"Developing Business Excellence"

Hi {~Firstname~},

In this edition:

1. Introduction
2. Tip Bitz
3. Feature: On branding …
4. Managing business finance
5. The Pandemic policy
6. Offers
7. Subscribe/Unsubscribe information

• In April 2009 the statutory dispute resolution procedures were repealed by a new Acas Code of Practice. The code explains what is considered fair and ‘reasonable’ behaviour when tackling problems at work. When early resolution cannot be reached, a tribunal will now consider whether a failure to follow the code was unreasonable when making its ruling.
• A new Acas early conciliation service is now available to employers free of charge, while an enhanced helpline (08457 4747 47) provides further assistance – if you are unsure of your legal responsibilities, you should seek professional advice.
• Earlier this year, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) made a crucial judgement on the accrual of holiday for employees on long-term sick leave.
• When delivering its verdict, the Court made the following findings:
• A worker does not have to perform any work to accrue annual leave. Therefore a worker’s annual leave will continue to accrue during a long-term period of sickness.
• EU Governments do not have to permit workers to take holiday whilst they are on sick leave, but if they do not allow this, workers must be allowed to take any accrued holiday after they have returned to work.
• If a worker’s employment contract is terminated during a period of sick leave, he or she is entitled to payments in lieu of any annual leave accrued up to the date of dismissal.

Managing business finance

There are three areas to manage within any business and in order to be really successful the business owner needs to ensure all three are given due consideration and that strategies (those things that we do day to day for the long term good) are aligned to these, they are;

Cash Flow: Ensuring there is cash in the business to cover the day to day running costs (hopefully ensuring the business account is in credit.) Includes sideline money for tax.

Profitability: Making sure that there is enough work, pried correctly in order to make overall profit goals. Managing margins and costs and ensuring that all assets are working to produce a given margin.

Return on investment: Making sure that all investments into the business are utilised to improve profit and that sufficient returns are available to investors including dividends.

Right now I guess the focus for many businesses is on cash flow management, however ignore the two latter areas at your peril. Businesses can make managing all three areas easy by utilising simple financial tools which are all available with our Strategic Business Plan.

Do you have the bases covered?

Are you getting the return that you want?

The Pandemic policy

It has escaped no one’s attention that recently, more people may be feeling a bit under the weather. Flu is not an enjoyable experience at the best of times, so making sure you have the right policy in place to deal with the latest surge of ill health is simple, yet beneficial.

Here are some suggestions being put forward by various HR teams across the country:

Normal leave and workplace policies as provided in the Employee Handbook, except as may be provided below, are still in place.

Encouraging the following will help prevention: cover nose and mouth with a tissue when coughing or sneezing – wash hands regularly - throw used tissues away immediately – keep the office environment hygienic and clean.

If you have been in contact with anyone who has been confirmed as having contracted swine flu, or you are experiencing the following symptoms, please notify your department head immediately:

Sudden fever - sudden cough - headache – tiredness – chills - aching muscles - limb or joint pain - diarrhoea or stomach upset - sore throat - runny nose – sneezing - loss of appetite.

It may be necessary that, following consultation with your department head, you should self isolate and remain at home until advised by your GP. You should then self-monitor yourself for development of any of the above symptoms and advise the company immediately if you have any cause for concern. Employees who are away from work with suspected or confirmed swine flu should follow the Sickness Absence Policy.

Business Reviews

As usual we are offering our Business Review (a two to three hour review session with one of our consultants entirely at our expense) to the first  three businesses who reply to this edition. Give us a call at the offices on 0845 257 4975 now to reserve yours.

Thanks for reading, I hope you found this month's offerings useful and please consider the questions in this month's feature carefully. I urge you towards unprecedented success!

Phil Wells
Business Success Coach
www.impact-corporate.co.uk

I will only bring you items and information that I believe will benefit your business.

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