If you’re a manager, are you reaching your potential? Are you doing enough to protect your employees from stress at work? Plus, closure options for solvent businesses
Welcome to today’s blog post, the penultimate post for 2024! Today we cover tips to help you become a more effective manager, how to protect your employees from stress, plus exploring closure options for solvent businesses.
Becoming a more effective manager
Top tips to help you reach your potential as a manager.
Effective managers get the best out of their people, develop loyal teams and drive ongoing success in their respective firms. Becoming a more effective manager requires a combination of leadership skills, communication finesse, and a keen understanding of team dynamics. Here are some key tips to help you become a more effective manager:
Effective Communication:
Clear and open communication is fundamental. A successful manager articulates expectations, provides constructive feedback, and actively listens to team members. Open dialogue fosters trust and creates a collaborative environment.
Delegation and Empowerment:
Effective managers understand the art of delegation. Trusting team members with responsibilities not only distributes the workload but also empowers individuals to develop their skills and take ownership of their work. This fosters a sense of accountability and autonomy.
Continuous Learning and Development:
Successful managers prioritise ongoing learning. Staying informed about industry trends, leadership techniques, and management strategies ensures that a manager remains adaptable and can guide their team through evolving challenges.
Emotional Intelligence:
Emotional intelligence is paramount in effective leadership. Understanding and empathising with team members’ emotions, managing one’s own emotions, and navigating conflicts with sensitivity contribute to a positive team dynamic.
Recognition and Motivation:
Acknowledging and appreciating the efforts of team members is crucial. Regularly recognising achievements, big or small, and providing constructive feedback cultivates a motivated and engaged team. Managers who inspire and motivate their teams create an environment conducive to success.
Protecting Employees from Stress at Work
The Working Minds campaign has been created by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety is committed to improving the health of workers.
Tackling stress isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s a legal obligation. Working Minds can help you make it a routine priority for your business.
There are three main reasons employers should be looking to prevent stress and support good mental health in business:
- It’s the law;
- It’s good for business; and
- It’s the right thing to do.
Whether you’re a small business or a large corporation, the law requires all employers to prevent work-related stress to support good mental health in the workplace.
It’s important to remember that in the end we’re all just people – and every one of us face pressures in and out of the workplace. By treating each other with respect and compassion at work we support our teams and colleagues to stay well.
The earlier a problem is tackled, the less impact it will have for the person and your business. Stress affects people differently – what stresses one person may not affect another. Factors like skills and experience, age, or disability may all affect someone’s ability to cope.
You can get started today with these 5 steps:
- Reach out and have conversations.
- Recognise the signs and causes of stress.
- Respond to any risks identified by agreeing action points between employer and worker.
- Reflect on the actions taken – have things improved?
- Make it Routine to check back in on how things are going.
If you think that a worker is having problems, encourage them to talk to someone, whether it’s their line manager, trade union representative, GP, or their occupational health team.
See: Working Minds Employers – Work Right to keep Britain safe
Exploring Closure Options for Solvent businesses
There are many reasons a solvent company needs to be brought to an end; perhaps due to retirement, illness, or simply a desire to extract the proceeds tied up in the company.
Once a decision has been made to cease trading and begin winding up the company’s affairs, the next step is to determine the most appropriate way of closing the business down officially. When looking at your options, there are a number of processes which should be fully explored to ensure maximum suitability is achieved.
This decision will be determined, in the main, by the financial position of the company at the time of closure, as well as the future ambitions of its directors and shareholders.
Strike Off/ Dissolution
Strike off – also known as dissolution – is an informal way of closing down an unwanted limited company quickly and easily. An application for voluntary company strike off is made using the DS01 form submitted directly to Companies House. This will then be published in the Gazette, with any parties affected by the proposed strike off invited to make an objection. So long as no objections are received, the company will be removed from the register held at Companies House and the company will subsequently cease to exist as a legal entity.
Any property or assets remaining in the company at the time of strike off will become bono vacantia and ownership will pass to the Crown, therefore any loose ends should be tied up in advance of the application being made.
While there is the possibility for a company which has been struck off to be restored to the register at a later date, this can be a lengthy and complex process, so strike off should only be opted for if there is no likely reason the company will be required again in the future.
Make The Company Dormant
If there is a possibility that the company may be required at some point, making the company dormant may be the most appropriate solution. When a company is marked as dormant it remains on the Companies House register, meaning it can be immediately resurrected if trade recommences. Minimal filing obligations are required during this period and all outstanding tax liabilities and obligations must be fully up to date before HMRC will consider your request.
Making a company dormant prevents another entity incorporating a company using the same name; this can be hugely beneficial is retaining the valuable reputation that has been built up over the years of trading. As a company can remain dormant for any length of time it chooses, this could be a great option for those who know they don’t currently require the company but are unsure as to what the future may hold.
Members’ Voluntary Liquidation (MVL)
If there are significant assets (typically in excess of £20,000 in total) then opting to place the company into liquidation could be the most cost-effective and tax-efficient way of extracting these funds. Solvent liquidation is achieved using a formal process known as a Members’ Voluntary Liquidation (MVL) and must be overseen by a licensed insolvency practitioner. With an MVL, money is distributed to shareholders as capital gains rather than income; as capital gains are taxed at 20%, this can represent a huge tax advantage. Directors can also benefit from Business Asset Disposal Relief (up to a lifetime limit of £1m worth of gains) which halves the effective capital gains tax rate down to just 10%.
As an MVL involves the input of a licensed insolvency practitioner, there are professional fees which need to be accounted for when considering the suitability of this process; however, many find that this cost is eclipsed by the potential savings able to be made elsewhere.
Directors will be required to sign a declaration of solvency, attesting to the fact that the company is able to fulfil its obligations to creditors within 12 months of the date of liquidation. Falsely swearing a declaration of solvency is considered an act of perjury, therefore, it is vital an accurate Statement of Affairs is drawn up and any contingent liabilities accounted for before the company enters liquidation.
Please contact us if you would like further information on your options, we are here to help!
Consultation on new Climate Change Agreements scheme
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has launched a consultation seeking views on proposals for a new six-year Climate Change Agreements scheme to begin in 2025.
The new scheme would add three new target periods running from 2025 to 2030, resulting in three certification periods running to 31 March 2033. It will provide further reductions in the Climate Change Levy for eligible participants.
The scheme would be open to new entrants who qualify under the current eligibility criteria.
The consultation outlines:
- aspects of the current scheme that will be retained for the new scheme, as well as some policy decisions following on from proposals in a previous DESNZ consultation.
- further proposals for a future scheme, including the possibility for new sectors to apply to be eligible for the scheme, target setting, reporting and how performance will be measured.
See: Climate Change Agreements: consultation on a new scheme – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)