Business Technology

I am starting a business and hope to have customers all over the United Kingdom and Ireland. I need to know how to set up the acceptance of credit cards for over-the-phone payments. Can you help?

Employing & managing staff

I'm just about to launch a domestic cleaning and laundry business and plan to recruit up to 20 people over the next 2 - 3 years. Am I obliged to offer some sort of access to a pension scheme, either now or in line with my predicted growth of employee numbers? There seems to be lots of advice out there but much of it is conflicting.

Employing & managing staff

The usual definition of induction is a formal introduction of a new employee to a job. However, Peter Done, managing director of Peninsula and SmallBusiness.co.uk, our Q&A panel expert, feels that induction and training should not only happen at the start of employment, but ‘should be ongoing in order to provide solutions to problems as the job duties change’.

Employing & managing staff

It seems Monday is the day that most of us are late for work, with 65 per cent of all tardiness occurring at the start of the week, says a new survey of 2,149 employees across the UK.

Marketing

There are now more than 66 million 'weblogs' or online diaries published on the internet, with an additional 175,000 estimated to be created every day. For small businesses, these 'blogs' are a largely untapped resource that can provide your company with a competitive edge.

Employing & managing staff

Small firms may not be getting the best out of their staff because they are failing to offer them adequate incentives, says business finance firm Bibby Financial Services.