Times are tight and quite rightly small business owners are looking to save pennies wherever possible. And of course, better team productivity in the workplace means a more efficient and successful workplace. Here are a few key things to think about.

Lead from the Top

Success in business starts from the top and travels downwards. And although at times you may feel affected by the social and economic pressures of running a business, you must always be aware that the attitude you project will ultimately effect your employees’ approach towards their own work. This does not just mean that you must exhibit calm under pressure.… Continue reading »

Because IT plays a vital role in the business world today, a new business cannot afford not to have an IT department. Therefore, if you intend to start a new business, you need to have competent and reliable IT employees with a good grasp of best practices such as offsite data backup and security. Read on to learn how to get the best talent for your IT department.

Take Charge of the Hiring Process

Some entrepreneurs choose to outsource the task of hiring new employees. While there is nothing wrong with this approach, it is advisable to make hiring IT personnel your responsibility.… Continue reading »

Ever since the internet’s popularity took off in the early 1990′s, just about every company who wants to succeed has at least a minimal online presence. Many companies will have their own website, several social media accounts, a blog and, in increasing numbers, an online shop where they can sell their products to customers all over the world.

Known as ecommerce, online sales are something millions of companies worldwide are reliant on in order to boost their income, and some of the world’s biggest firms have made a success of online retailing. Supermarket chains such as Sainsbury’s and Tesco make a significant amount of profit from selling goods online, while rival Morrison’s have only just broken into the online grocery market.… Continue reading »

What is one cost-effective software I can use to build a professional-looking website without a designer or a developer?

The following answers are provided by the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

1. WordPress

WordPress is one of the most popular blogging platforms in the world, but it’s not just for bloggers. WordPress is easy to set up and maintain.… Continue reading »

Payroll. Fun-times right? Well the government has decided to simplify the process of paying the staff on your books with something of a payroll revolution. You should by now be familiar with the term RTI – Real Time Information – the new way for processing and receiving information in keeping with the way of the digital age. The new system means that employers will be required to submit information about employee payments and deductions either before or when payments are made.

The words payroll and revolution may seem like the strangest of bedfellows but it’s true, as this is the biggest shake up to the way that staff in the UK are paid since the end of World War Two, and the changes address the main areas of importance when it comes to the robust management of staff on its books.… Continue reading »

What tool or service do you use to easily implement affiliate marketing on your business website or blog?

The following answers are provided by the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

1. ClickBank

If you have a digital product, then tapping into ClickBank’s marketplace of awesome affiliates is the way to go. I love that ClickBank handles all the payments to affiliates and takes care of a ton of the technology stuff, too.… Continue reading »

Who doesn’t want to succeed?  Well I guess everyone does.  To succeed in business is even more important simply because failure comes with undesirable financial implications.  One can have an endless list of must have qualities for an entrepreneur and still not have enough qualities on that list.

Success doesn’t come easy but it need not come with great difficulty either.  I would say there are 3 skills every entrepreneur needs to succeed in business, skills which are grossly underrated, often overlooked but very valuable.  Here’s my take on these 3 critical success factors:

Investigation

As a new business owner or an old hand who is looking to diversify investigative skills are really important.  In Bollywood’s recent blockbuster “Kai Po Che” three friends set out to establish and run a sports shop and a sports academy in a temple complex.  The movie begins with one of them asking a friend’s father for a loan and the father asks him how he thinks this business will thrive?… Continue reading »

Though it is hard to believe, workplace safety and productivity are like Siamese twins; one cannot live without the other. So that clearly means that you cannot make any kind of compromise on the security front if you are to ensure the complete well-being of your employees which in turn will have a benign impact on the productivity. But sometimes, in the rush to make our workplace safe, things take an ugly turn. Though this is something I least like to discuss, there is no denying of the fact that sometimes safety measures go overboard, stiffens the productivity and finally starts creating trouble.… Continue reading »

Management involves a lot of diverse skills which range from things like leadership and motivating to planning and financing. While you might use a range of different skills though, ultimately the goal is always the same – and that is to get the most out of your staff and your resources in order to increase output while reducing overheads.

If you’re failing to get the maximum productivity and efficiency from your staff then you aren’t doing your job as well as you could be and your business will be suffering as a result. Here we will look at some ways you can get more from your organization then focusing on the teams you use and how you put them together.… Continue reading »

Entrepreneurs have an advantage over almost all other working individuals: they can set their own schedule. But once your business grows, your staff grows as well. You have to start implementing company wide policies, thinking about all those HR policies that were blissfully non-existent when it was just you, and maybe a few friends.

Well, there might be one policy you won’t have to implement in your small business–a vacation policy. A small but growing number of companies have done away with traditional vacation plans altogether, instead giving employees–with the approval of their supervisors–the freedom to decide when and for how long to take time off.… Continue reading »

Recruitment is a critical area for any business: sourcing the right man for the right job will grow your business the right way. Simple as it may seem, recruitment really is all about identifying exactly what you are looking for in a candidate who will occupy a specific position within the company and then going about finding the right person for that job. Recruitment today can be done both traditionally – offline – as well as the revolutionary – online, however, reputable online recruitment agencies, such as RecruitmentRevolution.com, offer certain distinct advantages over offline ones.

Here are the top 5 reasons why you should hire via an online recruitment agency…… Continue reading »

1.

Professional training is essential for businesses who want to improve their performance, increase their competitive advantage and become industry leaders. Ensuring staff are appropriately trained in the latest techniques and concepts is imperative when running a successful business.

Professional training focuses mainly on business management, personal development and sales and marketing but can cover a variety of areas.

Different business and industries have different needs and it’s likely staff will require training in different areas. Even employees of the same business will have different training requirements depending on the job role, qualifications and skillset. For example, a senior HR Manager may require different training to the Finance Manager due to the differing nature of their roles.… Continue reading »

In an era when access to information can be the difference between profits and losses, managing how your business utilizes data is paramount for efficiency, security, and strategy. Information organization attempts to use all available pieces of data for a business or an organization’s goals, ensuring that the necessary individuals will be able to access and utilize information in the course of their work.

Six Essential Elements of Organization

In general, information management is broken down into six individual, but interconnected, activities that need to be streamlined and optimized.

Identifying information deficits and needs across departments
Creating or acquiring information
Identifying or analyzing available data
Filing or organizing material
Gaining secure access to information
Implementing content into everyday use

The central idea to information organization is that the data held within a business’ four walls and on their network servers is no less valuable than their workers and financial resources.… Continue reading »

Time is money and when you are running your own business at some times both are certain to be in short supply.

Thankfully today there are many different ways in which certain necessary daily business related tasks can be undertaken that can save both man hour costs and overall financial outlay.

Using software packages for simple accounting tasks has long been an established way that a business of any kind can save money when it comes to employing a book keeper or using the services of a qualified accountant for tasks that don’t really need their particular (and expensive) skills.

Today these kind of systems have developed further into the realm of ‘cloud computing’ whereby major software providers have packages aimed at people who would like to have access to their accounts packages ‘on the go’.… Continue reading »

There are many deadly sins that managers can fall prey to if they are not careful, which can be really damaging for the business and for their team – such as failing to give feedback, being overly critical and micromanaging – but project managers in particular can also be in danger of committing the following sins within their role.

1. Mistaking The Map For The Land

If a project plan calls for something to happen in a certain way, and that is not how it is happening, revise the plan to reflect reality. Do not try to force reality to conform to the plan.… Continue reading »

Managers are always struggling to ensure their employees live up to their potential. One of the biggest reasons employees aren’t as productive as they could be is that they are discouraged with their work environment. This is particularly true during an economic downturn, so employers will need to be especially diligent about keeping their employees motivated during a recession.

The recession officially ended in 2009, but the economy still hasn’t fully recovered. You may have seen many of your employees are discouraged with the state of the economy and those concerns may be playing out in their work. There are some factors you should take into consideration to keep your employees happy during this economic downturn.… Continue reading »

Having been working for more than 10 years in the sphere of software development, I’ve seen inadequacy of many specialists – both simple employees and leaders. I’ve always been impressed by people’s apathy and absence of initiative. I’m convinced that if a person isn’t able to work effectively as an executor, he will never be able to manage a team effectively.

Moreover, I’ve always been annoyed by people who get into executive positions from other ‘foreign’ spheres. Such managers are not taken seriously by technical specialists, which results in hypocrisy: the manager expresses an absolutely crazy idea and sets a task, the subordinates pretends that it’s great and starts executing this task.… Continue reading »

Virtual employees can be a great commodity for your startup. When you’re not limited by geography, you have a much wider pool of talent from which to choose the best candidate. Not to mention, having an employee work remotely saves you time, money, and office space.

The criteria for choosing a virtual employee differ from that of a traditional job candidate who performs work within your office. Because you have less oversight of their activities, you need to know that your remote employee has a history of completing tasks on time and a comprehensive knowledge of digital communications and social platforms.… Continue reading »

Many successful entrepreneurs reach the point where their business has grown beyond their ability to fulfill work on their own. Any entrepreneur should be proud that their business is growing. They may need to hire new employees to help them manage their workload. However, they need to have a clear plan of action before hiring staff and be realistic about your demand for new employees.

Many entrepreneurs feel they need to hire new employees to ensure their business continues to thrive. Expanding your workforce can be a great way to grow your business, but you might need to be careful making that decision.… Continue reading »

Planning mandatory workplace safety training is tough. Although the information presented to employees is extremely important, it is oftentimes technical and dry. However, with a little effort, employers can transform safety training sessions into lively events that everyone will learn from and even enjoy. Focusing on the content of the message and the manner in which presenters communicate the information is the key to success.

Content

Presenting useful content is the primary objective for any workplace safety training event. Employers must aim to provide employees with information and resources that will help protect themselves and each other, as well as the company’s facility and the materials located within it.… Continue reading »