All you Need to Know About Secondments

Have you ever thought about taking on a secondee from another business? A secondment can be particularly useful when there is a need for temporary help, perhaps to get you through a particularly busy period or to cover another staff member’s maternity or parental leave, or long term sickness. Would it be a good idea to second one of your staff members elsewhere to help someone out, or to acquire skills that would be useful in your own business?

Why Second Someone?

These are all good reasons for secondments, but for you there could be other advantages as well. If you’d like to get a closer business relationship with the other organisation, offering a secondee could be a good start. For your personnel, it might be a really good career move that will enhance their CVs, so it could be a great way to reward them for loyalty and hard work.

Perhaps a member of staff has gone a bit stale and is thinking of moving on; you don’t want to lose them in the long-term, so hope that a secondment elsewhere could freshen up their working day. They might come back full of new ideas and enthusiastic to make them work.

If you have been going through a bad patch and think you might have to make one or two members of staff redundant, you could send them on a secondment for a time. Things could be better by the end of it. You will still have the responsibility to pay their salary, but will recover this and more from the companies that receive them.

Why Take on a Secondee?

It can be a great way to avoid all the hassle and cost of recruiting someone new. Sometimes you just need an extra pair of hands for a while. Taking on a secondee with skills not present in your team is another advantage, especially if he or she can pass those skills on while they are with you.

What are the Downsides?

Of course there are, as always, some pitfalls to avoid. The first may be concerns about confidentiality on both sides, so measures must be taken to avoid the passing on of sensitive business information. This can be solved with relevant clauses written into an agreement between all parties.

Another thing that might make you anxious if you let someone take up a secondment is that they might not want to return, but be taken on by the other company. Again, a well thought out and carefully written secondment agreement can restrict employment of the secondee by the host company for a period of time once the secondment comes to an end.

If you are still not sure about all this, your local bookkeepers may have experience of what is needed in secondment agreements, and be happy to discuss it with you. They might also be able to introduce you to professionals who could help if you feel this is needed. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development also offers fact sheets aboutsecondments on its website.

Common Misconceptions About Claiming VAT Back

When you are completing your VAT return and claiming back VAT you have paid on purchases, it should be a simple job that is easily completed. But it is also easy to get things wrong without even knowing. Some of the rules are complicated and unfortunately, ignorance is no defence if HMRC pick up your mistakes. They can, and will, impose heavy penalties.

Rules not Widely Known

Did you reclaim the VAT on your company car when you bought it? If you use it to ferry the kids to school on your way to the office, and pick up the groceries on the way home, that means it is partly for private use. Even the commute to work is private use. Only the VAT on cars used solely for business purposes, insured as such and kept at the business premises, is reclaimable.

On the other hand, you can reclaim the VAT if you buy mobile devices for your staff. If they are then used for personal reasons as well as business use, you can only reclaim the VAT element of the cost of the business use. However, if you make a nominal regular charge to the staff member who has an iPad or laptop, you are technically leasing it, which is business use, so all the VAT can be reclaimed.

Of course, you keep all your bills for the requisite number of years. Have you ever received an invoice that didn’t show the VAT separately? Did you check whether the items purchased were VAT-able, and at what rate? If 20% VAT was due, how did you calculate the amount that you could claim back? You should have multiplied it by a sixth to come to the figure that HMRC will accept.

When Can you Reclaim VAT on Entertaining Costs

If you want to treat your loyal customers, or host a networking meeting, this is classed as entertaining third parties, for which VAT is not reclaimable. If some of your staff also attend, you may be able to reclaim a proportion of the VAT. Treating your staff to a summer outing or a Christmas party is a different matter. Staff entertainment is eligible to be added to your VAT return in the claiming section.

The government website has a whole section on VAT. To find out more about the rules on reclaiming, go to this page and follow the relevant links. Your local bookkeepers will also be a mine of information on VAT matters, so you would be wise to discuss any concerns you have with them.

Why the Human Touch is Still so Crucial in Customer Service

‘Press one for x, press two for xx, three for xxx, four to talk to one of our customer service representatives.’ How many times have you fumed through this scenario and breathed a sigh of relief when you heard the final option? Why do you occasionally see companies proudly announcing that you will always talk to a person when you call them? Doesn’t it make you feel good when you enter a shop and a member of staff steps up to welcome you in with a beaming smile?

Customers Like the Personal Touch

There’s no doubt about it. Even a live chat option online can relieve frustration and make a customer more inclined to do some business. Not only is it good for business, it’s good for staff too to have satisfying human interaction during their working day. Provided they are properly trained and know what they are doing, it makes for more job satisfaction and a loyal workforce.

What Skills are Needed?

Staff members need to be patient and friendly, to listen carefully to any customer concerns and be able to satisfy them. They should know as much as possible about your products and services, but also know their limitations and when to hand a customer over to someone better qualified to help.

The most helpful thing they can do is diffuse a difficult situation. Someone with the ability to calm down irate customers and satisfy them, so that they leave the premises or the phone call with no ill feelings, is worth their weight in gold for potentially rescuing the business reputation.

The Economics of Customer Service

Of course it makes sense to cut costs and remain competitive with automated services in some areas, like simple on-line transactions and bill payments. However, it is clear that it is still crucial to maintain the human touch in many others. Research has shown that giving people positive and stress free interactions by phone and in person induces feelings of trust and reassurance and makes them loyal and ready to come back for more.

If you are getting repeat business and a growing following through word of mouth, you won’t need to throw extra resources into crisis marketing. Why not discuss these elements with your local bookkeepers before you decide where to spend your assets on consolidating and growing your business.