KNOW YOUR H&S LAW CHANGES TODAY!

October 1st sees a dramatic change to the Health and Safety laws for small businesses regarding first aid training at work.

This change is to aid businesses in saving millions of pounds and is the first major change since 1982 when first introduced.

The new guidelines show the mandatory four day course has now been reduced to three days and a new one day course is now an option for small businesses.

The one day course option is announced after acknowledgement by the HSE that many small businesses can’t afford to have staff off work for a prolonged period of time.

This new legislation makes it clear what is required of businesses in terms of risk assessment and first aid training. Companies can find themselves liable if an employer suffers an accident in the workplace and no first aider is present.

HIGH FREQUENCY TRADING FACT OR FICTION?

Although it may sound like something from a science fiction film, ‘high-frequency trading’ is an important part of the stock market.

The price of virtually everything — from stocks to bonds to the food on your plate — is now influenced by high-frequency trading

What this means for businesses is the effect it could have on the slowly growing economy, and their markets:

For more information and up to date news please visit:
http://www.thenewspk.com/2009/10/high-frequency-trading/
or http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2345

SELF EMPLOYED DON’T HAVE ‘SICK DAY’ OPTIONS

New Business Magazine announced online this week that 50% of employed workers are afraid to call in work sick.

According to a recent survey conducted by Simplyhealth, with the main fear is of loosing their jobs in the current economic climate, while vacancies of any kind are scarce at this time.

The survey found that many employees are working through illness, with 43% of employees recorded not taking any days off ill in the past 12 months: 20% increase on last years figures.

A health matter affects happiness and enjoyment in our personal lives, but also productivity and motivation in our professional lives.

More than a fifth of workers surveyed stated that the fear not being believed if they call in work sick, unless the employer has witness the illness first hand – most concluded that they found it difficult to speak up about an illness.

A spokesman for Simplyhealth said “Employees should not be made to feel that they have to put their health at risk to save their job. A healthy employee is a more productive employee, and it's important that companies do everything they can to help support employees to good health."

EXCITING NEW BRANDING IN MOTION

Brighter Branding.....

The Brighter office was bustling this week when we revealed our exciting new branding across all our marketing campaigns..

The fabulous new website has now been finished 'took long enough', I hear you say!! - Indeed, but as the famous saying goes 'Good things come to those who wait...'

So we waited, and waited - and now it’s finished and live!!

Take a look at www.brighterdirections.co.uk and let us know what you think!

All our services can now be found detailed on the site, along with a Twitter link, News Pages, Blog link in and a FAQ section for lots of useful business facts, tips and information!!

As you know, were also promoting how clients can get our services FREE through recent funding available… (Intensive training courses in Marketing and Sales)

I'm sure you know someone who would find this helpful? Pass it on!!

Hope you like it as much as we do: enough of that, lets move onto some industry news (now we’ve finished showing off!)

Twitter in the Money...

Twitter (Social and Business Networking site) has confirmed that its gained a significant amount of funding from investment firms.

"It was important to us that we find investment partners who share our vision for building a company of enduring value" wrote Co-founder Evan Williams in a recent blog post.

The site, is built on the basic principle to allow users to write and share 140 character messages, answering the question 'what are you doing?' and already has more than 45 million users worldwide, including some major celebrities.

Twitter is widely used for business networking, giving a small business access to some of the larger corporate companies with a simple 'follow' action, providing increased morale and providing businesses with the opportunity to create a more personal customer service.

With a recent change in the terms and conditions on the site, to allow advertising with its service, it seems Twitter will be the social networking site 'to watch' in the future...

Follow us on twitter for informative news, tips and information on: www.twitter.com/brighteridea - @brighteridea

FUNDING FOR BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

FREE TRAINING AVAILABLE

2/3 intensive Marketing, Sales & Development courses run across the East Midlands area for local businesses (specialising with companies who have 5-100 employees)

All training is customised to your needs, so although a structured course, the content will be tailored to suit the needs addressed in our initial meetings and assessments

The courses are run with groups up to a maximum of six people, as this provides better quality 1to1 development opportunities and enables you to get the most out of the course

As an approved supplier, our clients are able to access this funding through our training development courses, which means that you could use our services FREE of charge!!

Funding is from EMDA (dependant on eligibility) and is specifically for local businesses who need to develop their business skills to assist your growth in these hard times.

The current funding available - may cover all or part of your training costs

For more information, please visit our website: http://www.brighterdirections.co.uk/ or contact us on: info@brighterdirections.co.uk (no canvassing please)

Which Association & Membership should I choose?

This is a question I am asked on a regular basis from small marketing and sales professionals.

We are a member of the 'ISMM which is the Institute for Sales & Marketing Management' of experienced professionals.

The ISMM is specifically for this industry and has been recognised for its work and development worldwide, for more information visit the website on: www.ismm.co.uk

I cannot recommend or endorse any particular association, this is only one of the companies who I have dealt with and am myself a member.

Do your research to confirm which association or membership would best suit your industry and business.

Good Luck!