be aware of their existence or of the extent of benefits available. A wide-range of resources are usually offered, from counselling to financial education, parenting advice and health checks – and are often available not just to the employee, but to their household as well. January is the ideal time to review such programmes, asking what else would be valuable. It is also important to ensure that programmes are accessible to all and hybrid-work friendly. A reminder of the help available and offering regular check-ins can support employees at a challenging and stressful time. Practice kindness It may be clichéd, but kindness is important in the workplace. That doesn’t mean that you can’t have honest conversations or address issues, but we rarely know what insecurities, challenges or worries lie beneath somebody’s breezy and cheerful demeanour. In this context, being kind means assuming positive intent, unless proven otherwise. Kindness benefits both parties as it can strengthen relationships and increase our sense of satisfaction with life. Offer appropriate challenges It doesn’t need to be scaling Kilimanjaro to have impact. Providing opportunities for training and development, kicking off a project, speaking at an event, problem-solving or establishing good work habits are all mentally stimulating and can increase levels of self-motivation. Challenging work can keep employees engaged and interested in their role. The key word here is ‘appropriate’. Most new year resolutions fail because people try to tackle too much and it becomes overwhelming. It’s always important to support employees’ mental health, but it’s particularly important in January. Apart from being the right thing to do, having a healthy, happy and motivated workforce makes good business sense. Dawn Leane is founder and CEO of Leane Empower.

With the cold and dark days and nights this month, it’s no wonder psychologists dubbed the third Monday of January the most depressing day of the year. But do we really have to be depressed? Dr Claire Hayes sheds some light on the bluest of Mondays. ‘Black Friday’, Christmas and New Year have been and gone and we are now left facing ‘Blue Monday’ on 17 January. The concept dates from 2005 when a British travel company cited a formula that a psychologist, Dr Cliff Arnall, had developed, pointing to the third Monday in January as being the most depressing day of the year. Opinions – particularly those involving statistics – must be treated with care. It can be easy to buy into the idea that this is the most depressing day of the year, particularly if you are in financial trouble due to over-spending during the festive period. Certain companies may welcome the idea of a marketing opportunity to make the ‘worst day of the year’ a little bit easier by buying their products. However, it’s important to take a deep breath and think about why we might feel this day is harder than the rest. The Pygmalion effect The ‘Pygmalion effect’ or ‘the self-fulfilling prophesy’ is very powerful. If we go to a movie expecting it to be a waste of our time, we are priming ourselves to leave feeling disappointed. If we face into Blue Monday expecting it to be the worst day of the year, we might pay more attention to what we think will confirm our expectations. Suddenly, normal events such as traffic, rain and even normal interactions with other people can be interpreted through the lens of ‘this is awful’. Dark days You must ask the question: can our moods get better or worse according to the time of the year? Those who experience Seasonal Affective Disorder (SADS) notice that their mood is much lower during the winter months. However, there are some who experience depression who enjoy the dark, cosy winter nights and notice that they feel worse at times when they are supposed to feel good, like during the summer, while on holidays, or celebrating events. In short, we are all individual; some of us may feel low on 17 January, others may not. Choosing your mood Dr Victor Frankl was a prisoner in a concentration camp during the Second World War. His book, Man’s Search for Freedom, emphasises how we can choose to respond to even the worst of circumstances. And while Blue Monday will be over by 18 January, it’s important we use the day as an opportunity to understand depression. Statistics vary, but on average, one in ten people can experience depression. This can range from mild to severe, affecting energy levels, sleep, and eating, as well as mood. While you may feel down on this particular day of the year, keeping perspective is as important as indulging your dark days. So, is there some truth in the third Monday in January being the most depressing day of the year? Personally, I don’t think so. It depends on so many variables that we simply cannot measure. The key question is: how can we challenge the idea that any day of the week or year, be it 17 January or any Monday, is depressing? A day does not have the power to be depressing; it is what we do with it that counts. Days tend to have moments that are challenging and moments that are easy. Let’s count the special moments and learn how to cope with the more challenging ones. Dr Claire Hayes is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist. Aware, Ireland’s national organisation for people with depression and bipolar disorder, has a wealth of information freely available on its website, www.aware.ie.

With climate action an ongoing imperative for organisations, it’s essential for companies to embed it into their strategies. Martin Kennedy explains how companies can do this by using the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a particular focus on SDG 13. In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly came up with 17 interlinked global goals designed to be a “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all”. These 17 goals are called the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and are intended to be achieved by 2030. Number 13 of the SDGs, ‘Climate Action’ (SDG 13), urges us to combat climate change and its impacts. Climate change is now affecting every country on every continent, visibly disrupting national economies and affecting lives. What can Chartered Accountants do? As Chartered Accountants and finance professionals we can be a driving force in creating environments where individuals and companies can make a real difference by implementing the SDGs. We can raise awareness and drive advocacy of the SDGs, implement actions within finance and business communities and measure and report on progress towards the SDGs. But how do we get started? The best place is to examine your company’s strategy, making sure you do the following: Educate yourself and employees on SDG 13. You can find information on the UN’s website. Identify your company’s initiatives that are currently aligned with SDG 13. Learn more about how the goals, its together with their relevant targets and KPIs, to see how they are directly and indirectly related to your business activities. Implement the most impactful initiatives. For example, making improvements in your energy efficiency, renewable energy, waste management, green procurement, vehicle emissions, water conservation, and pollution reduction. When implementing improvements in these areas, set measurable targets so you can monitor your progress against them. Report on progress routinely. It is crucial to integrate the SDGs into core business reporting processes to ensure transparency and accessibility to various internal and external stakeholders. Consumers and investors are increasingly more interested in how organisations are impacting both positively and negatively on the climate and on society; the sooner an organisation can set up robust reporting of the impact of sustainability related matters of their business, the better. It is also important to understand whether your company is likely to fall under and meet the reporting requirements of the European Commission’s Corporate Sustainable Reporting Directive (CSRD), which is due to replace the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD). Over 49,000 companies will come under the scope of this new directive, which will cover the financial year 2023. Communicate your company’s commitment to sustainability. This can be included on your website, in email signatures and on other client and customer-facing content. You can reference SDG 13 for the initiatives related to climate action. Lead by example. Be an ambassador on climate action to your employees, suppliers and customers. Quick wins As companies start a fresh new year, below are some ‘quick wins’ that you can action now to achieve some SDG 13 improvements: Minimise business travel as much as possible. This is an immediately effective way to reduce emissions and cut your ‘carbon footprint’. Reduce energy consumption by turning off lights in the office in the evening, slightly lowering the heating or the air conditioning or plugging out devices when not needed. Reduce waste by avoiding disposable cups, stirrers, and capsules for the coffee machine and use kitchen crockery instead. Reduce the number of items being printed out and sort waste for recycling correctly. Ensure all supplies are sustainably sourced and certified. Old appliances and heaters in offices can consume a lot of energy. Replacing such equipment with energy-saving devices is a good long-term investment. Consider switching to a green energy provider. Renovating an office space? Consider climate-friendly alternatives for materials, such as eco-friendly non-toxic paints, and installing water saving taps in the toilets. Installing solar panels or a rainwater harvesting system will also help minimise your energy and water use. Supporting organic and ecological products can help build sustainability habits among your team, for example, sustainable Christmas gifts for employees. Set up or re-launch your company’s ‘Green team’. This is an effective action to take as it is relatively easy to do and its impact can be measured. Look at the other SDG goals It is worthwhile to note that the SDGs are interlinked. When you imbed SDG 13 into your strategy, you may also be contributing to the goals of other SDGs – for example, Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7), Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 12), Life Below Water (SDG 14), and Life on Land (SDG 15). Climate change threatens to undermine food production, water supplies, ecosystems, energy security, and infrastructure. However, tackling this urgent issue now can also bring benefits, such as new ‘green’ jobs, improved competitiveness, economic growth, cleaner air and secure energy supplies. Martin Kennedy is Head of Internal Audit atAzelis and member of the FinBiz2030 Ireland Taskforce Climate Action workstream. Contributions from Aileen Noonan and Martina Carroll, FinBiz2030 Climate Action workstream.

A fresh new year is a great time to reflect on your career and where you want your future to go. Efficient time management, says Sean McLoughney, is critical to making these plans a reality. It is that time of year again when ambitious business goals are agreed upon, strategic plans are discussed, and managers set performance expectations for their team. It is also when people think about their careers and set themselves some career goals. Central to these plans and discussions is goal setting. While people are generally good at writing goals and planning their next career move, achieving them is still challenging. One of these challenges is time or, more precisely, the perceived lack of time. However, this is a convenient excuse in most cases – we tend to spend more time planning our annual holiday than planning our careers. This year make your career a priority by devoting sufficient time to ensure you achieve your career goals. Below are six time management steps that will get the best return on your time when managing your career. Step one – Set your career goals High-performing companies are underpinned by a good business plan with action goals used as a roadmap for success, so why not apply that strategy to your career path? Start your career plan by writing what success looks like for you by the end of the year. This might entail describing the role you seek, the type of work you would like to do or what you would like to achieve. Next, write some goals that will enable you to turn your plan into reality. Use the SMARTER Goal system when writing your goals: Specific – have you described the process needed to achieve your goals? Measurable – can the goal be measured? If so, how will you measure it, and how will you know that you have completed the goal? Aligned – have you aligned your goals to your career plan? Realistic – how realistic are your goals regarding your experience, skills and time capacity? Time –how much time will you need to complete your goals? Are you benchmarking progression? Engaging – how do these goals motivate you? How will they impact your career? Reward – what will you gain when a goal is achieved? Step two – Why it matters When you set a motivational goal, you are more likely to set aside sufficient time to complete it. It would help if you visualised your reward to remain motivated. Answer these questions: Why does this goal matter to you? What will you gain by achieving it? Your answers should increase your motivation levels and provide some focus when you encounter a setback. Step three – List your activities Break your goals down into concrete action steps or tasks. Use a spreadsheet or planner to list your tasks to give you greater oversight of everything you need to do to achieve your career goals. For example, you might need to complete a skill gap analysis by comparing your current skills set against the skills required for your preferred role. Step four – Estimate time One of the main reasons career planning fails is not calculating how much time it will take you to complete a task – you write a plan, but you don’t work out how much time you need to implement it. In your spreadsheet or planner, write the estimated time you require to complete each task on your list. Now you can see clearly where your time can be spent and start to budget accordingly. Step five – Time-management balance sheet Understanding your time capacity by applying the ‘time-management balance sheet’ principle is simple. The time-management balance sheet is a snapshot of your time capacity at a particular moment. In step four, you have calculated the amount of time required to complete your career goals; now, you must find the available time. Check your diary to see when you are free to spend time managing your career. Aim to spend some time working on your career progression every week. Ensure you have enough time available to complete your tasks. If you don’t have enough available time, you need to prioritise your list. Step six – Commit to your schedule Once you have identified an opening in your schedule, allocate this time to a specific task – book in the task in the same way you would a meeting. Commit to completing the action at the agreed time. Schedule a month’s worth of tasks to begin this approach. Writing the tasks into your diary will also increase your accountability. Review your progress at the end of each month and then set aside time for next month’s tasks. Remember, successful careers don’t happen by chance; they result from good planning and taking personal responsibility for its direction. Planning is a forerunner to success; great careers also require an investment in time. Seán McLoughney is the founder of LearningCurve and author of Time Management and Meaningful Performance Reviews, both published by Chartered Accountants Ireland.

Customs declarations have escalated post-Brexit, but is enough attention given to them? Brian McNamara explains the importance of keeping on top of customs compliance risk assessments. As a result of Brexit, the volume of Irish import declarations increased sharply in 2021. Preliminary statistics just published by Revenue indicate that customs declarations processed in 2021 increased to 25.4 million compared with 1.8 million processed in 2020. Most trading businesses saw their customs exposure increase, while some companies submitted declarations for the first time. Any business operating in a customs environment must ensure customs compliance. Even if a company outsources the filing of customs declarations to a third party, such as a freight company or clearance agent, the trader remains fully liable for the accuracy of the declarations. Further, it is essential to be aware that customs risk does not end when goods pass through the port. Even if a shipment has been “green” routed through customs, the information could contain errors. Any incorrect data or under-payments found as part of a customs audit by Revenue could lead to back duties, fines and penalties; so, importers need to retain backup documents for up to four years after the date of import. Customs Compliance Risk For many in practice, customs compliance risk will now be on the 2022 audit planning meetings agenda. It is also advisable for companies to carry out spot checks on their import declarations for accuracy. As part of the customs compliance risk review, the following five ‘boxes’ as per Revenue’s Automated Import System (AIS) should be highlighted as important areas of import declarations to be aware of: Box 22 – agree the value and currency to the purchase invoice. In most cases, it will be a commercial invoice that will back up the import. However, for some transactions (an intercompany movement, for example), it may be another document such as a packing list. Box 33 – check the commodity code (a code used to classify products for import and export) in the declaration against the EU Customs Tariff (TARIC) database for reasonableness. Commodity codes are standard across the 27 members of the EU, and TARIC lists all valid EU commodity codes. Box 36 – if a code of ‘300’ is in this box, it means that the importer has claimed preferential import duty rates, i.e. the importer is trading with a country that has agreed to certain tariff benefits. It is essential to check the validity of this code as an importer should only be claiming preferential duty rates if the imported goods are of preferential origin. They must have the documentation to prove preferential origin at the time of import and retain them for four years. Box 44 – if ‘IEPOSTPONED’ is shown in box 44 of the import declaration, the importer has availed of postponed accounting for import VAT. Postponed accounting for import VAT was introduced in January 2021 to mitigate the cash flow impact of the return of customs on Great Britain to Republic of Ireland trade. All import VAT postponed by a trader must be properly accounted for in their next VAT return. Box 47 – import duty is shown as tax type A, with import VAT being tax type B. Agree the import VAT amount to the VAT return file to ensure that it is correctly accounted for. Customs declarations are like a tax return and should be treated with the same level of seriousness. Non-compliance can be costly for a business, particularly if an error remains undetected for several years. Regular declaration reviews are essential to get comfort in the accuracy of declarations being filed. Brian McNamara FCA is Managing Director of SwiftFile.

While the economic future is bright for the island of Ireland, we mustn't take it for granted. Neil Gibson outlines lessons learned from the last two years and what challenges lie ahead. It is encouraging to report that the all-island economy ended 2021 in much better health than expected despite the economic and societal headwinds of the past 22 months. The economic rebound has been quick and substantive to date, driven by a combination of well-timed policy responses and the ingenuity and flexibility of the business base. The economy is dealing with labour shortages and price increases exacerbated by high demand levels. These problems can be viewed as consequences of success, but it does not make them any easier for businesses or policymakers to navigate. The emergence of the latest COVID-19 "variant of concern" adds renewed uncertainty to the outlook as many unknowns remain about its severity and impact at the time of writing. The 2022 outlook for the Republic of Ireland (ROI) and Northern Ireland (NI) has been revised upwards from forecasts produced in spring 2021, with the labour market outperforming expectations. The pandemic has hastened a trend that has been gathering momentum – not all growth is equal. Purposeful growth that brings together economic, societal, and environmental development has become the goal for policymakers, citizens, and business leaders alike. The resilience and adaptability of the all-island economy will be tested further as the challenges of the "three Ps" – people, planet, and prices – move into sharper focus this year. Can the headwinds become tailwinds? The headline economic performance may be better than expected, but not all businesses are booming. The ever-changing nature of the virus, supply chain disruptions, and rapidly increasing prices all present significant headwinds for many companies. A strong labour market recovery amid a slowdown in migration also means that many businesses struggle to attract and retain talent. The economic outlook appears much more daunting when these short-term challenges are coupled with the necessity to transform towards a more sustainable future. The evidence of the past 22 months has shown that the organisations that can turn these challenges into opportunities will achieve unparalleled success. Finding talent in new places, deploying technology to mitigate price increases, achieving sustainability goals through innovation, clear leadership, and targeted investment are all traits of businesses that have thrived in these uncertain conditions. The critical question for the wider economic outlook is whether a sufficiently broad cohort of businesses can participate in this transformation. Policy plan remains 'grow faster' The UK and ROI budgets emphasised the need to keep public spending levels high to tackle ongoing pandemic issues and accelerate efforts to address significant societal, environmental, and economic challenges. The two most prominent issues set out in the ROI and UK budget speeches were climate change and housing. It was evident that the key policy choice is to raise taxation to meet spending rather than curb spending to match income. There were no widespread austerity measures put in place across either economy despite the levels of borrowing incurred due to the pandemic. However, the UK did introduce two major tax increases to rebalance public finances and facilitate sustained elevated levels of public spending, increasing national insurance and the headline corporation tax rate. In ROI, strong levels of growth and tax receipts have safeguarded against any immediate tax rises for the time being. However, the OECD global tax agreement will modestly increase the corporation tax rate. Reassessing risks is an imperative Given the outperformance of the all-island economy, it may seem pessimistic to warn of complacency as a risk to economic growth. Still, as the emergence of Omicron demonstrates, it is essential not to take the strong recovery for granted in 2022. The availability of a seemingly endless supply of public money to deal with the pandemic, the assumption by most economists that inflation will be temporary, and the availability of low-cost finance are all open to challenge. The public finances will need to be repaired, particularly if interest rates rise sooner rather than later. Traditionally, technology, global competition, and labour supply would mute prices. However, these assumptions are now being challenged as wages are rising and consumers are becoming more conscious of suppliers' ethical and environmental standards. Growth is always hard-earned, and the ingenuity and adaptability that has been evident across the island economy will be required again. As scientific evidence shows, there is very little calm after the storm, but at least the economy faces the challenges from a more robust platform than predicted. Neil Gibson is the Chief Economist at EY Ireland.