Entrepreneurs Panel
Last time we had a business card order I noticed a number of staff had chosen to uptitle themselves – some of them to roles that I didn’t even know existed. I’ve never worried much about job titles but is it okay just to let people decide what they want to be called?
I have a grossly under-performing salesman who I have been considering firing for some time. He has just asked to be transferred off the product... Can I just bin him anyway?
A couple of longstanding members of my management team are grumbling that they would like an equity stake in the business. I value them and their contribution but I’m not sure about diluting my current 100 per cent shareholding. What’s your advice?
We had a team of contract cleaners in last month during office hours following a case of swine flu. The next week one of my competitors started approaching our clients, using information that I think can only have come from our sales database. my suspicions are obvious. Is there anything I can do?
My company has quite a laid-back and sociable culture. We have recently begun integrating a smaller acquired business into our offices and the staff that have joined us are used to a much more formal working environment, to which they seem wedded. What should I do to maintain harmonious relations?
My workplace requires a degree of concentration but has in recent months become so chatty as, I fear, to impact upon productivity. I don’t want to impose a Trappist regime, and indeed my staff need to discuss their work regularly, but I think things have gone too far. I don’t want my staff to think I’m an ogre, and I have no problem with the occasional water cooler chat, but how can I make them realise that sometimes silence is golden?
I am 45 years old and have been my own boss since leaving school, building up a £5 million-turnover logistics business that rents its premises. So far I've done very little about my pension – just putting away five or six per cent of the (relatively modest) salary I pay myself into the staff money purchase scheme. What do you think I should do?
Venue Finder
Newcastle Upon Tyne
