News

Brisbane based small business and digital agency Cru Digital is giving staff 10 hours a week ‘creative time’ to encourage creativity in the workplace.

With the end of the year approaching and many businesses finalising employee remuneration and bonus payouts, employers are urged to use this opportunity to update their employment contracts, particularly provisions applied to confidential information and restraints of trade, which may be either unsatisfactorily drafted, or out of date, according to Harmers Workplace Lawyers.

Australian-born Cafe2U, the world’s largest mobile coffee franchise, is preparing to expand its operations internationally in the US marketplace, after successfully launching the concept run in California’s San Diego region in June 2010.

Australia prides itself on being a ‘fast-follower’ in technology trends and Cloud Computing is no different. Here is a snapshot of what is happening in Australia for SMBs.

Employment figures are biting back in the lead up to the new year with employment rising to pre GFC levels, with part time employees set to save employers’ bacon in 2011.

Thirty-eight percent of employees have been less productive than normal in the lead-up to the Christmas break, 35% say they have been just as productive and 27% have been more productive, according to new research.

Freelancer.com, the Sydney based worldwide outsourcing marketplace connecting small business with freelancers has acquired LimeExchange.com, run by Lime Labs LLC for an undisclosed sum.

The tourism and retail sectors in NSW will be the first to benefit from a new $6 million initiative to develop Information Communication Technology initiatives, with a ‘mobile concierge’ service to be developed.

Three out of ten small business owners have not had any time off from their business this year with 64 percent having had only one week’s leave or less according to a survey of small business owners this month.

The Qantas A380 engine blast has been named the worst Australian PR disaster of 2010, in the annual PR Disasters Awards by PR watchdog and blogsite PRdisasters.com.

Being a small business owner is so glamorous and straightforward, right?

You can work whenever you want, determine your income and make your own rules. It’s the lifestyle that everyone wishes they had. Or is it?

The BlackBerry Bold 9780 is now available in Australia, with Vodafone and Optus, but not Telstra selling the mobile phone on plans starting at $59 per month.

Woolworths has bought the Hardware.com.au domain name for over $33,000 as the supermarket chain prepares for the launch of its hardware warehouse big-box chain with Lowe’s hardware from the USA.

Freelancer.com has announced their findings on the fastest growing online outsourcing jobs in the third quarter of 2010 with the release of the Freelancer Fast 50.

Here are three tips professionals can act on over the Christmas holiday break to increase the number of people viewing their LinkedIn Profile:

More than half (52 percent) of employees surveyed say they would quit after a conflict with a manager, highlighting the need to ensure managers aren’t pushing good employees out of your business.

Viocorp has announced a $5 million private investment from the Bailador Fund, established by former CEO of Fairfax David Kirk and Paul Wilson, an experienced private equity investor.

The federal government’s review into the taxation of trusts is the most significant attempt at trust tax reform in the last decade, according to the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia.

M Webster Holdings Pty Ltd, trading as David Lawrence, Jigsaw and Marcs, has paid three Infringement Notices totalling $19,800 to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission following an investigation into Webster’s refund policies.

Virgin Blue looks likely to be given approval by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission on a code sharing agreement with Middle East airline Etihad, with draft approval given by ACCC the same day the competition regulator approved Virgin Blue’s alliance with Air New Zealand.