Your Business Matters

Guests: Opal Levy, Director at Sisters Ink Management Consultant Heneka Watkis-Porter, CEO of the Entrepreneurial You Podcast & TV Show Welcome to Your Business Matters, a podcast of EXIM Bank Jamaica where we bring thought leaders together on thought-provoking ideas and methods to help grow your business. "Have you ever been convicted of a felony?" is a question that often appears on travel documents, government forms, and job applications. Police records are stuck with you for life and are known to do more damage than anything else. Rap sheets are arguably a show of character. In 2019, a civil servant who was arrested for not being able to repay her debt on time told the Jamaica Gleaner that the job hunt since then has been extremely difficult for her. The woman reportedly received certification in counseling at the prison where she resided and was also a tutor of several CXC subjects for other inmates. Since her release due to good behavior, the past inmate stated that job searches were futile even by the government ran organizations and expressed that this move by the Jamaican government facilities sends mixed signals. Millions of dollars are invested in the rehabilitation of prisoners, the question however remains whether we have systems in place to effectively reintegrate felons back into our society. Today, we examine the topic, "Should Businesses Hire Felons?" Some of what we discussed include: If the justice system has not forgiven felons, why should employers? Re-integrating ex-convicts back into society. Is prison a form of punishment or a means of rehabilitation? We also touched base with a member of our audience Ronald Stephenson who posed this question to our guests “ Do we have rules governing the hiring of these types of employees?” Connect with our guests: Connect with Opal- Sister’s Ink at sisterink1971@gmail.com or contact their office at 876-431-8823 Thank you for joining us on Your Business Matters hosted by Heneka Watkis-Porter of the Entrepreneurial You podcast. Remember to join us next week for another exciting episode with our thought-provoking leaders as they debate thought-provoking ideas and methods to help grow your business and move closer to your goals. To stay in touch, you can connect with us on your favorite podcast platforms at ‘Your Business Matters’ where we bring the matters to the table, or visit eximbankja.com for further information and business resources. As you continue to mind your business, I leave with you this quote from an unknown author 'You can't spell challenge without change''.

Guests: 1. Cheryl Campbell,  Founder/HR Consultant HR Outsourcing Solutions 2. Melicia James, HR Manager: iPrint Digital & National Outdoor Advertising. Welcome to Your Business Matters, a podcast of EXIM Bank Jamaica where we bring thought leaders together on thought-provoking ideas and methods to help grow your business. Employee Overtime can be tricky. We know of the many benefits that it brings the employee in the form of more work hours and more money. But have you ever paused to think about whether or not companies actually benefit when employees work overtime? Effective use of OT requires an in-depth knowledge of the benefits and impacts the extra hours may have on the company's human resources. Overtime is believed to be expensive and unsafe but according to experts when done right, it could be a powerful tool for meeting workload demands. Today on Your Business Matters we examine the pros and cons of OT to the employers. Some of what we discussed include: 1. Reasons why employees should not engage in prolonged overtime. 2. Is OT  strategy used by employers to avoid employing more staff? 3. Who was overtime intended to benefit? The employer or the employee? We also touched base with a member of our audience Fred Hibbert who posed this question to our guests “ Is there a particular method of calculating overtime?” Connect with our guests: Connect with Cheryl at info@JAMAICAHRSOLUTIONS.COMor contact her 876-821-8695. Contact Melicia  at JAMES.MELICIA@GMAIL.COM. Thank you for joining us on Your Business Matters hosted by Heneka Watkis-Porter of the Entrepreneurial You podcast. Remember to join us next week for another exciting episode with our thought-provoking leaders as they debate thought-provoking ideas and methods to help grow your business and move closer to your goals. To stay in touch, you can connect with us on your favorite podcast platforms at ‘Your Business Matters’ where we bring the matters to the table, or visit eximbankja.com for further information and business resources. As you continue to mind your business, I leave with you this quote from Mokokoma Mokhonoana, “The wise rest at least as hard as they work.” Take care…

Guests: 1. Jamar Wright, Leadership Consultant at Mind Food International Ltd. 2. Natassia Wright, HR Consultant at Mind Food International Ltd. Welcome to Your Business Matters, a podcast of EXIM Bank Jamaica where we bring thought leaders together on thought-provoking ideas and methods to help grow your business. Social media has made it very easy for us to communicate beyond borders and conduct business. From sharing the latest achievement to sharing the location of a good restaurant, we can all agree that social media has benefited society one way or another. However today on Your Business Matters, we face the elephant in the room: should employers screen the social media profiles of their prospective employees? Business Daily, in a recent publication, noted, "what you post on social media could have serious repercussions on your professional life." A career-building survey conducted in 2018 showed that around 70% of employers use social media to screen their candidates and another 43% of employers monitor the social media platforms of their current staff. Today we are joined by Jamar Wright, Leadership Consultant: Mind Food International Ltd, and Natassia Wright, HR Consultant, also at Mind Food International Ltd to explore this important topic. This is Your Business Matters and we are bringing the matters to the table... Some of what we discussed include: 1. Isn’t social media screening an invasion of privacy? 2. Has social media screening replaced background checks? 3. Where does the professional aspect of social media come in? We also touched base with a member of our audience Dwayne Fagan who posed this question to our guests “Does it make sense to check social networks if they are   highly curated versions of candidates?” Connect with our guests: Connect with Jamar and Natassia at www.mindfoodinternational.com [http://www.mindfoodinternational.com/] or call 876-781-8614.

Guests: 1. Bianca Welds, Manager, Digital Innovation: VM Group 2. Duane Lue-Fung, Founder & Chairman: TGL Group Welcome to Your Business Matters, a podcast of EXIM Bank Jamaica where we bring thought leaders together on thought-provoking ideas and methods to help grow your business. Businesses have been forced to pivot over the past 2 years since the inception of the COVID-19 pandemic. What once seemed impossible for many business owners has become the new norm as corporate companies identify innovative ways to conduct business. We have seen the creativity of the technical industry coming forth and the giftings of the content-creating community coming alive but on the flip side of this joy are companies who have yet to adapt to the fast-paced changes of business operations. Many have had to close their doors due to the decrease in supply and demand of their products and services. While many have discovered life in this pandemic, others have suffered the loss of their livelihood with all hope gone with the wind. In today’s we take a look at the pandemic as a gift to businesses. Some of what we discussed include: 1. Dealing with disruptions in business 2. Implications on the business of family togetherness during the pandemic 3. Advice to employers on how to pivot during the pandemic We also touched base with a member of our audience Renee Rose who posed this question to our guests “ Apart from remote working how can businesses meet its employees half-way so that employees are able to balance work and family life?” Connect with our guests: Connect with Duane at 978-1246 and at  Duane Lue-fung on all social.  Connect with Bianca @BiancaWells on Twitter or visit her website at biancawells.com Thank you for joining us on Your Business Matters hosted by Heneka Watkis-Porter of the Entrepreneurial You podcast. Remember to join us next week for another exciting episode with our thought-provoking leaders as they debate thought-provoking ideas and methods to help grow your business and move closer to your goals. To stay in touch, you can connect with us on your favorite podcast platforms at ‘Your Business Matters’ where we bring the matters to the table, or visit eximbankja.com for further information and business resources. As you continue to mind your business, I leave with you this quote from Chris Grosser "Opportunities just don't happen, you create them." Take care.

Guests: Donovan Cunningham: HR Manager - National People’s Co-Operative Francisca Anderson, Group HR Manager at Polypet Co Ltd & Unibev and Founder of Strategic HR Concept Limited Welcome to Your Business Matters, a podcast of EXIM Bank Jamaica where we bring thought leaders together on thought-provoking ideas and methods to help grow your business Fringe benefits are compensations given beyond an employee's normal wages. An employer might choose to offer Fringe benefits versus monetary compensation as it decreases the taxes that it would ordinarily attract. An article by the boongroup.com stated that by  offering fringe benefits and reducing cash expenses, Fringe benefits help businesses to remain competitive. But the question is, does it offer the employee the same value returns as it does the business owner? Wages paid to the employee are subject to income tax.  The employer is required to offer certain benefits to its employees such as health insurance, one of the most prominent forms of fringe benefits to exist (along with life insurance). But in spite of this, several business owners still choose to pay benefits in cash  as a preference and many find it as a simple solution to a complicated issue.  So cash or kind, how do you compensate your workforce? Some of what we discussed include: Use of cash benefits vs Fringe benefits Are fringe benefits used to compensate for wage insufficiency? Are fringe benefits geared towards saving the company revenue or the employee’s well-being? We also touched base with a member of our audience Andre Robb who posed this question to our guests “Types of fringe benefits that will make my business stand out?” Connect with our guests: Connect with Donovan at 962-5360 National People’s Cooperative Bank Of Jamaica. Connect with Andre Robb CEO of Will and Tomorrow at  Willandtomorrow.com @willandtomorrow on all socials. You may contact Francisca at strategichrja1@gmail.com or call  876-379-6504. Thank you for joining us on Your Business Matters hosted by Heneka Watkis-Porter of the Entrepreneurial You podcast. Remember to join us next week for another exciting episode with our thought-provoking leaders as they debate thought-provoking ideas and methods to help grow your business and move closer to your goals. To stay in touch, you can connect with us on your favorite podcast platforms at ‘Your Business Matters’ where we bring the matters to the table or visit eximbankja.com for further information and business resources. As you continue to mind your business, I leave with you this quote from Robert Kyosaki, “I explain the law of compensation like this: Returns are minimal in spite of massive effort at the start, yet returns can be massive with minimal effort over time."  Take care.