“Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers.” (Stephen R. Covey) Gallup describes “engaged employees” as those who are involved in, enthusiastic about, and committed to their work and workplace. Numerous studies over many decades have confirmed the benefits of engaged employees especially to smaller companies, where they are often required to take on many diverse responsibilities. Many studies have also identified employee engagement strategies that have proven most meaningful to employees and are therefore most effective. In these difficult economic times, business owners and managers will be pleased to find that some of the most effective employee engagement strategies do not require a substantial cost. The many benefits of engaged employees This isn’t just hype. Studies have confirmed that - Engaged employees often go beyond the call of duty. Employee engagement is positively correlated to company growth rates. Improved employee retention and loyalty. Lower absenteeism rates. Higher productivity – some studies have found engaged workers to be up to 21% more productive. Improved customer satisfaction. Improved company reputation and overall stakeholder value. Reduced incidence of internal theft and fraud. Reduced safety incidents. Some effective employee engagement strategies Employees have a good understanding of the business's values and mission, and clear expectations about their role in achieving these. Employees have the necessary equipment, resources and authority to do their jobs well. Regular employee performance and progress catch-ups with good quality, authentic and genuine feedback. Good relationships with superiors who are truly concerned for employees’ wellbeing and willing to provide support. Opportunities for employees to voice opinions and contribute ideas. Genuine and meaningful recognition, given publicly and timeously in front of superiors and peers. Peer-to-peer recognition has been found to have twice the impact of recognition from managers. Flexible work schedules and remote working options that allow employees to meet family obligations. Onsite employee programmes addressing, for example, health and wellness, or personal finances. Onsite family day care facilities and/or onsite food services. Having friends at work significantly improves employee commitment and satisfaction, by as much as 50% according to some studies. Volunteering unites employees towards a common greater good. Implementing employee engagement strategies on a budget When looking at the employee engagement strategies listed above, it is encouraging that most don’t involve high costs. What is crucial is to ensure that any strategies implemented add real value to your employees and impact their work and personal lives in a meaningful way. The best way to do so would be to ask your employees directly, perhaps at a team meeting or via an anonymous online survey. Perhaps an employee-of-the-month program with rewards such as breakfast with the Boss or gift cards could yield great results. It may be that a Friday afternoon off once a month or paid leave on an employee’s birthday are top choices. Celebrating national holidays or sporting events as a company, or providing paid time off for volunteering together, will create opportunities to build friendships and create a sense of belonging. Especially…

“We need to give importance to skill development because this way we can end unemployment.” (Narendra Modi, Prime Minister, India) Since 1999, the Skills Development Levy (SDL) has served to fund skills development in the country. It encourages a planned and structured approach to skills development so employers, employees and the economy can benefit from a better skilled and more productive workforce. All South African companies with a payroll exceeding R500,000 per year (that’s just under R42,000 per month) - including salaries, wages, overtime payments, leave pay, bonuses, fees, commissions and lump sum payments, and with certain specific exclusions - are required to pay SDL of 1% of the total amount paid in salaries to employees each month. It is declared and paid by employers to SARS with the other monthly employee taxes (PAYE and UIF) via the Monthly Employer Declaration (EMP201) and is then paid over to the relevant SETA by SARS. Employers can claim back more than half of the levies paid each year, but most miss the opportunity by not meeting the stipulated requirements. Depending on the size of a company’s payroll, this could be a substantial amount. There are also other benefits that can be unlocked by meeting the requirements for claiming back the levies paid. We briefly summarise below the benefits of claiming back the SDL paid, as well as how to do it in the most efficient way. Benefits of claiming back levies paid Claiming ensures valuable revenue is not forfeited - up to 70% of SDL paid to SARS in the financial period can be claimed back through the mandatory grant and other avenues. 20% of the levy paid can be claimed via the mandatory grant, paid by the Seta every quarter, which is accessed as follows: Appointing and registering a skills development facilitator (SDF) Timeously submitting an approved Workplace Skills Plan (WSP) Timeously submitting an Annual Training Report (ATR) based on the WSP. 50% of levies paid can be claimed in discretionary grants for learnerships, skills programmes, apprenticeships, workplace experience placements, internships and bursaries, and organisations can apply using the same requirements for claiming the mandatory grant. By offering SETA-accredited training, for example, mandatory training and registered learnerships, further tax rebates can be accessed. Successful submission of the required reports will earn your company points for the Skills Development priority element under the revised B-BBEE Codes. The WSP and ATR reports contain similar labour demographics information as the Employment Equity reports, facilitating improved employment equity management in the workplace. Skills development initiatives positively promote a better skilled and more productive workforce, as well as proper succession planning. Submitting the reports provides important sector information to the SETAs (Sector Education and Training Authorities), which informs the development of the SETA’s sector skills plan (SSP) and ultimately the National Skills Development Plan. How to claim back levies paid Appoint a suitably qualified and registered SDF to facilitate the training needs within the organisation and liaise with the SETA. Companies with 50 or more employees need to…

“Proper business planning demands that you focus on the self-interest of the customer at all times.” – (Brian Tracy, Author and Speaker) Writing a business plan can feel like a daunting process, and making mistakes is part of the package, even if you follow the online guides and templates.  To make this process simpler, we have made a short list of common errors that somehow keep creeping into these vital documents. Making it too long As Amazon founder Jeff Bezos once said, “You know the business plan won’t survive its first encounters with reality. It will always be different. The reality will never be the plan.” He did, however then go on to stress that writing a business plan is essential to understanding what will make your business tick. It’s important to realise that your business plan will never be able to cover every contingency and every possible incident that can occur and should rather be focused on revealing the core business. Once you understand your core business implicitly, you will be able to write it down in a much more succinct fashion. A long business plan is therefore only evidence that you don’t yet understand what’s going on. Understand your target market No product is for everyone. Understanding who you are selling to and what will motivate them to buy is the first thing any investor will look for, and the most fundamental thing you will need to understand to be successful. It will shape who you hire, what your marketing looks like, and even what your startup's logo will be. Simply believing you will market to everyone is putting your business on the path to failure. Ignoring competitors It is extremely common for companies to exclude business competitors from their business plan. Many believe that their new product is so superior, cheap or well-supported that competitors won’t stand a chance once it is marketed correctly, or simply don’t have as much understanding of the market they are entering as they think they do.  Having a sound, realistic competitor analysis shows investors you understand the market and know where your unique differentiators lie. Neglecting a financial forecast Many business plans ignore financial forecasts as they either don’t have the experience necessary or don’t believe they are important – of what use is guessing things that don’t exist? The truth is that a good financial planner or accountant should be able to help with these forecasts which need to include profit and loss, but also, essentially, cash flow and balance sheet. This area of the business plan will reveal to potential investors whether your plan has been carefully thought out, and takes realistic rates of growth into account, or whether it’s simply pie in the sky. No investor is going to work with someone who believes they will sell a million items in the first three months. Being too strict The business plan should always be viewed as a guide and not as a set of hard and fast rules.…

“Consumers don’t just buy products and services anymore; they buy experiences. This demands a new approach to marketing, sales, and services; one that hinges on winning customer trust.” (Ben Jackson, Author "The Future of Commerce) With customer trust being the most important element in attracting sales, contracts and clients, gaining that trust is an important step for any new start up. How can you make sales if you have no way to prove you are good at making sales? These tips should help any start up build that all important trust and make their first sales. Make top level products It may seem obvious, but whether you are offering a service, or selling products online, the first, and most critical thing you can do to develop as a company is to make sure your product is as high-quality as possible. Products that are easy for a customer to use, and that fulfil the client’s needs will always win their loyalty. Price your product accurately Pricing a product isn’t as easy as adding profit to cost. You need to price your product in such a way that you are covering all costs, making a profit, and pricing yourself correctly within the market. Getting this right will be crucial to finding, developing and retaining customers. Your accountant can help ensure no one feels cheated while you are also operationally effective. Provide top level service in every way The first few weeks and months of operation are absolutely critical when it comes to customer service. It may feel like nothing is coming in, but the day you receive an email it would be extremely wise for you to answer as quickly as possible. Handling enquiries politely, quickly and thoroughly will translate in the customer’s mind to a business which is caring and paying attention. Show them your humanity The first inclination for any customer is to mistrust brands – they are money-making machines. We do, however, want to trust new people we meet. Because of this, it’s a great idea to reveal the human face of your business early. Use the About Us page to introduce yourself and the team right from the start. Let people know your story, and how you came to establish your company. This allows you to imbue your brand with the real-life values you believe in and so establish the human connection in a way that only small brands really can. Offer a free sample People view free things as being risk-free interactions, and so are generally likely to take you up on the offer. By trading free samples or an hour of your work at no cost, in exchange for nothing but an email address, you give clients the chance to try your product or service and potentially even leave a review. You also get their email address, which is a good way to communicate with them and establish a genuine relationship. Use testimonials Whenever anyone compliments your business, you should think about asking them for a…

"The time to prepare for disasters is before they happen” (Stephen Matheson, Vice President of Product at BridgeHead) Given how reliant we all are on our IT infrastructure, it will come as no surprise to learn that one of the worst things that can happen to a business is for a failure to occur in that department. Whether it’s fire, floods, or hacking, being taken offline can spell a serious period of trouble for most organisations. In the time it takes to get back up and operational projects can be delayed, the quality of work can suffer, or worst of all, everything is put on hold for months while data is recreated. All of this can lead to strained relationships with both customers and suppliers and potentially the end of the business. A Disaster Recovery Plan is the pre-planned process a company will turn to when disaster strikes to ensure that a short-term problem does not become a permanent one. Here are five simple tips for what you need to consider when drawing one up. Have a response checklist The response checklist is a detailed breakdown of which employees should be contacted and what they should do in the event of a disaster. These should cover everything from who phones your IT support company to who puts out the fire or organises the evacuation drill. Ideally, these responses should be practiced. It’s no good telling someone they have to turn off the building’s water in the event of a flood if they don’t know where to do that. Have a data backup plan All company data needs to be backed up, as regularly as possible. How this is done will depend on how vital that data is to the operational capabilities of your business but should happen at least once a day. Look at your company carefully and decide which information is vital and which can safely be lost. You don’t need to back up all your client emails if you also keep other records of their projects for instance.Data is a business asset and has real value. The more important the data, the more strictly and safely that data needs to be backed up. Can you do it yourself on a hard disk that the secretary takes home, or do you need a full-scale external, cloud-based solution? How are you going to tell your clients? While it's usually a good idea to keep drama and difficulties far away from your clients, in this instance it may be important to tell them what is going on to explain any delays they may be about to experience and how you are planning to meet their orders.  In addition, provide them with any alternate contact details.Your plan should detail exactly how that is going to happen. Having pre setup and approved email addresses and telephone numbers organised will save a lot of time and frustration until your company is back on its feet. Cost considerations Your plan should also take into account…

"We want to assure business that by the time you get back to work in January, we will have a much more stable situation." (Public Enterprises Minister, Pravin Gordhan, December 7, 2018) With loadshedding now a constant reality in our lives and Eskom and the government offering no signs of any form of short-term recovery, small business owners are being forced to increasingly adapt in order to survive. Here are our top five tips that might help, beyond simply “buy a generator/inverter”. Adopt work from home Those who are single will have heard the advice to date someone on a different loadshedding schedule, and this tip can be liberally applied across a company. By allowing staff to work from home, most businesses can be reasonably assured of having someone online and capable of handling client calls and enquiries at any given time. At the very least companies need to be looking at offering flexible work hours, so they don’t find employees sitting in the traffic caused by all the traffic lights being out, only to arrive at work to sit in the dark. Allowing staff to do the work when and where they want could do wonders for productivity. Perhaps you can even negotiate with a local coffee shop for discounts when your staff come to work there? Move to cloud-based solutions If you aren’t already using cloud-based solutions now is the time to adapt. Storing everything you do on the cloud with storage and backup solutions such as Dropbox or Microsoft’s OneDrive will mean your data can be accessed from anywhere and is much less likely to be lost should servers or computers become damaged by the power cuts. Set computers to do regular saves and backups so nothing gets lost. Use mains-free tools If your tools can come in a battery-operated version, then now is the time to start trading out of plug reliant technology. PCs should be traded in for laptops, electric cookers and fridges can be traded in for gas and everything from power tools to hairdryers have battery operated versions. Move your company's main number to a cell phone or to a VoIP solution and make sure all key personnel cell phones are permanently charged. Unplug equipment The second the power goes down it’s time to unplug all the expensive equipment. Don’t take the risk of the surge destroying your vital machines, assembly lines and computers when the power comes back on. If you can, invest in insurance, but make 100% sure that it covers loadshedding damage, as some companies have removed that protection from their contracts. Ensure that your, and your key employees’ Wi-Fi connections are attached to a UPS system. Use more than one payment system Using two or even three different network options will ensure you are always able to take payments whenever your equipment is charged, even if the power is off. Don’t lose a vital sale or shut up shop simply because you have a contract with one network service…

“Good fortune is what happens when opportunity meets planning,” - Thomas Edison You have your idea, you have your mission statement and perhaps you even have an idea of who your first customers will be, but there are still a few things you should consider doing before you launch your company. When it comes to your finances doing these five things in advance will ready you and your business for success and allow you to focus more on the company and less on the necessary financial administration. Deal with your personal finances For some entrepreneurs starting a company is seen as a way to get themselves out of financial trouble. Unfortunately, if this is the case, the company will be starting off on the back foot. If your motivation for starting a business is as a way to repay your own loans or debts, then you won't be making the best decisions for the company. Ideally, your finances should be clean with debts paid off and taxes up to date. This will allow you to focus on the company for what it is, rather than on what you need. Ideally, you will be starting your company with your own personal finances sorted for the first six months at least, and with no debt.  If you are in trouble, or don't have any savings, then it is important that you get any loans and debts under control and reshape your personal expenses in line with leaner times before you take your first new business step. Consolidate any debts you may have and arrange for lower monthly payments. Cancel any unnecessary services and costs and try to get your monthly outgoings as low as you can before you quit your job or start your company. You are going to have tough months and it's important that you are ready to weather them if you hope to succeed. Open a business account Many new businesses begin as extensions of the owner. Sometimes the owner's finances are used to pay for business expenses and these costs get lost along the way in the search for success. It is therefore important to decide on a vehicle for your business (ask your accountant to advise you on whether you will be best off with a company, trading trust, or sole tradership) then open a business banking account to more accurately keep track of exactly what is owed by your business to you, or you to your business. All relevant business expenses are tax deductible, but this can't happen if they aren't accurately tracked and accounted for in the business. Opening an account will help you not only look more professional but also track your income and outgoings more effectively. Get your taxes up to date Your personal taxes are an important aspect of business leadership. If your taxes are not properly filed and up to date when you have a job, the chances are they are only going to get worse. Ask your accountant to look…

“In business, you don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate,” Chester Karrass, Founder of Seminar group Karrass. At some point, around halfway through the pandemic, experts began to whisper that office space was dead. “No one will be using an office by 2023,” they said. And yet, while it's true that office space use has declined steeply in some parts of the country, many companies are still finding a use for a dedicated environment in which to conduct business. Do you need an office for your business? Remote work has proven that the humble office we remember is not essential, but there are still several functions an office can serve. For many employees, an office can serve simply as a distraction-free environment in which to work, while for others it may cement team relationships. For others, it can be a way to separate work and home lives. Employees also often need physical meeting spaces, a place to pore over designs and showcase physical models. Moreover, introducing new employees is easier in a formal physical office space, as is hosting company celebrations. Despite this, remote work has seen a decrease in demand in many parts of South Africa and given this there has never been a better time than now to negotiate for that dedicated office space if you find that your company needs it. These tips will help you get what you need. Get the right amount of space Here's a quick guide to getting the space you need and no more: Conference room (15 to 30 people): 75 to 90 square metres Small meeting room (2 to 4 people): 30 square metres Large meeting room (4 to 8 people): 45 square metres Manager's office: 25 square metres Senior Manager's office including private meeting table: 50 square metres Server room (1 to 4 racks): 12 to 40 square metres. In addition, you will need roughly 30 square metres of space per employee. This may adjust upward dependent on the kind of work you do (do your employees need to spread plans out on their desks for instance?) or downward if employees are hot-desking and not expected to be in the office each day. Finally, remember your future expectations. If the plan is to hire more people shortly, then they should be catered for as well. No use incurring the cost of moving in a few years if you can avoid it. For a more accurate picture that includes what you need, try this office space calculator. Consider also the “hive” or “shared office space” alternatives on offer in some cities. Other facilities When renting an office, you may want to consider a variety of factors that don't include size. How easy is the office to travel to? Is there traffic and easy access to public transport? Does the block have a generator or solar for loadshedding? Do you need access to printing shops or mailing? What sort of hours will you be open, and will employees need night…