Keep an Eye Out for Abusive Entitled Employees

Some employees have a warped view of the amount of praise and rewards they are entitled to, and if they don’t get what they think they deserve, they may resort to unwarranted and disruptive behaviours. Worse, attempting to discuss the issues with entitlement-minded individuals may increase their job frustration and exacerbate the situation, according to new research. Here’s some insight into these inflated egos and how your company’s managers can deal with them.

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Human Resources

Win the War to Keep Tech Specialists

Don’t force your best technical workers to choose between quitting and entering the ranks of management. Here are a few tips on how to create positions that IT experts want to fill.

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Business Finance

Finding Inexpensive Solutions to Going Green

Making tangible environment improvements, and thereby improving your company’s image, can be less difficult and expensive than you think. It all begins with the 3Rs: Reducing, Reusing and Recycling. Click “Full Article” for some ideas and examples on how using this “Waste Hierarchy” can help boost your company’s bottom line — and its reputation — without spending a fortune.

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Direct Your Sales Meetings Like Scorsese

Customer meetings are somewhat like a stage or film production. There’s the set, or setting, an opening, a plot and a closing. Your professionalism and success are reflected in your ability to direct that sequence of events. Click “Full Article” to see how you can control the action.

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Marketing

Start Providing World Class Customer Service

Customers want service and they want it now. For your business, that makes for a sink or swim situation. But there are steps you can take to see that they get that service consistently. Click “Full Article” for the six stages of making your operations more customer-friendly.

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Improve Your Chances of a Successful Merger

Acquisitions are booming as cash-rich companies that took advantage of the recession to lose weight and streamline operations make strategic purchases to further their vision. If a business combination is in your organization’s future, here is a rundown of the directions your due diligence should take, including assessing key cultural issues that could kill a deal before it gets off the ground.

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Business Tax – Canada

Choose Your Business Structure Wisely

The business structure you choose when you start a company involves many factors, including the nature of your operations and tax advantages the may be available. Here’s some guidance on what to consider with your accountant to help you make the decision that’s best for you.

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Personal Tax – Canada

Variations on the Capital Gains Tax Theme

Selling personal-use property can generate taxable income, but it is treated differently from proceeds you obtain from the disposition of investment assets. Click “Full Article” for guidance on what to consider when you are planning to sell a house, a boat, a stamp collection or antique watches. As well, learn what to do when you dispose of a national treasure.

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Keep Your Company’s Secrets and Customers

The recent lawsuit Hewlett-Packard filed against its former CEO highlights the corporate concern that businesses will lose confidential information and customers if certain employees leave to take jobs with competitors. Some companies try to ease their worries by including non-compete and other restrictive clauses in written employment contracts. If your organization uses that tactic, get legal advice to bolster the likelihood that the agreements will hold up in court. Here is a look at the three-pronged test the Supreme Court of Canada laid out to address this issue.

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Management

Trim Training Costs With a Playbook for Employees

Here’s a smart way to reduce employee training costs and gain valuable insight into your company’s operations at the same time.

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Operations

Pull the Plug on Employee Theft

Sticky fingers erode profits, create losses — and in some cases, even cause bankruptcy. Be vigilant and you can stop thieves in their tracks. Here are 18 ways to go about it.

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Confused by the Housing Debate? Here are Some Considerations

Conflicting housing market projections may have sent some homeowners wondering what exactly is going on and what the future holds. Will the housing bubble burst, and if so, will it be on the scale of what has been seen in the United States? Here is a look at the current debate, as well as tips on what to watch for over the next couple of years and the options you have in the rare event of a foreclosure.

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Human Resources

Make the Most of E-Training

Computer-based training can save your firm a bundle on instructors, classroom space and other logistical expenses. But provide sufficient administrative and technical support or delays and downtime can soak up your savings. Here are three tips for the electronically minded company.

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Business Finance

A More Efficient Way to Get Paid

Do a favour for your customers and your company: offer direct payment services. You will likely see more bills paid on time, fewer delinquencies and a stronger cash flow. Meantime, your customers receive a convenient and free service. Click “Full Article” for an explanation of how it works, the benefits and the answers to some frequently asked questions.

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Corporate Directors: Get Up to Speed on IFRS

Board members need to become familiar with how IFRS will change the companies and the transactions they oversee when the switch from Canadian GAAP takes place next January. Here is a guide to some of the critical information directors need to cope with the changeover and a few reasons why private companies may want to switch to the new standards.

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Sales

Lay the Groundwork for Long-Distance Teamwork

Geographically distant employees can be kept on the same track and working toward the same goals by creating “virtual” teams. Click on “Full Article” to see how this strengthens bonds among your staff, improves customer service and keeps your company on target. 

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Marketing

Learn Your Business From Your Customers

Unlock the mysteries of what your clientele wants and you’ll find that your repeat business will grow. Here’s how to teach your staff to read your customers and a questionnaire that will let your customers give you a “report card” that can help you better meet their needs and bring you a more robust bottom line.

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Figure a Company’s Fundamentals into Its Long-Term Value

BP’s stock price plunged more than 50 per cent in the first couple of months following the company’s oil rig disaster. But the shares have started to recover from their lows in late June, even after the oil concern posted a US$17 billion loss for the second quarter. These fluctuations underscore the importance of knowing your investments well and taking steps to mitigate losses in your investment portfolio. Read on for insights.

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Business Tax – Canada

GST Registrants: Which Type of Revenue Do You Collect?

For GST purposes, the difference between paying and not paying is directly related to three categories of goods and services: zero-rated, exempt and taxable. It can be a complicated issue, so here’s an explanation of how those classifications apply to your business.

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Personal Tax – Canada

You May Be a ‘U.S. Person’ When It Comes to Offshore Accounts

You may have no tax obligations in the U.S., but you still may be required to disclose certain non-U.S. financial accounts to the American tax agency. Here is how the reporting regulations may affect you.

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Brainstorming: Study Raises Questions

Is there a better way to find ideas? Recent research identifies a weakness in traditional group brainstorming. The study implies that the technique may not be the best way to generate creative, new concepts. Here is what the study showed and tips on how your company can hold effective sessions.

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Management

Be a Hands-On Manager to Maximize Profits

Nobody leads better than you. Delegation, of course, is smart managing, but there are times when it’s definitely better to take charge than leave the details to someone else. Here’s a look at how getting down there with your employees can boost productivity and provide that motivational push to your staff.

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Operations

Outsourcing: Eight Steps to Help Mitigate Risks

In today’s business world, most companies outsource some tasks. Many of them send work overseas. Outsourcing can save money, and in some cases, even save some companies from going out of business. But whether you outsource abroad or up the street, there can be risks involved. Here are some of the potential problems, as well as eight ways to help mitigate the risks.

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Tantalize Customers with Mobile Promotions

Put a GPS fence around the area where your enterprise is located and offer nearby customers an exclusive special. That is just one way new technology lets your company pull in consumers as they are out and about. Other location marketing methods include check-in applications and electronic coupons sent to cell phones that can be scanned right off the screen. Here are the basics and some tips on how to use this technology effectively.

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Human Resources

Motivate Your Staff With Creative Perks

Beef up your benefits package with nontraditional perks that improve your employees’ quality of life. Here are some unique ideas that can help your company retain and motivate employees and add some pep to its bottom line.

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Business Finance

For Better Cash Flow, Change Your Billing System

Speed up your billing cycle and you can improve cash flow without giving your customers a de facto short-term interest-bearing loan. Try giving your company a “cash flow exam” to uncover blocks to a smooth flow of cash. Click “Full Article” for guidance on how to go about it. Your bottom line will be healthier.

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HST: Adjust to Higher Fund Management Fees

Ontario and British Columbia have joined the movement toward HST, and that will affect how much you as an investor will pay in fees as well as how much sales tax investment funds will pay. Here’s a look at how management expense ratios, already high in Canada, will increase and cut into your investment returns, as well as how fund managers are rushing to even out the differences in provincial sales taxes by devising blended rates.

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Sales

Coach Your Sales Team to Maximum Performance

Shift sales into overdrive by coaching your associates in every aspect of their jobs throughout the year. By setting interim goals, tracking results and providing extra guidance, you can motivate your sales team and watch your profits climb.

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Marketing

Customers Rule

Customer satisfaction is key to improving your company’s financial picture. Assess the needs and expectations of your clientele with tools that are unique to your industry, make changes that seem necessary and watch your business grow.

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