GROWTH ACCELERATOR OFFERS £200M TO 26,000 BUSINESSES

A grant of £3000 is available to Start Ups and SME’s who are registered in England, turnover less than £40m, employ below 250, and are willing and capable to grow by over 20% pa. The scheme is supported by the Institute of Directors and 800 qualified advisors are already in place nationwide to assist with local applications. Grants are being given as catalysts to grow registered private ltd companies and social enterprises.

For more info Clive Bonny Strategic Management Partners Clive@consult-smp.com 01273 308865

START UP LOANS For YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS

The government’s new £10 million start-up loans for young people pilot scheme has been announced by Business and Enterprise Minister Mark Prisk. The initiative aims to provide budding entrepreneurs with support and a small amount of capital to help them get started as well as access to training and business mentors. An initial £10 million has been announced to provide capital for start up loans that will help tens of thousands of young people take their first steps as entrepreneurs every year.

http://www.bis.gov.uk/news/topstories/2012/Apr/providers-sought-to-help-deliver-start-up-loans-for-young-people

AWARD for RESPONSIBLE BUSINESSES to BOOST GROWTH

Small to medium sized enterprises employing  2 or more persons can now receive support and public recognition to promote their reputation and brand across the community, and receive recognition for responsible  environmental and community activities. This scheme also accredits good practice through a Responsible Business Standard, helping small enterprises to bid for the £40 Billion pa market of local authority tenders.          

Contact the Organisation for Responsible Businesses info@orbuk.orb 0845 4599749

More info ref

http://resources.primebusinessclub.com/news-item/200-million-coaching-programme-aims-accelerate-sme-growth

As business owners we’re always looking to get the best performance from our employees and one of the tools to help us is the performance appraisal. However, when I speak to people about how to get started with appraisals there seems to be a myth that it is a complex and time-consuming process. Many people have had bad experiences with appraisals in large organisations but it doesn’t have to be that way.

The goal of an appraisal system is to improve the performance of employees and therefore the organisation. It should ensure that employee objectives are aligned with, and contribute towards, the goals of the organisation.

A good appraisal system will help you:

• Assess employees against defined objectives
• Provide the opportunity for constructive feedback (good and bad)
• Define medium and long term objectives for your employees.

What’s the goal?
An appraisal system will ensure that you regularly review an employee’s performance. The result is that everyone in your company is clear:

• What the business is trying to achieve
• How employees can help the organisation achieve its goals
• What is expected of them
• How they are doing
• Where they can improve
• When there are performance problems and what to do about them.

If an organisation can achieve this then it is likely to achieve a high level of employee engagement. Employees take pride in their work and go the extra mile.

What and when?
Reviewing performance typically has three elements:

• Regular informal meeting where line managers discuss current work and development.
• Formal interim meeting to discuss progress against performance plan.
• Annual appraisal review where the work of the year is discussed and feedback given.

So what’s in it for the employee?
The appraisal system will give your employees:

• Clear objectives
• Frequent guidance of how they should work towards the objectives
• An understanding of where (and how) they need to develop in order to realise their potential.

Making time for performance management
Performance management is not just about the annual review but more regular dialogue between line managers and their team members. When you are running a small business organising regular meetings can sometimes take a backseat.

HR software can help small businesses take control of the performance management process. For example, a comprehensive online HR system will allow you to manage the appraisal process more efficiently by enabling you to keep note of 1-1 meetings plus remind you to make sure they happen! Human resources software can also help you to record actions and objectives plus link employee objectives with company goals. breatheHR is an HR software product designed specifically to help small businesses manage a range of frequent HR-related tasks such as holiday booking, absence recording and performance management.

Jonathan Richards, CEO, breatheHR
www.breathehr.com

In fact, dismissals or disciplinary issues of any sort barely featured. The research, from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, found that, of those organisations that said employment regulation deterred them from hiring staff, only 1% identified dismissal and disciplinary as the top concern.

Interestingly, the top regulatory deterrent for the 1,000 respondents from businesses of all sizes, industry groups and regions, was health and safety regulation, an area the Government is already looking to address.
I have been asked by some supporters of the proposal, what the main obstacles in fact were and so, in the interests of transparency, I can reveal that the top 10 barriers to employment, as stated by respondents in the Government’s own research, were:

1. Health and safety
This was the top concern for employers overall, with 13% identifying it as the biggest recruitment deterrent; it was found to be of particular concern to micro-businesses. The Government has already identified this as an area that needs to be addressed and, in November 2011, it announced plans to cut health and safety regulation by half over the next three years. An update is expected shortly.

Whilst this would appear to be less of an issue for office based staff, its high position may relate to concerns about employees working from home, a return to manufacturing or regulations concerning premises that are open to the public.

2. Maternity/paternity leave
One organisation in 10 singled out maternity and paternity leave regulations as the biggest concern when taking on new recruits. This was identified as a top worry for small and medium-sized businesses. The Council of the European Union recently rejected plans to extend the minumum length of maternity leave on full pay to 20 weeks but is still looking to extend it from the current 14 weeks.

Statistics suggest that very few fathers have taken up their right to paternity leave so one may assume that this the age old fear of losing/covering members of staff as they take time to raise children. Short of placing China style restrictions on the number of children a family may have I’m not sure what business leaders are hoping for here – I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.

3. Tax
Another big issue for micro-firms, tax was rated as a top deterrent when hiring by 8% of organisations. This may refer to the expense of running a legally compliant payroll, but there are many outsourced providers who can deliver excellent value for money.

4. National minimum wage
n the advice of the Low Pay Commission, the Government decided to freeze the national minimum wage for young people when the new adult rates come into force later this year. This will be good news for the 6% of employers that rated it as their top concern when hiring staff. Small businesses were particularly concerned about this issue.

This is interesting as when the NMW was introduced there were fears that it would stifle employment opportunities, but the evidence to support this is yet to surface. I can understand that there are employers who would wish to pay an adult less than £6.08 per hour. There may well be adults willing to work for less than that, but should everyone else’s wages be undercut by these people?

5. National insurance
On a par with the minimum wage, 6% of employers said that national insurance was a deterrent to taking on staff. Small and medium-sized businesses were the most concerned about this.

6. Employer’s liability insurance
Micro-organisations were the most worried about employer’s liability insurance and 5% of employers of all sizes identified it as a concern. All private-sector employers and some (but not all) public-sector bodies are required to maintain employer’s liability insurance for employees based in Great Britain.

Insurance can be expensive, there’s no doubt about that. However, most employers would not be able to meet their obligations if there was a serious incident and they weren’t covered. Most likely the business would fold and the people affected would receive very little, which sounds far from an ideal scenario, in my view. Having said that, pressure should be put on the insurance companies to provide better value.

7. Working Time Regulations
The seventh most worrying regulation identified by employers were the Working Time Regulations, with 5% ranking these as the top deterrent to taking on staff. Small and medium-sized companies were particularly worried about it.

This surprised me as it is so easy to opt out of these regulations!

8. Sickness absence
Sickness absence was another key issue for small and medium-sized businesses. Overall, 5% of employers said that sickness absence regulation put them off hiring, which is really disappointing. Companies perhaps don’t always realise that they are not obliged to pay sick pay and that there are very effective mechanisms to help with absence management.

9. Time off to train
Introduced in 2010, the right to request time off to train was considered a deterrent to hiring for 4% of employers, with small and medium-sized businesses particularly concerned about it, which is interesting, as in many ways small and medium sized businesses may have the most to gain from an upskilled workforce.

10. Discrimination
Regulations around discrimination were a concern in businesses of all sizes. Overall, 3% rated these as the top barrier to taking on staff and, for employers with 251+ employees, these were the biggest regulatory concern.

In my experience, particularly from larger organisations, it is not the policies and procedures that worry managers but other members of staff, banter, and so on. The discrimination laws were simplified in 2010 and it may be that not all of the changes have filtered through to many oprganisations.

If ANY of the above reasons are putting you off from offering someone a job, please get in touch. Tania or I would be more than happy to run through the legislation with you, highlighting any risks and perhaps dispelling one or two myths. Call us on 0844 3759552.

Follow Mo on twitter: @MRasanayagam

“On the issue of no fault dismissal and other proposals like that, I am interested in anything that makes it easier for one person to say to another person: ‘Come and work for me,’ because we need to make our economies flexible,” the prime minister said in Chicago. “We need to make our labour markets work as flexibly as possible and we will obviously need to examine each proposal on its merits.”

A six month “call for evidence” on a diluted version of the original Beecroft proposal – that the “no fault dismissal” should apply to micro companies employing fewer than ten staff – is due to end on 8 June. It is understood that the evidence so far shows little support among businesses for the proposal and Government sources indicated last night that Cameron is expected to accept that the proposal should be quietly dropped when Business Secretary Vince Cable eventually finalises his plans.

One source close to Cable said of the proposal: “The last thing employees want is the dead hand of fear hanging over them about losing their jobs.” The coalition partners appeared to be at loggerheads yesterday when the Sunday Telegraph reported on its front page that the Prime Minister was poised to endorse the controversial report by the Tory donor Adrian Beecroft. The report was commissioned by Steve Hilton, Cameron’s long serving policy guru, who is leaving on a year long sabbatical to the US amid frustration that the prime minister is failing to be sufficiently radical in trimming the state.

The Sunday Telegraph made little mention of the no fault dismissal plan, the central recommendation in the Beecroft report. The newspaper instead focused on areas which have either already been introduced by the government or are not controversial. According to one Lib Dem source, The Sunday Telegraph report was designed to show No 10 was standing firm when in fact it is backing down. “This is all part of Steve Hilton’s epic leaving bash,” the source said, according to the Guardian newspaper.

Cable will this week publish the Beecroft report after a series of requests, from the Guardian and the shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna among others, for it to be released under Freedom of Information rules. It is understood that Cable believes that the publication of the report will come as a surprise to many because the 24-page report is seen as thin.

One senior minister told the Guardian last year: “It is a flimsy piece of work. If an official sent me a piece of work like that I would send it back.”

Cable showed his irritation with the report when he told friends that he was surprised that No 10 has shown such interest in a report from a donor. Cameron faced embarrassment after the recent resignation of the Tory treasurer Peter Cruddas when it emerged that he encouraged donors to put their thoughts down on paper. A source close to Cable said: “It is surprising that No 10 backs a report compiled by one of the Tory party’s biggest donors. But it has been noticeable that since last Wednesday, No 10 has been moving towards more evidence-based policy. The reasons for that remain to be determined, but we can assume that as a result reports like this will be a less prominent in the future.”

Most HR professionals did not support the proposal, pointing out that that there are existing mechanisms to deal with poor performance and that most business leaders felt that issues such as skills shortages and access to credit were far more important priorities.

Sussex Enterprise’s HR Consultancy can help you deal with unproductive staff, reducing staff levels and/or guide you through Employment Law issues so please get in touch on 0844 3759552 if you need any assistance.

Follow Mo on twitter@ MRasanayagam

Time                  8am to 11.30am

Venue                Copthorne Hotel, Effingham Gatwick, West Park Road, Copthorne, West Sussex RH12 3EU

Join Hays in conjunction with Martin Searle Solicitors, Acas and Workplace Dynamics at this complimentary seminar. 

The aim of the seminar is to introduce the different types of mediation / dispute resolution available and show how these can benefit large and SME businesses.  This will be an interactive session using case studies and will include an introductory workshop on mediation for managers.

Agenda:

8.30am: Ice Breaker

8.50am: Phil Jones on Team Mediation

9.10am: Jane Coward session on ACAS Mediation and conciliation

9.30am: Fiona Martin on Judicial Mediation: when is it suitable, how is it conducted and when has it been successful

9.50am: Coffee break

10.15am: Mediation skills for managers.  An interactive workshop

This seminar is free and places are limited. 

We look forward to seeing you there.

Contact details

Helen Kirk-Brown or Abigail Worth on 01273 720166 or helen.kirk-brown@hays.com or abigail.worth@hays.com

ARC are holding a Sussex open meeting for local recruiters that will extend a warm welcome to visiting non-members to mix them for the first time. The event takes place in central Brighton from 6pm to 8pm, on Wednesday 20^th June, and will provide an opportunity to network at all levels within the recruitment field. There are currently just six places left for non-members to confirm by Tuesday 12^th June. Stay a step ahead on Twitter @ARConsultancies with the hashtag #ARCsussexevent.

The meeting is located at the Brighton headquarters of FDM Group, in Trafalgar Place, Brighton. It will offer newcomers and senior members the opportunity to air concerns, exchange views on burning issues, and to get clear legal insights on the complexities of policy from the ARC recruitment and employment law experts.  Steve Buxton, of FDM Group will be in attendance. Steve explains ‘FDM Group joined ARC to support an organisation whose primary objective is to support and promote  the recruitment industry. ARC’s strength is to challenge the raft of legislation that continually challenges this important sector and importantly is the organisation that provides sound commercial advice.’

There is also an informal round table discussion planned, featuring ARC Chairman, Adrian Marlowe, who is an expert on Agency Worker Regulations (AWR).  He is committed to dispelling the myth that the AWR is unworkable, and seeks to maintain hirer confidence in using agency workers.  Adrian says; “Come along and find out more at this essential event for recruiters in Sussex.” 

For the AWR roundtable go to ARC news online and read what BIS have issued – http://www.lawspeed.com/AWR_Guidance.pdf  or to revisit the myths and facts around AWR and how they could impact on your business, go to  http://www.arc-org.net/News/11-12-21/AWR_Advent_Calendar.aspx  A free factsheet will also be given out on the night.

To reserve a place at the ARC Sussex Meetup please call 01273 777997 or email the ARC Regional Co-ordinator, Jibran Saleem at jibran@arc-org.net

Are you plugged in to the right marketing lingo? To ensure you fully cross-pollinate your brand identity across socially  integrated vertical and horizontal tradigital platforms?  And that you maximise your opportunities for SoLoMo?  Duh….didn’t you know?  It’s that must-have social network-based marketing campaign directly targeting at people in their current location via their mobile phones.
Yes.   Sigh.  Marketing attracts a lot of jargon.
And if you’re running a small to medium sized business with a focus on sales and profitability it’s easy to be turned off by an overly enthusiastic ‘blue-sky thinking’ approach delivered by someone who appears to have their heads right up there in the clouds.
But if there’s one area that needs a bit of demystifying it’s the true value of a positive PR campaign to raise awareness of your product or service with your customers – both new and existing.
Starting with Advertising Value Equivalent – or AVE if you prefer a more jargon-friendly acronym.
Now, forgive me if you know about this already  ….but in our experience many of our clients were too busy concentrating on their own area of expertise to think about just how you put a value on PR.
AVE is the industry standard way of evaluating PR coverage in the media.  It’s actually very simple.  Take a look at the amount of space devoted to an article about your company in the media – whether it’s column inches in a newspaper, a feature on a website or airtime on radio or TV. And work out how much it would have cost you if you’d bought the equivalent space as an advert.  Bingo!  That’s your advertising value equivalent.
But there is a big difference.  The PR industry then multiplies this cost to discover the PR Value Equivalent.
Why?
Just think how many times you’ve flicked past the adverts, eyes glazed over as you looked at the images without reading so much as the brand name.  And then focussed on an article that heavily mentioned a particular company  without even realising that it was generated not by a journalist but by a PR agency working on behalf of their client.  And THAT’s  why PR is generally valued at 3.5 times the value of the equivalent advertising space.
Choose a PR agency with the ability to write consistently media-friendly press releases about your business and you can raise your profile, let your target market know about a new product or service, and spread good news.    A PR consultant who works closely with your company, understands your needs and direction will be an invaluable adjunct to your marketing endeavours – especially if, you are not large enough to employ a full-time ‘marketing department’.
At About Words we have always believed in writing in a way that generates results.  A strong belief in maximising AVE ensures that our clients can bypass the jargon and actually see a straightforward return for their investment in PR.
Contact About Words on 01444 235 154 or email info@aboutwords.co.uk
www.aboutwords.co.uk

To celebrate this success Yourwellness Publishing Ltd is holding a Launch Party / Free Networking event at their head offices in The Beehive, Nr Gatwick for local advertisers and businesses.

There will be 100 people at the event and it is a great opportunity to meet the team behind the magazine including the Editor-In-Chief (The award winning Dr Sarah Brewer) and also network for free with other local businesses.

Hear about how Yourwellness Publishing Ltd is changing the face of local Advertising for the benefit of local businesses
Learn about a new opportunity which is unique to Yourwellness and can allow local businesses to control the media they are featured in as part of the local media co-operative initiative.

Don’t miss your opportunity to gain this invaluable insight about how local advertising should be and also celebrate in the success of Yourwellness with drinks and canapés.

BOOK NOW to secure your FREE place http://www.yourwellness.com/RH10-Launch-Party.aspx

Date: 22nd May 2012
Timings: 6:00pm – 8:00pm
Venue: The Beehive, Beehive Ring Road, Nr Gatwick, RH6 0PA

Euro MP Peter Skinner is campaigning in the UK and the EU for more support for small businesses. SMEs create jobs, generate revenue and taxes and are the bedrock of our economy. Peter Skinner is searching for real life examples of the problems small businesses in Sussex are facing. If you’ve experienced problems accessing bank loans for your business please get in touch and share your experiences. Contact Juan Leahy – juan@peterskinnermep.eu / 07889 703075

6pm for a 6.30pm start 

The Cricketers, 15 Black Lion Street, Brighton, BN1 1ND

Following on from the success of their last charity quiz night, Hays will be hosting another exciting summer quiz night to raise money for their charity partner, Alzheimer’s Society.

Alzheimer’s Society is the leading support and research charity for people with dementia, their families and carers. There are 750,000 people with dementia in the UK and numbers are set to rise to one million by 2021. The Society’s fight for a better world for people with all types of dementia takes a wide range of forms. Through a network of local services, the Society provides practical services and support for people with dementia and their carers.

With a host of local organisations invited, there will be stiff competition, so you’ll need 6 people on your team to compete.

Each team is asked to donate a raffle prize and make a suggested minimum donation of £15.00 for entry. 

Don’t miss out on your chance to prove how good your general knowledge is, network with other organisations in a relaxed and informal environment and have some fun!

To enter, please contact Helen Kirk-Brown on 07738 349931 or helen.kirk-brown@hays.com

We look forward to seeing you there!