Business Partner Magazine - Issue 34

Issue 34 • May/June 2019

business partner

the magazine for small business owners

�;-���.�1jJif ·- I

Business Breal<through

www.businesspartnermagazine.com

Cont e nt s 0 2 MessagefromtheEditor 0 3 SignsYouDon’tValueYourEmployeesEnough 0 5

T hi sI sWhyCol l a bor aonI sI mpor t a nti nBus i ne s sa nd F r a nc hi s i ng

us i ne s sS e r v i c e sY ouS houl dCons i de rOut s our c i ngT oBe 0 9B Mor ePr oducv e

1 1

Hi g hNe t Wor t hDi v or c ef orBus i ne s sOwne r s : Howt oPr ot e c t Y ourAs s e t s

1 5 ThePowerofBrandLoyalty Appst oHe l pY ouS a v eMone yonY ourOv e r s e a sBus i ne s s 1 75 T r i p

2 1 5BenefitsofWorkingfromHome

www. bus i ne s s pa r t ne r ma ga z i ne . c om

01

E di t or S a ndr aHi ns he l wood

Me s s a g ef r omt hee di t or We l c omet oI s s ue3 4 Ast heflowe r sofs pr i nga r ei nf ul l bl oom, I wa ntt oa s k , “ I sy our bus i ne s sbl oomi ngt oo? ”I hopei ti s .

Howe v e r , i ft hi ng sc oul dbe be e r , t a k eamome ntt or e fle c tonwha ty ouc oul ddot oma k ea di ffe r e nc et oy ourbo oml i ne .

L a y out&De s i g n S a ndr aHi ns he l wood& J a s mi neHi ns he l wood

Onec ommonf a c t orpr e v e n ngbus i ne s s e sf r omg r owi ngi st he owne r ’ sne e df orc ont r ol a ndt hi nk i ngt ha tt he ya r et hemos t i mpor t a ntpe r s onwi t hi nt heor g a ni s aon.

Howe v e r , muc hoft he s uc c e s sofabus i ne s sl i e si nt hee mpl oy e e sa nds uppor tne t wor kof t hebus i ne s sowne r .

I fy ouha v eat e a m, i ti s met os t a r tv a l ui ngt he m.

T hea rc l e“ S i g ns Y ouDon’ tVa l ueY ourE mpl oy e e sE noug h”i de n fie showt he wor k f or c ei sunde r v a l ue d.

I fy oudon’ tha v eat e a m, t heque sony oune e dt oa s ki s“ Whya r e y oudoi nge v e r y t hi ngy our s e l f ? ”Y ouc a nha v eat e a mofv i r t ua l s t a ff t ha ty ouc a nout s our c ewor kt o.

Out s our c i ngwi l l i nc r e a s ey our pr oducv i t ys i g ni fic a nt l ya ndg i v ey ouba c k met of oc usont he e s s e na l t hi ng s .

Bus i ne s sPa r t ne rMa g a z i ne i si s s ue dbi mont hl yby S a ndr aHi ns he l wood/ E ffe cv eWe bs i t eMa r k e ng + 4 4( 0 ) 7 7 8 23 1 0 0 5 8 Arc l e si nBus i ne s sPa r t ne r Ma g a z i neha v ebe e n r e pr oduc e dwi t ht he pe r mi s s i onoft hea ut hor s .

T hev i e wsr e fle c t e ddonot ne c e s s a r i l yr e fle c tt hev i e ws a ndopi ni onsoft hee di t or .

T hebe ne fit sofg e nghe l pa r ef ur t he rdi s c us s e di nt hea rc l e“ T hi s I sWhyCol l a bor aonI sI mpor t a nti nBus i ne s sa ndF r a nc hi s i ng . ”E v e n t hel i k e sofRi c ha r dBr a ns ona ndWa r r e nBuffe ta r ewhe r et he ya r e be c a us eoft hepe opl ebe hi ndt hes c e ne swhos uppor tt he m.

Whe t he rt hes uppor ty our e c e i v ei sf r omaf r i e ndora ne mpl oy e e , t a k e met or e c og ni s et he i rhe l p.

Va l uet hek nowl e dg et ha tt he y br i nga ndbepr e pa r e dt or e l i nqui s hc ont r ol t ot hos et ha ta r ebe e r s ui t e dt ot a s k s .

T oy ours uc c e s s , S a ndr a

www. bus i ne s s pa r t ne r ma ga z i ne . c om

02

Signs You Don’t Value Your Employees Enough

You see it all the time: Entrepreneurs often think of themselves as the most important person within their organization. While you, as an entrepreneur, might have thought up the genius business plan and brought the organization together, the truth is you don’t do much to make your business successful — but your employees do.

Without the workers under your supervision, your business wouldn’t ever leave your garage. Unfortunately, if you operate under the assumption that you are the MVP of your company, you might not be treating your employees how they deserve to be treated. Here are a few signs your workforce is undervalued and what you can do to fix it.

You Don’t Know Your Employees’ Names Sure, your business has grown pretty big over the past few years, but as long as your company has fewer than about 150 employees, there is no reason for you not to know at least the name of every single

worker. Even if you don’t work with every employee every day — or ever — hearing their name come out of your mouth in the elevator or hallway is a big boost for most low-level workers. On the flipside, a puzzled expression and a description, like “that short, red-haired receptionist,” is a major bummer. As soon as you have a new hire, introduce yourself and try to memorize their name, just for the sake of decency.

You Don’t Promote From Within It’s easy to look outside your organization and see so much talent and experience, but the truth is that those strangers don’t know your business like your employees do. It’s much less expensive and much more productive to promote from within — mainly because your workers will worship you for it. There is nothing that builds a strong workforce quite like the promises of job security and career development. As long as you are loyal to your employees, they will be loyal to you.

You Take All the Credit (but None of the Blame) When an organization is doing well, it’s common to see the media congratulate those in charge — but you shouldn’t let your company successes go to your head.

It might have been your strong leadership that created the positive change, but

03

ultimately it was your employees’ hard work that got you where you are. Instead of accepting all the credit for yourself, you should show employee appreciation by thanking and rewarding the teams responsible for the victory.

On the other hand, when (not if) failures occur, it’s best to observe them fairly and objectively. While you might not want to accept any blame, it might be that your poor leadership — and inability to appreciate your workforce effectively — was what created the opportunity for problems to occur. Of course, you should penalize any bad actors if they exist, but most often you should reevaluate your leadership strategies first.

You Don’t Let Anyone Else Talk

You’re the business leader, the head honcho, the person in charge — but that doesn’t mean you don’t need to listen to the people around you. Many leaders develop a bad habit of talking and talking and talking — in meetings, in hallways, in offices, in cubes, anywhere and everywhere. Because you are at the top of your organization, you might think you have

more important things to say than anyone else, but you’d be wrong. As your business grows, you will lose touch with the groundfloor operations, which means you need to rely on those working for you to guide procedures and practices. In fact, when given the opportunity to hear others, you should be as quiet as possible to soak up what they have to say.

You Don’t Have a Diverse Staff While you might have read about many of the previous issues before, this is a new one to many business leaders. The fact is that leaders who fail to embrace the differences within their staff — and within other people in general — also tend to minimize the value of their staff. People with different backgrounds can bring in new perspectives and ideas, which is important in a marketplace that is constantly seeing significant shake-ups due to improvement and change. If you see the same kind of faces around your conference table, you might consider seeking a bit more diversity in your team.

Employees don’t need much to be kept content and committed, but an important thing to give them is your time and attention. You need to value the work your employees do for you, and you also need to show how you value your staff. If you are guilty of any of the above behaviors, it’s time to change — for the sake of your business.

04

This Is Why Collaboration Is Important in Business and Franchising According to research by tech start-up

and Warren Buffet as successful leaders,

development agency Studio Graphene, a

few would be able to pinpoint the people

third of us in the UK plan to start our own

behind the scenes who worked with them

businesses this year. Many people choose

to help them become who they are today.

to go it alone, encouraged by the success stories of famous entrepreneurs â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but this can be misleading. While many of us can

Richard Branson himself acknowledges that going it alone is not always preferable or even possible. The Virgin founder said,

point to Richard Branson, Mark Zuckerberg

05

“while many of us like to think we could one

investment into starting the business. The

day wake up with the bit between our

new franchise owner enters into a business

teeth, go it alone and change the world, the

partnership with the bigger corporation,

reality is that nobody ever achieved

and as such, both are responsible for its

anything without some help along the way.”

financial success.

Whether you’ve developed a new invention, opened up a branch of a global

coffee franchise or started an online shop, collaboration is vital to help you achieve

2. It Could Lead to More Sales and Success

your business goals. Here are some reasons why working with others is key in the world

Collaboration does not always have to take

of business.

place in the early stages of a business. If you get going with your own business

1. You Can Spread the Financial Liability

operation and achieve moderate success,

working with another company could be your key to taking it to the next level. Take Costa Coffee, a highly successful household

One of the benefits of starting a business

name that does not shy away from working

with others is the ability to spread business

with other brands. The chain works with

risk. If you pool resources with a business

stores like Primark and Waterstones to

partner — or many business partners — to

place machines and cafes on their

get the enterprise off the ground, the

premises, with arrangements to share the

financial burden that each of you shoulders

proceeds. While you’re unlikely to have a

is significantly reduced. Franchising is a

business of this scale, look to your local

business model that ensures a spread of

community to see where you could forge

financial risk. Any person who wants to set

connections — they could pay off.

up a franchise, for example, must first pay a franchise fee, which is essentially their

06

3. More People Are Invested in

4. Other People Will Bring

the Performance of the Business

Different Skills to the Table

We’ve already discussed that working with

Let’s be honest; nobody can be good at

others from the beginning can help you to

everything — and it’s unrealistic to set

spread the financial liability, but this isn’t

yourself such a goal. If you want to start a

the only reason why financial collaborators

business, maybe your strengths lie in the

are an asset. Just as you will be financially

vision. Alternatively, you could be great

invested, you and your business partners

with finances and planning for the future.

will also be emotionally invested in the

But owning a business is much more than

performance of the company. Its continued

having expertise in one area. To get the

success will be a source of pride for all

skills you need for your business and plug

involved, which will guarantee a higher level

the gaps that you may have in your own

of effort from everyone in the group. As a

understanding, you will need to bring

consequence, with each of you doing your

others on board. By pooling together your

best to ensure the business goes from

various strengths, you can develop a water-

strength to strength, you’ll more likely

tight operation that will keep your business

achieve bolstered levels of performance

moving forward.

and overall success.

About the Author James Fell is Online Business Editor at Aceville Publications, overseeing digital projects for What Franchise and Global Franchise. He’s passionate about writing about business and the future of franchising.

07

Nevergi veupona dr eam becaus eof t het i mei twi l lt ake t oaccompl i s hi t .

Thet i mewi l lpas s anyway.

Ear lNi ght i ngal e www. s andr ahi ns hel wood. com

Business Services You Should Consider Outsourcing To Be More Productive But it's easy to forget other tasks that could be outsourced and save so much time for you and your employees to focus on other things such as winning new customers or meeting deadlines with important clients. Now outsourcing isn't always the answer because sometimes even with money saved, you could still run into other headaches. But you can consider a few things that may affect your decision on whether to outsource.

Considerations for Outsourcing Business Tasks The first consideration is usually cost since most business services outsourced will save money, but that's not always the case. Also, sometimes outsourcing services means the company your outsourcing to may want you to enter into a contract for a certain cost over a certain time period, and this may not be

something you want to do. The second consideration is whether outsourcing could affect your customer relationship standing.

If you've provided a product or service to customers in-house that they've been happy with for years, giving that task away to a third party may not be the best move for your business. And then you also need to consider whether you could be putting your data or your customers' data at too high a risk by outsourcing certain tasks. But there are some general areas that are frequently outsourced by businesses.

Administrative Assistant Outsourcing In today's business world, you really don't have to hire full-time secretarial staff because virtual administrative assistants

09

are in great supply. After all, since they can easily get your paperwork done and manage your schedules from the comfort of their own home even if it's hundreds of miles away, why buy the new desk, workstation computer and office equipment for them since they'll already have it at home or their own workspace?

And since you can usually pay virtual administrative assistants more like independent contractors than full-time employees, you won't have to worry about the costs of all those benefits.

Accounting And Payroll Outsourcing Accounting, bookkeeping and payroll management are all things you should outsource, especially if you're a small business owner. Many small business owners make the mistake of assuming.

They either need to hire a bookkeeper or in-house accountant or do all the finances and payroll management themselves. But there's a much better way by outsourcing those kinds of tasks to companies like Employment Innovations because doing so can not only take the stress out of remembering to get the payroll filed; you'll be letting professionals handle all the legal compliance issues that come with it.

Sometimes outsourced payroll services are offered as part of a whole HR package, which then means things like recruiting and employee benefits are also handled outside at a much smaller cost to you. But really there's no reason you should spend

extra time or money learning bookkeeping and buying accounting software when you can outsource it.

IT Service Outsourcing The matter of outsourcing your IT services can be a little trickier than other things because every business's technology infrastructure is different, and some may or may not need in-house technicians.

Certainly, since cloud technology can host your website, backup data, provide email and allow for scalability, outsourcing IT services could save your company a lot of money.

But some caveats you do have to be aware of are that you have no control over things that are outsourced in a third-party cloud, so if your website or file storage location goes down, you could risk losing profits by being unable to get tasks done as a result.

You're also handing over data security to a third party, so you'll need to be extra careful with that.

In conclusion, outsourcing can greatly benefit your company if you do your homework on the companies youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re outsourcing to. Just remember, saving money and time isn't the only factor to consider; you need to make sure you're paying for reliability and trustworthiness as well.

But it pays from time to time to review what you're doing with your business with all people involved and consider whether delegating certain divisions to another party would be in the business's best interest.

10

High-Net-Worth Divorce for Business Owners: How to Protect Your Assets Going through a divorce is, without a doubt, one of the most difficult experiences a person can endure. While it is obviously tough from an emotional standpoint, the financial impact can also be huge, especially when it comes to high-net-worth divorces.

Divorce is something very few people plan for. Dividing up your shared assets and

removing them from any tax-efficient accounts can be costly and reaching a fair financial settlement can take a long time â&#x20AC;&#x201D; even years if both parties contest the divorce. For regular people, the divorce process is complicated enough, but for business owners, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s especially troublesome because an unfavourable financial settlement could spell serious problems for their company.

Below, the high-net-worth divorce lawyers at KMJ Solicitors provide some useful guidance on the divorce process, with

11

careful consideration to the protection of assets and avoiding common mistakes.

Is Yours a High-Net-Worth Divorce?

In the UK, a High Net Worth Individual (HNWI) is someone who has self-certified that: 

They have an annual income to the value of £100,000 or more



Their assets are worth £250,000 or more. Net assets here don’t include: 

The primary residence or loans secured on that property



Any benefits (pensions or otherwise) that are payable in the event of redundancy, death or retirement. It’s worth noting that, in this case, the HNWI and their dependents may be entitled to these benefits.

Seek the Advice of High-NetWorth Divorce Lawyers Step one of any divorce — or any other legal process, for that matter — is to seek the advice and guidance of a high-quality legal professional. In this case, you’ll find that the best option is to hire a divorce lawyer who either specialises in high-networth divorces or has previous experience in cases of a similar nature. Doing so will ensure that you not only have the best person for the job working behind the

scenes but also that you’ll benefit from their knowledge during your divorce and when planning for the future.

As a business owner, you’ll already be in the habit of finding the best people at your disposal, whether these are new employees, clients, or industry connections — and you should maintain the same train of thought when choosing a divorce lawyer.

Shopping around for reputable and experienced high-net-worth divorce lawyers ensures that you have the best chance of protecting your business from the financial impact of divorce, as well as gain a better understanding of how to protect your assets in a personal and professional capacity.

Avoid Common Pre-Divorce Mistakes The following actions often cause problems in the long run, despite seeming sensible or tactile at the time: 

Reaching an agreement before taking expert legal advice: You won’t know the full extent of your partner’s assets and how the court would divide these assets. Making firm agreements about how the assets should be divided — and then, upon seeking the advice of a high-net-worth divorce lawyer, discovering that the agreements made were ill-judged — can create mistrust, hostility and generally start a divorce off on the wrong foot.

12



Gathering information and documents that don’t belong to you: The courts do not permit actions including opening your spouse’s bank statements and logging into their email accounts. Any evidence obtained without the right to do so is not generally admissible in family law.

both parties. This includes shares in private or public companies. As a business owner or shareholder in a private company, there may be arguments you can deploy to dispute the presumed equal division. You are more likely to be successful if you established the business before meeting or marrying your spouse.



Transferring assets: Whether you transfer assets to third parties or move them offshore or into trusts, the courts will take the view that it was done to deceive the court.



Moving out of the marital home: Although it may well be difficult, it’s often advisable to remain in the marital home with your spouse and children. If you do move out, your spouse may be able to argue that they are the primary caregiver of your children and, therefore, have a greater need for housing. This may also leave them in a more favourable position financially. For business owners, this can be a huge problem, as it means you’ll have to contend with the financial adjustment and find new living arrangements, both of which can severely affect your ability to run a company efficiently.

Your first step will be to work out the value of the business assets. This can be initially carried out by your company's accountant, but if both sides fail to agree on the value, an independent forensic accountant’s report may be needed to settle the dispute. Once a value has been determined, a percentage to which your spouse is entitled will need to be decided.

Does My Spouse Have a Stake in My Company?

When it comes to the division of assets, the court’s starting point is equality between

This could be 50% but, depending on the arguments put forward, it may differ. In these situations, the courts will discuss liquidity and try to establish if anything can be extracted or sold from a company to satisfy the financial entitlement of the other party. This most commonly comes in the form of funds or property.

The preference of the company shareholder will usually be to achieve a clean break, enabling them to carry on with their business venture post-divorce in the knowledge that his or her spouse’s claims have been met in full. While this can mean that your company will initially feel the effects of the divorce, you’ll have peace of mind knowing that your break up won’t come back around to bite you again.

13

Yourl i f edoes notgetbet t er bychancei t get sbet t erby change. www. s andr ahi ns hel wood. com

The Power of Brand Loyalty

By Malik Muhammad Any ambitious business will seek to acquire,

point where certain companies are

maintain or increase market share. Human

identified by mere symbols. This does not

beings are generally creatures of habit, so

mean a small to medium sized business

we buy a particular brand of toothpaste,

should copy or even model themselves on

develop certain eating habits and observe

large conglomerates. It means that these

specific belief systems normally because we

businesses will maintain or improve market

were exposed to that toothpaste, those

share by giving people a reason to buy their

foods and belief systems within our cultural

product or service. The competitiveness of

narratives. We live these habits, seldom

the global business economy is only

question them and pass them on to the

intensified by the ease of online shopping.

next generation. Goods and services that

The major way to ensure that people

people use are part of their consumer

support your business is by constantly

habits.

giving them a reason to do so. Here are

The power of brand loyalty is evident to the

three reminders of how to distinguish your

business.

15

1. SOLVE A PROBLEM Prove how your business makes life easier for those who do business with you. A 2005

Study your market then develop unique ways to enhance the sense of belonging to a special group or tribe.

article published in the National Science

3. CREATE AN EMOTIONAL

Foundation showed that the average person

CONNECTION

had between 12,000 – 60,000 thoughts per day. We filter through these thoughts to focus on the issues that are most important,

however, these are still a lot of thoughts.

Problems require solutions so a tool or service that fixes said problem will always be favoured. An easy to use and fuelefficient lawn mower will be favoured over one that requires constant reading of the manual plus an extra litre of fuel. An online business magazine with useful information for today’s entrepreneur and easily accessed from any multimedia platform is

Aim to enhance a positive personal relationship between the customer and your business in each experience whether in person, on social media, via written communication or through online shopping. People welcome feeling appreciated and knowing that their patronage of your business actually matters to you. Basic courtesies have a long-lasting impact on the customer experience and develops loyalty to your

brand.

more practical than the traditional printed

The Art of War by Sun Tzu is often

format.

referenced in business circles because

2. SOLIDIFY YOUR ASSOCIATION

business is a form of commercial warfare.

Small to medium sized business owners

Competitive pricing and quality assurance

face real challenges on a daily basis and

are a given, so it is wise to add more value

the great news is that most challenges are

than what is expected. Culture determines

overcome with the execution of strategic

context in business as in life. Seek to

thinking, a clear vision and the right team.

understand your target audience or tribe.

Malik Muhammad was raised and educated in Jamaica, read law in London and the author of ‘Empower Yourself to Succeed’. He created The Empowerment Mastery System to influence, help and inspire businesses to cultivate their visions in a specific time frame. Malik enjoys vegan cooking and quad biking. He is an after dinner speaker, event host and convenes empowerment seminars internationally. LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter

16

5 Apps to Help You Save Money on Your Overseas Business Trip

By Al-moottil P Antony Overseas business travels are rarely cheap.

This is especially true if you will be traveling

to blow out of proportion as well.

Going to another country for business or

during the peak season when airfares and

corporate reasons, though, shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t

hotel rates are often doubled. During this

always mean breaking the bank or going

time, you will be paying a premium for

bankrupt. With your smartphone, the right

airlines and hotels that do not offer

apps, and a subscription to one of the best

anything extra special.

unlimited Internet plans around, you will

Your food, transportation expenses, and

be able to cut costs and save some money

other activities can cause your total budget

without compromising or missing out on a

17

lot of things during your overseas trip.

Below are the top five apps you need to install if you want to save money on all your overseas business trips:

Skyscanner Finding the most budget-friendly airfare and hotel is a good start to saving money on your travel overseas.

Skyscanner is one of the best apps you should be using while youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re still planning your trip. Its interface will allow you to compare prices for hotels, airfares, and even car rentals easily and quickly. This app also has Price Alerts and Top Deals features which will help you find better rates faster.

And in case you need to find accommodation at the last minute for an

throughout the trip. You will then have an easier time tracking your expenses every day and sticking to your daily budget.

Trail Wallet will also let you know where you're spending too much money so that you can curb this or make the necessary adjustments.

BillGuard An alternative to Trail Wallet, BillGuard is an app that allows you to track all your important financial information right from your iPhone or iPad. You will be able to view all your financial accounts in one place with this app.

BillGuard learns from your usage or consuming habits and improves itself as you swipe with your credit or debit card.

unexpected side trip, you will easily find

With this handy app, you can view your

one by using this app as well.

spending over time with analytics, charts,

Trail Wallet

and diagrams with custom spending categories that are easy to understand. You

If you want to make sure you arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t

can then compare your spending and saving

spending more than you should and that

so that you can pinpoint which

you are sticking to your budget for your trip,

expenditures you should try to curb.

download the Trail Wallet app.

This app also comes with a number of

To start using this app, set a daily budget

financial tools that will help you manage

and then add expenses via Quick Add

your money better.

18

Digit

Rome2rio

In case you will be overseas for a long time,

Whether you’re meeting with potential investors

make sure you download the Digit app first.

in Hong Kong or in the process of starting a

This tool will save for and pay off your credit card debts and loans. It will help you save money for your future trips as well.

business in Dubai, you will spend a lot of

money on traveling in and around the city.

To save money on this particular business trip element, download Rome2rio.

The app transfers a small amount of money from your bank account into different funds automatically. This can be your “rainy day” fund or another type of financial reserve intended for paying your credit card debt or student loan and a trip to another country.

Rome2rio will help you compare various modes of transportation and their prices.

It displays flight, train, bus, ferry, and driving options, including their estimated travel times and fares. Because of these details, you will be able to choose the best

The amount that will be transferred will be based on the app’s algorithm. It will only

mode of transportation based on your budget and requirements.

transfer money that you don’t need or can afford and, as such, the daily amount will change from time to time.

With this app, you will be able to save money and time as you go through all your activities.

In case you feel like you can’t afford to save anything right now, you can stop saving for up to 30 days at a time. You can then resume saving after this period or earlier, as

soon as you are ready again.

Your smartphone is one of the essential items you need when traveling to a different country. Get more from your device and save money at the same time on all your overseas business trips by downloading these practical apps.

About The Author Al-moottil P Antony is a C-Suite Executive Support Professional for Zain, a leading mobile and data services operator with a commercial footprint in 8 Middle Eastern and African countries.

19

Wheneveryouf i nd your s el fdoubt i nghow f ar youcango,j us tr emember how f aryouhavecome.

Rememberever yt hi ngyou havef aced,al lt hebat t l es youhavewon,andal lt he f ear syouhaveover come. www. s andr ahi ns hel wood. com

5 Benefits of Working from Home There are multiple benefits when it comes to working from home. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not only the employees, however, but that can also benefit. Working from home is becoming more and more popular with employers. In a survey of 1,000 hiring managers, 55% agree that remote work among full-time employees is more common now. They expect up to 38% of their full-time workers will be working remotely in the next decade.

1 Employee Health

keep a better work-life balance. You can even spend more time preparing healthy meals, instead of grabbing unhealthy crisps and sandwiches from the local shop. There is more to it than that. For employers, telecommuting can in fact limit absences.

Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve all been there when one of your colleagues comes ill to the office. The next day half of your office is empty because everyone else has caught it. A study from 2011 found that employees who worked from home experience 25 percent less stress on a daily basis.

This might seem obvious because you can

21

2 Productivity Gains All of us work different, whilst working from home you are able to set up your own environment. If you need complete silence you can do that, Noise level just the way you want it, no more AC kicking and distracting you, no sirens wailing outside your window. Most of all… Zero commuting!

Even though it is an exceptional comfort it does, in fact, increase your productivity. No more leaving the office 5 minutes early to catch your bus or wasting an hour a day just to commute to your place of work. It might not seem like much but over the whole month it does add up to an extra 20 hours.

the expenses of childcare. This works the same way in terms of elderly care.

5 Flexibility Working the hours you want is one of the most important aspects for us (especially the night owls). Whether you want to stay fit by going to the gym, take a stroll at your favorite park you can do just that! Need to pick up your kids? Not an issue. There are so many benefits when it comes to the flexibility that is possible with working from home. Whilst sticking to that 8 hour a day pattern.

Conclusion 3 Lower Costs Employers and employees can both share this benefit. For an employer, less “inoffice” desks mean less office space is required. On top of this no desk = no need to buy an extra computer and so on.

American Express reported annual savings of $10 million to $15 million thanks to its remote work options. It does not stop there.No more having to buy smart new shoes and expensive suits.

4 Proximity to Home and Family One of the many reasons one should choose to work from home would be the physical proximity to family. Parents are pacified to know that they are very near to their children, but also available should they be needed for any reason. This is also a massive money saver when we think about

Working from home is definitely a trendsetter. According to a Gallup survey, between 2012 and 2016 the number of people working remotely four or five days a week has risen from 24% to 31%. Also, 43% of Americans said they spent at least some time working remotely last year.

Working from home is getting more and more popular and we can see why. With it having positive results on the employers and the employees. There are many ways of attaining the concept. Suggest it to your boss tomorrow. Why not consider going solo and starting a home-based business to enjoy these advantages. As more companies are accepting the concept. Is it possible that in the future the only commute we are going to have is going to be bed to...bed?

22

Cont r i but e I fy ouwoul dl i k et oc ont r i but et of ut ur ee dionsofBus i ne s sPa r t ne rMa g a z i neďŹ nd outmor ea th ps : / / www. bus i ne s s pa r t ne r ma g a z i ne . c om/ wr i t e f or us /

Ge ti nT ouc h Wewe l c omey ourf e e dba c k , c omme nt sa ndque sons .

Pl e a s es e nda ne ma i l t oi nf o@bus i ne s s pa r t ne r ma g a z i ne . c om

Phot oCr e di t : Phot ok a nokwww. f r e e di gi t a l phot os . ne t