Category Archives: Business Development

Making Work Life Easier: How PayrollHero Helps Different Businesses with All-in-One Features

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If you’re tired of juggling a bunch of tools to manage your team, PayrollHero might just be your new best friend. This all-in-one platform covers everything from timekeeping and scheduling to attendance, HR stuff, payroll, and even leave management. Let’s see how it can make life easier for different types of businesses:

  • Retail Shops:
    • Keep track of everyone’s hours easily, especially with different shifts.
    • Make sure you’ve got the right number of staff during busy times.
    • No more attendance headaches – it’s all sorted.
  • Hotels and Restaurants:
    • Handle those crazy schedules in the hospitality biz.
    • Keep tabs on who’s there when they should be.
    • Payroll and leave management that just makes sense for your industry.
  • Factories and Manufacturers:
    • Keep production running smoothly with accurate timekeeping.
    • Manage your workforce without breaking a sweat.
    • Easy peasy payroll and leave management for your hardworking team.
  • Healthcare Heroes:
    • Make sure you’ve got enough staff on hand when it matters most.
    • Stay compliant with all those healthcare rules.
    • Payroll and leave? Covered. So you can focus on taking care of others.
  • Tech Wizards:
    • Flexibility for your flexible workforce, including remote work.
    • All the HR info you need for your tech-savvy team.
    • Payroll and leave management that fits your agile style.
  • Schools and Colleges:
    • Keep track of who’s in class or on duty.
    • Organize classes and events without the headache.
    • Payroll and leave management that lets you focus on education, not paperwork.

No more piecing together different tools for every little thing. PayrollHero wraps it all up in one neat package, making work life simpler and more organized for everyone. So, whatever your business, give PayrollHero a spin and see how it can make your day-to-day a whole lot smoother!

Wanna see how PayrollHero works? Book a PayrollHero Demo!

Also, check us out on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/PayrollHero/

Here’s One Cebu Restaurant Who Is Nailing It On Social Media

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Editors Note: This post was written by Kyjean Tomboc. She will be contributing to the PayrollHero blog from time to time.

Brique’s Modern Kitchen, cebuWhether you own a small diner or manage a large chain of restaurants, social media presence these days is the norm rather than an exception. This should not be a surprise, given that recent figures by Forbes reveal that a whopping 81 percent of the people they surveyed indicated that social media posts by family and peers influenced their purchase decisions.

Restaurants who opt not to embrace social media marketing will be surprised to find out that they still have a social media presence after all. Diners will inevitably tweet, post photos on Facebook or Instagram, and talk about their experience on Yelp.

To get ahead of the pack, a restaurant’s marketing team should do more than just create a Facebook account and wait for people to like their page. For social media to work on a restaurant’s favor, these two components are crucial – creating a unique brand voice and using this voice to create a dialogue, rather than a monologue, with your customers.

It’s all about engagement and being consistent with it!

Brique’s Modern Kitchen, a newcomer in Cebu’s dining scene, is one restaurant whose social media presence is a perfect example of what it means to be truly social in social media.

Distinct Brand Voice

Brique’s Modern Kitchen is not difficult to miss if you pass by Salinas Drive in Lahug. The same could be said of its social media presence. On its Instagram, the restaurant describes itself as a:

A Cebu based restaurant offering modern cuisine with a rustic touch. Brique is the perfect place to have good food in a relaxing atmosphere.

See what the folks at Brique’s did? In the first sentence, they identified what Brique aims to offer. Next, they highlighted what diners can expect when they visit the restaurant. This is a brilliant example of using social media as a medium to not just talk about what you do but also showcase what your customers can expect from your restaurant.

Exclusive Offers

Brique’s recently celebrated their first year milestone through a free entree of your choice if you share a photo with the #BriqueTurns1 hashtag on Instagram. Offers that are limited to certain social media platforms is one good way to sustain engagement with your followers.

Responsive to Customer Comments

Did we mention that Brique’s replies to each customer comment on their Facebook page? Whether it’s a positive or negative review from a diner, a quick response from the staff sends the message that a restaurant is genuinely concern of its patrons and the quality of the food they serve.

Kick-Ass Multimedia

Aside from high-quality photographs of items in their menu, real diners (not stock photos), and restaurant interiors, Brique’s has a chock-full of kick-ass videos in their Facebook page.

With storytelling as one of the core principles of digital marketing, Brique’s multimedia content are tools that help the brand show its human side and capture its audience’s attention. Stunning visual content elicits emotions and these emotions, in turn, influence purchasing decisions.

Brique’s Modern Kitchen is just one of the restaurants in Cebu who is optimizing social media for their benefit. What other restaurants are using similar social media strategies? Your opinions matter to us and we’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

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Review: Hyper Sales Growth ~ Jack Daly

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‘Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.’
– Harry S. Truman

book-hyper-sales-growth-jack-daly-300x300Jack Daly has been on a tour of Southeast Asia the last few weeks. EO Philippines brought Jack in to speak to the chapter a couple weeks ago, then Jack dropped into Singapore to speak to the EO Singapore chapter follow by Jack being on of the keynotes for EO Brisbane’s Rob Nixon for his wildly popular accountant conference in Bali, Indonesia.

I was given a copy of Jack’s new book Hyper Sales Growth and it is a great read. It covers lots of great tips for building and running a sales organization. Some of the learning I took away from reading the book;

  • If you don’t have an assistant, you are one
  • Never quote price until you establish value
  • People are different, sell accordingly
  • We are what we think we are, raise the bar
  • Hire slowly; fire quickly. You are never “fully staffed”
  • Goals not in writing are dreams
  • Professionalism requires a lifelong learning. Instil a program of books, audio/videos, and seminars
  • plus much more…

The book is packed with solid, actionable tactics to growing your business. It is worth the read and it is even better to hit one of Jack’s events/webinars/seminars.

Last time he was in Vancouver, we arranged to get some one on one personal time with Jack. You can to… check out how we did it.

What book should I read next? Any suggestions, drop them in the comments. I’m always interested in sales development books.

On that note, here is what some of the team was reading a few months ago. I will get an updated list for a new post.

We even suggest books that applicants looking to work with us should read. Check out the list over on our jobs page.

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The World of Restaurant Technology in Singapore

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The tiny red dot, as Singapore is often called, is an interesting testing ground for restaurant technology. Singapore is famous for its awesome food. From hawker stalls to gourmet dining, the restaurant scene in Singapore is vibrant and diverse.

At PayrollHero, a huge part of being ridiculously client focused is in understanding what our clients need and use on a regular basis. What do Singaporean restaurants do for point of sale systems, for reservations, for creating menus or for scheduling shifts for their employees? There are a ton of apps out there that are especially designed for this industry. We looked at some apps that piqued our interest.

Reserving Tables: Chope

Asia’s answer to OpenTable and SeatMe: Chope helps diners reserve tables at restaurants in Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing, Bangkok and Hong Kong, free of cost. Restaurants can manage reservations through Chope. The company is expanding and adding new restaurants to its list every week.

Point of Sales Systems: PCS

Prima Computer Systems tackles the problem of inefficient POS systems. The cloud based solution makes it easier for a multi-location restaurant franchises to integrate POS systems. The app allows you to create and change menus in iPads, therefore reducing manpower costs. Considering the labour crunch in the F&B industry in Singapore, this helps restaurants focus their employees towards providing better service.

Digital Wallets

Singapore was one of the first countries in Southeast Asia to adopt digital wallets, back in 2012. Many restaurants have adopted mobile payment options. In terms of consumer readiness, Singapore comes second only to the Philippines at 17%. It beats all other countries for electronic payments at 42%. Local and international banks are a part of this movement towards mobile payments. OCBC’s Pay Anyone, DBS’s PayLah! and Standard Chartered Bank’s Dash are all useful options that restaurateurs should look at to integrate their POS systems with.

An interesting thing to note for restaurants and for businesses that are building easier payment methods is that the demographics on who is using mobile payments is revealing of whom the target market should be. Unsurprisingly, millennials lead the move towards mobile payments. More importantly, data shows that men are twice as likely to adopt the new technology compared to women. CEO of Harbourtouch (company that did the survey on the demographics of mobile and electronic payments), Jared Isaacman, said that there is a void when it comes to mobile payment in restaurants. Retail stores use this technology far more frequently, which indicates a potential opportunity in the F&B industry.

Loyalty Apps: Perx

Perx says that customers spend 7 times more using Perx than without. Loyalty apps remove the hassle of printing loyalty cards and trying to measure how effective the cards are. Perx offers a CRM solutions and a platform for businesses. Restaurant owners have access to how effective the loyalty app is in increasing revenue.

Inventory Management: TradeGecko

TradeGecko is racing through Asia. The Enterprise Resource Planning software is integrated with Xero, Quickbooks and Shopify among other companies. It offers analytics reports on inventory and stock. From the perspective of the F&B industry, TradeGecko helps a chef or a restaurant keep tabs on supplies. All this is done using the cloud, which simplifies the entire process for a restaurant chain.

There are two similarities that link all these apps together:

  • They are all cloud based
  • They all complement scalability.

Our research into Southeast Asia led us to an interesting observation. A single restaurant franchise owner may operate across multiple countries. Apps like these are useful for the kind of owner that needs to keep tabs on all his outlets, across different countries. It helps the restaurant owner that currently owns one café and is looking for a way to open 25 more within two years.

We also noticed that in Southeast Asia, consumption trends suggest that fast food chains are going to excel in the next five years. For example, the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) for fast food chains in the Philippines is 8.1% between 2013 and 2017. The potential that this poses for cloud based solutions is both exciting and massive.

Over the last few weeks, we have been looking deeply into the F&B industry. We focused on the Philippines and Singapore, with the idea of comparing and contrasting a nascent economy versus a mature one to figure out the potential that this region poses. We also compared what kind of employee compensation and benefits are provided by these countries with the perspective of figuring out what our client – a restaurant owner – is most concerned about.

While the data supported some assumptions or destroyed preconceived notions, we found out that there was more to this research than just raw data. We spoke to restaurant owners on the ground to listen to their stories and build a clearer picture.

Finally, we compiled all of it into a nice little package that we call the PayrollHero Knowledge Kit. It provides snippets into our research with statistics on the F&B industry in Singapore and the Philippines. We are super excited about sharing it with you because we want to know how it helps startups that are catering to the F&B industry. We also want to hear about the insight that you have gained from working in this part of the world.

The pictures below link you to the PH and SG Knowledge Kits. Open it, browse through it and shoot us with questions. We want to know what you think.

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What To Do After The 3rd Store Grand Opening

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Image by decor8blog.com

Success in your business would mean it’s time to expand, but this feat does not come without it’s own set of challenges.

After interviewing 3 different owners for our Retail/ Restaurant Executive Series, I’ve learnt that they all faced similar challenges in management, as soon as they’ve reached their 3rd store opening.

Here are some of the problems and solutions used by our retail/ restaurant executives when managing multiple store locations.

Keep Calm

Managing multiple locations means using technology to cut down on travel expenses

Implementing a different management system is necessary when you have several stores to oversee. Although it is not impossible, but it takes a lot of effort for you to constantly schedule your travel time to supervise different stores at different locations. Travel costs will pile up even more if your stores are located at different countries.

Getting your hands on free, cheap or available SaaS (software-as-a-service) solutions will be save your company a chunk of money. While some businesses have their own custom- built software platforms as collaborative platforms, some of the more commonly-used tools are available online and widely used by small business owners. Some of the best cost saving productivity tools are available online- free or at low monthly costs like Google Documents, Skype, PipelineDeals.com.

As mentioned by our retail executive Andrew Masigan, owner of The Advent Manila Hospitality Group in the Philippines, he advice that “the trick is to put the important systems in place… the efficiency your company’s chain-of-command largely determines
how well your stores operate”.

Managing multiple locations means having putting a system in place

“You must have systems in place to be able to standardize the quality of your communications, products and results,” says Bert Martinez, founder of Bert Martinez Communications. Ensuring a strong internal system of operations would mean that you can save costs on training and reduce time required for supervision. Each employee will have a clear understanding of their responsibilities and boundaries.

In our interview with Adrien Desbaillets, President at SaladStop, he says that “a strong infrastructure is required to support the operation. Overheads start to escalate and a strong focus on SOPs, training, technology is required.” The point here is then to make each employee’s responsibility crystal clear through an organised structure and combine that with a system that measures each person. That way, everyone is accountable for delivering their work regardless of which location they are based at.

Managing multiple locations means shifting from micro management to systematized macro management

Before, Eileen Grey– owner of The Picture Company in the Philippines, didn’t need to think about an entire infrastructure when she opened her first store. She recalls it being just “very personal and mom and pop” until her 3rd store opening. Now she has to consider personnel training, back office space, production, logistics and others.

Having systems and technology in place is good for the business, but it wouldn’t help much if there is no focus on communication. Establishing good communication practices within the whole business is key to collaborate with offices at different locations, co-workers and clients.

Good tips to foster good communication between offices at different locations can include using webcams during weekly team meetings or webinars so team members can see each other, establish a daily reporting system online and use a centralized task management software like Asana, Trello and others.

(Read on how PayrollHero stays in sync with our other offices across the globe)

PayrollHero can help you efficiently manage your multiple business locations and cut down on costs. Talk to us about our business or meet us at our next Meetup!

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Singapore Corporate Taxes101

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Singapore Corporate Taxes101Filing taxes can be a daunting task. Figuring out deductions and what your company is exempted from is complicated enough before you realise that it’s a new financial year, the rules have changed, and now you’re not under the same tax exemptions anymore. We looked around the interwebs for a while and we were stumped. So we decided this problem needs to be fixed.

Over the years, the Singapore government has tried to make the country a tax friendly one for corporates. With a bunch of nifty exemptions, retailers, restauranteurs and growing businesses can breathe a sigh of relief. The government’s got your back. Let’s get down to some important pointers for you to file taxes for your company.

Important Facts:

  1. Rate: The current corporate tax rate is 17%.
  2. Dates:
    • Within 3 months of the company’s financial year end, the Estimated Chargeable Income document must be filed and submitted
    • Every year in April, the IRAS sends Forms C-S or Form C filing package.
    • 30 November: The Paper version of the Corporate Income Tax Form (Forms C-S or Form C) must be submitted. 15 December: The e-File Form of the same document must be submitted. Either the paper or the electronic version must be submitted.
    • FormIR8A, which is a statement of an employee’s remuneration, must be issued for each employee by 1 March of every year.
    • Your company needs to keep records of transactions for a minimum of 5 years. They must be submitted to IRAS upon request.
  3. Use mytax.iras.gov.sg to file your company’s taxes, check or post objections to your tax assessment and apply for exemptions.
  4. Taxes can be paid via internet banking, SAM, AXS station, Cash/NETS or GIRO.

Estimated Chargeable Income: Are you exempted?

The ECI is used to estimate your company’s taxable income. The IRAS notifies you before your ECI file is due. However, as a tax break, if your ECI is zero or your annual revenue is $1 million or less, then you do not have to submit the ECI, even if you have received a notification for it.

The ECI can be filed at mytax.iras.gov.sg. The government will then notify you on the exact tax amount which you have to pay within a month of the notice.

Corporate Income Tax Form

This is the big one. Here is where you declare your actual income in the financial year. It needs to be filed regardless of what your income looks like. There are two types: Form C-S and Form C. For a company with revenue not more than $1 million, Form C-S must be filed.

Exemptions

This is the part we have all been waiting for. With these exemptions, the government makes it easier on a start-up’s cashflows for a few years at least. Go through it because there is some good news for retailers as well.

Tax Exemptions for Start-ups: Start-up companies enjoy 100% tax exemption for the first $100,000 of chargeable income for 3 years. Another 50% exemption can be exercised on the next $200,000 which effectively means the tax rate is 8.5%.

Partial Tax Exemption: From the fourth year onwards, start-ups can exercise the Partial Tax Exemption. Here, 75% of the first $10,000 is exempted and another 50% on the next $290,000 is exempted.

Expenses before starting your business: The government also exempts taxes on expenses incurred the year before your company’s financial year in which you start your business. For example, if you financial year starts in Jan 1 2014 and your first earnings were on June 1 2014, then you will be exempted on paying taxes for expenses incurred between Jan 1 2013 and Dec 31 2013.

Capital Allowances: This one is great for retailers. You are given a capital allowance on fixed assets like electrical equipment, furniture and other fixtures for you company. This is in place of depreciation which is non-deductible.

E-Commerce

Retailers that create income through e-commerce websites have a set of rules that they need to follow. For a franchisee or a branch in Singapore with a franchisor based in a foreign country, the income generated by a website is not liable to taxation in Singapore. This is true even is the company’s customers are in Singapore or not. Check the links below for more details on taxation on e-commerce-centred business.

We hope this was helpful to you! We have put in some great links with guides to fill up your corporate tax forms. Do comment or drop in your email for more handy information!

Basic Corporate Tax Calculator: https://www.iras.gov.sg/irashome/page.aspx?id=6784

Disclaimer: As always, consult your lawyer or accountant for advice! We are here to help, but your specific situation should be reviewed by a professional with complete knowledge of your situation. 

Life At PayrollHero From Our Newest Team Member Maita Ocampo

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Editors Note: Introducing Maita Ocampo, Business Development at PayrollHero. She will be contributing to the PayrollHero blog from time to time.

Wait What?

Overwhelmed, confused, and highly emotional – these are not the end of day emotions that I’ve imagined my first day with PayrollHero to be like. Apparently, I found myself having dinner alone in a restaurant after my first day and my thought bubble said something like: WHAT. JUST. HAPPENED.

Looking back, I think it was just “info overload” on my end. Haha! Well, to be honest, technology is not really my area of expertise. However, one of the reasons why I took the job at PayrollHero is because I knew that I was ready and up for the challenge. Getting sent to visit the team in Singapore after a month and working directly with the co-founder is of course, a plus. Boom! The opportunities are endless.

payroll singapore payroll team

(Myself with Steve Jagger, Michael Stephenson and Adam Baechler in Singapore checking out the view of the Marina Bay Sands.)

First Three Months

My first three months were more of getting accustomed to the tools, getting to know the product, and catching up with the company and our timelines. Now that three months have passed, I couldn’t be thankful enough for PayrollHero and its founders for giving me the opportunity to be part of a platform that aims to make the lives of employees and their respective companies better. This is something that really excites me!

Non-Stop Learning

Let me share with you 3 key learnings from my first three months with PayrollHero:

  1. Ask, ask, ask – Never assume anything. If you’re not certain about something, it is better to ask. Asking questions will not make you look lame, ignorant, or unsure. In fact, asking questions is a sign of strength and intelligence. It can also give way to deeper insights and better answers.
  2. Waking up early rocks – I wake up at 6AM every day and work usually ends at 4PM. Crazy, right? These past few months, I’ve learned that you actually get to do more work when you wake up early. At the same time, you get to spend quality time with people you love. According to Forbes and Harvard biologist Christoph Randler, “morning people” are more proactive and are more likely to agree with statements like “I feel in charge of making things happen.” His research also revealed that they are more likely to anticipate problems and minimize them efficiently.
  3. Productivity tools – I remember telling Steve, our co-founder, on my first day that I haven’t downloaded so many apps in one day! Haha. Yes, PayrollHero embraces technology (a lot). It helps us in our open communication mandate. We love PipelineDeals, Asana, Google Docs (Google white paper on PayrollHero), LinkedIn, Slack, Sqwiggle, Appear and Zopim to name a few. It may seem hard to take it all in, but these apps are just a matter of getting used to. Not only does it make learning everyday more fun, it’s definitely helping us work efficiently as well.

Exciting Times Ahead

I guess, no matter what your job is, your first couple of days at work could really be a nerve-racking experience so it’s important for one to focus and have the proper mindset for it.

What I enjoy the most about working for PayrollHero is​ that everyone’​s contributing and thinking of ways to achieve better results for our clients while enjoying the process. We get to learn a lot from each other too!

payroll team in philippines

(Myself with Cristian Guerrero, Kieran Peppiatt, Stephen Jagger, Adam Baechler and Mike Stephenson at the Hyatt in the City of Dreams Manila)

As we’re expanding rapidly in the Philippines and have soft launched in Singapore, I am looking forward for the next countries that we’re targeting this year to become payroll live and the adventures that come along with it. Exciting times, indeed!

Want to read more about our Adventure Engineering lifestyle?

– You might like Nico’s story about his first few days in the Whistler office after leaving the Philippines.

– Adventure Engineers scatter

– Looking to join us? Check out our hiring page or how our work from home program works.

Adventure Engineers Scatter This Weekend

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Our team has been full on the past few months so a few of them took this weekend to see the sights around the region. The timing was was a coincident, but we have PayrollHero #AdventureEngineers in 7 cities around the world today. They are in Hong Kong, Shenyang China, Whistler Canada, Singapore, Manila Philippines, Cebu Philippines and Squamish Canada. Below are a few pictures from their adventures.

Nico Suria is in Hong Kong along with Kieran Peppiatt and their girlfriends seeing the sights, doing a little shopping and taking in some of the local culture.

adventure engineer in hong kong

(Nico in Hong Kong)

adventure engineer kieran in hong kong

IMG_0539.JPG(Kieran Peppiatt in Hong Kong)

Bram Whillock, the very definition of #AdventureEngineer takes his outdoor time to the next level. Today, he can be found in the far off peeks of Whistler mountain in Canada.
whistler mountain ruby on rails engineer(Bram Whillock on Whistler mountain ~
photo by Bradford McArthur of ForeverExploring.com)

Aidan Sullivan is in Shenyang, China which is one hour north of Beijing. Shenyang is one of China’s very polluted cities as you can see from the picture below.
aidan in china

(Aidan Sullivan in Shenyang, China)china adventure engineer

(pollution in Shenyang, China)
vince paca in cebu(Vince Paca in Cebu, Philippines)
singapore payroll guys(Michael Stephenson and Adam Baechler in Singapore)

Are you looking to join a hard working team? We are looking for a few people to join our team. Roles available: Event Manager, Content Writer, Ruby on Rails Engineer, Customer Service Specialist, Business Development and Marketing Manager.

Watch our Adventure Engineering video below to learn more about us…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyyaprfMifg

Welcome to the family, FamilyMart

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familymart-payrollhero2FamilyMart joins many successful food & beverage and retail businesses in the Philippines that have chosen PayrollHero as their time, attendance, scheduling, HRIS, business intelligence and payroll platform.

FamilyMart is a joint venture between Ayala Land, Inc., part of the Ayala Group, one of the country’s largest business groups, and Stores Specialists, Inc., part of the Rustan Group, one of the largest retailing groups.
They plan to open 100 stores in 2014 within the Philippines and just launched their franchising efforts to as part of their goal of having 500 stores in the country by 2018.
FamilyMart franchising launch event at the Dusit Hotel in Makati, Philippines.

FamilyMart franchising launch event at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati, Philippines.