Getting The Best Out Of Your Employees: Strategies To Boost Morale And Productivity

Getting The Best Out Of Your Employees: Strategies To Boost Morale And Productivity

As an employer, one of the most important jobs you have is to get the best out of your employees. We all know that a happy team is a productive team. If you’re keen to boost morale and make your business more productive, here are some strategies to consider.

Saving time and eliminating stress

There’s nothing worse for an employee than turning up at work with a packed diary and finding it impossible to get things done because systems are overly complicated, there’s confusion about what needs doing, or there are gadgets, programs or machines that aren’t working properly. As the boss, you want to oversee a well-oiled operation, which works efficiently. Provide your staff with the equipment, technology, and systems they need to do their jobs with minimal hassle. Invest in technology that is going to save time and effort, establish clear objectives, and simplify processes to eradicate unnecessary steps and make the company more productive.

Image by https://kaboompics.com/photo/171/modern-office-interior-with-old-vintage-brick-wall

Keeping your staff safe

Nobody wants to work in an environment in which they don’t feel safe. There are hazards involved with many jobs, but it’s often possible to prevent accidents and injuries by taking steps to create safer workplaces. Make sure all premises comply with the latest regulations and provide your employees with the equipment, tools, and training they need to work safely. It doesn’t matter whether you manage a building firm or your staff is based at an office, you don’t want to be held responsible if somebody has an accident. If your employee sustains an injury as a result of your negligence, they have the right to contact an expert like a construction accident and injury attorney and file a claim against you. Employ policies and procedures to minimize risks, and ensure every accident is recorded. Carry out risk assessments and make sure you respond to issues or complaints as quickly as possible.  

Picture courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/everydaylifemodern/417922988

Fostering team spirit and having fun

When you’re at work, you don’t want to be watching the clock and counting down the seconds until home time. If you don’t enjoy your job, you find it stressful, or morale among the team is low, there’s every chance that you won’t give everything you have. As an employer, it’s beneficial to keep motivation levels up and to try and inject a little fun. You don’t have to fill your office with slides or snooker tables or plan parties every Friday, but socialize together, organize events and activities from time to time, and try and find the right balance between work and play. You can also help to encourage and support your team by rewarding effort and industry and helping your employees achieve their individual goals. Use your own experiences as an employee to be the kind of boss people want to work for.

Image source: https://pixabay.com/en/colleagues-seminar-presentation-437024/

As the owner of a company, you’ll achieve a lot more if you’ve got a productive, motivated, committed team around you. Aim to streamline the way you work, promote health and safety and add a little fun to the working day.

How Does Drinking Water Reach Your Tap?

How Does Drinking Water Reach Your Tap?

Most people have homes that are connected to a plumbing system in the Western world. Homeowners get water delivered straight to their taps, and most people do not take the time to think about that in too much detail. However, if you ever find yourself wondering “how does that water get here,” you can use the information from this page to help set the record straight. There is always more to learn, and so those who feel enthusiastic about the subject should continue their research after leaving this page. Still, this article should provide you with a basic understanding of water systems and how the liquid goes from the clouds into your sink. Feel free to share this info with your friends or let your children read this post because they will find it fascinating.

Link

Water rains down on the mountains

The first part of the process has nothing to do with technology and does not require any form of human interaction. When temperatures reach suitable levels at sea, water evaporates and condenses to forms clouds. Take a look outside now. All those clouds you see in the sky are made from seawater. When the temperature changes again, the water vapor turns back into a liquid and rains down on the earth.

A significant amount of the rainwater lands on mountaintops, and it then flows into rivers. Reservoirs are used to store water and treat it before it goes into the plumbing system and comes out of the taps in your home. However, we’ll discuss that more in the next section. The critical thing to remember is that humans have no interaction until the water reaches a reservoir.

Link

We collect the water in reservoirs

Reservoirs are substantial human-made lakes where we store water and clean it before pushing it through the pipes to your kitchen or bathroom. These structures are maintained every day to ensure they are secure and incapable of flooding. There are sometimes issues in the reservoir system, but humans have become pretty competent when it comes to sorting them out. Indeed, there probably hasn’t been a time during your life when you turned the tap one, and water did not come out, right?

There are many reservoirs out there that store other liquids apart from water too. However, for the purpose of this post, we’re going to focus on the ones that run clean water to your taps. Some reservoirs will also have dams, solar waterfalls, and locks which is pretty cool. Thes ones with waterfalls can often generate energy!

The water undergoes specialist treatment

Before you can drink the water in the reservoir, it has to undergo lots of different treatments to ensure it is 100% safe and free from contaminants. Depending on where you live in the world; your local authority might add lots of chemicals to the water to ensure it does not pick up any bacteria as it moves through the plumbing system too. In many instances, companies and communities that own reservoirs will need to find a potassium permanganate supplier so they can get the best possible outcomes. That substance helps to decontaminate the liquid and the soil at the bottom of the lake.

You can learn more about water treatment in your area by searching online for more information. As mentioned a moment ago, different towns and cities deal with that issue in various ways. So, it would be impossible to determine which chemicals are used in your water in this post. However, most reservoirs use a form of chlorine amongst other things.

Link

The water flows through the plumbing system

Once the water is treated and safe to consume, it begins to flow into the plumbing system that connects your home to the reservoir via lots of pipework. With a bit of luck, the chemicals added to the mix will help to ensure the liquid that appears out of your taps is safe to drink. However, lots of people still like to use a water filtration device because the system is not perfect. If you invest in a decent water filter; you will soon notice the impurities when you check your filter after a few uses. Still, you shouldn’t become ill if you drink the water from your taps, and it is clean enough to ensure your family remains healthy.

You should not have a much better idea of how technology is used to turn water from the sea into a drinkable solution for your family home. The information on this page explains the basics, but there is always more to learn, and so you should feel free to search Google if you want more facts about each step of the process. It’s fascinating! See you next time!

Dos and Don’ts of Spending Money to Make Money

Dos and Don’ts of Spending Money to Make Money

Image via Pixabay

You’ve almost certainly heard the saying “you need to spend money in order to make money” at some point in your life, and there’s a reason why it’s had such staying power in the business world. It’s simply true.

Every startup business will require a certain financial investment — hence the niche filled by venture capitalists. Stock needs to be obtained; manufacturers need to be paid, office space needs to be rented, and more. Even in the case of jobs like affiliate marketing, a certain amount of money will need to be spent on web hosting, website design, and so on.

But there is a line that shouldn’t be crossed in business. You need to spend some money to make money, but that money needs to be spent in a judicious and focused way, and this axiom is by no means an excuse for general wasteful spending.

Here are some dos and don’ts of spending money to make money.

Do: buy essential tools for your business

There are going to be certain essential tools that you simply need in order to perform your work properly, and to the appropriate standard, and a major part of your job as an entrepreneur is identifying what these tools are and investing wisely in them.

If your job involves sending out packages of a precise weight, you will need some form of commercial scale and a digital scale indicator. You will not be able to perform your job properly without these things.

Don’t skimp on the things that are truly necessary for your job. There is a point at which you simply can’t do without buying a particular tool.

Do not: buy extravagant gadgets that add little in practice

While certain tools are essential for your ability to carry out your job properly, there will also, inevitably, be a large variety of fancy gadgets and extravagant tools that you’re tempted to buy, but that adds little benefit in practice.

To manage your money properly, you need to avoid impulsively buying shiny things just because they seem intriguing.

Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you need the latest and best of everything, all the time.

Do: invest in marketing

Marketing — the way you present yourself to customers in order to get them to use your services — is one of the cornerstones of every successful business.

You need a professional looking website to be taken seriously in just about any field imaginable.

You need a sophisticated system for reaching out to your prospects in order to bring them into the fold.

A significant chunk of your professional budget should be set aside for marketing purposes.

Do not: throw money at a problem to try and avoid work

Sometimes, you will find that there’s a problem with your business model and that things just don’t work out in quite the way that you might want them to.

Instead of committing to the hard work of investigating the issue and restructuring things as needed, it can be tempting to try and throw money at a problem instead, to try and solve it.

If, for example, you get a decent number of hits on your website, but few people make a purchase, you may be tempted to throw down a massive chunk of change on Adwords, to try and increase traffic to your site, and so, presumably, increase sales.

But this strategy is unlikely to work, and it certainly doesn’t address the root problem.

Avoiding throwing money at complex problems in order to try and avoid work.

How Bad Is Sexism In The Tech World And How Can Hiring Processes Change?

How Bad Is Sexism In The Tech World And How Can Hiring Processes Change?

By Emily Olsen

Sexism is a problem rooted in American culture and in the business culture that has developed around it. It has been a part of our DNA for a very long time, and it is something that we want to change as soon as we possibly can. Stories have come out from some of the big technology players such as Uber that have continued to highlight how sexual harassment continues to survive in our modern world and how some people are clearly just not worried enough about it.

Silicon Valley Needs To Step Up

It is amazing to see how much Silicon Valley pats itself on the back for being innovative and coming up with cutting-edge things before everyone else. They say that they are doing all of these wonderful things, but then some of the oldest problems that the country has ever faced continue to show up at the workplace of people in Silicon Valley.

A big part of the problem is the ratio of men to women who are hired to perform certain roles. The men who are hired are often highly qualified, but the truth is they get an upper hand by simple virtue of the fact that they are men. It is more likely that the person who is interviewing them for the job is also male and can relate better to the potential candidate for hire.

Sexual Harassment And Social Hiring

Sexual harassment is another thing that Silicon Valley and the rest of the country have been grappling with more lately as stories about Harvey Weinstein and others have drifted to the surface. It has meant that many people have had no choice but to hear more about these topics than they ever did in the past.

Those who are hiring for industry should try to realize that they can use social hiring as a tool in their battle to avoid issues with sexual harassment farther down the line. The truth is that those who are the most likely to harass are often kind enough to reveal themselves through their words and actions on social media. If you dig a little deeper into your potential hiring pool using a platform like FAMA to perform a social media background check you will often find warning signs that may help you avoid getting the wrong person for the job.

What Are The Warning Signs?

There are often warning signs everywhere when it comes to a person who may be a harasser. If they are someone who people say has harassed before, then you probably want to avoid them. At the same time, a person who clearly has a disregard for the thoughts and feelings of another is someone worth staying away from. Any signs of bullying should be noted right away as well. These are all common markers that indicate that a person may be prepared to do things that would not only reflect poorly on your company but might also make it more difficult for other employees to feel welcomed and comfortable at their place of work. These are all critically important issues to address right away. You can give yourself the edge you need by reviewing social media accounts of anyone and everyone that you are considering hiring for a job working for your company. It is not only something that you are allowed to do, but it is also something that you ought to do.

 

Three Secrets To Scaling Fast, Really Fast

Three Secrets To Scaling Fast, Really Fast

Image source

Once upon a time, being able to go from rags to riches meant a)  blagging your way into a Wall Street job, working your way up the corporate structure and then taking your little black book of contacts to go solo, b) landing in a huge pool of luck or c) getting yourself a Masters in Business Management and buddying up with a creative type.

But not anymore.

These days, growing what was once a small business into a household brand name is a million times easier, and it’s all thanks to the rise in technology, the internet, and processes. Becoming flexible enough to scale at the click of your fingers is a new phenomenon, but one that is changing the landscape of industries on a bi-yearly basis.

Of course, having the pieces of the puzzle is not enough. You need to know how they work together in order to make this happen and, more importantly, you need to have everything in place first. So, without further ado, here are the things every growing brand needs to have in place before they should really start to scale:

  1. Focus On The Customer

Sam Walton said it best when he said: There is only one boss, the customer, and he can fire everybody from the chairman on down by simply bringing his business somewhere else. It’s absolutely spot on. If you don’t have one eye on the customers experience every minute of the day, then you’ must be a little confused about why you are in business. To grow fast, you need to have as many excited and loyal fans as possible. Just look at Apple. They have got their brand so right that every product they release is a record-breaker within minutes. They know what their customers want and they give it to them.

  1. Make Sure You Are Flawless

Right now, any issues you might be facing are small. But the moment you start to grow, these little errors become bigger and bigger. That’s why you need to make sure all of your processes and products are absolutely perfect. Everything from the managed private cloud you are using to the products you are selling – it all needs to be flawless before you start to really push it onto people. You also need to have everything in place to fix any issues that do arise fast. When trouble hits, don’t get defensive, don’t point the finger and don’t pass the blame. Just do whatever it takes to fix it fast.

  1. Never Promise Too Much

As the boss, the leader, the person at the top, you no doubt pride yourself on striving for perfection. That’s what you want from yourself, your employees, your everyone. But don’t let this carry over to the client or customer. Perfection is the worst thing you can promise. When you’re trying to scale a high-volume business, it makes much more sense to make reasonable promises to your clients and customers and then over-deliver on that promise. That’s the sort of thing that encourages a happy surprise and that will make one-off buyers become loyal customers.

 

Pin It on Pinterest