Lorna Brett

The Fair Work Ombudsman is asking franchises to take part in its National Franchise Program (NFP), designed to improve compliance with workplace laws across their network.

Welcome to Friday! As always, we’ve wrapped up the week’s most important small business headlines for all you time-strapped SMB owners.

Westpac will cut around 400 jobs from its head office, technology and operations teams this year, to compensate for a slow down in loan growth.

Looking to change track for a year and devote more time to charitable undertakings? Apply for the Vodafone Foundation World of Difference program to win a full-time and fully paid charity position.

Lorna-Jane Clarkson, OzHarvest’s Ronni Kahn and T2 CEO Maryanne Shearer are amongst the five finalists named for the 2012 Veuve Clicquot Business Woman awards.

Jetts founder Brendon Levenson is the star of this week’s Friday Entrepreneur Fix. Read on to find out how he took on the giants of the fitness industry, and won.

Metcash has reached an agreement with Ritchies for the sale of nine Franklins stores, which will be rebranded under the IGA banner.

The number of trading businesses in Australia rose 0.4 percent in 2010-11, thanks to an increase in new business registrations and a decline in exit rates, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said.

The NSW Government implemented a number of regulations governing workplace health and safety (WHS) just before Christmas, and legal experts are warning SMBs to pay better attention to the legislation and how it impacts their workplace and workers.

The virtual assistant (VA) sector is one of the fastest-growing ‘work from home’ industries in the world, as the promise of flexibility drives administrative professionals to set up these home run businesses. Here’s 10 benefits of hiring a VA to help run your business.