Employees putting business data at risk
Employees are putting business data at risk by failing to protect phones, laptops and USB sticks away from the office, according to new research. The survey of 1,000 office workers from the UK and Germany commissioned by Imation found that nearly two in five of respondents, or someone they know personally, have lost or had a device stolen in a public place. Three quarters of these devices contained work-related data such as confidential emails (37%), confidential files (34%) and customer data (21%). Around one in ten lost access details such as login and password information.
The high cost of taking on your first employee
Research by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) has found that businesses taking on their first employee face higher non-wage costs relative to salaries compared with larger firms. On average, a business with one employee and one owner faces an average employment cost of £35,500 per worker compared to a cost of £25,100 per worker for firms with 20-49 employees. John Allan, FSB national chairman, said: “What this new index shows is the cost of taking on your first member of staff can be considerably higher than taking on your twentieth. Government has to redouble its efforts to make it cheaper to hire staff.”
Missed your tax deadline? It’s time to go online
Anyone that has missed the recent deadline for sending in their 2013/14 tax return to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) must remember not to send it by paper now otherwise they will face a £100 late-filing penalty. The only way to avoid a penalty is to submit your tax return online by 31 January 2015. To do this, you need to be registered for HMRC Online Services. This needs to be done in good time as it involves HMRC sending an Activation Code in the post. You can register for online filing on the GOV.UK website.
Living Wage rates rise
The UK Living Wage rate has been set at £7.85 per hour, an increase of 2.6% on the 2013 rate and 21% higher than the national minimum wage of £6.50 per hour. The London Living Wage rate has been set at £9.15. The Living Wage Foundation reports that the number of accredited Living Wage employers has more than doubled this year, and more than 1,000 employers across the UK have signed up. John Longworth, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said: “We applaud the work done by the Living Wage Foundation. A healthy majority of businesses already pay all of their staff at or above the Living Wage, and many more are on a journey to do the same.”