Management
Enabling A Happy Workforce
By Helen Shone, Sage HR Advice
What does happiness look like?
There’s a business mantra that states a happy worker is a productive worker. But happiness is hard to quantify and even more difficult to create.
As an employer, you can’t just tell everyone to be happier and watch your profits grow. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t work that way. So what can you do? The first step is to find out what makes your employees happy at work, and build on that.
Getting along famously
A recent study by Samaritans and Simplyhealth concluded that forming positive relationships with colleagues is the most fulfilling part of a job.
The survey of over 1,400 workers revealed that 42% said that getting on well with their co-workers helped them to feel good at work.
The next most common reason for feeling good at work was having a positive work/life balance (40%), followed by receiving praise for a job well done (26%).
In comparison, only 14% said that hitting their targets was their top factor for feeling good at work.
Supporting Your Employees Through Maternity Leave
By Helen Shone, Sage HR Advice
Exciting times ahead
Once you’re told that one of your employees is having a baby, you’ll be hit with a range of emotions. It’s not that dissimilar to finding out that you’re expecting a child yourself!
First, you’re excited and pleased for your employee. But then you recognise that there’s a lot of work to be done to make the maternity process as smooth as possible, for your employee, yourself and the rest of your business.
With an effective process in place, you can limit the impact of an employee going off on maternity leave and become a valuable source of support for them in this eventful time.
Know your role
Firstly, make sure that you’re familiar with your responsibilities and the employee’s rights. This means that you’ll be in a great position to answer any questions they may have and offer useful guidance. In particular, read up on The Maternity Protection Act 1994 and the Maternity Protection (Amendment) Act 2004.
Always carry out a risk assessment where new or expectant mothers may be exposed to working conditions which may harm the baby.
A Third of Irish Employers Unaware of Local Property Tax Deduction Obligation
Sage launches property tax guide for employers
17th March, 2013: 31% of Irish employers are unaware of their legal obligation to collect Local Property Tax (LPT) from employees who elect to deduct this at source from their salary, according to research announced today by the market leader in accounts and payroll software, Sage Ireland.
Sage conducted a survey of over 1,100 employers and payroll administrators in Ireland. 59% of participants said they would like to know more about their LPT obligations, indicating a lack of awareness among employers.
According to the Revenue Commissioners, residential property owners can opt to pay their LPT for 2013 in one single payment or to phase their payments over the period July to December 2013. Where this payment option is chosen by a property owner, Revenue will notify the employer to deduct property tax from the owner’s net salary and employers will be required to make this facility available to their employees/pensioners from July 2013 onwards.
Fall In Love With Your Business (Again)
By Beatrice Whelan, Social Media & Content Specialist at Sage
Remember when you fell in love with your business idea. You couldn’t sleep as you tossed and turned thinking about how you would promote your new business. You couldn’t eat with the excitement of getting started. Yes, starting a business is a lot like falling in love. With rose tinted glasses you couldn’t see the potential pitfalls that everyone else warned you about and in the honeymoon period of the first six months everything seemed to be going to plan.
Now, however, things might be slightly different. Perhaps you have had to do your first or second annual tax return and have been left feeling that the business is taking more than it is giving you. Friends and family say that you’re spending too much time working on your business and that it has changed you. Perhaps you have experienced the heartache of having to downsize or close a business or perhaps you feel stuck in a business that is just not working for you anymore. All is not lost, you can fall in love with your business again and recapture the magic you felt in the start-up phase.
- Stuck in a rut? It’s time to take a break. Not just a semi-holiday but a real holiday. Set up your email auto reply and turn off your phone. Leave someone you can trust in charge and take at least a week off. Try a change of scene and aim to completely forget about your business for the first few days. You will be amazed at the perspective this can give you. Towards the end of the break allow yourself to start thinking about your business again but think about the bigger picture, not the little things that drain you. Go back to your business with a plan for three things you are going to change about your business or about the way you manage your business and implement those changes as soon as possible.
- Get some advice. When relationships are in difficulty, seeking outside advice can be a real benefit; the same applies to your business. One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a business owner is thinking that you know it all and that you can’t learn from anyone. Look for a business mentor, someone you look up to and can learn from. Arrange to meet with them to discuss the problems you’re having in your business. You may only need one or two meetings to put you on the right track.
- It’s not me, it’s you. Take some time to assess what is working and what is not working in your business. Try to be honest with yourself and your employees and even your customers. Do you have an employee that is not the right fit or perhaps you have a lot of customers that are not paying you on time or in some cases not at all. It’s time to let go of what is not working so you can move forward. If you have customers that take a lot of your time for free, it’s time to change your business policy and ensure that you are billing customers for your and your employee’s valuable time. Read More
Using An Online System To Manage Absenteeism Effectively
By Beatrice Whelan, Social Media & Content Specialist at Sage
Although employees in Ireland have one of the lowest rates of workplace absenteeism in Western Europe, absenteeism costs Irish businesses 1.4bn per annum. This figure however only accounts for correctly recorded absenteeism whereas in fact it could be the case that many absences go unrecorded due to poor record keeping and tracking. In a recent Sage survey respondents indicated that the single biggest cost to running a business is staff cost with 48% identifying this as their biggest expense.
One way to make a saving on staff costs and to manage employees and absenteeism effectively is to track both authorised holiday leave and unscheduled leave correctly using an online system.
I spoke to Lorna Keogh, Manager of the Business Advice Team in Sage. Lorna explained that manual systems that require the use of paper and spread sheets are extremely inefficient at tracking and recording employee leave. Research has also shown that absence rates are higher in larger organisations. Could this be because the larger the organisation, the more difficult it becomes to track leave and absences with manual systems?
As Lorna explained, “The challenges posed by these systems are experienced by employees and managers. If a team manager is out, absence requests will go unseen until they return. The team member waiting for the manager to respond to their request needs to ensure it is recorded in the spread sheet and not just confirmed verbally.
“It is very difficult for team members to see when their colleagues will be out and plan their own leave effectively, ensuring there is sufficient cover. Although a shared calendar can address this, discrepancies between the calendar and spread sheet inevitably crop along with a difference in opinion between the manager and team member as to how many holidays each employee still has.
Seven Steps To Choosing The Right ERP Solution
by Ian O’Toole, Senior Consultant at BSM
Not all ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems are right for all businesses. Scale, cost, functionality, technology and implementation partner are all key considerations when selecting an ERP system. Addressing the following seven steps can help to ensure you select the system that is right for your organisation.
1. Have a Clear ERP strategy
Before engaging vendors in a selection process your organisation needs a clear vision of what it is embarking on and what a system can and should deliver. Developing this strategy can be thought of as the start-up phase for the overall project. The strategy should clarify scope (functional, organisational, and geographical), expected costs and benefits, technology and any other constraints.
2. Assemble the Project Team
The project team for the selection project should represent all key internal stakeholders. This will help avoid biased definition of requirements and will also help to foster buy-in to the new system. The selection project team is likely to form the core of the implementation project team once the system is purchased.
Why People Leave: Understanding and Reducing Employee Attrition In Your Business
By Alexandra from Sage HR Advice
Keep hold of your best employees.
As we venture into a new year, many businesses have a set of goals that they want to hit to ensure a successful 2013. If you’re planning on doing this, one important factor to consider is your employee attrition: how many people are leaving your business.
Employees leaving your business is to be expected to some extent, but it can be expensive and problematic when key team members exit your business. Advertising for and recruiting replacements can be a real headache too.
If you’re finding that more and more people are resigning, you should be asking yourself why, and if there’s anything you can be doing to reduce it.
Asking the important questions.
The first thing to do is understand the problem. Interviewing your existing staff on how they feel about their jobs and the workplace is useful, but people often hold back on what they really think in fear of limiting their careers or offending their colleagues.
One of the most revealing ways to get a realistic appraisal of your business this is to arrange frank and meaningful exit interviews for anyone leaving. The leavers’ questionnaire located on the Sage HR Advice service provides example questions to ask. Explain that their answers won’t affect any reference that you are giving and you are looking for honesty, even if you might not like what you’re going to hear.
Hiring Seasonal Workers – The Dos and Don’ts
By Amanda at Sage HR Advice
Christmas is nearly here, and that can mean many things for small businesses.
But for many SMEs, Christmas can mean a seasonal spike in sales and productivity. While that’s obviously a great way to end the year, it’s important that you have plans put in place to cope with the increased demand.
One way to cover this peak time is to employ casual workers, on a short-term, temporary basis. However, you need to make sure you do it right. To help, here are our dos and don’ts of hiring seasonal workers. Consider it an early Christmas present from us to you.
Engagement With The Revenue Commissioners
By Tom Holmes, Managing Director of Ballymount Accounting
In recent times we have seen a number of high profile cases hitting the headlines regarding the actions taken by the Revenue Commissioners to recover taxes & customs due and the prosecution of individuals involved in tax filing irregularities. We have seen the Revenue use its quite considerable power of attachment. We have also seen them jailing individuals when their customs duties were under declared or when they made incorrect VAT returns. These examples have highlighted the need for the careful consideration by all business owners in their engagements with the Revenue Commissioners.
For most typical business owners who are turning over in excess of €80,000 per annum and have at least one employee, they will be required to file VAT returns at a minimum every two months and will have to file and pay a return of the PAYE, PRSI & USC due on foot of wage payments made to their employees at a minimum every month. As most businesses are now required to file and pay their taxes online using the ROS system the general deadline for these returns is the 23rd day of each month for the Payroll Taxes and the 23rd of every second month for VAT.
50 Tips To Help Improve Your Business
By Beatrice Whelan, Social Media & Content Specialist at Sage
We have just published our latest Ebook: 50 Ways To Help Improve Your Business
In Sage, we have seen our business customers face the past four years with determination and a business intelligence that has seen them through some very difficult economic times.
Not only that, but we have seen a whole new range of businesses coming to the market that are confident in the future.
In this free Ebook we share 50 tips from Irish businesses on;
- Business Strategy
- People – both customers and employees
- Marketing
- Business Processes
- Finance
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