Year: 2008

Flexible Working: If you don’t ask you don’t get

15 July 2008 In Business Business Matters

The second annual survey from jobsite Workingmums.co.uk has found that women who ask about flexible working before they go on maternity leave are likely to get it.  However, a large percentage of women are still not making that request.
 
The survey of over 1,100 respondents found that:

  • 57% of mothers who discussed the possibility of flexible working either got what they wanted or were able to reach a compromise with their employers
  • 70% of these mothers felt that their job ranged from flexible to extremely flexible

Business owners fighting to ‘make it’ big

15 July 2008 News Business Matters

Research carried out within the small to medium sized enterprise market and found that the most common factor that makes small business owners consider their business to have “made it” is when they have made over £250k-£500k profit cleared and in their business bank account.
 
The research from KashFlow.co.uk found that the Top 5 business milestones that small business owners considered that they had to reach before considering their business to have made it were as follows;

Getting gold in 2012

15 July 2008 Finance Business Matters

A Government Minister has described 2012 as the most important year since 1908, it will change the financial landscape in this country forever. No, not the Olympics, but “Personal Accounts” the Governments latest attempt to get the British Public to plan for their retirement after the ill-fated Stakeholder Pension Schemes and 2012 is currently pencilled in for the launch of these schemes.

Capability Dismissals

7 July 2008 Legal Business Matters

Whilst capability is a potentially fair reason for dismissal, it is something of a “poor relative” to redundancy and conduct. The perceived length and complexity of the procedure involved inevitably leads employers to look at more straight forward options, but this can be risky, and capability procedures remain a vital part of good performance management.

Do you feel lucky?

7 July 200820 February 2012 Marketing, Sales Business Matters

Often, salespeople put their success (or lack of it) down to sheer ‘luck’… but just how much of their achievements should be put down to luck alone? How can certain salespeople excel during a sales slump whilst others fall the wayside? Are some salespeople just born lucky?

I remember a quote from the golfer, Gary Player, when accused of being "lucky" he said, "The harder I practice, the luckier I get".

Every Cloud…

7 July 2008 Finance Business Matters

Commercial bank managers have long complained that it is much easier for clients to get unsecured loans personally, where no evidence is required as to how the loan will be repaid, than it to get unsecured loans for a business, no matter how good the business plan.

As set out in previous articles, if you do have to provide a personal guarantee, make sure it is not secured against your home. This way if the business goes belly up, and the guarantee is called in, you have a strong position and will in all probability keep your home, if you go about things carefully.

If the loan is secured against your property and the business fails, its hard to increase the mortgage, as your income has gone, and you stand every change of losing your home. 

Of course many businesses are mostly conducted as sole traders where there is no legal separation between business assets and personal assets and by the largest sector is Buy to Lets (BTL).

The value of a sounding board

7 July 2008 Advice Business Matters

In times of Change, people feel much more secure with strong and clear leadership, but they need considered action and decisions from their leaders. The trouble is, with the pace of business today, the pressure has never been higher and consequently there is always a temptation to act just for the sakes of moving things off the pending pile and appearing decisive.

Change specialist Richard Derwent Cooke suggests that sometimes, the best way forward is infact to stand still for a moment a lend some quality time to a spot of good old fashioned conversation.