Running your own business is no mean feat but more and more people are recognising the benefits. According to the Centre for Entrepreneurs, nearly 660,000 companies were established in 2016, up from 608,000 the previous year.  The UK provides a great place to set up on your own but there are a few key ways that you can ensure your business runs as smoothly as possible.

When you’ve got any more than one employee (or even when you’re self-employed), the admin can quickly start to mount up. By anticipating any inevitable bumps in the road, such as employee absenteeism, you can put preventative measures and structures in place to stay on top of things, freeing up your time and headspace to keep on track with your bottom line and growth goals.

Keep Up to Date with Bills and Taxes

Many business owners are so busy dealing with the day-to-day that they unwittingly let the bigger tasks fall by the wayside. Being lumped with a penalty charge or worse for forgetting to pay your taxes or bills on time is one of the most avoidable ways that business owners waste money.

Hire a professional to draw up an intelligent financial business plan and set structures in place to ensure you are ahead of the game with your outgoings. This will keep costs to a minimum and maintain your reputation as a professional, reliable company with customers, suppliers and your own team.

Protect Yourself and Your Assets

Many businesses are formed using partnerships and it is essential to protect your own, your partner’s and the interests of your business. It’s worth considering a range of business protection options such as Partnership Protection. This will take care of the essentials in case of one partner’s serious illness or death by ensuring that control of the business stays with the other partners. This may help to avoid expensive loans and retain the confidence of customers, suppliers and employees during an otherwise turbulent time. As business owners are often the shareholders of the company too, then Shareholder Protection may also be worth including as a crucial part of your protection portfolio.

Hire Good People and Look After Them

With the current state of the job market, it’s highly likely that you will receive many applications for every position that you advertise. Don’t be tempted to hire the first person you meet just to tick it off your to-do list. Take your time and choose the best applicants for their skills as well as their attitude and ability to fit into the workplace. This will help secure both short- and long-term profits and productivity in your workplace as well as minimise employee turnover.

Once you’ve built your team, you need to look after them. Stay up to date with your auto-enrolment duties (source: Pensions Regulator) and make sure that every new employee is immediately enrolled into a workplace pension scheme unless specific circumstances make them exempt.

Consider Private Health Insurance

Employee absenteeism takes a huge toll on businesses with regards to both productivity and profit. A report by The Work Foundation states that absence due to migraines alone cost employers £8.8 billion per year with 86 million working days lost annually. And migraine is not even the leading cause of absenteeism – this responsibility lies with both musculoskeletal problems and mental illness. With the NHS waiting list currently at an all-time-high of four million according to The Guardian, employee absence and health issues can quickly become a major burden.

It is recommended that you consider taking out insurance to protect your team and your profits. Not only will this make sure that employees can return to work as quickly as possible, but it will also boost morale and encourage loyalty, working as both a recruitment and retention tool. There is a wide range of policies available that can be tailored to your team and their needs, including International Private Medical Insurance and Dental Cover.

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If you would like to learn more about the range of corporate private healthcare options available, please give our expert advisers at Vintage Health a call on 020 8371 5240 or emailinfo@vintagehealth.co.uk

For more details on any of the other benefits and protection policies outlined above, please give our team at Vintage Corporate a call on 020 8371 5232 or email info@vintagecorporate.co.uk  

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