Consumer Confidence

An unexpected rise in public consumer confidence for August is set to be announced by GfKNOP the market research and consumer agency. This is will be the first rise in the index in over six months and shows that even though the country is undergoing a particularly serious bout of austerity, this has not caused people to stop going out and buying things.

So what does this tell us about the state of play? I'm not really sure if it means that people have their head in the sand or whether the gloomy news is overexaggerated and the people are showing the true nature of the economy. In any case it certainly is good news for business in the UK as spending is set to at least stay level if not rise in the months up to Christmas.

Again this will help alleviate any possible worries felt by both employers and employees alike, as with a potential rise in spending brings added to the overall economy at a time when it is most needed. This is what was needed to keep overheads at bay, in a time when everything seems to be rising, from health insurance costs to the price of stationery going up in price. At a time when wages are remaining largely static.

If things remain like this the projected doom & gloom of the feared "double dip" may just never come to fruition [fingers crossed].

NHS Cutbacks

Findings of the Royal College of Nursing, reported in the other week's Telegraph, seem to point to nearly 10,000 NHS jobs being cut in the near future. And although these cuts will not come as a result of people actually losing their jobs, it still does represent a drastic reduction in staffing levels at a time when the UK population continues to grow.

Most of the cuts will come from not replacing staff when they retire and by retiring positions when people transfer internally. I know that the economy is in a dire situation, but if we are going to cut back on NHS staffing then this will drive people into the private sphere, especially when self employed medical insurance can be found so cheap if you hunt around for a deal.

It might be for the best though, it certainly can be argued that parts of the public sector are grossly overstaffed, I guess we are about to find out if this is the correct way to go. Fingers crossed.

Getting through the Slow Recovery

Well it has been finally decided, the current UK Government has decided that if we are to get through this recession then it is going to have to be via the long, slow, steady [but secure] route. Yes, the entire nation is going to have to buckle down and share in this, until we come out the other side.

But this is going to cause some problems as some can afford to share it a bit more than others. The wealthier will have much easier time than the less wealthy, and this goes the same for people as it does for organisations. Whilst the large conglomerations can just take a dent in their profits the smaller companies will have to look where to cut corners whilst still trying to run the business at full strength.

Of course there are some things which can be discarded, others which can be trimmed back and others which must be maintained. Some things which must be retained are those benefits which keep your best staff and help to attract new staff. Part of this package is undoubtedly offering some cheaper corporate medical insurance because although, this does seem like a luxury, it does save everyone in the long run.

When all is said and done, offering more, even if cheaper will attract more than trying to cut and driving your valued partners and colleagues into the waiting arms of those who are willing to offer them a better deal, and with it some of your business.

Budget 2010 Today

So today's budget day. How do you all feel about it?

At this stage it's too early too tell exactly what shape of budget George Osborne's going to make, other than cut-shaped. yes, there's going to be deep cuts.  It's believed in some quarters that the government are going to impose a "steep rise" in VAT, which makes me wonder - how steep is steep? After all it's not that long since VAT went back up to its current level. I'd say steep probably then means an increase to 20%.

Then there's the talk about the NHS - even if funding is ringfenced, it could conceivably drop in real terms. Definitely time to think about the benefits of health insurance for small business

Other notable changes that are reported to be afoot: changes to the tax threshold meaning that lower earners would be better off. It's good to know there will at least be some winners....

Our next post will cover the budget in light of what it actually delivers, so until then it's fingers crossed that the chancellor can bring us out of recession, cut the deficit, deliver full employment, etc etc...

Would You Own Your Own Business?

I suppose at times being your own boss can be the life of luxury, but have you ever thought of the more stressfull side of things before starting up a business?

Many small business owners could tell you of the day to day stresses of running your own empire because even though it seems great that you're your own boss I'm sure many would disagree! There are so many different things to take care of like corporate health plans. It doesn't matter how many employees you have they all need to be insured for any accidents thay may happen in the work place. Along with that there is the challenge of keeping work coming in, managing the money side and probably the most important, keeping your employees happy!

If you own a business yourself or have done so in the past let us know what you think on this matter and whether it's worth taking the gamble of starting up your own business. 

Setting up your own Business

For a select few that are up to the challenge it's stressful enough owning your own business with all the things that come with it. Obviously there are great added bonuses of having your own business with no boss to answer to and all the cash going to you unless you have workers on board with you.

One issue that needs sorting out is company health insurance, the last thing you want happening is something going wrong and your not covered for it so getting this set up straight away would be a huge benefit to you and your business.

If your someone who owns a business feel free to leave a comment and let us know how hard it is to actually start up one with all the different issues needing addressed.

Keep Absences Down, Keep Overheads Down

The best way to reduce your overheads, including your insurance premiums is to keep a fit and healthy workforce, it reduces absences and it simply gets more done. Here are some tips I've gleaned in my reading up on the subject.

 1 - Have a healthy working environment, don't try to work your employees within an inch of their lives, it doesn't give them the impetus to turn up fit and raring to go.

 2 - Reward good attendance, don't get stuck on the negatives, try to encourage perfect attendance through incentivisation, be that, in the form of a bonus, or something other than pecuniary.

 3 - If someone is often absent, try to find out the underlying problems and understand that everybody has different needs, some people may need a long time off in order to get back to full fitness.

 4 - Remove barriers to getting back to work, it has taken the commercial sector up to this far to make every workplace fully accessible to everyone, and we still haven't got it completely right yet.

 5 - If all else fails get in touch with a professional Human Resources and/or Occupational Health adviser there may be something fundamentally wrong that you just cannot see, that is what these people are there for.

The simple fact is that all of these things can help reduce your overall corporate health insurance premiums year on year and that is surely the best thing for everybody involved. Both you and your employees.