All Staff articles – Page 28
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Dear Jac
DIY not for you? Specialist help is always available
If anyone thinks that the DIY approach to licensing is all a bit much, I would advise them to contact Chris Mitchener, a freelance licensing specialist.
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Dear Jac
How do you sum up the worth of an accountant?
It has been said that a good accountant will ask, how much profit do you want to make? 'Cooking the books' tax-dodge jokes aside, an accountant can be an invaluable business tool.
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Dear Jac
Take my advice - there is plenty of free help around
When offered something free one usually wonders, where's the catch? But, at advice level, there is quite a lot of free stuff around.
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Dear Jac
Wage cost percentage - it all adds up
Of course, I'm playing fast and loose with the language when I assure you it all adds up
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Dear Jac
Hands up - who knows the answer?
Anyone who has read two or three of these columns knows how quick I am at maths . Still, David Cornthwaite emailed me with a real puzzler.
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Dear Jac
More sums... oh I'm warming to this subject
To crack on with our masterclass, do you know the difference between profit on return and mark-up?
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Dear Jac
Retailers struggle with training costs
Almost a third of small retailers can't afford to train their staff, according to new research.
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Numerate? Moi? I'm afraid sums are not my game
I knew someone would point out my rubbish sums over pro rata holiday entitlement in the June 15 issue.
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Holiday hornets' nests. It must be the time of year
Holidays loom for some, and they bring their own staff rota problems.
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Dear Jac
Give us a break from new holiday rules
We are going to explore pro rata holiday entitlement here which, I warn, involves lots of sums, my least fave subject.
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Dear Jac
How often do the proper reps come calling?
I write so often about the ‘improper’ reps who come cold-calling that I forget there is one type of rep that retailers welcome.
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Dear Jac
No booze cruise for Karmail
I got a call from Karmail Singh, the retailer who lost his licence after his mother died. (She had been the premises licence holder and he did not inform the council within the required seven days.)
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: First past the post
A rally of postmasters took a petition of four million names to 10 Downing Street last month (how come they delivered by hand?) to protest about loss of income and falling numbers.
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Beware the enemy within. Thieving staff is the last thing you need.
It was good to get a retailer's recommendation for a supplier that helped him nail down the mysterious case of the missing Richmond King Size 20s cartons that disappeared every shift that a certain employee worked.
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Still on staff - not thieving, just not working.
Staff are meant to work, right? John Maxwell Jones, who runs Burgess Stores at Goudhurst in Kent, had a 'worker' who took sick days without ringing in or producing a medical certificate and then left without notice, leaving a note on the deli counter and leaving John short-staffed at an ...
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: If you catch them with their fingers in the till, don't hang about, fire them.
I'm not going to identify this Essex retailer because he still hasn't fired the member of staff who has spent most of her time stealing bits and pieces from him on a daily basis ever since he took over the business and its staff 18 months ago.
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Introducing a new slot – website of the fortnight.
Lesley Roberts rang from her store in Rock Ferry, Liverpool, wanting to find out if I knew of a supplier of plastic ribbon door curtains she could use to screen her stockroom. It is currently being inadequately screened by a beaded curtain.
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Here’s a training tip – make it clear to staff what they can and can’t sign for.
This interesting little tale comes from Paul Henshaw, whose current Spar store trades in Meliden, near Prestatyn, North Wales. He used to own another store not far away at Bodelwyddan, and in 2001 a member of staff signed him up to a five-year leasing agreement with a hygiene services company ...
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Anybody need help from an old hand?
Jim Roberts is a rare thing. He’s an ex-retailer turned consultant who once specialised in buying run-down shops, pulling them up by their bootstraps and selling them on at a profit. And, as he was independent himself for many years, he knows what the constraints on business are, which means he’s very affordable.
I recently referred a lady to him who had been on the phone in tears, her business rolling downhill before her eyes. He helped and she is happier. -
Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Your ‘best asset’ can sometimes turn out to be the very opposite.
Yes, we’re talking staff here. I regularly get callers with long tales of woe about useless, lying, thieving staff and those who can’t even be a waste of space since they are too busy malingering to show up at all. A recent caller, who preferred to stick to the pseudonym ...