Sage hello...With your business all the way

Firms have been urged to test new working arrangements ahead of this summer's Olympic Games in a bid to avoid transport chaos. With more people working from home, the TUC said flexitime and other arrangements should be considered to help ease pressure on transport systems, especially in London, in the coming months. A study by the union organisation showed one in five people over the age of 55 already work from home as part of a growing trend. But more people would like to have the chance of working from home, said the TUC report, published to mark the National Work From Home Day, run by Work Wise. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: The Olympics are an ideal opportunity for more employers to try out innovative flexible working practices such as flexitime and home working. There is a huge demand from staff for more flexible working practices but too often they are held back by out-of-date attitudes and a lack a trust from bosses. But everyone can benefit from modernising the workplace. Working from home can help workers cut out the stressful and expensive commute. Employers who have already taken the plunge have gained improved productivity and staff motivation, and it will also reduce congestion and help the Olympics to run smoothly. With just 70 days left until the opening ceremony employers still have time to plan smarter working practices, but there is now a sense of urgency. Charles Elvin, chief executive of the Institute of Leadership and Management, said: With the Olympics now just 70 days away, many London- and South East-based businesses will be looking for ways to avoid rush hour commuting and businesses should seize this opportunity to trial home or other flexible working options to see how the business can operate remotely. Travel firm Travel Counsellors supported the TUC's call, saying flexible working could boost productivity and increase staff wellbeing. Copyright Press Association 2012

New research indicates that small and medium-sized companies in need of legal help are most worried about laying off staff who underachieve. QualitySolicitors questioned 400 solicitors in the UK and found that two in three, or 63%, said letting go of workers who do not do well is the number one concern out of the range of legal issues which small firms face. This was followed by worries in relation to making redundancies when conducting a shake-up of a business. Nearly half of those polled (45%) claimed the issue was one of the top three legal problems which company owners might come across. According to the findings, small business bosses are also worried about having to make decisions to sell their firms, with a third (32%) of solicitors claiming this was a topic which they had already given advice about. The report concluded that small and medium-sized businesses mainly find these problems difficult because in the majority of situations (85%), the owners do not fully understand or know what their legal duties and requirements are. Craig Holt, chief executive of QualitySolicitors, said: As an entrepreneur myself I completely understand why the finer points of employment law may not be front of mind for people when they are starting a business, but failure to comply with legislation or taking cuts in the short term can prove costly to a company. Copyright Press Association 2012

UK businesses are being held back from exporting by poor transport connections, says a survey by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC). Some 8,000 businesses were polled by the BCC and of them 20% said the quality of transport connections were stopping them from exporting. This figure is much higher in Scotland and Northern Ireland, where 34% and 32% of business respectively saw transport as an issue. Across Britain 41% of businesses said that they found the cost of trade connections a problem when exporting, and 23% said domestic links were also an issue. To help businesses to export, the BCC is asking for road tolls, encouragement for the private sector to invest in transport infrastructure and great airport capacity in the south east. The chambers also believes airline tax should be scrapped. There was good news in the report too, with the number of British companies who are exporting both goods and services rising to 32% this year, compared to 22% last year. John Longworth, the BCC's director general, said that encouraging exports should be a number one priority for the Government to help economic recovery. Copyright Press Association 2012

For the first time in over 12 months, the jobs outlook in England is looking positive. A new survey of 1,000 employers shows that more firms are looking to recruit new staff than make staff redundant. However, there is bad news as well, with the study also finding that more organisations are planning to move work overseas in the next year. Despite the generally positive outlook, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) said that employers are still cautious about their medium-term prospects, meaning that the positive outlook may not last. Gerwyn Davies from the CIPD said that while good news is very welcome , the recovery may just be short-term because of the zigzagging economic backdrop . Mr Davies went on to say that the double-dip recession and increases in labour costs make the economic situation for recruiters unusually difficult to read . Copyright Press Association 2012

The average amount of sick days that workers take has stalled since last year after a drop in 2011, according to recent statistics. Businesses have tried to encourage the Government to set out some new policies to improve the sickness rates and ensure employees are getting the best level of treatment in order to get them back into work as soon as possible. The EEF manufacturer organisation revealed that the number of sick days taken was lower in 2011 compared to 2010 with around 35% of companies reporting a dip in numbers. The amount of workers found to be taking no sick days at all rose from 46% in 2010 to 51% in 2011, in a poll of over 400 companies. However, this year the total sickness rates remain at around five per worker, showing a stall in the short-term absence decrease. Professor Sayeed Khan, chief medical advisor for the EEF, said: With our economy still suffering from weak growth we need to pull every possible lever to improve our economic performance. This includes helping employees to return to health and work as soon as possible. In particular it must embed the 'fit note' culture through the training of all doctors and support companies who invest in rehabilitation. Copyright Press Association 2012

It’s that time of year again for one of the largest events for small businesses in the UK –  The Business Startup Show and The Great British Business Show.  So, we’re busy packing our bags and heading down to Excel, London to exhibit at the show on 17 and 18 May.

Come and say "hi" to us on stand 322

Having attended the show for the past few years, I can tell you that we love coming down to London from Newcastle to meet all those inspiring people who are striving to make their business dream a reality and we love to think that we can play a part in making that happen, no matter how small.

We’ve been keen supporters of The Business Startup show for the past couple of years for a few reasons. Firstly, it’s events like this that give businesses the chance to share ideas and learn new things that’ll help them achieve their goals. But also, it gives us the chance to meet our customers (and hopefully future customers) and learn more about the challenges they face so we can continue to support them from planning, through to trading and growing their business.

What have we got planned over the two days?

Demonstrations of our software are ever popular, and we’re taking even more of our software experts to showcase our range of small business software, everything from Sage Instant Accounts, to  Sage 50 Accounts and of course the new kid on the block, our online accounts software, Sage One. We’ll also have our Sage Store on the stand so you can buy there and then if you like what you see!

We’ll be running a business planning workshop every hour over the two days. We’ll also be covering Real Time Information (RTI) – this is a huge change to the way you run your payroll, so check out the information on Are you ready for RTI if it’s passed you by.

So, if you fancy coming along to network with like minded individuals, have a drink at our network bar or take part in a software  demonstration them come along to see us on stand 322.

Looking forward to seeing you!

Sarah Woods, Small Business Team

Last week’s news that lender Wonga (a provider of high cost short term personal loans) has launched a business loans service, promising to make funds of £3,000 to £10,000 available within 15 minutes of an application is a signal to banks and the Government that they are simply not doing enough to support responsible lending to Britain’s small business community.

Sage and many other champions of small businesses have been raising concerns about firms struggling to access finance for years now. Changes to bank lending have to come.

Our recent UK omnibus of more than 1,000 Sage customers showed that a quarter of UK businesses are optimistic about their business prospects in 2012, but 84% of them do not believe the Government has done enough to support the business community in the past 12 months.

We are a nation of entrepreneurs, whose drive and self belief are an inspiration for economic recovery, but businesses cannot succeed on their own.

Last week’s revelation from the Bank of England that banks have slashed their lending to small business by £100bn since 2008 only adds further evidence to the growing problems of access to finance.

These concerns have fallen on deaf ears by the Government and banks, so will this new arrival to business loans be the wake-up call that they need?

More must be done to provide our backbone of Britain’s economy with access to affordable and viable long-term finance at a time when they are struggling with cashflow and fighting for their survival in today’s tough economic conditions. Putting pressure on financial institutions to lend money to small businesses is one of the top 3 changes SMEs want to see the Government implement to improve UK business conditions.

It’s never been more important for the Government to show it’s listening and taking action. I believe firmly that the Government needs to promote a culture of lending to businesses at favourable rates and open up alternative routes of non-bank finance, such as the coalition’s £1.2billion Business Finance Partnership.

Brendan Flattery, CEO Sage UK and Ireland

For the first of our Sage Career blogs Louise Piggott from our Recruitment Team looks at a typical day for a Telesales Executive within our Small Business Division. If this sounds like the career for you then check out our Telesales Executive opportunities or our general recruitment pages for other opportunities.

Getting organised

The day begins at 9am with a team start-up. The team all get together so our manager can go through how the previous day ended, let us know the focus for the current day and, more often than not, have a bit of a laugh and share successes from the previous day. There may also be messages cascaded from our senior management team, things like, monthly discount codes and new sales promotions.

When you get back to your desk the first thing to do is to check your stats to see how you’re doing against them and what you need to do to improve them. Next it’s dealing with any call backs or comms you might have from previous days to make sure our customers get the right information when they need it. Then it’s dial, dial, dial working your way through your call list, being organised, adapting your style to different customers, making sure you’ve understood each customer’s needs so you can match them up with the software that’s going to make their working day easier.

Targets and incentives

Ultimately you’re in control and accountable for how you spend your day. Monthly targets are given and this gets broken down to a daily target. It can be tough if you fall behind for a few days however the camaraderie is great and there is always someone about to pick you up and keep you going, as well as lots of support from managers, trainers and the quality team.

There’s usually some form of incentive happening, whether these are hourly, daily or monthly. The incentives always give everybody the opportunity to be included. It’s not exclusively for the top or best performers and they always help to keep the spirits up.

Gym v shops!

At our Newcastle office we’ve got a fantastic working environment and there’s a wide range of things to do onsite at lunchtime. Many meet other colleagues for lunch with a wide range of foods available to buy. Some choose to go to our onsite gym to do a workout or to take part in a fitness class. Perhaps a Spinning class where you could be taking a cycle tour of Harlem! For others it can be a chance for Sage groups and societies to meet like the Sage cycle club or Sage choir. For those with errands to run, the MetroCentre is a 10min drive down the A1 so there’s time to get there and back within the hour.

After lunch has digested it’s time to review the day so far, checking your stats and paying close attention to the targets that need the most focus. 5pm comes, you log off, hopefully after another successful day and had some fun along the way!

Every day can be as different as you want it to be. Every business has different needs and goals and therefore every conversation should be different. There’s challenges and successes, but that’s part and parcel of any outbound telesales role, you do need to be resilient to work here but the rewards are well worth it.

Louise Piggott, Sage Recruitment Advisor

If you run your payroll then you need to know that there is a big change heading your way and that change is called RTI. Real time Information or RTI is a new system that’s being introduced by HMRC to improve the operation of Pay as You Earn (PAYE). PAYE information will be collected more regularly and more efficiently when employers submit their regular payroll submissions.

But don’t worry; we’ve got it all in hand to see our customers through this change. Here, Neilson Watts, one of our payroll experts talks us through his first ever Sage RTI submission as a taster of what’s to come.

Arriving around 45 minutes early to meet Andrew at Lindapter International, I prepared for the meeting with a hearty meal of chips, battered sausage with curry sauce…..what better preparation?

After a lot of hard work, sweat and deodorant over the last 6 to 12 months (particularly from our R&D and Customer Services teams) I had the somewhat easier task and pleasure of visiting Andrew Anstice, Financial Controller at Lindapter International who was about to make our first RTI submission in HMRC’s pilot.

To be totally honest, when Andrew came to submit his one-off Employers’ Alignment Submission (put simply, this enables HMRC to match the record you hold about your company and employees) I was sitting there outwardly projecting confidence, while inside I had everything crossed, and I mean everything!

But after a couple of clicks of Andrew’s mouse and what felt like an age, but was in fact only a couple of seconds, we achieved success.

So, how straightforward is it?

I sat there thinking to myself, is that it?

Somewhat of an anti-climax, but what else could I expect?  I turned to Andrew and asked him what he thought, and I think if you’ve got concerns about RTI you’ll find his feedback reassuring:

• “I’m really pleased.  Not only was it straightforward, it was no different really to how I submit my payroll year end returns.  It was only literally just a few extra clicks of my mouse to the normal weekly and monthly payroll process.  Great experience”

Whilst giving HMRC some breathing space before we submitted his first Full Payment Submission I asked Andrew whether he believed RTI is a good thing.

• “Yes I think so, although it might take a little bit getting used to initially I can see that it’s going to help HMRC and employers like Lindapter International ensure our employees are paid accurately with less problems for the business to resolve”.
• “I really see that the way Sage has implemented RTI as making little difference to the way that I do my payroll today it really is that straight forward.”

Is RTI a good thing?

Quite naturally we then went on to talk about why Lindapter choose to adopt RTI early and what is the best bit of advice that he could suggest to employers who are thinking about moving to RTI early.

• “Fundamentally we wanted to get our business ready for RTI early, with the right help and support from Sage to do this, whilst also the opportunity to provide feedback to HMRC that helps minimise the impact on small and medium sized businesses like Lindapter.
• “Following Sage’s advice we worked very closely with our employees to ensure the data we held on them such as Full Name, Address, National Insurance Number and Date of Birth were accurate and up-to-date which has helped ensure our first submission was a success”.

After around 30 minutes we went on to submit the Full Payment Submission that employers will be required to make every time you pay your employees.  Andrew clicked Submit……again like an Instant Replay success, followed by a HMRC email receipt confirming the submission…..and that was it….history for Sage….our first successful submissions under RTI.

Success!

I quickly phoned our contact at the HMRC to give them the good news and they confirmed successful receipt of both the Employer Alignment Submission and Full Payment Submission, they were extremely pleased……and so were we.

Over the coming months we will be continuing to work closely with and support our customers participating in HMRC RTI pilot stages, but our customers will help shape the success of RTI at HMRC but also the experience within Sage’s Payroll solutions.

Neilson Watts, Sage Payroll Expert

Huge thanks to Lindapter International. For more than 75 years Lindapter International based in Bradford has been providing innovative steelwork clamping systems to its customers around the UK, Europe and the World.  Andrew has worked for Lindapter for nearly 40 years and as Financial Controller is responsible for ensuring its mixture of weekly and monthly staff is paid on time and accurately.

Our guest blogger is Nicola Connop, from Business Debtline, who recently contributed to our Solutions Magazine, the exclusive magazine for our SageCover members. It’s full of  business advice as well as technical tips for Sage software. SageCover customers can log in to see your Solutions magazine now. If you’re not a member why not find out more about about our software support and business advice service SageCover?

The economy is in yet another challenging year, testing the strength of even the most robust of businesses. But what should you do if your business is struggling with debt? Nicola Connop, team manager at Business Debtline, offers her advice…

Budgeting

The first step to take is to complete a thorough budget sheet to identify any surplus income that can be used to ease how much money is owed.

Business debts should also be split into two categories: priority and non-priority. Priority debts are where non-payment can lead to the loss of services, assets and essential goods. For example, non-payment of fuel supply can lead to disconnection, which could make it very difficult to continue trading.

Non-priority debts are those that may initially affect a credit reference file, such as credit cards and unsecured loans, and can lead to debt collection agencies and possible court action.

Early action

The earlier action is taken, the more options there are for dealing with debt and getting things back on the right track. It can seriously harm a business and an individual to knowingly take on any liabilities that cannot be satisfied. That said, it’s never too late to make a difference, and no matter how bad the situation is, there will be options available.

Options

When it comes to managing debt, the options available depend on the particular circumstances and whether the business operates as a sole trader, a limited company or a partnership.

The routes firms can take include informal negotiation, where they deal directly with creditors to agree a way of paying debts off on an instalment basis, with priority creditors dealt with first. A sole trader may be personally liable for debt if it is all their own, and as an individual they may wish to negotiate directly with creditors or consider a debt management plan, where a third party negotiates with creditors to agree a repayment plan.

A form of insolvency that may be used is a Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA), which offers creditors a percentage of the debt owed, while administration is a process that appoints an insolvency practitioner to try and rescue the company as a going concern.

Advice and support

Dealing with debt can be a highly technical process, and that’s why people should always get some free advice before making any big decisions. Business Debtline is an independent charity providing free telephone-based advice. Its advisers can help callers complete budget sheets, provide advice on rights and responsibilities and talk through how to get a business back into financial health. Just visit www.bdl.org.uk or call 0800 197 6026 (opening hours Monday to Friday 9am to 5.30pm).

Nicola Connop, Business Debtline