It makes perfect sense to take of stock of things you'd like to improve in your business at the New Year. HCS have put together our "Seven Step" plan to help you identify areas where you migh want to make changes in the coming year. Have a read and see how you measure up!

1. Innovate – New technology and services are available that allow you to re-organise the way your company works, making it more efficient and cost-effective.  Investigate options such as Businessbox to find out how it can work for your business.

BusinessBox is a modular, multi-lingual business platform based in the cloud. It has been designed and built by people who understand the challenge of running successful businesses and is aimed at all businesses and organisations who want to get more out of the people they employ. The cloud-based platform gives businesses access to a suite of tools that enable greater productivity, whilst reducing business risk.

It also provides a solution that is totally integrated.  Clients benefit from fantastic features that save time and money. All the modules integrate with each other, allowing information to be used cleverly – attend a sales meeting then it will automatically appear on your timesheet at the end of the week.

2. Stay Compliant – With ever increasing changes in employment legislation, it is becoming more and more difficult to keep up with the changes, for example, in 2012, the government is proposing changes to unfair dismissal claims, national minimum wage increases, an introduction of “protected conversations” and many more.

From April 2012, the qualifying period to bring unfair dismissal claims will rise from 12 to 24 months.  Also the government plans to introduce fees for claimants to bring employment tribunal claims, either requiring an initial fee to lodge a claim, and then a second fee to progress to a hearing, or introducing a £30,000 threshold, so claimants in excess of this amount will pay more to bring a claim.  Furthermore, it will require all employment disputes to go via ACAS before going to a tribunal and will increase the maximum amount of costs that employers can claim against vexatious tribunal claimants from £10,000 to £20,000.

It is expected that the national minimum wage will again increase in October 2012.  In addition, proposed changes will simplify the national minimum wage.  It is therefore important that you know what the rates are and that you remain compliant.

There is a plan to introduce “protected conversations” between employers and employees about retirement and capability for example, without these giving rise to discrimination claims.

3. Manage Absence – Absence does not only affect productivity and profit, but can be a real minefield of legislation for employers who do not consider the pitfalls of handling the situation inappropriately.

You need to have an understanding of the real cost of absence to your organisation and an understanding of the difference between short and long term absence and the different approaches to take with each.  It is also vital that you know when to escalate absence issues to disciplinary stage and how to handle the subsequent disciplinary meeting and be able to determine when absence is a disability and how to deal with absence within the context of discrimination.

4. Effective Recruitment & Selection – Recruitment can be costly and time consuming and therefore it is key to your business that you get it right.  You need to understand the importance of having a well-managed and consistent recruitment process and your obligations in relation to discrimination, data protection, disclosure checking and eligibility to work in the UK.

If you manage the recruitment and selection process well, this will provide you with a talented employee who ticks all the boxes on your employee wish list.  However, if done badly, you could find yourself wasting time, effort and money recruiting for the position, struggling to manage ‘out’ a poor performer, or at worst, faced with a tribunal claim for discrimination.

5. Mis-use of Social Media – Your employees’ use of social media can seriously damage your organisation.  You therefore must communicate the risks to your employees, ensure you give clear guidelines to employees as to what you consider to be acceptable conduct when they use social media and review your handbook and contracts of employment to check the level of confidentiality protection they give.

Most businesses are aware of the positive benefits of social media in promoting their products and services.  However, are business owners stopping to think about what harm can be done to their business by their employees, and ultimately what it could cost them?

Recent cases in the employment tribunal indicate that social media is becoming a real problem to some employers.  A common reason for dismissal by employers was that the employee brought their business reputation into disrepute.

Therefore you should implement a social media policy which fits your business and your business needs.  It should set out what behaviour is unacceptable both inside and outside of the workplace and what in particular will be considered gross misconduct.  It must also be communicated clearly to employees, in writing and if possible include training.

6. Performance Management – This is critical in linking your people to the strategy of your organisation.  High performing individuals and teams lead to business success and increased profits.

Good performance management helps everyone in the organisation to know what the business is trying to achieve, their role in helping the business achieve its goals, the skills and competencies they need to fulfil their role, the standards of performance required and when there are performance problems, what to do about them.

It is central to the relationship between managers and employees and is also central to how well your employees will be engaged in their work and how well they will perform.  Furthermore, if your employees are engaged in their work they are more likely to be doing their best for your organisation.

7. Keeping accurate employment records – You are required by law to keep all PAYE records, including payments made to employees, all deductions from employee wages, details of employee benefits and expenses and all statutory payments (e.g. – sick pay, maternity pay).

If you are running a business, it is especially important that you have a proper record keeping system in place.  Good record keeping saves you time and accountancy costs and helps you to avoid penalties for mistakes by proving you’ve taken reasonable care in your record keeping.

Comprehensive records enable you to have all the information you need when planning strategy and helps you keep track of cashflow.

It is essential to keep accurate payroll records so HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) can make sure that you and your employees are paying the right amount of tax and national insurance contributions, your employees are getting any statutory pay they’re entitled to, and you’re complying with legislation on things like the national minimum wage.

You’ll also need these records so that you can file Employer Annual Returns and provide evidence to support the entries made on it.  You must keep your PAYE records for the current and previous three tax years.