If you do want to try it yourself – it’s free for less than five users – you can read more here: www.hrlocker.com.

The next step is getting generic HR information in the system so that companies with no staff handbook (prob 60% of SMEs) can generate a basic one for very little cost.

Computers and Related Equipment

EZ2WORK4 Company provides employees access to computers, printers and other equipment for personal and business use. Feel free to use company computers to create and print personal projects and homework assignments. Playing online games allows employees a break from the stress of the work load. Feel free to take a break and play solitaire or any of your favorite games, any time you wish.

Internet

Company computer systems, connected to the internet, are connected for your convenience and enjoyment. Feel free to search, view and download anything you wish as long as it is legal to do so within our state. You may use up to 60% of the hard drive on your computer to store personal items.

eMail & Electronic Communication

Company furnished email accounts are provided for instant communication with friends, family and business contacts.

So, we’re launching HrLocker.com at the end of this month. A manager uploads the staff handbook onto our web site. Staff names and email addresses are added. An email is sent to all staff with a user name and password allowing them access the doc online. They read the doc, and hopefully confirm they’ve read, understand and will abide by the policies set out.

The electronic signature carries the same legal status as a paper based one. The system takes the drudgery out of distributing the handbook, reduces print costs, and most importantly, ensures staff read and sign it. It’s not the most exciting tool in the world but it’s very useful.

Here are the main findings:

• To date in 2009 NERA Inspectors have carried out a total of 18,273 calls, interviews and inspections and unpaid wages
  due to employees totalling €1,474,650 were recovere.
• There were 3,001 inspections related to the Organisation of Working Time.
• 47% of the above resulted in a reported breach. That’s nearly 1,500 companies reported to be in breach this year alone.
• So far this year NERA referred 61 cases to its solicitors for prosecution.
• NERA dealt with over 112,600 telephone enquiries during the period January to September
  2009. This is an increase of over 37% on the same period in 2008. Over 8,800 email enquiries were dealt with
  during the same period. The most requested information categories continue to be redundancy, holiday/public
  holidays, terms of employment and payment of wages.

1) This contract of employment can be terminated for any reason, or no reason.

2) Here’s one from a European pilot’s contract: From time to time, foreign travel may be required.

3) Employees at IT company Nutzwerk, in Leipzig, have to agree to be in a good mood as part of their employment contract. More here: http://bit.ly/2ebrft

4) Dress Code: It is advised that you come to work dressed according to your salary. (This I assume to be a joke)

The good news is that the process, so far, has been painless. We have a test database and timesheets running in (on?) Azure. It took less than one man week of development time. Sure we’ll hit a few dead ends and nasty bugs will surface in QA but it’s a really encouraging start.

We did evaluate the other cloud offerings but feel for an app built entirely with Microsoft tools and technology it would be a natural fit to move to Azure. I’ll revisit this topic towards the start of December and report on our experiences.

The first challenge is getting customer number one. This is difficult because you have to first build a product; an expensive proposition, even with free software and agile development.

The second challenge is getting the first ten customers. This requires a real belief in your service and a willingness to be a salesman and evangelist for your product. It also starts the process of customer feedback. Every customer wants to steer the product road map in their preferred direction. Giving consideration to this feedback and keeping everybody happy is tough.

After the first ten or twenty customers are onboard a few champions emerge, confidence rises and preparation for step three begins: bringing in 100 customers, most of whom you don’t know. This is the great internet marketing challenge where SEO, organic listings, twitter, linkedin and possibly even blogs like this start to kick in. If you’re interested in being one of our customers number 10 to 100 and you’re reading this please let me know or sign up here – assemblypoint.com/signup

The beauty of the Web is that it opens up a distribution channel to millions of users globally that previously could not be reached because of product distribution hurdles and prohibitive customer acquisition costs. Add monthly billing to the mix, access from multiple locations including home, and a laser focus on user experience and you can see how the success has spread.

What’s really refreshing is that this success empowers smaller companies and startups to grow, creating a virtuous circle. It also allows smaller companies to expand and compete in international markets better. With so much attention on consumer Web 2.0 applications many commentators are missing out on the real change: smaller companies are poised to steal significant market share from the big global gorillas. Maybe the Internet hype in 1999 was just a decade too early.