
In other ways though, things are quite different. You’ve probably got back to the office to find yet more meaningless red tape sitting on your desk. You’re hoping that hidden inside all the platitudes about ‘helping business be more effective’ there isn’t a new killer rule about how widgets must only be screwed into do-das on Thursdays and only when staff have two arm rests on their chair, just in case they fall off and injure themselves.
At Information Arts, which by our own definition is a small business albeit a large and growing one I’m lucky enough that in some areas I’ve been able to delegate a lot of this so I only see the bits I have to be told about. Our HR manager spends more and more time ploughing through an ever-growing list of regulations designed to ensure we’re treating our staff appropriately regulations that cost the company money that we have to find more business to cover, and that to my mind have never helped the company be more effective at anything.
I don’t think I’m different from most small business owners in this regard. In fact, I often think that it is small businesses, with their lack of procedures and formal processes, which are usually the most flexible, most helpful workplaces and perhaps that relates to why they are so often the most agreeable places to work.
So why are all these regulations being produced? When the CBI, IOD, Federation of Small Business etc. all keep expounding on how business is drowning in this red tape, why does local and national government feel the need to keep generating it? Apart from the obvious fact that it keeps civil servants in employment, there’s not much benefit that I can see.
Is the small businessman who cleans the windows of our offices any more effective as a business now he has shelled out over £2000 on new window cleaning gear because the Health & Safety executive (HSE) says it’s dangerous for him to clean windows using a ladder?
Well, he certainly takes a lot longer to clean the windows. I’m sure if I ask the HSE, they suggest that this is missing the point and that at least he’s less likely now to have an accident falling off the ladder they won’t let him use. I admit that at this level their logic can’t be faulted. Instead, he’s probably more likely to die of stress from trying to work out how to make the money back on all the extra kit he has had to buy.
Why is knowing all this important for the way we communicate with small businesses, who represent more than a third of the UK economy in terms of output, and all of its jobs growth?
The fact is, that despite government appearing to do everything it can to stifle entrepreneurship, innovation and a desire to just ‘do it’, every year a significant number of extraordinary people say, I’m going to start my own business and I’m going to do it now.
This year will be no different from any other year and whenever we’re communicating with these people, we should help make their lives easier by making sure we’ve targeted them well and communicated with them effectively about products and services they are interested in. As providers of marketing services and products we have an obligation to do the right thing, just as we try to in our own businesses.
Wouldn’t it be nice to think that this year, every time a small business gets something in the post that you personally have had something to do with and therefore have an opportunity to make better, that the first thing they think is,Great, that’s just what I need. Thanks!
Okay, so it’s January and I’m sure my natural scepticism will kick in again before February, but it is the start of a new year, we’ve all got resolutions to keep, and this would be a good one to keep if we can. Happy New Year.
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