News

July 12, 2013

Also in the news this week – 12 July 2013

How does your start-up compare to Facebook?

A new online app allows small firms to compare the speed of their growth with business giants such as Facebook, eBay, Etsy and Match.com. Developed by Jelf, the MyStartup Story web app allows you to share your story and compare your business's employee and revenue growth against some famous-name business giants. Your firm's growth is plotted on your own personal graph, which you can then share with your Twitter followers. Rob Rees, managing director at Jelf Small Business, said: "As the graph presents your numbers in terms of percentage growth, it doesn't matter whether your startup is little or large, everyone can get involved and try to find a big name they have grown faster than."

Crunch time for auto-enrolment

Employers required to comply with auto-enrolment in 2014 need to prepare now, says Hargreaves Lansdown. It calculates that some 30,000 employers will have to enrol staff into a pension in the first half of 2014 – mostly medium-sized firms at this stage. With unprecedented demand for the services of pension providers and payroll experts, Laith Khalaf, head of corporate research, said: "There are serious questions about how the industry will cope with this influx of demand. An automatic enrolment strategy typically takes six months to formulate and implement. Employers with a staging date in 2014 need to act now to get ahead of the traffic."

Sales training down as social media steals focus

More than half of businesses allocate more time to training their staff in social media strategies than they do on improving employees' face-to-face and telephone sales techniques, according to research by Sales Commando. The survey found that 54% of organisations preferred to focus their training on attracting potential clients via sites such as LinkedIn, rather than developing sales skills. Sales Commando's Doug Tucker said: "Our research underscores how many companies could be missing out on a myriad of sales opportunities because they have forgotten the fundamentals of salesmanship." Interpersonal skills are suffering as computers "are increasingly coming between companies and their potential clients", he said.

New fees for employment tribunals

Any employment tribunal claim submitted on or after 29 July 2013 will now be subject to fees. Depending on the claim, employees will have to pay fees in order to make a claim and again before a final hearing. There are two types of claim – Type A and Type B. Type A claims will cover straightforward claims, such as unpaid wages, redundancy pay and holiday pay. Employees will have to pay £160 to start the claim and £230 for the hearing. Type B claims will cover more complicated claims such as unfair dismissal, discrimination, equal pay and whistleblowing. Employees will have to pay £250 to start the claim and £950 for the hearing.