Top Stories: SMB Wages at All Time High, Franchises Create Even More Jobs

How are small businesses feeling? According to a number of reports and indexes, very confident.

In this week’s round-up we have seen an all time high in wage growth and a high number of jobs from franchises. And with 2019, coming to an end in a little over a couple of weeks, it is a great way to welcome 2020.

In addition to these articles, the round-up has great marketing tips for bringing more visitors to your site along with the new top colors for brands in 2020 from Shutterstock.

The range of topics covered on Small Business Trends looks into all aspects of small business operations so you can get the answers you need in one place.

Whether it is retail trends, technology, startups, management or the other subjects take a look at this week’s roundup or the rest of the site for more.

Small Business News

Small Business Wage Growth at All Time High

According to the latest index report by Paychex and IHS Market, the average hourly earnings are up by 3.11% among employees of small businesses. This is the highest growth in wages since 2011, which is in part driven by low employment in the U.S.

Franchise Businesses Created 24,600 Jobs in November

The November 2019 ADP Small Business Report shows another month in which franchises are generating large number of jobs. Generally, this is a segment that shows considerably lower numbers, however, it hasn’t been the case the past couple of months. November 2019 ADP Small Business Report In October, franchises created 30,100 jobs.

Weave Payments Untangles Payment Processing for Small Businesses

Weave has announced the launch of Weave Payments. It’s a full-scale payments platform that caters to small and midsize businesses (SMBs). The platform looks to help owners reduce the time spent on back-end functions. These include processing paperwork so they can instead focus on growing and running successful businesses.

Data Security Remains Top IT Concern for Small Businesses and Others

A recent study shows 43% of data breaches involve small businesses. As a result, it’s no surprise that data security is the top IT concern for 2020. Netrix IT Trends 2020 provides more details. For example, 74% of organizations voted data security as their top IT priority in 2020. And 43% of organizations named data privacy as their top IT goal.

U.S. Chamber’s Shop Safe Campaign Seeks to Protect Businesses from Counterfeit Goods

In a bid to fight fake goods and scams this holiday season, the US Chamber of Commerce has launched its Shop Safe campaign. The campaign is spearheaded by the Commerce Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC). The GIPC warns the holidays present an opportunity for counterfeit goods and scam artists to trick unsuspecting customers.

Trump Approval Rating Among Small Business Owners at All Time High

The Q4 2019 CNBC-SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey reveals the approval rating among small business owners for President Trump is at an all-time high. At 60%, the report says it is the highest number recorded since the survey’s inception.

Management

What is Employee Relationship Management?

Employee relationship management are tools and techniques small businesses use to keep their employees happy and engaged. Here’s what you need to know to put together a system that works. What It Is Joe Flanagan is the Lead Project Engineer at Tacuna Systems. He supplied a more detailed definition. “It includes interactions between employers and employees,” he writes.

What is Holiday Pay and Should You Offer It?

Holiday pay is paid time off. Government statistics report that small businesses paid $0.78 for holiday pay per hour in 2019. As the festive season approaches, it’s important to understand the benefits to offering this extra pay to employees. There are no hard and fast holiday pay laws. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) doesn’t make holiday pay a legal requirement.

Marketing Tips

How to Get Your Site Visitors to Read More of Your Articles

The Internet has gotten much faster: People just surf from page to page seldom making a pause to read or watch carefully. There’s some solid research on that phenomenon. And even though it is widely criticized, I personally see that too. I find it much harder concentrating on one thing for a long time. Click the link off my social media feed.

Shutterstock Reveals the Top Colors for your Brand in 2020

Businesses go to great lengths to find the right color that best represents their brand. This is because it is a great way to communicate your message; and a very simple way too. With that in mind, Shutterstock just announced the color trends the company is expecting to dominate in 2020.

Want to Market Your Business More Authentically? Read On

In case you haven’t heard, authenticity is the name of the game for online marketers and small business owners. Whether you have the big corporate brand name or not, people are looking to see that you actually care about others and your message before buying from you. You probably already know how important brand loyalty and trust is.

Retail Trends

Examples of Good Customer Service in Retail

Even in this digital age, retail remains still primarily a people business. No matter the size of your business, learn from these examples. Good customer service in retail focuses on your customers and builds customer loyalty. Total Wine & More: Total Expert Customer Service Founded in 1991 as a small store in Delaware, Total Wine & More now runs 205 stores across 24 states.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, "Top Stories: SMB Wages at All Time High, Franchises Create Even More Jobs" was first published on Small Business Trends