Industry & Company News

World Braille Day, celebrated since 2019, is observed to raise awareness of the importance of Braille as a means of communication in the full realisation of the human rights for blind and partially sighted people. There are around 84,500 registered blind and partially sighted people of working age, however only one in four of these is in employment. It is crucial to allow visually impaired employees to have the same access to the workplace as their non-disabled colleagues by making reasonable adjustments. People with sight loss, just like any other employees, need the right tools to do the job – in this case additional tools that enable tasks to be completed with little or no sight. Read the full article within.

Linda Chilton, our long-standing friend, and colleague, sadly passed away on Sunday 7 January 2024. Linda had been unwell for a number of months and had been cared for in a hospice since the middle of November. She was a key member of the accounts team from when Thewlis Graham Associates was established in 2010; she joined us after working for a local accountancy firm for 30 years. She was responsible for payroll, VAT and accounts, brought with her some excellent booking-keeping disciplines, and was a real terrier for making sure we both claimed —and paid— the correct VAT! More recently she concentrated more on payroll and Claire Butcher, with the help of Xero and Inspira, took over more of the accounting function. She was a great team member, always keen to help and always had a genuine interest in how the business was doing. She loved Country and Western music and was devoted to her daughter Nikki and her granddaughter Grace. She will be very much missed.

Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) is a day for everyone, a day when we remember all those millions of people murdered because of something that made them who they were – for example their ethnicity or faith. HMD offers workplaces the opportunity to bring employees together to learn lessons from the past and develop an inclusive and welcoming work environment. Find out about some of the ways organisations can mark this event in the workplace and beyond. Read the full article within.