How to Choose the Best Option to Train Employees in Small Business

November 25, 2013

How to Choose the Best Option to Train Employees in Small Business
Many small business owners treat training as something that should be avoided unless it was absolutely mandated by law. They consider it a necessary evil that just wastes their time and money. After all, who has time to train their employees when there are thousands of tasks to take care of. Many of them also work on tight budget, which limits the amount of money they can spend on “unnecessary” expenses such as training. This myopic thinking on training is wrong. By not providing training to their employees small business owners limit the potential of their employees and the contribution they can make to grow your business.

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3 Ways to Be a Better Coach to Your Employees

October 22, 2013

3 Ways to Be a Better Coach
A great leader or business owner not only knows how to run his company, but he is also a great motivator and coach to his employees. Think about it – your business is only as good as the contribution made by your employees and you are only as good as the value you can get from your employees. That is why coaching and motivating your employees to bring out the maximum potential from them is one of the most important jobs of any leader.

The problem is not every leader is a born coach. There are those who are natural at bringing out the best from others and there are others who make employees run away from them. With little help and determination it is possible for a leader to improve his coaching skills. All you need is to put yourself in your employees’ shoes. Below are 3 important steps you need to take to be a better coach.

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5 Simple Techniques to Keep Your Employees Stress Free

September 27, 2013

5 simple techniques to keep your employees stress free
According to NHS, an estimated 10 million days are lost each year as a result of work related stress, depression and anxiety. This is despite businesses spending enormous amount of money on employee health care. Many small business owners feel like there is no end in sight to this vicious cycle of rising healthcare cost for their businesses, increasing stress for their employees and reducing productivity and profit resulting from both.

While the situation may appear dire at times, there are some simple and effective ways by which businesses can help their employees reduce daily stress, and in turn reduce their health care cost and improve business productivity. The key is to take these steps before the situation warrants immediate attention and make them part of your and employees’ daily routine. Below we provide some tips to do just that.

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What to Do When Your Business Faces a Lawsuit

July 25, 2013

What to do when your business faces a lawsuit
When you’re running a small business, you’re so busy with managing employees and meeting payroll that the last thing on your mind is a lawsuit. Of course, when that happens it can bring everything to a grinding halt. Handling legal entanglements can drag on for years and can put you in lot of financial trouble. It is in your best interest to know beforehand what you can and cannot do when you are faced with lawsuits. Here are some suggestions to help you calm your nerves in that situation and deal with the issue at hand.

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Small Business Dilemma – How to Select Job Applicants for Interview

June 20, 2013

How to select job applicants for interview
So you’ve put out a job advert and ended up with a pile of CVs on your desk. Great, but now you face the daunting task of whittling down the candidates to three or four to call in for an interview.

A standard CV is maximum two pages long and only provides an outline of the candidate’s skills, experience and qualifications. Although this is useful when you have a lot to get through, it also makes it difficult to gauge person’s ability, personality and suitability for the role. So how do you decide who to invite for a job interview?

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Best Approaches to Screen Resumes to Find Qualified Employees

May 27, 2013

Best approaches to screen resumes to find qualified employees
Any small business owner who has tried to find employees to fill open positions can tell you how difficult it is to find good employees. Despite all the talk about high unemployment and difficulty people are having to find jobs it is also true that there are number of vacancies small businesses have that are going unfilled because they cannot find qualified employees. This situation will only get worse as economy improves and more and more people start finding jobs.

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Why Training Employees is Essential for Small Businesses

May 26, 2013

Why is training essential for small business employees

Employee training is not something that most small business owners give much thought to. They think of employee training as something that large corporations need to ensure their employees are equipped with the company policies and procedures required to perform their jobs. Most new employees in small business go through on-the-job training, if at all. After all, who has time to spend on training employees when there are so many tasks waiting to be completed, right? Besides, as a small business you don’t want to spend extra money on employee training.

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How Recruiting Firms Can Help Small Businesses Grow

May 3, 2013

How recruiting firms can help small business grow
Many small business owners make the mistake of assuming they can’t afford to hire a recruiting firm. In reality they cannot afford not to retain expert assistance when it comes to expanding their labor force. Not only can busy small business owners save time and money, but they can also be relieved of a stress by delegating recruiting to the professionals who can provide qualified candidates both quickly and efficiently.

Recruiting firms help small businesses in multiple ways as shown below.

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Do Small Businesses Need Social Media Policies?

April 27, 2013

Social media policies for small business

Most companies now use at least some level of social media to promote their business. Assuming your company uses this method of promotion, it is important to ensure that your online message is professional and consistent.

Large companies create detailed social media policies to make clear to staff exactly how their businesses can and should contribute to these online platforms. This ensures that the company creates the correct impression across all of their online presence – from blog posts to Twitter “tweets.”

Given the high visibility and spontaneous nature of social media, it is fair to say that creating a social media policy is equally important for a smaller business, to ensure that costly mistakes are not made when interacting with customers online.

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Beware of These 5 Traps when Hiring in Small Business

April 6, 2013

5 traps to watch for when hiring in small business
There are few decisions as important as hiring employees when running a small business. Hiring the right person can take your business to new heights. On the contrary, it doesn’t take long for the business to go in the ditch if a wrong person comes onboard. After all, all businesses, large and small, are largely dependent on their employees to keep them going. The owner or the manager alone cannot take care of everything.

Attrition remains a big problem for all small businesses. It is not surprising to find replacement of the entire workforce within a year. Many small business owners feel as if they are in the constant hiring mode – advertising, interviewing and onboarding employees. How can you expect to do rigorous job when you are always in the hiring mode? However, taking right steps early on and spending extra effort in finding and retaining good employees can pay off in reduced attrition rate, taking care of the nipping the problem from the bud. In an earlier post, I discussed 5 things small business owners must do when hiring. Here we will look at the corollary. What are the traps small business owners should avoid to ensure they don’t end up with bad apples in their employee crew?
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