According to a recent survey; “Survey on Workplace Flexibility” [Herman Trend Alert 23.2.2011], workplace flexibility is a highly valued and important benefit for employees.

How’s this for startling results from US employers:

-          98% offer at least one workplace flexibility program

-          60% use an informal approach – as in ‘up to manager discretion’

-          4 out of 10 companies say flexibility is culturally embedded

Importantly, with this focus on flexibility comes some very tangible benefits, such as reduced staff turnover rates and an increase in employee satisfaction, motivation, and engagement.

Be it compressed working weeks, part-time schedules, flexible start/ finish times to ad hoc work, flexibility is making a big impact.

As a business owner when reading a survey such as this, one cannot help but start making a comparison with one’s own company – which is exactly what I did…

Firstly, I can confidently confirm we have embedded being ‘bendy’ into the company culture.

From working mums on reduced hours and having car parks provided to make coming/going easier to 4 day weeks, flexible finish/start times, a tadpole programme over schools holidays [kids program], remote access for working from home, schedules that can be flexed – it’s all part of being in the Frog environment.

And yes, there is a ‘method to the madness’.  In an industry that is notorious for staff turnover resulting in complaints and client churn, we enjoy low staff turnover, long-lasting client and candidate relationships, repeat business and continuous profitable growth.

And there is an interesting twist: this bendy culture of flexibility is appreciated by all, not just working parents.  From an Ironman competitor needing to manage training commitments to a staff member attending weekly university lecture commitments, it’s available for all.  And so it should be in my opinion, as we all strive to balance work and life!

Flexibility Requests
We continually receive requests from our candidate community, for flexible working arrangements when looking at career opportunities.  This is not an exception to the rule as it once was; it is commonplace – and comes from all career levels. The most popular request is a 4 day working week and seems to have increased again in the early stages of 2011.

Whilst a gap exists between organisations who are in tune with this and those who are more rigid in approach, the savvy company that includes flexibility options when it comes to attracting hot talent into their organisation,  stands out as being authentic, genuine and in touch with their people and their lives. And they are appreciated by their employees.

Our Advice
Given the  importance being placed on working in flexible company environments plus the positive results that are achieved, employers would be wise to embrace flexibility as part of an effective Total Rewards Package.

To find out more about developing business strategies or analysis, read our other informative articles about strategy, and SWOT analysis.

Points to remember…

1. As there are many varied types of businesses, and this is a generalist view on a business plan, ensure that you remove portions that are not relevant to your business.
2. Remember to keep sentences short and punchy.  Most people skim read and if this document is to be translated for investors, they will be looking for clear and succinct information.
3. Try to minimise the “PR” and stick to the facts.
4. Revisit this document regularly – ensure that you set aside time in your business to regularly look at how you’re performing against your strategy.
5. Get your team buy-in – take key staff members through the strategy and tie their performance to the company performance.

______________________________________________________________________

BUSINESS PLAN

Date:

Company Name:

Address:

Version Number:

Confidentiality Agreement

The undersigned reader acknowledges that the information provided by _______________ in this business plan is confidential; therefore, reader agrees not to disclose it without the express written permission of _______________.

It is acknowledged by reader that information to be furnished in this business plan is in all respects confidential in nature, other than information which is in the public domain through other means and that any disclosure or use of same by reader may cause serious harm or damage to_______________.

Upon request, this document is to be immediately returned to ______________ signature___________________ name (typed or printed) ___________________ date.

1. Executive Summary

• Objective: succinctly summarise the business purpose, the product, the revenue and company value, the target market, the growth potential, the key opportunities, weaknesses, the history, the people and the point of difference.
• This should be no more than five paragraphs and be deliverable as an ‘elevator pitch’.

2. What is the Opportunity?

In four brief sentences describe what the business opportunity is….

• Why is it needed?
• How is it different?
• What is its purpose?  Why is this business needed and what ‘pain’ does it fix?
• What does the market look like?  Competitive landscape.

3. Objectives

• List the company objectives – remember, they must be measurable
• What are the keys to success for this company?

4. Mission

What is the vision and mission for the business?  This should /could flow into a brand architecture which should include:

• Benefits – rational / emotional / functional
• Cause – what are you passionate about?
• Brand objective – what can you become world’s best at?
• Pivotal question – what is the over-riding question of the company / brand? (that is, what do you need to answer to be successful?)
• Essence – what is the heart and soul

5. Company Ownership & Directors

• Who are the company shareholders (by percentage) and directors?
• What is their experience – brief biographies on each…

6. Company Locations and Facilities

• Where are you located?
• What are the facilities required and available?

7. Products & Pricing

• What are the core products today?
• What percentage do they make up of your business revenue?
• What products are in the planning?
• How much do you charge for the product?  How was the pricing determined?
• How many units do you need to sell in order to meet your growth targets?
• How do you expect pricing to change in the future?  What discounting is applied?

8. Market Analysis Summary

• What does the market look like as a whole?
• Where do you fit into this?
• What is your unique point of difference?
• Who are your key threats?
• What gaps exist in your market?
• Determine customers’ channel preferences and comparing these preferences with reality.
• Examine competitors’ strategies and comparing them and their effectiveness with your own.

9. Business strategy

A business strategy is creating operational alignment between all functions and activities of a business.

• What is the business purpose?
• What is the opportunity and how are you going to realise it?
• What are the imperatives for the business in order to be successful?

10. Marketing Strategy

Marketing is not a lone ranger; it goes hand and hand with sales, and both must have clear strategies and objectives to work.  Most importantly they must be a natural extension of the business strategy.

• What do we need to achieve?
• Who are we talking to?
• What do we need to say?
• Why can we say it?
• How do we want them to react?
• How will we measure success?
• What channels will we use?

11. Distribution Strategy

For product-focused companies, establishing the most appropriate distribution strategies is a major key to success, defined as maximizing sales and profits.

• What is your road to purchase?
• How do you get your product into the hands of the end user?
• What are the various ways they experience your category, the brand and the product?
• Where do people buy it?
• How do you make it easier to purchase?
• How do you distribute more efficiently?
• Feedback and insights from distributors and key suppliers – look for areas requiring improvement and ways to mitigate and strengthen.

12.  Strategic Alliances

• What partnerships and supplier relationships are fundamental to the success of the business?

13.  Sales Strategy

• What is your strategy for selling your products? (Link to how this differs from competitors).
• How will you measure your success?
• Include a pipeline (number of contacts, calls, meetings, proposals, etc required and the conversion rates needed to meet your sales targets).

14. Sales Forecast

• Include 12, 24 and 36 month sales forecasts, broken down by product or revenue stream (by year and month)
• Graphs preferable (like the below examples), as well as a table showing the actual data…

15.  Milestones

• What are the key business milestones to reaching your objectives?
• How does this look on a timeline / calendar basis?

16. Personnel Plan

• What staff do you require to execute your plan?
• How will they be managed?  Measured?  What are their KPI’s (key performance indicators)?
• How is growth accounted for with staff requirements in Year 1, 2 and 3?

17. Financial Plan

• What capital is required to set the business up and to achieve the objectives?
• How will the capital be spent?
• How will the business be funded?
• How will sales short falls be managed?
• What assumptions are being made?
• What are the key financial indicators (against your milestones)?
• At what point will the business become profitable?
• How will profits be allocated?  Will dividends be paid?
• What percentage of profits will be reinvested into the business?

18.  Projected Profit and Loss

• What is the overall Profit and Loss anticipated in Year 1, 2 and 3.
• Show graph by year and by month
• List expenditure (see P&L spreadsheet on goodbusiness.co.nz for details on how to build this)

19. Projected Cash Flow

• Provide a table of the cashflow of the business (split by month for 36 months minimum)

20. Projected Balance Sheet

• A standard company balance sheet has three parts: assets, liabilities and ownership equity. The main categories of assets are usually listed first, and typically in order of liquidity. Assets are followed by the liabilities. The difference between the assets and the liabilities is known as equity (or net assets, net worth or capital of the company).  Net worth equals assets minus liabilities.
• Show the financial position (and value) of the business in Year 1, 2 and 3

21.  Dividend & Investment Opportunity (summary)

• What is the investment opportunity?
• How long will it take an investor to see a return on the money injected and profitability?
• Will dividends be paid and how often?
• What does the business require from an investor?

22. References & Sources

• List the places you have pulled data from.

And these situations come in all shapes and sizes; from demanding, unproductive, arrogant, aggressive and overbearing employees; the nightmare employee can create a cloud over the entire office.

If I think about some of the circumstances we have had described to us in the last few years [e.g. coming to work smelling of alcohol, being a bully, theft, rudeness]  we have two pieces of advice for you:  firstly, remain professional at all times.  Secondly… don’t take it personally.

Chances are, the difficult staff member will not decide to move to Australia next week and given it is not so easy to fire them … working out what to do is the best option. 

Following are descriptions of 6 difficult employee types and some ways to manage them:

1.  Negative Employees

These employees fall into various categories but typically they will be pessimists, criticizers, ‘half empty glass’ people. Nothing ever seems to be right.  

Criticizers comment on others to make themselves look good or feel better. They seem to pick fights for no reason. They will disagree just because they like to disagree and they affect the moods of those around them.

Suggestion: look for their strong points, where they excel. See if there is an area they can be responsible for that will help build a positive attitude.  Use performance management as positive reinforcement.

2.  Perfectionists

These are the people who find it hard to let go. They are tough on themselves and seem to sometimes take ages to get a project completed because they can’t resist the urge to fine tune it here and tweak it there.

Suggestion: try setting a deadline and sticking to it.  Talk about the bigger picture instead of looking at the small stuff. It’s all about helping them to relax and ‘let go.’

3.  Back late from lunch employees

This is the person who slides out of doing their bit, is late back from lunch, spends ages on personal calls, is a prolific internet surfer and makes everything apart for work important.

Suggestion: Structure, structure, structure. Ignore any jibes about being a micromanager. This person needs tight structure and checking.

4.  Dictators/Autocrats

These are the ones that like to walk all over you if you are not careful. They will tell you what to do and when. They are bossy.

Suggestion: There is a variety of ways to manage a situation like this. One such method is to use ‘I’ statements… “I feel uncomfortable when you try and tell me how to do my job.” Or “I appreciate your advice, but have the matter under control.”

5.  Moody Employees

These people can be just plain annoying.  In reality they are less dangerous than some of the other personality types you may have to deal with.

Suggestion: Try asking them if all is ok.

They will invariably say; “Yes” and ask why… which opens the door to you relying: “Because you don’t seem to be yourself today. Is there something wrong?”

As a result the response will be an apology or perhaps an explanation as to what’s wrong.  Well managed conversations like this can be a great way to break tension and lighten the mood.

However it doesn’t mean you have to become the resident therapist!

6.  Substance Users/Alcohol

This is a situation that needs to be carefully managed with a high degree of caution. Here we would recommend you seek advice before you act. There are many places to find the advice needed: Department of Labour, EMA and your lawyer.

So – the next time you are faced with a tricky situation, consider it a learning situation. Diffuse, resolve and enjoy getting an additional ‘string to your bow’ as this experience creates valuable career development.

Research sources:   Frog Recruitment; career-intelligence.com; frugalmarketing.com

Author:   Jane Kennelly

The easiest way to build a marketing plan is to work through a number of questions which force you to think about your business. It can be valuable to do this in a small group, say 2 or 3 key people. Doing this as a group will help you reach agreement around the key topics. Don’t underestimate the value of reaching an agreement or shared view of the world within your business. Having everyone or at least the core team swimming in the same direction can unlock an incredible power within the business.

Key questions you need to ask:

• Who are our target customers?
• Where do our customers spend their time? What media do they consume?
• What are we here to do? What do we help our customers achieve?
• What’s our point of difference? How are we different to our competition?
• How do we authentically demonstrate this to our customers?
• What are our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT)? Build a realistic view of the state of the business now.
• What can we do to address the key issues and capitalise on our strengths and opportunities?
• What is our communication plan – do you have specific messages to communicate at different times of the year?

Author:  Duncan Shand

Today, more than ever, it is critical for us to look at what we’re doing and how we could be doing it better.  With the recession being far from over (as much as we’d like to just keep holding our breaths and hope for a better day tomorrow), the reality is that only the fittest and most relevant businesses will survive in the short term.

I subscribe to a theory that businesses should be a continuous evolution and that we can constantly improve and find ways to streamline and factorize.  The end goal being to create a seamless production flow that will enable the business to successfully support growth.

Often I’m asked, ‘but where do I even start?’  Analysis needn’t be rocket science and don’t let a little word like ‘strategy’ scare you off.  The best place to start is with a very simple strategic analysis tool commonly used by businesses – the S.W.O.T: Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

SWOT’s include looking at each of the favourable and unfavourable elements to the objectives of a project or venture.  You might choose to look at only one portion of your business – like your brand, or you could apply the analysis to the overall business.  There is no right or wrong answer, but it does require taking an objective stand point and asking yourself why you believe that the answer you have written down is true.  Often, as business owners, we do things because we’ve just always done them that way.  The key to being successful, I believe, is in questioning our rationale.  Perhaps invite a colleague or an unbiased third party to go over your first SWOT draft with you to see if they can challenge areas that you may have either missed, been too harsh or light on.

When it comes to strengths, keep these to the actual things you do have right now – not the potential.  Under opportunities you can add in all the possibilities.  Weaknesses should include any attributes that are harmful to achieving your objectives – I generally try to keep these to things that we need to change now and are actual and real issues.  Threats, however, are more items that potentially could create damage if you don’t mitigate.

It’s important to remember that SWOTs are not strategy; they are merely a simple analysis that should help guide overall strategies or help set a business up to continue with their planning.

Here we use SWOT to analyse the market position of a small management consultancy with specialism in HRM – thanks to Wikipedia.com

Have a question on how to analyse your business?  Ask us!

Author:   Jenene Freer

In fact – we would go so far as to say that there is an ‘art’ in making an offer.  There is nothing more demoralising than getting to the final stages with a candidate, making an offer, only to have that offer turned down.  Then – you are back to square one again.

The following TIPS are designed to increase your success rate at the offer stage:

1.     Don’t Delay

On the one hand when going through a recruitment process you should avoid rushing because this is when mistakes can be made…however ‘snooze, you lose’ can occur if you take an unnecessarily long period of time deliberating over the recruitment-to-offer stage.

Chances are, the person you are keen hire could well be looking at other opportunities so to increase your ability to secure the person you want, it is important to act quickly.

2.     Be Prepared

It is important that you make the offer to a prospective employee as soon as possible.  In order to be prepared you need to have a draft employment contract ready to use to formalise the offer, as well as the salary component, benefits and any incentive or bonus schemes well mapped out.

If an incentive scheme is involved, is attached to Key performance Indicators (KPI’s) or budget targets are involved, these too need to be ready, or as close to ready as possible, to discuss.   The big question that candidates will ask you is: How realistic are these targets?” 

3.     Make it attractive

If there is a negative reaction to the offer you make, then chances are the offer will be turned down.  The salary and benefit package on offer needs to be competitive to the market and to what is on offer for a similar role with other organisations.   The candidate audience we are working with these days is a sophisticated, savvy, technologically oriented group of people who general y have a very good feel about their worth in the market.

4.     One time shot

It’s important to note that you may only get one chance to make an offer to a candidate.

When making the offer itself, it needs to be made in a friendly, upbeat type of manner and indicate to the candidate that you and your team will do everything possible to make sure that they are successful on the job.

5.     Negotiation

It may well be that once the candidate has had a chance to think about your offer, they will come back with questions. This is good, as it’s important to get all the details sorted out up front and openly.  And it shows that the prospective employee is engaged in the process. 

Typically a process may go as follows:

• Make the offer verbally.  Gauge the response.  Establish a possible start date
• If you have not completed all the checks, make the offer ‘subject to these being  completed’

The candidate would then: 

• Accept the verbal offer ‘subject to seeing the Employment Contract’.
  OR
• Want to negotiate the package until an agreement is reached by both parties.
• Draft an Employment Contract, email to candidate asap so they are able to review using ‘fair and reasonable’  time and seek advice.
• Discuss any questions or queries.
• Prepare a final copy with all changes noted and the agreed start date for the candidate – mail/courier/invite the candidate into sign.

Click here for information on how to tell someone they didn’t get the job.

Author: Jane Kennelly

The best approach  is to keep questioning professional and appropriate when interviewing.

Human Rights Act – 1993, in force as at 1 February 1994 (as at October 1, 2008)

Part 2 Section 21

You cannot ask questions which may indicate a prejudice or preference for clients with certain attributes in these areas:

• Sex, including pregnancy and childbirth
• Marital status
• Religious belief
• Ethical belief
• Colour
• Race
• Ethnic and national origins
• Disability, including:
  - Physical impairment
  - Physical illness
  - Psychiatric illness
  - Intellectual or psychological disability or impairment
  - Reliance on guide dog or wheel chair
  - Presence in the body of organisms possible of creating illness
• Political opinion, including lack of
• Employment status, including being unemployed or on a benefit
• Family status, including:
  - Being related to another person
  - Having the responsibility of care for dependents
  - Having a relationship with a particular person
• Sexual orientation

Exceptions according to Section 27

• Sex or age may be a genuine occupational qualification
• Job position needs to be held by one sex due to reasons of privacy
• You may ask about religion if the duties are substantially similar to someone propagating a particular religious belief, a teacher in a private school, or acting as a social worker within an organization following particular beliefs
• Disability may be an issue if it is not reasonable for the employer to provide facilities, and the nature of the duties performed will place the person or others at risk, including infection and illness
• Family status may be an issue if it creates a conflict of interest, eg. Reporting relationships between partners, and there is a risk of collusion between them at the detriment of the employer  

For more information, please check out the New Zealand Department of Labour website: http://www.dol.govt.nz/infozone/businessessentials/

Author: Jane Kennelly

 Checklist 1:   Pre – Interviews

• Work out the need for a new staff member
• Consider all the options available to you (think creatively!)
• Plan the recruitment process, ensuring that all involved in the process are aware of how it will go
• Decide on the key requirements of the position and any special skills/experience you seek in a candidate – ‘the must haves’
• Develop a Job Description for the role.  If this is not your forte, you may wish to engage an HR contractor to assist
• Determine the salary range and any additional benefits
• See if there are any internal staff members who might just ‘fit the bill.’  Advise all employees and arrange for internal interviews.  It is essential that this is managed fairly and professionally
• Engage a recruitment company if you wish all the detail for advertising, screening and initial interviewing to be managed
• Decide on advertising strategies which are very numerous these days.  Post jobs on-line or in chosen advertising places

Checklist 2:   Interviewing & Hiring

• Post the vacancy on your own company website
• Acknowledge receipt of all applications
• Review CV’s against your prioritised list of requirements for the position
• Advise those who are unsuitable
• Telephone those candidates who appear to be close to the mark.  Determine salary requirements at this stage as this is important to make sure you are going to interview people who fit the role and the salary range
• Advise those who are unsuitable
• Send candidates a copy of the job Description (by email).  Request confirmation they wish to be considered for the position
• Have candidates complete an application form (if available).  Here you are able to gain their permission to complete background/credit checks (for financial related roles this is recommended)/reference/qualification or drug testing as identified appropriate for the position or company policy
• Arrange and conduct initial interviews
• Evaluate each candidate against the interview matrix  with weightings for responses
• Hold 2^nd round interviews.  Culture fit, technical qualifications, customer responsiveness and knowledge are several of the screening areas you may want to your invest this time
• Arrange any testing you may wish a preferred candidate to complete: skills based or psychological assessments
• Undertake background/qualification checking – use an external provider if you do not have the resources to do so internally
• Arrange drug testing (if this is part of your process)
• Keep candidates updated throughout the process so they don’t have to keep guessing what is going on.  As well, this will help you decide if you have to move very quickly so as to not lose a preferred candidate to another position
• Decide who you want to select – given you have identified a preferred candidate
• Talk informally with the candidate and make a verbal offer.  Make sure you say it is “subject to all checking being completed positively” if this is still outstanding
• If the offer is verbally accepted “subject to reviewing the Employment Agreement” – prepare a draft to send to the candidate – asap
• Answer any questions that may arise with the candidate
• Note any changes and prepare an Employment Agreement for signature
• If offer is accepted – schedule a start date and advise other candidates the position has been filled
• If offer is declined, assess if another candidate in the interviewing process would be suitable (as in a very close 2^nd) – or start again

From here develop an induction process and prepare to welcome a new addition to the team!

When you are ready to take the next step, click here to read our article on how to make a job offer.

Author:  Jane Kennelly

Firstly, you will have prepared some questions that will be posed to every candidate. This allows you to evaluate each person in a consistent manner and will assist you to avoid a ‘knee-jerk’ hiring decision. 

NOTE: This means that your new hire reflects well on YOUR ability to select staff.

Secondly, making sure the interviewee is at ease will ensure that you gather the most productive of responses.  

Some important basics that apply to both parties are:

• Be polite, professional and well mannered;
• Make sure that the interview happens on time, and that you are not taking calls in the middle of the interview (so turn off that mobile phone!);
• Sunglasses should not be on your head;
• Give a firm handshake.

Creating a positive interviewing environment allows all parties to present themselves to the best of their abilities.

REMEMBER: Not only are you selecting a potential employee BUT the candidate is also deciding if your company is the type of place they might want to work and you are the type of boss they might like to work for.

Click here to see our article on questions to ask at any interview.

Author: Jane Kennelly