The recent global financial crash and subsequent recession have undoubtedly had an impact on many small businesses. Typically with fewer cash reserves than larger corporations, a lot of small companies felt the pressure of the recession and many of them did not survive it. This means that, during the recovery, it’s more important than ever that small businesses work hard to make their operations more efficient so they’ll be able to better withstand any future financial shock waves. With over 99% of companies in the UK classing as small enterprises, this is clearly a major issue.
One thing small businesses often struggle with is streamlining their processes. With fewer staff and resources, it can be hard to fit everything into a working week, but one tool that could help is payroll software. For small companies, it is more efficient that outsourcing the payroll or trying to do it manually and there are good payroll courses available if you are interested in finding out more.
Simply put, payroll software can take over manual tasks that could be automated, which frees up your finance staff to focus on other things. The software can deal with tax and NI calculations, generating reports, monitoring holiday and sick pay, creating payslips and more. It can be a good idea to get some payroll training in order to get the most out of the software, but it is straightforward to use and can make a massive difference.
Another way of making your small business more efficient is to delegate where necessary. Everyone has different skills and it is important that you make the most of that, so work out who would be best at doing certain tasks and don’t be afraid of
asking them to do it. Other small changes such as introducing form letters can help as they save you having to write something new every time. Combining all of these things can really help to make a big difference to your business.