Build Your Team Stronger This Year

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“Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people.” (Steve Jobs)

There are many benefits to having a great team, and these have been backed up by scientific research around the world.

These include, for example:

  • Improved productivity, with thousands of employees noting that having the respect of their peers is the number one reason they go the extra mile at work.
  • Better problem-solving, as team members pool their diverse unique talents and skills to find smart solutions to ever-more complex problems.
  • Generation of innovative ideas as team members with different experiences, opinions and perspectives collaborate.
  • Taking more calculated risks, as team members know they have the support of a team.
  • Personal growth, increased job satisfaction and reduced stress are all benefits of working in a team.
  • Reduced risk of burnout as the workload is shared among team members.

Five steps to build your team stronger

  1. Take care of the basics with the help of your accountant
  • Ensure fair remuneration and that each team member’s salary is optimally structured.
  • Put the basics in place: Employment contracts, salary slips, leave and sick leave, job descriptions and performance reviews.
  • Offer incentives for employees to increase their earnings – from simply working extra hours to profit sharing for achieving company goals.
  1. Provide the right skills and tools for each team member
  • Team members should have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities, and how it contributes to achieving the team’s goals.
  • In addition to safe, clean and friendly working conditions, each team member should have the right skills and the right tools to make their contribution to the team’s success effectively and efficiently.
  • Be sure to provide practical means to track the team’s progress to maintain motivation.
  1. Offer perks that matter!
  • Non-monetary perks that have proven to be very popular include flexible working hours, extra time off, transport, childminding facilities, fun social activities and opportunities to volunteer during work time.
  • Health and wellness programmes are an affordable and practical option to help team members to better care for their health, improving productivity and reducing both absenteeism and presenteeism (when team members are at work, but are too ill to perform their duties).
  • Financial wellness programmes can provide team members completely confidential assistance to deal with the financial stress that is known to negatively affect work performance.
  1. Ensure open and regular communication
  • Regular and prioritised communication – from weekly team meetings to reports with regular due dates are crucial to share information and provide feedback to the team and individual members.
  • Provide all team members with opportunities to share their input, actively seek out suggestions, listen to understand and work to build consensus, which is likely to result in the best decisions.
  • Define common goals and clear steps to achieving these goals.
  1. Celebrating successes and implementing lessons learned
  • Be certain to celebrate milestones and successes with the team, recognising each team member’s efforts.
  • Define the lessons learnt from failures and adjust the team’s approach accordingly.
  • Consider team-building activities that can foster cooperation and build trust and team spirit.

This year, build your team stronger with these simple steps, and set your company up to enjoy all the well-documented benefits of great teams – from increased productivity to better problem-solving and innovation – in the year ahead and beyond.

These Invoicing Tips Could Save Your Business

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“Never take your eyes off the cash flow because it’s the lifeblood of business” (Sir Richard Branson, entrepreneur, investor, and author)

Cash is king, said one anonymous business genius. At the end of the day, it’s having money in the bank that keeps a company running smoothly. According to a recent study by Sibongiseni Selby Myeni at the Walden University, the majority of SA’s small to medium enterprises are destined for the scrap heap and the majority of these cases will be due to a lack of cash flow. In an era where more invoices are going unpaid, how can your invoicing process help to make sure you are one of the lucky ones?

  • Send the invoice immediately

    The best time to send an invoice is when you and your relationship with a client is still fresh in everyone’s minds. Ask for the invoicing details up front, so you can send the invoice with the final deliverable.

  • Invoice for immediate payment

    The invoice should request payment immediately, or failing that, at the end of the month and not only when you need the money. Smaller businesses are likely to comply, and bigger companies may rush faster to ensure you get paid promptly within their next payment cycle.  Making the assumption that your client needs leeway or payment time scales well into the future only guarantees your invoice loses priority.

  • Check your clients

    If you are going into a large contract, it’s wise to do some groundwork on your client. One of the biggest reasons for non-payment is the client’s own cash flow worries. Getting some intelligence from other clients, or if possible, running a background check on them, will ensure you don’t invest huge amounts of time and resources into defaulting clients. If you do establish a client might default, you don’t have to cut them off, simply invoice with the intention of being paid up front, or at least request a deposit and include a punitive “late payers’ fee” or interest on non-payment to encourage them to prioritise you.

  • Never miss the payment cycle

    Your larger clients are going to be fanatical about their payment cycles. Ask them upfront when they need to receive invoices and make sure you get the invoice in before that date. Failure to do so will often mean a 30 or even 60 day delay in payment.

  • Request Debit orders

    If you have a client who uses the same service regularly, don’t be afraid to ask for retainers and other contracts, to be paid by debit order, to cover the costs rather than invoicing each month. Be sure to offer perks to encourage your clients to take you up on these offers.
  • Build relationships

    When it comes time to pay, even struggling companies will want to pay the people they know and like first, over the anonymous supplier. Knowing who at your client is responsible for the invoice and following up politely with them is a great way to ensure your invoices are treated with priority.

Your Tax Deadlines for January 2024

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  • 05 January – Monthly Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) submissions and payments
  • 24 January – End of Filing Season for Provisional taxpayers
  • 24 January – End of Trusts Filing Season for taxpayers liable for provisional tax
  • 30 January – Excise Duty payments
  • 31 January – Value-Added Tax (VAT) electronic submissions and payments & CIT Provisional payments where applicable.