Small Business
For the most part, people are very good at picking up on the verbal and visual clues that indicate another’s mood. For those in customer-facing positions – whether it is over the telephone, via digital communication or face to face – dealing with clients who aren’t entirely sure what they want is often unavoidable. Fortunately, there are a number of tell-tale […]
Employers often get the most out of their employees at the very beginning of their tenure, when the employee is keen to impress, eager to make a good impression, and excited to learn new things. But the honeymoon period doesn’t last particularly long, with most people becoming comfortable enough to rest on their laurels and […]
The fact that Aussies love the beach is undisputed worldwide. What is concerning, however, are the potential business impacts, with a survey of 2000 adults, undertaken by Finder.com.au, revealing that one in seven (14%) have cashed in their sick leave to get some sun and hit the waves. Every time an employee decides to fake an illness […]
The 457 visa changes continue to divide the business community as to whether they represent an opportunity or a challenge to overcome. For David Ballerini, co-founder of Melbourne start-up Liven – a restaurant discovery app – a key concern is the potential for increased development costs. “Occupations to be dropped from the replacement programs include ICT support and test […]
Last week, the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman released the findings of the Inquiry into Payment Times and Practices in Australia. The results were startling but, for many small businesses across Australia, they were not surprising. The inquiry revealed almost half of small business are owed more than $20,000 from late payments, and […]
The federal government is replacing 457 visas with a new type of temporary visa designed to ‘better target genuine skills shortages’. The announcement was made on Facebook by Malcolm Turnbull who explained “Australian workers must have priority for Australian jobs”. The Prime Minister said the Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa will feature “new requirements including […]
Personal relationships in the office can be expensive for employees and their employers in both a financial and reputational sense. In recent months there have been a series of highly publicised cases where big business has been hauled over the coals for its approach to the issue. But this can be just as costly for small […]
No business operates in complete isolation. Agreements must be made between your business and its customers, as well as with other businesses such as suppliers and distributors. So how do businesses enforce their agreements? The answer is through the formation of legally binding contracts. Unfortunately, many businesses get caught out with unenforceable contracts and, in turn, […]
By extending payment times to small businesses in the supply chain, large Australian and multinational organisations are effectively using them as ‘a cheap form of finance’, according to a new report by the Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO). The report, which responds to the Ombudsman’s inquiry into payment times and practices, highlighted the […]
Australians will feel the impact of the upcoming new credit card interchange regulations — we’re a nation of points junkies with 11 million Qantas Frequent Flyers * alone. But while everyone’s thinking about how the reverberations of these changes affect consumers, it’s easy to forget that new interchange rates raise a number of big questions […]
Attracting and retaining the next generation of leaders is an increasing challenge not limited to any one sector, due largely to Gen Y (aka millennials) having different expectations for their careers. Job loyalty is far less of a consideration for young workers, making it difficult to retain talent. In fact, 50% of Gen Y believe every job […]
With over 900,000 company cars on the roads in the UK alone, it’s clear to see that many businesses have an entire fleet of company cars for their employees as opposed to just a couple. Often provided as part of a benefits package, employees can expect a wide variety of advantages both in their working […]
Jobs for NSW seeks to help early-stage companies ‘left out in the cold’ by traditional lenders, including those crossing ‘the valley of death’, but there’s one thing it won’t do, according to CEO Karen Borg, and that’s give handouts to businesses that don’t have compelling job growth plans. Borg spoke to Dynamic Business about how […]
Determining the right marketing budget for your business can be difficult – it’s a fine balance between not spending enough and spending a lot more than you need to to be effective. The first thing you should do is look at your budget and how much you CAN afford to spend, before assigning numbers to different […]
As workforces become more and more geographically dispersed, organisations need to support ‘distributed collaboration’ (i.e. the ability for people to work together as a team remotely) to survive, according to Jeff Rodman, co-founder of multinational video collaboration company Polycom. Rodman told Dynamic Business that the impact of digital transformation, including the shift from away traditional […]
As a recruiter, I am surprised by the number of employers who are caught unawares when one of their staff quits to pursue a new job. There are many reasons why people change jobs but usually it’s because they feel they exhausted all opportunities in their current role, desire more money and/or want a new career path. […]
Great ideas often come from startups and small to medium enterprises (SMEs), but the difficult question is what to do next, and at what stage should intellectual property (IP) protection be considered? It’s important to devise an IP strategy of what to protect and when, and costs can be a factor. Luckily, not all […]
As part of its Businesses of Tomorrow program, Westpac has today recognised 200 ‘outstanding’ businesses, including 20 ‘high-potential’ organisations, that have “demonstrated a clear vision to shape Australia’s economy… as it transitions to a services and knowledge-based economy”. The 200 ‘Businesses of Tomorrow’, which have a collective turnover of approximately $2 billion per year and […]
Your brand is what sells your product. Brand management builds and maintains your brand’s reputation. Do your brand’s name, logo, and personality all reflect the identity you want to portray to consumers? Successful brand management will help to define and position your brand in the market, making you stand out from competitors and attract consumers. […]
As the financial year draws to a close and next year’s budgets are debated, there are plenty of ducks to get in a row before July 1 hits. While travel spend may not be front of mind, as CFOs we need to think differently (and strategically) about maximising time on the road and the costs […]
