Improving employee performance

Since employee performance can directly correlate with job satisfaction, retention and productivity it pays to invest in improving performance.

A few simple tweaks can dramatically improve employee performance. Here are five ways to commit to improving morale and performance:

• Set clear expectations

Communicating clear goals and expectations is essential in ensuring employees work towards common goals and understand how their contributions will help achieve these goals. Setting clear expectations help to keep your employees engaged and accountable.

• Provide regular feedback

Regular, informal feedback can provide employees with clarification on how well they are performing tasks, what areas require improvement and how their work influences others in the workplace.

• Reward and incentivise

Rewards and incentives can help motivate staff as it shows you appreciate and recognise their efforts. Highlighting individual contributions and achievements through monetary and non-monetary rewards helps employees to feel valued and therefore, more motivated to perform to their potential.

• Conduct performance reviews

The annual performance review plays an important role in employee morale – it can help align employee goals with the business’ goals, address performance issues and work on strategies for improvement such as further training.

• Focus on career development

Invest in career opportunities, such as education and training, to help your staff work towards their short and long-term career goals. Dedicate time to working out your employee’s career goals and skills and consider internal recruiting before filling a role with an external candidate.

Fixed vs variable loans

When choosing between a home loan with a fixed rate of interest and a home loan with a variable rate of interest, it is important to take both your personal and financial circumstances into consideration.

While both options offer certain advantages and disadvantages, individuals should consider what they will gain and lose through either option.

Fixed-rate home loans are often set for a certain period of time. They remain at the same rate over this period, regardless of whether the interest rate rises or falls. This can be both a good and a bad thing; if the interest rate rises, you will be paying less than the variable rate. However if the interest rate falls, then you will be repaying more than the variable rate.

With a fixed-rate home loan, you cannot make extra loan repayments and you may have to pay a ‘break fee’ if you change your loan or pay it off within the set period.

On the other hand, a home loan with a variable rate of interest can offer more flexibility as it allows individuals to make additional repayments over the course of the loan.

A variable rate home loan can also be more beneficial, especially since it allows individuals to take advantage of falling interest rates. However, if interest rates go up, the loan repayments may also increase. This can make it harder to budget for the future since you can’t know how the interest rates will move.

Building brand loyalty

Converting casual customers into brand-loyal customers is challenging in today’s competitive marketplace.

With thousands of brands competing to stay top of mind; retaining customers is no easy feat. Fortunately, there are some ways businesses can encourage repeat purchase customers:

• Be consistent

Surpass your customers’ expectations by consistently delivering the same level of quality in your product and service offerings. Customers will return to your business if you deliver on your brand promise through each and every transaction.

• Focus on customer needs

Understand what drives customer behaviour by listening to their concerns and encouraging feedback. Consider introducing a loyalty program to give customers a reason to come back to you instead of competitors.

• Stay in touch

Connect with your customers regularly to remind them of upcoming sales and promotions, industry news and events that are happening. Engaging with your customers on a frequent basis helps to build relationships with your new customers and strengthen relationships with existing customers.

The benefits of using a re-contribution strategy

A re-contribution strategy involves withdrawing your superannuation and re-contributing it back into the fund as a non-concessional (after-tax) contribution.

It is an easy strategy to implement and can provide significant tax savings for a trustee and their family in the future. This is because the strategy converts the taxable portion of the withdrawn super amount into tax-free components, therefore reducing the amount of tax payable when the person’s superannuation is passed onto their beneficiaries when they pass away.

However, this strategy is only available to those who have met a condition of release to access their superannuation and are eligible to make a contribution back into their superannuation.

The strategy is most beneficial for those who are 60 years of age. This is because the strategy involves withdrawing a lump sum and paying any necessary tax on the withdrawal, and those who are aged 60 years or over generally do not have to pay tax on lump sum withdrawals they make from super.

Before implementing the re-contribution strategy, individuals should consider whether the strategy will be worthwhile in the long run. Those who are under the age of 60 wanting to use the strategy will not be able to withdraw their total superannuation balance tax-free. Those who have also triggered the bring-forward rule in the financial year they wish to use the strategy may also be at risk of paying more ‘excess contributions tax’.

As with most superannuation strategies, seeking professional financial advice may be best before implementing the re-contribution strategy.

Income tests for tax offsets

Income tests are used to work out a person’s eligibility for tax offsets and benefits which can reduce the amount of tax they have to pay.

• taxable income

• adjusted fringe benefits amount

• tax-free government pensions or benefits

• target foreign income

• reportable super contributions

• total net investment loss

• child support paid

• if they are entitled to the private health insurance rebate, and

• if they do not hold an appropriate level of private health insurance, their liability to pay the Medicare levy surcharge

Tips for achieving success from scratch

The financial power and freedom that comes from being a successful business owner can be enough to entice anyone to take on the financial risk of starting up a business. But growing a successful business from scratch is no easy feat.

Work harder than everyone else: Accept that you may need to work harder than others to get what you want. Making excuses for why other people have the success that you want does nothing to help you reach your goals.

Use the right motivation: Although money and fame are enjoyable rewards for working hard, don’t just use these superficial perks as your main source of motivation. Continue to challenge yourself to be the best that you can be, and in due course, the rewards will eventually follow.

Transition to retirement (TTR) changes

With the Federal Government’s proposed changes to the transition to retirement (TTR) pension to take effect from 1 July 2017, those with existing arrangements should review them to avoid any adverse impact on their retirement funds.

Claiming tax offsets and rebates

Tax offsets (also known as ‘rebates’) can directly reduce the amount of tax payable on a person’s taxable income. While claiming certain tax offsets can reduce a person’s tax payable to zero, on their own, they cannot create a tax refund.

• the amount of private health insurance rebate you are entitled to receive is reduced if your income is more than a certain amount

• the ATO calculates the amount of private health insurance rebate you are entitled to receive when you lodge your tax return.

Motivating the unmotivated

Whether you want your employees to work more efficiently or need them to engage more on team projects, motivating apathetic workers can be a difficult task.

Assuming that the unmotivated employees are reasonably valuable and do have the skills needed to perform the job they’re in, below are two simple ideas that can help motivate the unmotivated:

Make it achievable
The harder the job, the greater the motivation required to complete it. Simplified jobs require less motivation and are harder for people to avoid doing. An example of implementing this ideal in the workplace could be asking an employee to break a large and complicated project into smaller, simplified daily jobs.

Change the environment
Making small changes to the workplace environment can shape a person’s behaviour without them even thinking about it. Some examples of simple environmental changes to increase motivation include keeping phones/phone chargers in a separate room or encouraging staff to stand up and stretch every hour.

Putting a price on your products

Pricing a business’s products or services can be a difficult task, even for the most experienced business person. This is because the price a business charges its customers can have a direct effect on the success of the business, no matter the type of product or service being sold.

Pricing of products and services needs to take a whole range of factors into consideration. Many small businesses typically approach setting a price by considering the cost of the goods plus a percentage, establishing what customers are prepared to pay and keeping an eye on competitor pricing.

Here are three things to consider when establishing the right price for your business:

– Know your costs. Work out how much it costs the business to provide a product or service. This includes costs of delivery, total overheads, sales and marketing expenses.

– Determine how much your target market will pay for the product or service. Market research is often a good resource to find out how much customers are prepared to pay for things.

– Know what your competition is charging. It is highly likely that your target market will also be comparing the competition’s price to your own. Consider whether your product or service offers more or less value – if so you may be able to charge more or may have to charge less.