Sage Blog

Our SageCover customers have just received the latest copy of their exclusive magazine, Solutions. It’s packed with loads of business advice from web design to how to create a happy workforce…as well as technical tips for Sage software. SageCover customers can log in to see your Solutions magazine now. Why not find out more about the benefits of our SageCover membership, and in the meantime here is a sneak peak from the latest copy.

Snow and stress are just some of the things businesses need to think about as winter sets in. Having a plan in place can help to prepare for any difficulties the colder months may bring… whatever the weather.

Severe weather is a common inconvenience to businesses over the winter months. There is no current UK legislation stating how employers should treat employees who are unable to attend work due to weather conditions. “Without a relevant policy or provision in the contract of employment, employers should take care to ensure that their actions are fair and reasonable in the circumstances,” advises Sage HR adviser Sam Bell.

“Care should also be taken when withholding pay as a result of absence due to adverse weather conditions,” Sam continues. “Unless there is an explicit clause in the contract that allows for deductions in salary, any money that is withheld may be considered an unlawful deduction under the Employment Rights Act 1996.” Angela Baron, adviser at the Chartered

Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) adds: “There are certain jobs that just can’t be done outside of the workplace, so it’s vital to plan in advance.” She says that all employees should know who to contact if they can’t get into work, so plans can be put into action to keep the business running.

Extra workloads

While everyone might be preparing to wind down for the end of the year, it’s usually the opposite case for workloads, with looming deadlines and last-minute requests from customers. It’s therefore important to plan ahead and think about how many people will be required to keep things running smoothly. This should be communicated with everyone so they can plan ahead.

Recruiting part-time or temporary agency workers or, if there isn’t the budget for this, asking existing employees to work for more hours, could help. However, don’t forget the potential consequences of this, advises Sam. “Extra burdens and longer hours can often lead to stress – it’s important to consider the problems that this can cause.”

Spotting stress

To reduce the chance of stress affecting your workforce, employers should conduct a risk assessment with their employees, identifying and taking action against any potential stress factors. Things to look for when identifying stress include high levels of short-term absence, poor timekeeping and customer complaints. Employees should also feel they can approach their manager with any problems they may have, says Sam. Once any potential stress factors have been identified, steps to reduce the pressure can include prioritising work and providing ample warning for urgent activities, rotating jobs to encourage interest and develop new skills, and providing support systems for employees at all levels. Being able to openly discuss any concerns in the early stages will help to prevent any future stress-related problems developing further and worsening.

Offering bonuses or incentives for overtime can also boost morale and productivity. And, of course, team events such as a Christmas party shouldn’t be overlooked just because times are tight. On that note, what if some people get a little too merry at the work Christmas party? “Letting employees come in an hour or so later would probably pay off dividends in performance levels,” suggests the CIPD’s Angela Baron. “It’s all about give and take and treating people fairly.”

Melissa Beckett, SageCover Team

Parts of London and other major UK cities have been affected by rioting and criminality. Many businesses were looted, damaged or totally destroyed during the period of violence. Our Sage People Advice team have put together some useful advice to help businesses affected.

As many business owners survey the damage in the aftermath, we’ve broken down the advice you need in terms of paying employees and receiving compensation.

Do I need to pay employees if they can’t return to work?

If your business is open, you’re not obliged to pay an employee if they can’t or won’t come to work due to the violence, unless their contract of employment specifically states that they are entitled to salary under those circumstances.

However, unless there is a contractual clause within your contract to allow deductions from salary, any withheld payments could result in an unlawful deduction from wages claim.

Depending on your employees’ contracts, you can take the following options:

• Advise your employees that any time off work in these circumstances will be unpaid.
• Pay them on a discretionary basis, but only in exceptional cases.
• Ask them to take the time off as paid annual leave.
• Pay them as normal, but ensure that they make up the lost time.

If you can’t open your business due to damage, your employees are still entitled to be paid for that day.

Am I insured against looting?

If you’re in any danger whatsoever, you should never try to protect your building or property. Your business premises insurance should provide cover for fire, looting or any damage caused.

Most commercial insurance policies will cover you for damage to your premises, including the interruption to your business as a result.

Some policies will also cover those businesses which are not damaged, but whose trade will be affected by the aftermath.

Contact your insurer to check what you are covered for and arrange for immediate help if needed.

What if I’m not insured?

The Prime Minister has confirmed that an 1886 law, which allows insurers to pass on some of the cost of riot-related claims to the police, will apply, with the Government ready to make up any funding shortfall.

In addition, under the Riots (Damages) Act, uninsured businesses can seek partial compensation from the police.

The Government will also:

• Set up a £20million support scheme to help businesses get back up and running.
• Enable local authorities to grant business rate relief, by funding at least three-quarters of their costs.
• Defer tax payments for businesses in greatest need.
• Stop liability for council tax and business rates for the most seriously affected businesses.

If it’s likely that your business won’t open for a substantial period of time, and you can call our Adviceline for further advice and guidance.

If you need further advice on this or other HR, Employment Law and Health & Safety advice can find out more about our Sage People Advice service on 0844 8877 999

The Sage People Advice Team

Escape from the frozen North?

We’re at Business Startup show this week – Earls Court 2 Tuesday and Wednesday – and there will be more Sage people there than ever. That’s not because we all feel like escaping the snow in the North East or a few days on our feet – it’s because we seem to be in demand.

We go to lots of events, from local niche market to national large scale; and they’re all different in their own ways. Something always remains the same though. And that’s the reception we get from the people that come and see us.

That sounds really corny doesn’t it?! I’m not sure how to make it not sound corny or explain what I mean, but I’ll have a go…

Talking about business

I suppose the starting point is that all of us Sage people genuinely (again trying not to be corny) enjoy talking to businesses. Whatever size, market, type etc. it doesn’t really matter. Every business is unique so you never get bored hearing about their stories, challenges and ambitions.

And from our point of view it’s about understanding how those businesses work and seeing if there’s something we can do to help them to improve or make simpler.

We can also share a lot of knowledge about business in general so whether it’s VAT or business legislation we up for having a conversation about almost anything.

And most importantly we’re honest in what we do – if we can’t help we don’t pretend we can, but we do always try to learn about what businesses actually need to make things better… so we can improve ourselves.

Things tend to go from there.

Come and say “hi”

So instead of just saying ‘come along and find out about how to manage your finance, people, customers, payments etc…’,  I wanted to find a non-corny way of saying come and have a chat to our great people. Because they really are great.

Oh and for those that do want to hear about everything else we’re doing then here’s a list that just so happens to be the perfect size to fit in a tweet:

Free software coffees finance/payroll/hr/customer/payment advice balloons filming research camper van seminars workshops brightly coloured t-shirts

So come along and see us… that’s if you don’t get caught in a tube strike or snow deluge!

Geoff Phillips, Small Business Team

#bstartup

Sage World is back again in 2011. This year we’ll be in Manchester’s EventCity  on the 12^th and 13^th of October. To register for your free ticket visit www.sageworld2011.co.uk

We’re getting closer to our free small business event, Sage World 2010. So, we’ve asked another of our top speakers, Rory MccGwire– to tell us why he’s taking part.

I was delighted to be invited to speak at the forthcoming Sage World event as I believe it will provide a great platform for start-ups to gain practical insight, contacts and advice to help them set up and run successful small businesses.

Rory MccGwire

I’m also pleased to see that Sage World is trying to do something different from the usual business event with their ‘interactive delegate technology’. The fact the event is technology driven (and yes, Sage can provide that technology) means there will be lots of demonstrations of the software tools you can use to get your business idea off the ground.

If you’ve already established your business, then you’ll find plenty of ideas to help you build on that foundation and meet the technical challenges that small firms face in the modern business climate. So it’s not about the technology for its own sake. It’s about what the technology can do for you, and the event will be looking at finance, HR, marketing – many of the most important aspects of running a business well.

Which is where I come in. As founder of the Donut small business advice websites , I’m well-versed in what small businesses really need to know. In my presentation, I’ll be encouraging you to take a realistic look at your business and its potential and I’ll be sharing my thoughts on how you can hone and reach your objectives. Sage World also offers a tremendous opportunity for you to build useful contacts. If I were a start-up owner at the event, however, I would be looking to take home more than a fistful of business cards, some leaflets and vague recollections of having spoken to someone from somewhere about something. Networking is about meeting the right people, making the right connections and tracking them during and after an event. So I’m dying to try out Sage’s Spotme electronic networking device. I’m sure this could really help me find and talk to the people that matter to me.

I’m sure it’ll help you, too. So please do track me on Spotme, come and say hello and make the time to hear my presentation.

Rory MccGwire.

Register free for Sage World at www.sageworld2010.co.uk

When we originally sat down to discuss the Top Tips guide for businesses, back on a cold and rainy afternoon in Newcastle (some say just a typical summer’s day), we wanted to give our customers something really useful, something different and most of all something positive.

100 Top Tips guide

Several coffees later we made a decision. Who better to provide business advice than our customers? And so the Moving Forward…100 Top Tips guide was born.

Top tips for businesses, from businesses

[A couple of people have had problems downloading the guide. If you're one of them then please email me I'll send you a copy. Cath - catherine.sheldon@sage.com]

When you download the 100 top tips guide you’ll get a collection of business tips from some of our 800,000 customers. A rather handy reference guide for all types of businesses. Oh, and did I mention it’s free?

And for our customers that sent us their business advice? Well, they get to promote their business, show off their knowledge, and be one of five possible winners of an iPad. Not bad.

Within hours of asking our customers to share their tips they started to pour in.  In fact, we received everything from the down right wacky (you know who you are) to the fresh and innovative. Of course, quite a few of our customers said their top tip was to use Sage business software…so thanks for that

Some of my favourite top business tips

Tip 6

“Invest in your employees. A happy workforce is a productive workforce. Staff need to be kept motivated. Clearly define their role in the business and make them feel part of a team.”

Susan Nisar, Swimshop

www.swimshop.co.uk

Tip 53

“Your existing clients are your best source of referred business, a great Customer Relationship Management system will keep you in touch and strengthen the relationship. Always ask clients for feedback, positive feedback makes a great testimonial and negative feedback should create your action plan.”

Grahame Johnson, Opus Accounting Ltd

www.opusaccounting.co.uk

Thanks Grahame. Being Sage we’d obviously recommend our CRM software ACT! by Sage for that one.

Tip 95

“Keep spirits up, the best sales people are not the ones who get all the deals, but the people who can pick themselves up and carry on when things fall down.”

James Esom, Patchsave Ltd

www.patchsave.com

A big thank you

Thanks to all our customers and businesses who took part. You’ve helped to create an essential collection of business and advice and tips. We had a great time creating this guide and it was clear from day one that  people were more than happy to share their advice with us and others.

Congratulations to our five lucky winners; I’m sure you’re enjoying your new iPads.

Your free business top tips guide

We hope you find our 100 Top Tips guide useful. We’d love to hear from you, so let us know what you think.

Andy Atkinson, Sage Small Business Division