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Is Hiring A New Employee Worth It For Your Booming Business?

Having a flourishing business sounds well doesn’t it? But, for a business owner who has not planned about growth, it is possible to find himself or herself in the crossroads – not knowing where to go next. Furthermore, the challenge rises when the perfect employee for the job is asking for a competitive salary.

Employers must calculate the hiring budget and the total cost of hiring a new employee. Additionally, they can find new ways to gain the help they are looking for on how to keep hiring costs low.

COST OF HIRING A NEW EMPLOYEE

Since the workforce of Singapore consists of a diverse mix of employees in terms of age, gender, and ethnicity, employers are strongly advised to practice fairness especially in the matters of talent recruitment.

This fairness expands to the general obligations of the employers. For instance, the cost of hiring a new employee includes the taxes issues for foreign employees and the Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions for the local employees. CPF is mandatory for all local employees including Singaporean citizens and Permanent Residents that earn more than S$50 a month. And, the maximum CPF contribution rate for the employer is 16%.

Aside from this, the recruitment process can cost you if you are planning to pay for a job advertisement. Fortunately, you can post cheap or free position Ads online through various websites that are available here.

Once you select the perfect candidate, you may have to accommodate to their needs such as purchasing new desk, computer, writing materials, and other tools. Lastly, the hourly wage or the base salary heavily affects the cost of hiring a new employee.

ALTERNATIVE WAYS TO GET HELP

After analyzing all the factors that contribute to the cost of hiring a new employee, you may come to a conclusion that you are still low in hiring funds. This is when creativity and alternative ways to get help comes in.

1. ENHANCE YOUR CURRENT EMPLOYEE’S SKILLS

Instead of hiring a new employee, enhance your current employee’s skills to meet your company’s needs. As the business grows, relatively increase the level of responsibility and the amount of salary. By doing so, you can enhance the current employee’s productivity, effectiveness, and loyalty to your company.

Upgrading your employee’s skills does not necessarily equate to burning your pocket. You can search for a variety of affordable workshops that Groupon.sg offers. Here are just some:

a. Instead of hiring a social media manager, learn with the 3 Hr Branding + SEM + Facebook Marketing Workshop for S$28.

b. Instead of hiring a graphic designer for a few projects, learn with the Adobe Photoshop CC Online Course from Teacherbird.com for S$23.

2. HIRE PART-TIME EMPLOYEES FOR YOUR TEMPORARY NEEDS

If your company’s needs are temporary only, hire a part-time employee, as it is more cost efficient. A sense of flexibility, in both the salary and employment benefits, is undeniable when hiring part-time employees. The working hours of these employees are less than 35 hours a week.

Image Credits: Alex France via Flickr with Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike

With all these in mind, ask yourself this: “Is Hiring A New Employee Worth It For Your Booming Business?”

3. Outsourced Staff

Of course, if you’re truly in need of the assistance and short of human resources staff, you can always rely on a good old recruitment agency to help you out.

It has become a trick of the trade for most companies to hire a Philippine, Indian or China recruitment agency. Should there be a temporary vacant spot in the company’s roster, companies choose to outsource a temp instead of having their current staff pick up the slack. This also guarantees that everyone in the company stays focused on their core tasks.

Sources: 1 & 2

Know These 4 Usual Start-up Mistakes To Save More Money

Although you are eager to venture on the business scene in Singapore, you must first be aware of your chances. In 2012, a research showed that 3 out of 4 start-up businesses fail.This is why it helps to know and learn from the usual mistakes that previous business owners have made.

These are just four of them:

1. GETTING OFF ON THE WRONG FOOT

It is paramount to choose the right partners, team, co-founders, or investors to start the company with. Not only does your skills have to balance but also your values must be aligned too. What is even more difficult than having unsuitable partners is having a lone founder. Well, your chance of succeeding is slimmer when you do it alone because of limited access to resources and funding.

2. HAVING TOO MUCH OR TOO LITTLE MONEY

Raising bountiful amounts of money can make you appear more successful but it shifts away the real focus of the business – the clients. You must give more time and energy into making your product appear impressive for all the consumers to patronize.

On the other hand, having scarce funding because of underestimating the start-up costs can lead you to using your own savings just to meet the business’ monetary needs. You can either use your retirement savings or borrow money from friends and family. This is not always a good idea! Furthermore, you will not be able to optimize your product to its full potential.

3. MISTAKE IN TIME

Jonathan Wegener, the founder of ExitStrategy and Timehop, told Mashable that a common mistake that companies make is wasting one of the most valuable currency on Earth – time.

He then said this: “The biggest mistake I see is companies waiting too long to release the product. It’s easy to let the scope of what you’re building get out of hand. But equally importantly most startups build much more than they truly need to, but this is often only realized in hindsight”.

4. PAYING NO ATTENTION TO THE PRESENT OR FUTURE CONSUMERS

Engaging in activities that enable you to reach out to your potential clients earlier on can help you reach success. Get feedback from the present consumers to examine the demand for your product and the uniqueness of your brand. Then, target your future consumers by using social media.

Image Credits: Clément Petit via Flickr with Creative Commons

Sources: 1 & 2

Does my child need tuition?

Increasing educational levels is a mark of progress for humankind. In the past, education was considered a luxury enjoyed by a privileged few. Today, higher living standards have empowered the masses to invest in the future of the next generation, leading to the betterment of mankind of epic proportions.

However, this does not necessarily mean that tuition is the only way to gain extra knowledge outside of school. Education can come in different forms, ranging from self-directed learning to facilitated learning. Shown below is an elementary guide for parents who are considering various educational options to improve the competency of their children.

As with purchasing any goods or services, quality should often be emphasized over quantity. Finding a well-suited tutor that caters to the precise needs of your child is of utmost importance.

*For convenience, this article uses “his” and “he” to refer to the child.

5 Ways To Budget Your Start-Up Business Like A Boss

There comes a time when your lack of skills on accounting and budgeting will be a dilemma once you opened your small business. You may be knowledgeable in sales and trading but budgeting is important too. Budgeting helps the business owner to determine whether hey have sufficient money to fund the operations, expand the small business, and generate profit for oneself. Without this, you may spend more than what you earn.

The good news is that, there are modern alternatives to make your budgeting feast quicker and easier such as using Smartphone Apps that highlight your business’ expenses. And, on that note, here are the 5 Ways To Budget Your Start-Up Business Like A Boss…

1. DO TONS OF RESEARCH

Businesses may not be diverse but there are similarities. So, do tons of research on the local library, online forums, and start-up business owners about their company’s budget and financial plan. Use a platform like Quora or Yahoo Answers to enable you to ask the users on certain prices of the materials you must use or where to buy them. This will ensure that you get the best deal without spending too much.

2. ORGANIZE THE NUMBERS

After doing your research, organize the numbers by putting it inside an Excel spreadsheet. Analyze and estimate the total amount of money you must allocate on different categories such as raw materials, rent, insurance, and taxes. You may also put the estimated percentage of revenue for each category.

3. USE A SOFTWARE

Aside from using an Excel spreadsheet, you may budget like a pro by using accounting software called inDinero. inDinero helps you run the small business better as it safeguards your transactions, your cash flow, and your expenses. It connects the bank accounts so you can visualize where your money goes. Furthermore, it helps you with your payrolls and taxes. You can also outsource your accounting tasks with company that is willing to provide cloud accounting service such as Quickbooks or Xero for a fraction of the cost.

4. REMOVE THE UNNECESSARY

Upon analyzing your cash flow and expenses, consider cutting the costs of the things that are unnecessary. Save more by taking advantage of the payment terms offered by the supplier or by purchasing on the start of a new billing cycle.

5. BE READY FOR THE WORST

Most of the expenses, such as office supplies and salary costs, are predictable. But some unforeseen things such as higher petrol prices may happen that will spike up your expenses for that month. This is why it is important to be ready for the worst. Do not let these unfortunate events stress you or put you in debt.

Image Credits: John O’Nolan via Flickr with Creative Commons License

Sources: 1 & 2

5 Insider Tricks for Scoring Online Discounts

Katie Paterson from Flipit.com gives the inside scoop on how to get creative in ensuring you pay the lowest price online. Flipit.com is Singapore’s number one promo code portal and all round money-saving platform.

We all love the fun, flexibility and convenience of shopping online, but the biggest perk has got to be the fact you can pretty much guarantee you’ll always be paying the lowest price possible – that is, if you know how to shop online like a pro! Here are a few sneaky insider tips and tricks to help you score a discount each and every time you spend money online.

Bookmark a good coupon code provider – Discount codes almost always have a limited time span (which makes it all the more rewarding when you catch it in time!). The best way to ensure you keep up to date with all the best codes as soon as they’re available is by bookmarking the homepage of a reputable coupon code provider such as Flipit.com. Homepages are updated daily, so checking this page out regularly will ensure you never miss a beat!

Tease webstores by pretending to abandon your cart – Brands who notice and take offence to this kind of move are likely to get in touch and ask why you didn’t see your purchase through, offering a discount (usually around 10%) to encourage you back and make the final payment. Similarly, brands who are being particularly innovative with understanding customer behaviour have been known to install cursor movement detectors which are triggered when you swipe upwards to close the window, revealing a ‘leaving so soon?’ pop-up window. Give it a try!

Sign up to webstore newsletters – Signing up to newsletters can be really useful for online stores. Of course, some can end up bombarding you with emails on a daily basis, but unsubscribing in these situations is simply a matter of clicking a button. It’s worth signing up to newsletters of brands that you love, as those on the mail list are considered a priority, and are always first to be notified of sales, special events or exclusive discounts.

Use a price comparison site – Price comparison sites are the epitome of everything that’s great about shopping online. Shopping around various stores in person to find the cheapest price is an exhausting and time-consuming task, but with price comparison sites such as Priceme.com.sg you can guarantee you’re always paying the lowest possible price available.

Never pay shipping – Shipping costs are a nuisance. Hopefully soon enough they will become a thing of the past, as more brands begin to realise that making the sale and gaining loyal customers is way more important than covering a few dollars postage cost. Unless you’re seeking certain shipping privileges such as same- or next-day delivery, there are a number of ways that you can avoid paying for the delivery of your purchase. For example, some stores offer free shipping if you reach beyond a certain purchase total, so it might be worth buying more (perhaps two of the same item but in different sizes to ensure a perfect fit) and returning whatever isn’t suitable, free of charge. Alternatively, many stores offer shipping voucher codes, and you can always try chancing your luck and reaching out to the brand to ask for free shipping – sometimes being bold pays off, and what have you got to lose?

(This article is brought to you by Flipit.com)

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