Feeling generous? Want to treat your hard-working employees to a party? Entertaining is a great way to get to know your staff outside the office environment, improve working relations and ramp up productivity in the workplace.
Work events are particularly important for small businesses, where employees are keen to become acquainted with their colleagues and therefore expect a certain level of interaction.
However, business doesn’t always end at the office. If you’re throwing a shindig for your hard workers, there are few things you need to know when booking.
Expenses
Did you know that while you’re all having fun on your work ‘do’ you could be reclaiming the cost as expenses? The sorts of things you can claim for include: food and drink, accommodation, theatre and event tickets, gifts and use of capital assets.
You can also reclaim any VAT you pay for your party, as long as you’re entertaining staff; business entertaining doesn’t count. If it’s a mixed group, for example employees and their partners, you can only claim for your employees.
Get rewarded
Whatever the reason you’ve decided to splash out on entertaining your employees, it’s worth using your credit card. You’ll be able to have fun out with your staff, reclaim tax and get rewarded for your spending.
As long as you have a rewards card, every time you spend on your business credit card you will be earning cashback or loyalty rewards. Once you have enough points you can exchange them for gifts or air miles.
Purchase protection
By paying with a credit card, not only will you be able to earn business card rewards, but you could also benefit from additional purchase protection.
No doubt you’ve heard of Section 75, but that only applies to consumers, not business customers. However, it is worth comparing which credit cards are available to find one that offers this additional protection.
If you book your party and the venue goes bust or the catering doesn’t turn up and the company refuses to provide a refund, you can claim the money back from the credit card provider.
Throwing a party for your business can be great fun and an effective way to get to know your employees, but it’s important to remember that there is still a lot of work to be done behind the scenes beforehand.
If I had a small business, the parties would be kick ass. Totally inexpensive, but the kind of parties that make people glad they work where they do. One day.
You can even have a party for all of your employees, even if you only have one. 🙂