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Spring has arrived down here in the southern hemisphere, but wherever you are in the world, now is as good a time as ever to give the office a seasonal spruce-up.

Bullying in the workplace has recently come under the microscope with WorkSafe NZ issuing guidelines on how to prevent and respond to workplace bullying. What constitutes bullying is not always easy to identify. Case law has shown that the line is far from clear between what is deemed bullying on the one hand, or blunt management on the other.

The High Court has issued a judgment which may influence how you use Google Adwords in New Zealand. The judgment relates to a dispute between Intercity and NakedBus regarding NakedBus’s use of the trade mark INTERCITY (and variants) as Google Adword keywords, within the advertisements generated and on NakedBus’s website.

The Assistant Commissioner of Trade Marks has issued a decision confirming that the fact New Zealanders look at, ‘like’ or even follow your branded Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn accounts is not enough to establish ‘ownership’ of a trade mark in New Zealand.

I had another Xerocon attendee ask me today what cloud add ons we use. I struggled to answer. Not because we don't use any, because we use them without thinking about it. It would be easier to ask what do we use that isn't cloud based.

Your brand is a symbol of your reputation. In the past month two well-known brands have been dragged through damaging claims of underpaid worker entitlements and unlawful actions against employees.

A decision in the Federal Court this week serves as a timely reminder to all employers to ensure workplace policies are drafted in ways that do not unwittingly create exposures to legal claims by staff.

The change to Sunday loadings in the Restaurant Industry: what does it all mean? Many of you would have already seen news reports that a Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission has decided to reduce Sunday penalties for casuals covered by the Restaurant Industry Award. But what exactly does it mean, what impact will it have on your business now and...

With Trades and Services businesses being so relied upon and necessary, we’ve put together some tips on how as a business you can stand out and run your trades and service business effectively. The tips apply regardless if you’re a plumber, electrician, cleaner, repairman or a security services provider.

Many small and medium business in the trades and services sector such as plumbers, electricians, cleaning organisations and maintenance and repair services to mention a few, express the annoyance that they spend far too long performing menial tasks that bear little or no relation to the core process of the service that their business actually...

Embracing new technology can be difficult for many companies. They want to make sure that it will be easy to integrate into the workplace and that it is a value added alternative to existing ways of performing tasks or producing items.

Unfortunately, when a business owner is always in “firefighter” mode, it’s impossible to work hard on winning new clients or tackling more providing that extra special service. By working with your team to put an infrastructure in place to deal with future issues, you’ll have help in dealing with the issues that emerge each day. Once your...

A recent article came to our attention which got us thinking. This article was written by Ryan Lazanis of Xen Accounting, a virtual accounting firm based in Quebec, Canada. As a business owner, Lazanis understands the importance of providing exceptional service. He has also seen the frustration of his clients when faced with paying for his...

Blessed Lotus is a women’s apparel company focusing on fashion forward casual and resort wear. DeAnne founded Blessed Lotus on the principles of social entrepreneurship. Blessed Lotus’ purpose, beyond providing chic clothing to modern women, is to financially support the mission of bringing education to impoverished and oppressed children...

You’ve got a promising business model, the resources to make it work and somewhere along the way you’ve created intellectual property rights through innovation, branding and an earned reputation. This IP is a key part of the business’s growth, and a core asset. Structuring the business with IP in mind can prove critical in realising the...

We share useful business articles on IT, Employment Law and Social Media for business owners and their staff. With our compliments, The Summer 2014 edition of Commercial eSpeaking, published by NZ LAW has just been released for sharing with JAWS clients and members alike. We hope you enjoy reading these articles and also find its contents both...

And while Muldoon found humour in the situation, we all know the compelling reasons why young, qualified Kiwis are crossing the ditch. Historically Australia has been economically prosperous, offering employment in most, if not all, sectors, not to mention the endless space and amazing beaches. No wonder Russell, the Finn brothers and Phar Lap...

Territories and geographical restrictions are vital constraints in a distribution arrangement. However, they can create real growth limitations depending on the caliber of the distributor and the relative size of the territory. Distributors and suppliers will barter over two significant aspects of a distribution contract; the price to be paid for...

The parties to this arrangement are commonly known as the “franchisee” (the party obtaining authority to use the developed business model), and the “franchisor” (the party granting authority to use the developed business model). In return for payment by the franchisee, the franchisor will provide initial advice, equipment and guidance, as...

Boost develops and designs websites and mobile apps. We provide agile coaching services, scrum services, scrum workshops and scrum training.

Receipt Bank converts key information from your bills, receipts and invoices into data you and your company can use! No obligation Free Trial available.

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Starting from 1 July 2014, new superannuation data standards are being introduced. The new data standards will be introduced progressively over the next 2 years.

It is important to build for a stronger future for Australia and I understand that governments must make tough decisions. It remains to be seen how this will play out across our economy and community.

The last week was very stressful for our community with bushfires threatening many towns in our area. The upshot is that at least one of our clients has lost their home and many others have had substantial damage to their property.