Top 10 tips about Intellectual Property (IP)

All businesses have some form of IP, regardless of their field of activity, even if only in their name (trade mark) or their company literature (copyright) and with so much weight being placed on these things by investors If the core revenue of a business results from some form of technology and/or product design, you should take steps to ensure that you protect.

Are you covered?

David Greaves, Director of Deals & Small Businesses at RSA gives up some practical tips on ensuring that cutting back on insurance costs doesn’t mean you find yourself uninsured if you need to make a claim

Capability Dismissals

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.

Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008

Do you know of any business, which:

  1. Promotes a product similar to a product made by a particular manufacturer in such a manner as deliberately to mislead the consumer into believing that the product is made by that same manufacturer when it is not;
  2. Makes an invitation to consumers to purchase products at a specified price and then refuses to take orders for it or deliver it within a reasonable time?

Employee Lateness

The rail regulator has announced that almost 400,000 passengers face daily delays in their journeys.  Rail commuters have been hit hard by various problems, including flooding last summer, regular train and tube strikes, and the inevitable ‘leaves on the line’ in autumn.; Those who travel to work by road have their own problems. 

Managing staff sickness absence

The Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) published their eighth national survey of absence management policy and practice in July.  According to the survey the average employee now takes 8.4 days off sick each year, costing employers £659 per employee per year.  It is inevitable that some employees will need to take some time off sick but long-term sickness and growing rates of short-term sickness can have a huge impact upon business.  But what can businesses do to do tackle absence?

The end of the office affair?

Office affairs are classic television comedy fodder. Think of any office-based 1970s sit-com and you will undoubtedly recall a male boss incessantly flirting with his pretty, young secretary.
Things have moved on a little since then, but, according to a recent poll, office romances are still rife. In fact, the survey showed that 59 per cent of the respondents freely admitted to having had romantic encounters in the workplace.
While this is often viewed as a bit of harmless fun and no business of bosses, the reality is much harsher. Many people have no idea that a fling could actually cost them their job. It’s only that bosses turn a blind eye to many affairs that the professional risks are kept to a minimum.

How will the new corporate manslaughter act affect your business?

The majority of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act will come into effect on 6 April 2008 but will not be retrospective.  So, you have plenty of time to prepare for this.
An organisation is defined in the Act as being: “a corporation (not including sole corporations); a partnership; a trade union; an employer’s association.”
An organisation will be guilty of the offence of corporate manslaughter in England or corporate homicide in Scotland if the way in which its activities are managed or organised causes a person’s death, and amounts to a gross breach of a relevant duty of care owed by the organisation to the deceased.

Baby blues

Having babies is not a modern fad. Yet the way that employers frequently mishandle issues affecting expectant women you’d think it was something unusual and new to them. Only four in 10 women believe their bosses know how to handle pregnant staff. And we’re not talking about making sure someone gives up their seat in the staff canteen – there appears to be a serious knowledge gap when it comes to maternity rights. It means companies are putting themselves in danger of being liable to claims of pregnancy discrimination.
This kind of discrimination costs employers up to £126 million every year in recruitment to replace the 30,000 or so women who lose their jobs simply because they’re expecting.
An investigation by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) uncovered many factors relating to maternity of which businesses seemed completely ignorant. Some were even unaware that they could claim reimbursement for statutory maternity pay.