News

March 18, 2016

Also in the news this week - 18 March 2016

Start-up fears stop Brits becoming their own boss

Six in ten British workers want to start their own business but are too scared because of fears about money and failure, according to research by the Start Up Loans company. Its poll of 2,000 employees found that the attractions of setting up a venture include flexible working hours (for 24%) and the idea of being your own boss (22%). However, a third of respondents said they needed support with their finances to start a business.

The secret to getting paid quicker

Analysis by cloud accounting provider FreeAgent has revealed that setting payment terms at seven days or "pay immediately" zero-day terms could help businesses get paid three times more quickly. It seems short payment terms encourage more customers to pay on time, compared to the usual 30-day arrangement. Ed Molyneux, ceo and co-founder of FreeAgent said: "Our research shows that some clever tweaks to terms could make businesses three times more likely to be paid within a week, which has to be good news."

Have you got a good business idea?

VOOM, the Virgin Media competition for entrepreneurs, is back and applicants can register their interest now before entries open on 22 March 2016. Last year, over 2,000 businesses took part and nine finalists won more than £1 million in prizes. According to Virgin, this year's competition will be bigger than ever but the rules are the same - entrepreneurs pitch their business idea and if they are successful they win a share of £1 millon.

Managers must lead by example on health say workers

More than a third of British workers (38%) have said they would be encouraged to lead a healthy lifestyle if their managers led by example. And 52% said they would be more inclined to take part in company health and wellbeing schemes if their managers participated too. These are the findings of new research by Willis PMI Group. The survey also found that one in ten workers say their managers take more time off sick than "rank-and-file" employees.