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Is it fair to assume that we all know what an umbrella company is and why people use them? Well – in a word; no. Although umbrella companies are not a new phenomenon and have been around for many years; it is only since the 2007 budget and the subsequent legislation that they have really come to the fore. 

Gone are the days of the composite company; basically a limited company that you would be placed in as a shareholder with perhaps another 20 people. You would then claim minimum wage, and the rest of your take home pay would be in the form of dividends. These ceased in 2003 when the government introduced a tax-free allowance of £10k for small businesses, and single person limited companies were born.

Really, these single person companies were to all intents and purposes, the same as composite ones except that a single person owned all of the shares. These single person companies were very popular during this period. In fact so much so that new legislation was introduced in the 2007 budget in order to shut them down. These new laws saw the end of wage payments as dividends and the start of more complicated payment methods – the most widely used of which was the umbrella company.

With an umbrella company you will still pay PAYE tax as well as National Insurance, however, you are able to claim all legitimate business expenses. The main difference between this new form of company and the old composite companies and single person companies is that the umbrella company does not pay wages or salaries in the form of dividends, to do so would be illegal under the new legislation.

Finally – we should bear in that there are many other advantages to using umbrella companies that go beyond the mere financial; for example, they negate the need to be involved with running a spreadsheet, VAT returns, payroll matters, company accounts, taxation and so on. This in itself is a good enough reason for the majority of companies or individuals to use them.

Stress Management in Business

In the light of today’s advancement, businesses became more competitive, working hours get longer and the work more tiring. And when the businessmen divide work hours with travel time and other essential duties, their time for leisure and rest becomes compromised.

This is the modern world, and this is the most common kind of stressful environment. Although stress is actually a prohibitive response of the body, its major contribution comes from lack of rest and lack of diversion.

Stress management in business had evolved when it was found out that the main culprit of modern man’s diseases is produced by this stress. Psychoanalytic approaches have been made as a therapeutic regimen, and it was revealed that the people that encounter this kind of stress are also those individuals that barely have time to disperse unused energies out of the body system, and to all intents and purposes, once these energies can be diverted out harmlessly, the normal physical healing process can take place.

To encourage their employees a time for relaxation and diversion, businesses have come up with several solutions. Examples include the following:

Since activity is a major treatment to all kinds of stress, businesses have gone a step further to include sport as one of the occasional team binding. One of the sport now seen heavily as business oriented is golf. Promotional, motivational corporate golf events had been held regularly by businesses; sometimes even meetings and other similar corporate activities are held on the green itself. Fishing is also fast becoming a standard addition.

Other methods of stress management in businesses include private stress-dispersing facilities within the establishment. One of the most common is the employees’ gym, where stressed employees can readily don on their sweats to engage in an hour-long gym activity. Other stress-dispersing facilities are music lounge, swimming pool, and any other sport field, like basketball, tennis or volleyball.

In the absence of such facilities, you can also engage in your own stress management in business. Since the ill effect of stress is usually psychological, activities need not be strenuous. Any simple meditation or yoga will do. So do simple calisthenics and bending exercises. And employees enrolling on night classes of martial arts, dancing and cooking are not really unheard of.

Here’s a simple meditation for any stress management in business.

Make yourself comfortable on any position. Back straight, close your eyes and bow your head slightly. Put your arms in front of you with palms near your chest but facing (not touching) each other. Now, empty your thoughts of any thing. Just imagine a cool tickle of water running from the base of your skull down your neck into your back. This is a common Tai Chi Meditation, another excellent discipline to combat stress.