A healthy business isn’t just about a strong bottom line…

 

Whilst minding my own business by the photocopier the other day (actually, I was tickling the tummy of Archie, the office dog), I was interrupted by a colleague who asked in, I might add, a somewhat desperate tone, that we remind our clients of the rapid approach of the Tax Return deadline of January 31st.

I thought it might also be helpful to send a reminder, to one and all, that if you need to fill in a Return, and you haven’t already sent your information to your accountant or started to look at your own documents, please do so now. It’s absolutely understandable that when Carnival and then Christmas is approaching, we all have better things to think about, but after that, we are already in January, and then there is often a major rush to get to the finishing line before 31st.

It would be great if we could encourage people to be earlier with their paperwork, so that all accountants could give more time and close attention to each set of details. Remember, it doesn’t matter how early you complete your Tax Return, you still won’t have to pay a penny until the deadline of 31st January, and you may benefit from knowing well in advance how much you need to put aside to pay the dear old HMRC.

Now I’ve got that off my chest, I want to ask business people to consider the winter bouts of coughs, colds and Noro Virus. Delightful! Nonetheless important. Each year, I send an internal email to staff encouraging them to stay away from the office if they have any or (Heaven forbid) all of the above. In case of the winter vomiting bug, as Noro Virus is otherwise known, we follow the guidelines set by the NHS, which is that no-one should return to work until 48 hours have passed since vomiting ceased. This is my opportunity to thank our team for following these guidelines, because occasionally, we may have a client or member of staff who has, for some reason or another, a compromised immune system. Any virus like this could result in complications.

If you are a small business owner, you may now be thinking that you couldn’t possibly afford to take time out like this, but, if you have just two or three members of staff, consider the possibility that one person passes it to all the others, either by breath or by touch, because we now know that colds and flu are easily passed by hands on door handles, banister rails and the like. That means that your one member of staff being absent for, say three days, turns into three members of staff taking nine days off between them. (I have my 3x table nailed!). Now it starts to make financial sense.

Anyway, let’s hope that everyone actually has a really healthy and happy winter, enjoying all the wonderful events Wells has on offer. Perhaps we shall see you at the Festival of Literature or the Food Festival which we are proud sponsors of? We shall look forward to it.