Rise and Rise of Zero Hours Contracts

Updated details here:

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/research/briefing-papers/SN06553/zerohours-contracts

Are these contracts positive or negative in your view?

I am aware the Government proposes changes to present legislation to enable those on these contracts can take second or third jobs to ensure they earn some money.

Some already let people take extra work alongside, but not all.

Some additional points.

People on zero hours contracts, do not earn any money, unless called in to work.

As a result, a vast majority have to top up any pay with benefits already.

Also very few are earning sufficient to create any meaningful pension contributions.

Plus most, but not all, prevent people from taking a second job, to earn money.

So when they hear in the moring there is no work available that day – they are stuck.

The impact of zero hours contracts, means tax revenues are lower than expected, hence why the treasury has had to borrow extra money this year.

Are you happy?

Are you happy?

Nothing like being direct, and getting to the crux of the matter, and it could be the reason why you responded to our post – so what I am going to do now is explain more about our business briefly, there is plenty more online for you to browse and digest.

First up, what do we do?

Utility Warehouse is a discount club. It delivers savings across a range of services everyone uses, and that is what makes it so special, since people and businesses do not need to be taught how to use the services and products. For that reason alone, the stickability of the business means it grows and grows.

For example my very first customer, signed up on the 21st November 1997, is still a customer today – it means I have been paid over 200 times for 45 minutes work. So far that one customer has earned me over £1,000. The services they use include phone lines, broadband, mobile, gas and electricity.

They have also referred me to a number of their friends and family too.

Does this make me happy? You bet.

Further they use what is called a CashBack card, which means they spend money in one of our 40 odd partner stores, and receive a discount off their full bill – it makes their money go further.

Does that make my customer happy? You bet.

I still receive commission on the full spend, so I do not lose out.

So what I have described here is a total win-win for both the customer and the distributor.

Secondly, why has this success occurred? So, please read on …………..

There are many reasons, why the distributors, such as myself have ensured the success of the business, and I list a few more here:

1. Recession proof – everyone wants to save money during the good times & the bad
2. Hours to suit individual needs – part or full time, so can be added to a core business
3. FREE local on-going training, plus product focused training & online training
4. Products and services that are second to none, and easy to promote
5. Regular increasing income with payment every month without fail
6. Low once only qualification criteria (just three customers and you can be your first)
7. On-line shopping mall, internet services, including a range of broadband packages.
8. Number One CashBack deal in the UK
9. A caring and very supportive management structure
10. Product enhancement – the company does not stand still
11. FREE calls to UK numbers for members
12. Voted the Number One company in Europe
13. Company car plans for everyone that wants to qualify
14. Market share target of 10%, which equates to over 2,400,000 customers
15. Share options – and the shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange
16. Year end turnover and profits – up again
17. Fantastic promotions – family and luxury holidays
18. Annual and quarterly conferences
19. Recognition – it is hugely surprising how little thanks is seen in day to day jobs.
20. 21st century business utilising tablets and Apps to help you grow your income.

So why join The Utility Warehouse and become a business partner? Here are a number of very good reasons, but only you will know which ones apply and motivate you:

• Your pay rise this year was smaller than expected or non-existent, as for next year? Don’t ask!
• You are on Zero Hour contracts
• You are under employed
• Protection against job insecurity
• Getting married with all the related costs that brings
• New family member
• Buying a flat or house or a bigger one
• Extra money for a holiday
• Pay off bills and/or higher mortgage
• Top up your pension
• More comfortable lifestyle
• Entrepreneurial talent
• Income for life
• Always wanted my own business
• Want time freedom – freedom to choose
• Flexible approach to income creation

And these are also some of the reasons, why people will join you in this business too.

How do you get started and become a business partner?

Basically you will get a company and a business in a box for less than a £2-00 per week including Vat investment for 12 months (renewals are £3-00 per month thereafter). The Opportunity website www.future-biz.co.uk will explain more. Setting up a business from scratch will usually cost several hundred if not thousands of pounds, so to get one for £100 is quite an achievement and this investment comes with a 60 day money back guarantee.

Included within this 60 day period will be a number of targets, the first of which will be to get three customers (you will be your own first customer) and this will put some money in your pocket and build towards the first bonus of up to £1000 – potentially growing to £3,000 in your first year. I will be explain exactly how this works and the residual income on top too, when we next speak – please do make a note to ask me.

As I explained The Utility Warehouse provide the individual or company with massive savings on their present spending. So, in return for securing their business, you will be paid a bonus of up to £50 for each new customer plus ongoing commissions based on what they spend and likewise of your teams’ distributors customers as well.

The Utility Warehouse is a powerful and unique player in the market, but only you can decide what you want from the company. Tell me what it is, and the team and I will help you get there. Very importantly I am looking for people who want to take control of their future – are you that sort of person?

Equally importantly it is an award winning company and recognised as so by for example Which? magazine – this is third party and independent recognition.

Further the company doesn’t sit still – it is always looking to improve, and presently is building a new headquarters, three times the size of the present one to support the record growth being delivered by the network. Hugely important to note this is a UK based business in every way – nothing goes offshore.

You will have questions and that is good, and I will have questions too, and the first of those will be: What do you want to achieve now and in the future?

This is probably the most important question that can ever be asked and relates as to whether you are happy, so here’s a flow diagram to help you.

A flow diagram to help you make a decision

Am I happy? Yes, most certainly, because I see people join our business with and without the necessary skills to become successful; they follow our training and benefit from the support we provide; they grow as people and benefit financially over one, two, three or more years, and when ready they duplicate their success.

There is no corporate ladder here – just a very wide staircase, where we climb side by side at our own pace. Some climb faster, others take longer – that is fine.

This is a business like no other, and I have worked with some of the biggest and smallest around – you make friends for life with Utility Warehouse.

Is this business for you?

I have no idea yet …….. so please visit www.future-biz.co.uk and enter your details in the boxes on the front page, and then let’s have a conversation and see how it goes from there.

I am ready to have that conversation, are you?

Laurence

PS How happy would you like to be?

4.5 million British adults have less than £10 spare cash each month

One in 11 people, or 4.5 million British adults, have less than £10 a month left over once they have paid their essential bills, new research from thinkmoney has found.

With many households struggling to make ends meet, the findings from budgeting account provider thinkmoney reveal the worryingly small amounts of disposable income people have left once they’ve met all their financial commitments.

Of the 2,149 people polled, one in four said they had less than £50 a month to s…pend after bills.

Across the UK, the average monthly disposable income was £224.50. However, there was a wide gender difference with men reporting having disposable incomes averaging £272.50, almost twice as much as women (£190.20).

Young people reported having the least disposable income, with 18-24 year-olds averaging £174.20 – some 22% below the overall UK average. Almost one in three people in this age group have less than £50 a month to spend after bills.

By contrast, the wealthiest in terms of post-bills spending money are people over 65, with an average of £269.50 a month available to spend.

The amount of disposable income also varies depending on where people live. It is highest in London, at an average of £261, and the South East, at £244. People in the North East and Wales have the lowest disposable incomes, at £199 and £181 respectively.

Worryingly, one in six people questioned in Wales said they had less than £10 a month to spend after bills.

“It’s stressful not knowing if you will have enough money to pay the bills and afford added extras each month,” said Ian Williams, director of communications at thinkmoney.

If you would like to know how to create additional income streams, please visit http://www.future-biz.co.uk and click contact us to request your free money making report?

Add to your earning portfolio in 2014

Seeking to meet people who would like to create new income streams on a part time basis. Working with an award winning FTSE250 company offering a range of services to the residential and business sector. Full training, full support, promotions and incentives are provided. UK wide. Works really well for existing businesses who have a client base and wish to market into same. 

Hello

So who are we seeking?

Socially able people People willing to learn Ambitious people People who are able to communicate Committed people

Does that sound like you or someone you know, then please read on ……

Our company is award winning, providing a range of services everyone uses at home and business, very importantly, there is training and support from the company, and the latest share option scheme is worth over £13,000. By the way, our latest year end results were at a new record. Pretty good for FTSE 250 at the London Stock Exchange.

So, would you like to know more?

Yes, well the next step is to watch a short video (about 3 minutes), and enter your details on screen and receive a document with further detailed information. It will answer some, but not all your questions, and that is where I come in.

In the meantime, here’s the video link: http://www.future-biz.co.uk

Please make yourself a cup of tea or coffee, and sit down and watch.

You may never know this business could be the right thing at the right time for you with full training being provided at one of over 50 training venues across the country.

I look forward to speaking to you soon.

Best regards

 

Laurence Lowne
Group Leader
0795 789 0 757

PS I am only able to work with three new team members in January 2014 – could you be one of the three?

Here’s that link again: http://www.future-biz.co.uk

Zero Hours contracts – self employed without the benefits?

Mike Patterson of Berwins’ Solictors wrote the following and can be contacted by email at mikepatterson@berwin.co.uk

New figures released this week revealed that more than one million UK workers could be employed on zero-hours contracts, which is four times the number initially estimated.

This figure derives from a survey of 1,000 employers carried out by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and has prompted renewed calls for the government to launch a full inquiry into the use of these contracts by employers.

A zero-hours contract is where a person is not contracted to work a set number of hours, and is only paid for the number of hours that they actually work. Used appropriately this type of contract can provide flexibility for employers and workers, and help to create more flexible working opportunities, by allowing employers to staff their workforce according to peaks and troughs in demand.

However, workers on a zero-hours contract are left without guaranteed hours, sick pay or holiday pay. Often they are only told how many hours they will work once the weekly or monthly rota has been confirmed, but are expected to be on call for extra work at short notice. As a result, workers are left vulnerable to sudden reductions in shift patterns and last minute shift cancellations at the discretion of managers, without any entitlement to pay.

Yesterday it emerged that the UK’s largest food chain, McDonald’s, is potentially the biggest zero-hours employer in the private sector with over 82,000 of its staff (90% of the workforce) on the controversial terms.

This follows the announcement that retailer Sports Direct employs around 20,000 of its 23,000 staff on zero-hours contracts, as well as Buckingham Palace which uses them for its 350 summer workers. These contracts are also popular with those employers in the care home, catering and leisure industries.

The CIPD has stressed that there needs to be a closer look on what is meant by a zero-hours contract, the different forms that they take, and clearer guidance on what good and bad practice in their use looks like.

What action the government takes in response, we will have to wait and see.

So my take on this subject is that Zero Hours contracts are self employment by the back door, but without the benefit of tax breaks. Now that is quite worrying.

Mike quotes a recent survey suggesting there are 1 million people on these deals, which rather confirms the suspicion of many that there are nearer 4 million unemployed in the UK presently

I also look at the situation slightly differently too, since many of these people may not have work of a day to day basis. That surely provides the opportunity to use that time effectively elsewhere for personal profit?

One idea could be to create new and additional income streams.

Here is one that I became involved in many years ago:

www.future-biz.co.uk

An award winning company with full training and support.
Lots of promotions and benefits too
Two car plans, plus lots, lots more.
Totally flexible hours too, so can be worked as and when you are available. Fits around Zero Hours.

Please take a look, you could be pleasantly surprised?

Seriously Networking?

Are you serious about your networking or simply playing?

Networking is one of the most effective, cost efficient methods of generating new business and very importantly lasting business.

Having started in 1996, I now rely on more than 80% of my referrals being created this way, and that is the key. It is personal recommendation, rather than outright sales creation.

We all make recommendations, but very few understand how powerful these are.

I can place an actual value on each referral given and received – are you able to, as well?

Even better I work within a business that is often referred to as Referral Marketing – you can take a look here, if you wish – the 3 minute video won’t bite, and could create more than 10 new income streams for you on a part time basis:

www.future-biz.co.uk

So how important is networking to you?
What works and what doesn’t?

Please share your ideas below.

What drives your motivation and focus?

Each and every week without fail, Nigel Risner sends out a motivational newsletter – sometimes Sunday evening, and at other times depending on where he is in the world, Monday morning. You can sign up too via Nigel’s website here: www.nigelrisner.com

I always read them every week, and invariably share some of it with my 400 colleagues in my team.

This week he shared some humour (see below), to really hit home about not chopping and changing, but getting focus in your life. The grass isn’t always greener, etc.etc.

Another member on Ecademy, Andrew Horder, is running an event on the same subject very soon – maybe worth checking out? Details here

I have a lot of time for Nigel, and Andrew for that matter. Nigel is a good speaker (and has won many awards), he is disruptive to your thought processes, which is good and makes you think, but most important of all he has been there and done that.

People who know Nigel will be aware of how proud he is of his children. They are his motivation.

Nigel shares his passion for life and for making things better through self development. If it doesn’t come from yourself, who will it come from? Business and Life Coaches (even sports ones) recognise this.

During 2010/11 my motivation was my football team – AFC Wimbledon and by conclusion of the season we had achieved promotion to League 2. It was important that I had sufficient income to ensure I could follow them all over the country – that drove me to succeed, even though my health was not 100%. Now during the summer (ha ha), I am again driving the business forward as a new adventure beckons.

So what motivates you to achieve success in your life, and how do you measure that success?

Laurence

Some jobs are no pun with thanks to Nigel Risner

My first job was working in an Orange Juice factory,
but I got canned. I couldn’t concentrate.

Then I worked in the woods as a Lumberjack, but I
just couldn’t hack it, so they gave me the axe.

After that, I tried to be a Tailor, but I wasn’t suited for
it – mainly because it was a sew-sew job.

Next, I tried working in a Muffler Factory, but that
was too exhausting.

Then, I tried to be a Chef – figured it would add a
little spice to my life, but I just didn’t have the thyme.

I attempted to be a Deli Worker, but any way I
sliced it, I couldn’t cut the mustard.

I studied a long time to become a Doctor, but I
didn’t have any patience.

Next, was a job in a Shoe Factory. I tried but I
couldn’t fit in. I became depressed and soulful.

Then there was the Professional Fisherman job. But I
discovered that I couldn’t live on my net income.

I managed to get a job working for a Pool Maintenance
Company, but the work was just too draining.

So then I got a job in a Workout Center, but they
said I wasn’t fit for the job.

After many years of trying to find steady work, I
finally got a job as an Historian – until I realized
there was no future in it.

My last job was working in Starbucks, but I had
to quit because it was always the same old grind

If you would like a job with f(p)un, then why not check out this link?

Future Biz

More than 866,000 people aged 65 & over are still working

Over 65 and still working

So much for retiring at an age when leisure should be more important.

However, the UK has a major headache on its hands as the aging population outstrips those of younger age. Our elders are staying in work longer, reducing opportunities for those in their teens and twenties, and then leaving them on the scrap heap, when work should should be second nature.

And it gets worse, since our maturer members of society are having to work to pay mortgages they have taken out, which continue being charged well into their 70s and beyond. Their pensions being insufficent to cover the mrotgage payments, this forcing them to take part time and full time positions, further reducing the opportunity for younger people.

Both SAGA and Policis have produced reports this month (January 2011) confirming this trend, please see the cutting from the Daily Mail opposite. Truly frightening.

This has perhaps explained the increasing number of people joining my business these last few years, since it presents them with the opportunity to work part time and whenever time to create extra income when they see fit, and equally when they are fit enough to do so.

More details here: www.family-income.co.uk

Who do you know who would like to have the means to increase their monthly income without committing to regular 9 – 5 hours? Please ask them to take a look at the link above and see how a company with lots Which? magazine Best Buy ratings could help them survive their later years without poverty. 

Likwise controlling outgoings is equally important, and looking through the recent new clients sees more and more in this age range too – suppose the Best Buy helps as well http://www.go-fast.co.uk/

Mothers returning to work settle for pay cuts …..

It appears the idea of motherhood is not sitting well with those who return to work seeking suitable part time work.

There are reports of mothers taking low-skilled and poorly paid employment, simply to find a job to work around chilcare on a part time basis.

And this could well get worse with the proposed cuts in child benefit.

Perhaps many mothers should look to start their own business, where they can work the hours that suit the family needs?

One such company is Utility Warehouse, where full and ongoing training can set up a mother for life with an increasing income, and build in total flexibilty to suit their needs; there is even offer of a car as well, which could well help with the family buget too.

Details here: http://www.family-income.co.uk

There are country wide presentations and training centres available to new joinees and existing team members.

Further use of the CashBack card, especially with Mothercare, Boots and Toys R Us, amongst the partner stores, will make any income earned go further.

A total win-win for any mother.

Success with Utility Warehouse

When we first started almost 12 years ago, there was little history for many of us within the industry and as Ed Ludbrook would put it, we were pioneers.

Taking the glory one week, and the flak the next.

That has all changed, since it is quite clear the people joining now have the following attributes:

Socially outgoing

Past/current experience of business

A real dream and need to do well

Plus a desire to take charge of their future

During the last two years, there has been a major influx of people from within the property sector:

Private Property Landlords – Letting Agents – Estate Agents – Mortgage Brokers – Insurance Brokers – Independent Financial Advisors – Builders – Electricians – Plumbers and so on,

and more recently the professionals have started arriving in their droves:

Solicitors – Accountants – Teachers/Lecturers

plus down the years, the newly and presently retired, those who have declining pensions or inadequate provision for later years.

 And of course the many from ethnic communities, who can see the opportunity from afar.

Most are working part time, topping up their income. For some the extra £200 to £300 per month is staving off poverty, for others, who are more serious are building substantial replacement incomes of £2,000 to £5,000 or more per month.

But it is not just the income ….. new friendships, company inventives with two car plans, awards and very importantly recognition for achieving success however small or large.

Too many employees are starved of recognition, and simply receiving a Well Done when they qualify their position is the first time in over 30 years that they have felt wanted.

If there is one thing that I really love about Utility Warehouse is the feeling of family, and it is perhaps a further reason as to why the company have become so successful.