Budgeting for Next Year
By · CommentsThird quarter is drawing to a close and it is time to start focusing on the new year. The 2009 fiscal year is on track to be one of the worst that our nation has seen. On the bright side, if your company still in business you are doing something right. So take some time now to prepare for another year of struggle.
Begin looking at the budgeting and forecasts for 2010 now. Look at 2009 and see how sales were. Did they slip, maintain or possibly even go up? Whatever happened, for a conservative 2010 forecast, take the sales number and drop it by 10%. Is the company going to be able to survive with 10% less income. If not, start looking at what needs to be cut. Do layoffs need to be made in the beginning of 2010 or does over head need to be cut. Determine what items can go and start planning on how that will be executed.
Then start thinking about how sales can be prevented from dropping. If marketing avenues are being ignored, pursue them. Start contacting clients about next year, beat your competition to sale. If new products are in development, focus on how they are going to be placed in the marketplace to be competitive and make money.
Start focusing on cuts and sales maintenance now for success in a rocky 2010.
Information is Valuable
By · CommentsEveryone knows that information is valuable, but how valuable it is and the long term effects are sometimes hard to gauge.
Recently as an example, we had a manager inform us that the owners of the building adjacent to ours wanted to buy our building. Valuable information for us to have. In turn the manager was asked to get the owners names for future reference; we have no intention of selling at the moment. The manager in the process of getting the name, took the owners on a tour of the building with other employees present. The net result was widespread panic that we were closing down the office and they would all be out of a job. This simple task of finding out a name and walk through of a building – sharing information – created fear and panic and cost us hours of productive time.
So as a caution, be aware of the information that you are passing along as a business owner, as well as how that information may be relayed to others. Usually it is best to keep information on a need to know basis unless you have an extended period of time to explain the ramifications of the information.
Why Would an Employee Choose Salary?
By · CommentsAs a follow up to Sam’s article earlier this week, here is my take on the Salary vs. Hourly debate.
Employees often talk about how they wished they were on salary. Why? First I am going to examine the pros and Cons of hourly then salary pay and let you discuss which you think is better.
PROS of Hourly Pay
*Employees are paid for every hour in fact every minute that is worked.
*Employees are paid overtime for any hours over 40 per week, and perhaps holiday rates and double time rates depending on the industry.
*Hourly employees have the ability to decide how much work they are going to complete over their required regular hours. An employee can turn down overtime, although it may be detrimental to a career.
*In a business slow down, employee hours may be cut, but the employee is still paid for all hours worked.
CONS of Hourly Pay
*There are no guaranteed minimum hours, so a paycheck can vary from week to week.
PROS of Exempt Salary
*Guaranteed pay check from week to week.
CONS of Exempt Salary
*No payment for overtime. Employers expect salary employees to work a minimum amount of overtime and in some cases an exceptional amount of overtime at no extra pay. It is included in your salary rate.
*Employees average hourly pay will probably be less on salary when the loss of overtime is factored in.
*Employers expect the employee to finish their job assignments regardless of how long it will take them.
*More work will be pushed to the salaried employee since they are getting paid anyway and they don’t have to be paid overtime.
*During a slow down in the business salaried employees will often be given a pay cut and be expected to pick up the slack of hourly employees whose hours have been cut. More work for less money.
