It can be difficult to get payments at the best of times from your customers without having to deal with Christmas. Christmas often sees people spending money on presents rather than on their due and payable accounts. To get your account paid try the following methods:

Get in touch and ask us to conduct a business evaluation and find out about our unique way of designing and implementing strategies to generate sustainable business improvement.

Invoice finance such as factoring and invoice discounting is one of the fastest growing forms of funding. Once often viewed a lend of last resort, factoring and invoice discounting is the preferred choice of finance for many SME businesses.  Invoice finance releases cash against unpaid invoices typically at 80-85% providing much needed working capital.  Unlike a bank overdraft which is often repayable on demand and is restricted by the level of available security, a factoring or invoice discounting facility will grow with your business and provide a long term working capital solution.

Whilst  high street banks provide such facilities it is widely recognised within the financial community that there are many independent alternatives and specialist invoice finance  companies providing a much higher level of service, expertise and flexibility.  It also makes good financial sense not to have all your eggs in one basket and have a separate invoice finance provider to your clearing bank.

Which funder is best for you will depend on the circumstances of your business. Whilst there are many factoring and invoice discounting companies many have slightly different areas of expertise and specialise in slightly different sectors and business types. Turnover, length of time in business, degree of profitability, size of your debtor book, contractual debt, export and import requirements, and geographic location are a few of the factors that need to be taken into consideration.

A good independent factoring broker will be able to narrow the choice of many down to 2 or 3 of the most appropriate providers.  XL Business Finance has been helping business for over 10 years and providing expert knowledge to ensure that the most suitable funding solution is found.

Examples include:

FACTORING – New start up Printing Company. We chose a small local funder so the customer was never more than one or two phone calls away from decision maker /director.  A highly level of customer service and hands approach ensured that debts were collected in a professional and timely manner enabling the owner to get on with running his business.

CONSTRUCTION FINANCE – Building Company.  This large national based  builder had previously been advised by his bankers that he wasn’t fundable due to a contractual element to his debtor book. A specialist finance company was able to arrange funding against staged invoices and contractual application for payments.

INVOICE DISCOUNTING / EXPORT DEBT – Engineering co. A 5.0m facility was provided via a large international finance organisation providing export funding as well as standard domestic invoice finance.

IMPORT FINANCE / FACTORING – Wine Importer. Against presold goods to a large UK chain of supermarkets an import facility was provided to the customer to import cases of wine. On delivery to the customer’s premises and on issuing an  invoice to the customer the factoring repaid the import facility providing a 100% funding solution from start to finish.

To read our blog please see  www.xlbusinessfinance.co.uk/invoicefinance.htm. Please see our website at www.xlbusinessfinance.co.uk. Or, contact me direct at mark@xlbusinessfinance.co.uk

Remember that Christmas is a Christian holiday, so do not insist that all staff attend the Christmas party.  An ‘end of year party’ may be more appropriate, but do not pressure someone to attend if they don’t want to on the grounds of religion. If the event is out of hours, also remember that some people have family responsibilities that may prevent attendance.

Secret Santa gifts, although a fun way of exchanging gifts, if inappropriate (notably underwear and sexy toys) may cause offence. These types of gifts  have sparked complaints in the past. As a precaution ask staff to ensure that all gifts are inoffensive.

2. Decorating the office

Use a stepladder to put up decorations – no skateboarding on a swivel chair across the office please.  Don’t hang the tinsel on computers or other sources of heat; and don’t decorate emergency exit signs.

The TUC and Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) warn that your insurance may not cover damage caused by untested electrical equipment – so despite the fact that they brighten up the office on cold, miserable winter days, do remember to switch off those tree lights before going home.

Other festive hazards, and yes it’s hard to believe, include; party balloons, they can kill around 3.6 million people in Britain who suffer from some degree of latex allergy. Over 1,000 people were injured by Christmas trees in 2002, so make sure they are
secure and won’t be knocked over by people passing by or pulling cables.

Fresh party food should be kept in a fridge before the party; use paper cups, not glasses; move computers out of range of spillages; and avoid indoor fireworks, flaming puddings, candles and smoking. You would be amazed what some people will do to light up the party – make sure they don’t ‘light up the building’.

3. Free booze

Employers providing free drink or putting a credit card behind a bar should be careful. In one case, three employees of the Whitbread Beer Company got drunk and had a fight after a seminar on improving behavioural skills. They successfully argued that their resulting dismissals were unfair. A relevant factor was that the employer had provided a free bar – and thus condoned their behaviour. Also remember that not everyone drinks alcohol, ensure that there are drinks to suit everyone’s preferences.

4. Age limits

Keep an eye out for the apprentice or junior in your office. Employers and managers alike cannot allow under-18s to drink. In an extreme example, an employer was found responsible for the death of a girl at the office party due to alcohol poisoning.

5. Tables and photocopiers

Now those of you who traditionally like to dance on desks, beware that this activity is likely to cause damage to property and people.  It amounts to misuse of company property, additionally you can fall off the table and severely hurt yourself, you don’t want to wind up in hospital for Christmas. Photocopying of body parts and other leisure activities on such surfaces may result in misuse of company property. Make it clear that such activities will not be tolerated or that certain parts of the office are out of bounds on the night of the party.

6. Don’t ignore drugs in the loos or anywhere else for that matter.

Under the Misuse of Drugs Act of 1971, it is an offence for an employer to knowingly permit or even to ignore the use, production or supply of any controlled drugs, from cannabis to cocaine, taking place on their premises. There is also the possibility you will be in breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

7. Misguided by mistletoe

An extreme example of such misbehavior involved a man telling a female colleague that she “needed a good man,” adding that he would like to try her out in bed. At the Christmas party, the man pulled her dress down and made disparaging comments. A claim of sexual harassment succeeded and an award of £10,000 was made for injury to feelings.

The laws on discrimination apply at the office party regardless of location. So when one man told a female colleague, “f****** hell, you look worth one” at an after-work leaving event taking place in a local pub, the tribunal had little difficulty in ruling that it was in the course of employment and therefore discriminatory.

Employers can find that they end up paying for unwanted advances between co-workers if tribunals characterise the behavior as evidence of a culture of vicimisation or harassment.

Sometimes misconduct will be clear. In one case, a senior manager drank heavily at the Christmas party, assaulted some colleagues and told the director to “stick his f****** job up his arse.” He was thrown out and broke the window of a pensioner’s house.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, his claim for unfair dismissal failed. But don’t overlook the behaviour of others. For example, if your party budget extends to an after-dinner speaker, choose carefully. A comedian performed for one company, the host hotel was deemed liable for the offence caused to Afro-Caribbean waitresses by the comedian’s racist jokes.

8. Manage expectations‘

Alcohol can cause some people to do and say ‘daft’ things, ensure that your staff don’t underake ‘performance reviews’ during the office party. In one case, an employee claimed his boss had promised him a higher salary “in due course” during a chat at the Christmas party. His pay remained static so he quit and claimed constructive dismissal. The employer won the case but only because the nature of the promise was vague. It was a lucky escape as a promise made at a Christmas party is still a promise.

A similar issue is the Christmas bonus. If you have paid a discretionary Christmas bonus for several years, staff can argue that it has become contractual through custom and practice. So if times have been tough and you can’t afford to pay a bonus this year, tell staff why you feel unable to pay it and try to agree a solution. ACAS suggests that you could offer to pay a proportion of the bonus or stagger payments in the next few months; or you could offer to pay the drinks bill at the Christmas party (but be mindful of Top Tip 3 & 4).

9. Getting home

If a member of staff has clearly drunk too much at the office Christmas party and plans to drive home, don’t let them, the employer needs to take responsibility. ACAS points out that he has a duty of care to his employees – and because it’s the company’s party, he must think about travel arrangements. Consider ending the party before public transport stops running; or provide the phone numbers for local cab companies and encourage staff to use them. This doesn’t mean you have to pay for the cabs, just make sure that there are cabs available.

10. The morning after

If the party is mid-week and people are expected in work the next day, ACAS recommends that you provide plenty of non-alcoholic drinks and food. Before the party, ensure that all staff know that disciplinary action could be taken if they fail to turn up for work because of over-indulging. The alternative is to arrange for an evening when there is no work the next day.

Liquid lunches are another risk. If there is urgent work to be done, disciplinary action may be appropriate if staff are late back to the office or intoxicated. But bosses must be careful: a history of festive tolerance could be used as evidence that disciplinary action against an individual is unfair.

Also ensure that proper procedures are followed. At an Ardyne Scaffolding Christmas lunch in the early 1990s, a worker returned a few hours late to work after drinking too much. It was the day before the Christmas holiday was due to begin. Ardyne Scaffolding saw this as gross misconduct but decided to tell the employee after he had sobered up – which meant waiting until after the Christmas holiday. The worker learned of the dismissal through gossip during the holiday and claimed unfair dismissal. He won. The Employment Appeals Tribunal decided that, while it was reasonable to wait for Mr Rennie to sober up before being told that he would be dismissed, and while the holiday had complicated matters, this did not justify a failure to follow a clear procedure.

When all is said and done, it is about taking a sensible approach to dealing with events surrounding this holiday period and any event arranged by the Comapny. So instead of ‘Bah Humbug’ let me wish all of my readers a very HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON and enjoy ‘the do’.

Statistics and legal references obtained via www.Out-Law.com

Make good use of “Title” tags – A title tag tells users and search engines what the topic of a particular page is. Ideally, you should create a unique title for each page on your site, as the contents of the title tag will usually appear in the first line of the results. It should contain the keywords or phrases that you are looking to be found for, but keep it brief.

• Make use of the “Description” tag – Description meta tags are important because Google might use them as snippets for your pages. This gives the user clues about whether the content on the page matches what he or she is looking for, and gives the opportunity for you to include some sort of attention-grabbing message.
• Use heading tags appropriately – Use heading tags to emphasise important text. Heading tags are used to present structure on the page to users. It will also help skim-reading a page so that users can focus on relevant content.
• Make your site easier to navigate – The navigation of a website is important in helping visitors to quickly find the content they want. It can also help search engines understand what content the webmaster thinks is important.
• Use mostly text for navigation – Controlling most of the navigation from page to page on your site through text links makes it easier for search engines to index and understand your site. This can often be more reliable than Flash or JavaScript on mobile devices.
• Offer quality content and services – Interesting sites will increase their recognition on their own. Creating compelling and useful content will likely influence your website more than any of the other factors, and help conversions on the site.
• Create content primarily for your users, not search engines. Avoid:
• inserting numerous unnecessary keywords aimed at search engines but are annoying to users
• having blocks of text like remorseless lists of Counties etc.
• deceptively hiding text from users, but displaying it to search engines
• Prepare two sitemaps: one for users, one for search engines – A site map is a simple page on your site that displays the structure of your website. An XML Sitemap file (which you can submit through Google’s Webmaster Tools), makes it easier for Google to discover the pages on your site
• Notify Google of mobile sites – Configure mobile sites so that they can be indexed accurately. Mobile sites not only use a different format from normal desktop sites, but many sites were designed with mobile viewing in mind but not to be search friendly.
• Know about social media sites - Sites built around user interaction and sharing have made it easier to match interested groups of people up with relevant content. This will help inbound or ‘back’ links. Hot topics in your niche or community could spark additional ideas for content or building a good community resource.

This article is a MUCH condensed version of a useful Google report, the full original can be downloaded from my website at www.7comms.co.uk. Or, contact me direct at steve@7comms.co.uk

Defining this in a more understandable term, traditionally means that you are going to assess productivity by measuring the dollar value of output against each pound of input (labour and capital expenses included). This is the most common technique for measuring productivity but you maybe required to look at alternatives if this does not suit.

Improving your productivity is usually resolved by the implementation of new equipment and technology, however this shouldn’t be the only thing. Staff are a huge contribution to your business and without the man power or expertise you probably wouldn’t be able to run your business in such a success full manner, so improving your staff through training, team building, etc will assist in productivity levels.

You should also consider goals setting or aims for your business and the individuals employed by you so that everyone has something to work towards and a common achievement is being endeavoured.

Productivity at the end of the day relies on your systems and procedures so even simple tasks as filing will have a huge impact on future activities and the business as a whole.

You will need to continually assess your business activities and ensure that they are being managed to their full potential and staff are utilising their skills in conjunction with the methods in the best way possible.

Increasing productivity requires better management skills, effective and functioning systems and procedures, motivation and commitment from the team and overall dedication from all team members.