Hiring employees to your business is a sign of growth and expansion and something that should be celebrated. However, it can be a daunting process, especially if you don’t have any experience in hiring staff and employees. You must therefore be prepared to ensure that you have made a good decision and hired the right person.
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As an employer, managing maternity leave is an inevitable part of doing business. You will be understandably thrilled for your employee, whilst also wondering whether your team will be overstretched, or how this change might hurt productivity. On top of that, you have the financial commitments surrounding UK statutory maternity pay (SMP) to navigate. It can all end up feeling rather admin heavy.
These days, when we think about improving productivity there’s probably a good chance that we think about automation and process improvement.
Whether they want to enjoy the great weather or spend more time with their families, many of your staff would enjoy working somewhere other than the office in the summer.
Nowadays there is absolutely no reason why your business should not be recycling. Many would argue it is even negligent to not have some form of recycling system in place, even if it could be more efficient (the chances are it can.) By not recycling at all, you are likely to be spending more money on waste than you should be and your bin area is likely to have overflowed into a mess at least a couple of times before.
Businesses often think of training as a benefit for the employee – a way to build skills and level up in their career. Sometimes this kind of thinking hinders companies, especially small ones, from offering comprehensive training and implementing training programmes. However, this narrow view only harms businesses, big and small, in the long run.
Readers question: I have set up my own catering company at the moment and I am doing the food in a large Irish bar in Edinburgh. I will be paying my employee and buying all the food stock etc. My query is, would I be better off being an employee of my company and paying tax NI as normal with the addition of employer NI, or would I be better to take dividends monthly as my salary, my salary will be £40,000 per annum.
There are many benefits to working remotely, both for the employee and employer. Flexible hours in the environment of your choosing sounds ideal to any employee whose dream is to work from home in their pyjamas, but there can be some major drawbacks as well. Keep your remote workers invested in the company by taking extra measures to ensure they are informed, feel valued, and continue working hard.
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There are almost a million drivers on the UK’s roads who are behind the wheel of a company vehicle. A company car is a privilege and a great perk of employment. It is also an essential tool for those who need to spend time at the remote work site or meeting with customers, suppliers and business partners.
Everyone has a unique personality. That’s part of the reason why people are so interesting. But sometimes, personalities clash. When it comes to working in a team, knowing how to manage different personality types is a vital skill. While we are all unique, it is generally accepted that we all sit on a spectrum of introversion and extroversion. It’s common in the workplace for personalities from different areas of the spectrum to collide and it can be a challenge to work with or manage introverts and extroverts.
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Hiring young people can be very beneficial for small business owners that have a heavy workload and small budget. You can take on young people through various programmes; you may wish to offer a week’s work experience, a three-month internship or even longer apprenticeships. When it comes to taking on young people as employees, you will need to make sure that you are fully compliant with the employment law. Seek the advice of an HR professional, if you don’t have an in-house HR team/department.
It is not a widely known fact, but company directors can receive statutory redundancy pay from their limited company under certain circumstances. If your company becomes insolvent and has to be liquidated, whether this happens on a voluntary basis or forcibly via a creditor’s winding-up petition, you may be eligible to make a claim.
When small businesses owners are starting their business, the main aim and priority is to keep the costs low. It is likely, most of the costs will be spent on necessities, rather than luxuries. Some may think that HR professionals or an HR department are a luxury, however, they can help implement workplace policies and keep the business out of trouble. If it’s not possible to hire an HR professional, then outsourcing can also be an option. However, it is advisable to hire an individual to manage the HR of your business as soon as you can.
Small businesses often feel pressed for time, money, and human resources, causing them to neglect training, one of the most important ingredients for success. Training can ensure that everyone on your team understands their job and what you expect from them.
Some people are comfortable with the routine and regular income that comes from being an employee. If being an employee suits you then that’s great. However, for some people being an employee can feel like an inescapable trap. If you start feeling like that then you should consider starting your own business. You will need certain skills to thrive as a business owner, but most importantly you need to be a leader and be focused in order to be a good entrepreneur.
BURNOUT. It’s the seven letter word that every employer dreads encountering. As businesses push to meet productivity needs and illicit the best results, employees can become overwhelmed, overtasked and burned out, sometimes without even realising it. Employers then become unwitting participants in the detection of subtle cues that suggest a need for change. Often burnout presents in seemingly disconnected ways. Small gestures that may, on the surface, look like behavioural or emotional anomalies, are sometimes indicators of a burnout silently brewing into an all-out raging inferno.
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Inventory management ensures the stock and supplies your staff have access to are monitored continually, to ensure nothing runs out and that invoices and purchase orders are generated correctly.
Paternity leave is a hot topic in HR. This guide will help small business owners determine whether their employees are eligible for paternity leave, the statutory allowance and pay they are entitled to, as well as providing information on shared parental leave, extra pay or time off, and antenatal appointments. [continue reading…]
It’s energy saving week this week and in honour of this we have compiled a list of ways you can help save energy. You can also save money for your small business by making some of these small changes. So saving energy is a win win situation, enabling you to save the planet as well as money.
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Starting a business requires vision, determination and careful planning. Unless you are a one-man band, you’ll need people to help take your business forward. Get workforce planning wrong and you could end up going nowhere.
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