Every small business is only as successful as its hardest working employee. Without committed staff members who are willing to go the extra mile, you’re not going to get very far. You need people who you can rely on to get things done and get them done well. And that’s why it’s important to reward hard work. But it’s not always easy to find the cash for salary increases and bonuses. Here are five ways you can reward hard work without spending a large amount of money.
When you have people working for you, it's not only important to ensure their safety at work, but also to make provisions should an accident or injury occur during the course of their duties. Registering with the Compensation Fund will protect you and your employees in this regard. Besides your legal obligation, a worker injured or disabled at work can be a major (and often unforeseen) expense, but if you belong to the Fund, it will provide the cover and avoid and potential legal action taken against you.
The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) acts as a temporary safety net for employees who are retrenched or unable to work due to illness or maternity leave. You have a moral and legal obligation to register with this fund and contribute on behalf of your employees. It's not as complicated or costly as you might think. The attached guide will help you navigate the steps you need to follow in order to register and pay the UIF.
When you own a small business, you often get to know your employees on a personal level and they become more like family. They in turn also have families to support, so providing benefits to your workers will go a long way in assisting them once they leave your employ. In this article, we explore your options when you want to provide for your employees' retirement.
As a business owner, you don’t just want to hire any staff. You obviously want to hire the best staff for your SME. You want someone with an impressive skillset, excellent work ethic and great personality. The thing is, these people are far and few between. And you have to compete with bigger businesses when it comes to hiring them. Here are some things you can do to attract the best hires.
One of the fundamental truths of total quality management is that what cannot be measured cannot be improved. The same is true for performance management. All companies measure the performance of their employees in some fashion, mostly by a best guess on the part of managers at specific points in the business year. The ideal performance management system is not one where the line manager quickly scores an employee once a year when it is time for bonuses or increases. Here is how to better approach performance management.
The largest overhead cost of any company is its salary bill. The cost is influenced by, amongst others, market trends and demands, staff retention policies, benefit options and employee requirements. Budgeting for annual salaries is always the most time consuming part of any budget process. The anomalies and possible variances are always tricky and very difficult to cater for. Budgeting for new staff is easy, but the cost implications of the staff are more difficult. Here is how to manage your salary and wage overhead better.
As of January 1st 2019, there exists a national minimum wage which applies to all employers and workers, except for members of the National Defense Force, National Intelligence Agency, South African Secret Service, or unpaid volunteers working for charity. The national minimum wage was effected through the National Minimum Wage Act which came about as an attempt to address the income disparities in the national labour market.
These days, more and more companies are allowing their employees to choose their own hours. There are around four to five hours during which people have to be at work. Apart from these non-negotiable hours, employees can decide whether to work the remaining hours early in the morning or late in the afternoon/evening. This trend of offering flexible working hours can be both detrimental and beneficial for small businesses. Use these pros and cons to decide if you should introduce flexible working hours to your employees.
As a small business owner, negotiating remuneration packages with your employees is integral part of your role, but what is the best way to approach remuneration? This article answers some frequently asked questions about remuneration and remuneration packages such as "What is a traditional remuneration package?" and "What is a total cost package?" Find out which package is best for you and your employees here.
Offering benefits to your employees is a sure-fire way to improve their morale and their productivity. This is because they will feel happier in the workplace and less stressed, allowing them to work harder and truly enjoy their time in your company. You could, for example, offer group life cover or offer your employees life insurance, among other benefits. Here are just some of the different types of benefits to offer your employees.
Life can be full of twists and turns. One of the major events in life is the unfortunate possibility that one might become disabled or pass away unexpectedly. As a business owner, you are responsible for offering your employees benefits which can help them to prepare for these eventualities, which is taken care of in the form of life cover. If you are interested in looking at life insurance products for your employees, below are just some of the considerations to look at when choosing the right one.
Living costs in South Africa are on the rise. With that, annual medical aid contributions continue to increase as part of this trend and many South Africans are struggling to keep up. How do you, as an employer, respond to this? What are your obligations and responsibilities to your employees in this regard? Here is a deeper look into medical aid from an employer’s perspective.
As a business owner looking to hire staff, you’ve probably found yourself trying to find the right type of package you can put together for your new employees. This is not easy. Sometimes the employees you most want are either out of your price range (expecting far more than you’re willing to offer) or they expect more from your company. As a small business, it can be difficult to pull together attractive packages for employees. One way of attracting quality staff is by creating a package that offers benefits.
Often, when business owners review their business's performance to find out how they can improve, they re-allocate budgets, change their marketing tactics, review their sales statistics, and consider the clients and customers they have. When it comes to their employees, they often address poor performance with additional recruitment or termination rather than training and skills development. This article highlights why it is better for your business to invest in skills development courses.
Owning and running your own business is an achievement of note. But with this achievement comes certain responsibilities, especially if you have staff. You will need to invest in benefits for your employees, such as funeral cover for them and their family members. You should be considering a group funeral cover for employees as it is cost-effective and necessary. If you are not sure whether group funeral cover is right for you, keep reading for the top reasons why SMEs need group funeral cover for employees.
