How do I track down staff of the quality I’m looking for?
Ask James Caan: I am in my second year of business and looking for good-quality staff. How do I go about this?
Human Resources
How to manage your temporary worker requirement this Christmas
Christmas is one of the busiest seasons for temporary working. In our experience, the use of temporary workers will rise by around 30% over the festive period, especially in the retail, distribution and supply chain industries. This is due in part to the boom in internet shopping in December, as everyone clambers to order their presents at the same time.
The SME’s guide to profitable Christmas networking
If only business owners enjoyed December as much as their staff. For many, it is a month of winding down, social gatherings and Christmas parties, but many see it as an interruption to business. They worry too much about the month’s distractions - the weather, risk of falling behind on sales and marketing, absences of staff taking extended holidays, and it being an awkward time of year to rake in new business.
Are your employees' online activities putting your IT security at risk?
How much time do you and your employees spend on Facebook, other online activities not related to their work, or even personal emails? If the answer is any time at all, more than your business’s productivity levels may be at risk – potentially even more dangerous is the threat to the company’s IT security potentially posed by staff going online for non-work related purposes.
Working with friends: It’s not just whom you know, it’s whom you trust.
It’s fairly nerve-wracking as a small business owner, when you begin to grow and take on staff. Your business is ‘your baby’ and it’s natural that others may not share your passion and commitment.
Are Britain's businesses ready to cope with the Olympics?
After seven years of preparations, just a fortnight remains before the beginning of the Olympic Games in London. But are Britain’s businesses ready? For companies that operate close to Olympic venues, the biggest challenge during the Games is likely to be travel difficulties. But businesses across the rest of the country face another threat – the prospect of very high levels of absenteeism.
How to… avoid summer skiving – human resources planning during 2012
With all eyes on London, the summer of 2012 is set to be a magical affair. Fifteen thousand athletes and over 11 million spectators are expected to visit the capital, and communities – business and residential – will be getting involved alongside spectators and participants. However, with this palpable excitement comes a number of potential costly issues for businesses and pitfalls to be aware of.
Video highlights, June event, 'An Audience with Doug Richard, Kanya King and Oliver Peyton. '
View the highlights reel from our third Business Connections event.
How can I grow a business when most firms I approach are happy with the status quo?
Ask James Caan: I am a business development manager for a recruitment firm providing payroll solutions for contractors. I cold-call more than 100 companies a week but most companies are happy with their suppliers . How do you recommend growing this business?
What I wish I’d known at start up
Jonny Goldstone shares his experience of starting his business, greentomatocars, which he founded in 2006 “to show there could be a quality, green alternative to Addison Lee in London. “
How to… harness employees’ ideas
‘Creatives’ in business don’t always enjoy the best of reputations - too much sitting around with their ‘blue sky thinking’ and ‘running ideas up the flagpole’. But that stereotype, whether deserved or not, doesn’t give credit to the value of good ideas, creativity and innovation within business.
When ‘elf n safety’ actually matters
‘Risk Management’ in the modern world is an industry in its own right. The Health and Safety culture is rife, everyday activities that have been practised for centuries are no longer deemed safe and there are standards telling us how, when and what we should be doing for pretty much everything. Add to this that running an SME takes up more hours than there are in a day and it is little wonder that risk management is low down the priority list for most CEOs.
SMEs need to do their homework when it comes to being flexible
If you’re reading this in the office or on the way to work, ask yourself why. For this is the seventh annual National Work Wise Week (and Friday is National Work From Home Day), an initiative aimed at encouraging businesses to think much harder about the way they work.
Employers need to understand implications of law change
Small business groups think a change in the law making it harder for workers to claim unfair dismissal will encourage many firms to take on more staff, boosting the economy. Trade unionists say the reform will simply make many people more fearful for their jobs, which could reduce their willingness to spend and thus be counter-productive. But whichever side is right, employers need to understand how exactly how the new rules work.
Bank holidays can be a headache - but there are ways to make life easier
Doug McWilliams is clearly not a man who worries about being popular. He’s the founder of the Centre for Economics and Business Research, the think tank that made headlines on Easter Monday by complaining about the £19bn cost of Britain’s bank holidays. Scrapping some of these holidays, or at least spacing them out a bit more, could be a real boost to the country’s struggling economy, Mr McWilliams says.
How to make outsourcing work for you
‘Outsourcing’ describes involves someone outside of your a business function which is managed managing a part of it. by someone outside of the business. Most commonly these are the ‘overhead’ functions such as internal systems, bookkeeping and human resources but you can also outsources sales, delivery, customer service, etc. The principles and pitfalls are much the same. Here we look at outsourcing the bookkeeping function for SMEs.
Auto-enrolment: a human resources nightmare for SMEs
Government figures published this week suggest ministers’ decision to delay the introduction of pension reforms for the smallest businesses has saved them as much as £2.8bn. But don’t be complacent: the reprieve is for a maximum of one year only and small and medium-sized enterprises that don’t start planning now for the reforms could find themselves caught out.
Hiring an intern – five things you need to know
Interns, their payment (or lack of) and youth unemployment have been constantly in the news in 2012 but with all the reporting and headlines, a lot of the positive reasons to intern or actually hire an intern have been lost. This is frustrating as interning is a great way for a student to get experience and introduction to the world of work whilst they are studying and a fantastic way to start their career once they’ve graduated. For businesses who can’t afford expensive recruitment consultants but want to grow, it’s all a brilliant way to find talented students who don’t necessarily want to work in the corporate world.
Mentoring is vital to new wave of start-ups
Small Talk: Will George Osborne's Youth Investment Fund encourage a new generation of young entrepreneurs to start their own businesses?
Invoice finance can help beat late payments problem
For small and medium enterprises, late payments are a growing headache. Business Connections finds out why and explores some solutions...