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Irish SMEs feel Government not doing enough for them

In a survey of 540 IT decision makers throughout Ireland, just 24pc said the Government was doing enough for businesses like theirs, compared to 62pc who say the Government is under-delivering.

Just over 20pc of SMEs felt the Government could reduce costs to the sector, by reviewing taxes, travel and childcare, while 17pc wanted the introduction of grants, funding and loans, the Magnet 2016 Regional Business Barometer research found. Despite the significant number who feel the Government is not doing enough, the figure is an improvement on last year when 82pc felt that not enough was being done.

The data also reveals low awareness and uptake of government grants. Only 11pc of IT decision makers are aware of government technology or business grants. The West has the lowest awareness of any grants available for SMEs at 4pc, the highest awareness occurred in the Mid-East at 15pc.

However, overall the survey found that business outlook is good, with 74pc saying they have a positive business outlook for the next 12 months. The business outlook is most positive in the West, at 81pc for Roscommon, Galway and Mayo.

The most negative outlook can be found in the Mid-East region, at 11pc for Meath, Kildare and Wicklow.

Finding candidates with the right skills proved the most difficult challenge in recruiting staff for 37pc of respondents followed by cutbacks in budget at 31pc.

Working from home or on the road has also increased. Almost two-thirds had staff working from home on a regular basis while over half had staff working while on the road.

Article source: Irish Independent

Small Firms Association call for Small Business Minister

To co-incide with the start of Election Week, the Small Firms Association (SFA) has circulated a Small Business Manifesto to its 8,500 members around the country.

The Association have called for an end to “tax discrimination” against the self-employed and entrepreneurs. Their manifesto also calls for the need to tackle the rising cost of doing business
in Ireland as well as the neccessity of boosting investment by improving the capital gains tax regime.

In particular, the SFA have called for the reintroduction of a Small Business Minister.

For more on this article, please visit: Business World

Growth in consumer economy back to 2007 levels

The Marketing Institute of Ireland and UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School have today published their quarterly Consumer Market Monitor (CMM).

The report covers the fourth quarter of 2015 and also provides a review of the full year.

It shows that consumer spending looks set to keep an upward trajectory this year and for the foreseeable future – driven by figures of 1.98 million people currently at work, up by 158,000 since the low point in 2012.

Evidence suggests that pay increases of about 2% were common in 2015 and likely to happen again in 2016.

According to the report, gross disposable income increased by an estimated 7.5% in 2015, an increase level not seen since the boom times.

Increased consumer confidence was also seen in the sales of new cars which were up 30% on 2015. Lower fuel prices have also helped, as will the reductions in tax and social charges coming through in January 2016.

Retail sales are also improving significantly. Sales volume rose by 3.7% in 2014 and this upward trend accelerated in 2015, with sales volume up by 6.2%.

All retail categories got a boost in recent quarters, and the evidence suggests that 2016 is delivering sales growth for most retailers. Sales of services have also been strengthening, up 4.1% for the year 2014, and up by 5.8% for 2015.

The indicators are that the consumer economy is now growing strongly, with all types of spending increasing, apart from fuel. In sum, consumer spending is now back to a level of about €90 billion, close to the previous peak in 2007.

For more on this article, please visit: Business World

New event to connect jobseekers with tech companies

A new event is to take place on February 16th which is designed to connect jobseekers with some of Ireland’s most innovative tech companies.

‘UpStarter’ is also aimed at anyone in the process of setting up a new company who is looking to find a co-founder. Over 300 Co-Founders, Developers, Marketers, Designers and Students have already registered for the first event on February 16th in Dublin’s 4 Dame Lane.

The event was set up by Sean Judge, Founder of UniTuition and Accenture Entrepreneur in Residence. Companies who will be in attendance at the event and who are recruiting include – Bizimply, NewsWhip, Opsh, HubSpot, FlipDish, UniTuition, Elm Solutions, Dynamic Res and Super Pixel.

All the companies with stands are hiring for a variety of positions including Operations Managers, Digital Content Managers, UI Developers, Software Engineers, Project Managers & Summer Interns.

For more on this article, please visit: Business World

Irish are more likely to stay longer with employers who are interested in their health

Seven in ten (69%) Irish people are more likely to stay longer with employers who show an interest in their health and wellbeing, while half would consider leaving employers who don’t.

This is according to a survey of almost 1000 employees which was commissioned by the Nutrition & Health Foundation (NHF) to mark Ireland’s second National Workplace Wellbeing Day on Friday, 8th April 2016.

Last year, hundreds of public and private sector organisations across the country participated in the Ibec supported day which aims to improve employee health by promoting better physical and nutritional wellbeing in their workplace.

The research shows four out of five employees point to a positive link between their health and wellbeing and their company‘s productivity.

Two in five meanwhile claim that sickness and absenteeism are a barrier to productivity within their workplace.

Furthermore, more than a third of employees (35%) surveyed said that a company’s workplace wellbeing programme is important when they are choosing a new employer.

For more on this article, please visit: Business World

LinkedIn reveals the 25 top skills that get Irish professionals employed

LinkedIn, the business-oriented social network, has revealed the 25 top skills that got Irish professionals hired last year.

It is the first year that LinkedIn has conducted the research in Ireland, which revealed cloud and distributed computing as the most desirable skill for Irish employers.

Technology dominated the top skills with statistical analysis, search engine optimisation, middleware, and network security making up the remainder of the top five.

LinkedIn generated the list by analysing all of the recruiting and hiring activity that occurred on the site.

The list is as follows:

1 Cloud and Distributed Computing
2 Statistical Analysis and Data Mining
3 SEO/SEM Marketing
4 Middleware and Integration Software
5 Network and Information Security
6 Web Architecture and Development Frameworks
7 Data Engineering and Data Warehousing
8 Mobile Development
9 IBM Mainframes and Systems
10 Software Revision Control Systems
11 Software Modeling and Process Design
12 Data Presentation
13 Algorithm Design
14 Microsoft Application Development
15 SAP ERP Systems
16 Recruiting
17 Perl/Python/Ruby
18 User Interface Design
19 Mac, Linux and Unix Systems
20 Electronic and Electrical Engineering
21 Economics
22 HR Benefits and Compensation
23 Database Management and Software
24 Business Intelligence
25 Shell Scripting Languages

For more on this article, please visit: Irish Independent