workplace Archives - Foreign policy

Minimizing the Crash Risk In Your Workplace

Published on February 17, 2021February 24, 2021

Given that there are over 100 motor vehicle crashes in the United States daily, you may never prevent one involving one of your employees. However, through a series of workplace protocol changes, you might be able to reduce the risk. Consider doing the following steps to keep both motor vehicle insurance costs and accident risks low.

Create a Safety Culture

You can’t simply tell your employees not to get into car accidents, since these occurrences are the furthest thing from intentional. However, you can create a safety culture within your workplace that helps your employees become more safety-conscious.

This can involve having top-level management engaged in leadership, resource allocation, and policies to improve driving safety with company vehicles from the top down.

Fortunately, even if you or a staff member do get into a car accident, there are high-quality car accident attorneys out there, like Florin Roebig, who can help you manage any claims from start to finish.

Establish a Traffic Safety Policy

Even companies with many staff members that work from home can benefit from a traffic safety policy. This outlines your expectations for when or if any employee gets behind the wheel of one of your company cars. Within these traffic safety policies, you can include expectations around drug and alcohol use, and seatbelt safety. Make sure these policies are easily accessible for all.

Your policy can also include a driver agreement. If any staff members use company vehicles for work purposes, they can sign an agreement that states they agree, acknowledge, and understand your company’s policies, procedures, and expectations around vehicle use.

Enforce Crash Reporting

Accidents can happen at any time and for any reason. An employee may have been struggling with their stress levels and wasn’t concentrating. Another driver may have hit them, or they didn’t see an obstacle in their rearview mirror. Whatever the reason and severity, consider enforcing crash reporting.

Make it a rule in your workplace that every ding or scrape must be recorded, reported, and investigated. Not only does this mean you’ll have a paper trail for any accident claims, but it may prove useful for working out how to reduce or avoid crashes in the future. For example, if an employee dropped a snack while driving and rear-ended another vehicle, you may decide to make it a rule that eating is prohibited in company cars.

Be Selective With Vehicles

It can be tempting to try and get the best deal possible with fleet vehicles – both new and used. However, any business owner may see the value in putting safety features before competitive price tags.

Purchase fleet vehicles that demonstrate best-in-class features for crash-worthiness. You can also find out crash test rating information for cars by visiting the NHTSA’s ‘Safercar’ site. With the help of their team, company owners may also be able to reduce the accident risk by ensuring preventative maintenance schedules are followed.

Set Up a Safe Driver Program

Employees who frequently drive for their companies may benefit from a safe driver program. These programs are designed to improve driver behavior, change driver attitudes, and promote a safety culture with all staff members who get behind the wheel.

Fortunately, setting up these programs can be far more straightforward than you might think. Guidelines are offered through a joint initiative between OSHA, NETS, and the NHTSA. A small amount of admin work and an initial setup cost can be all it takes to potentially reduce the risk of accidents involving your employees in the future.

Screen Your Drivers

Businesses with delivery driving and other driving-related tasks as their primary source of income can’t afford to have a high crash rate. It digs into your profits while also increasing your insurance premiums. With this in mind, consider screening potential new employees before hiring them. Review their driving record by requesting information from the Department of Motor Vehicles. By hiring drivers with a clean and safe driving record, you may be able to minimize the crash risk in your workplace.

Provide Ongoing Safety Training

While any employer can put their drivers through a safe driver program and say they’ve done their part, there’s often more work to do. A one-off training course is an excellent start, but it can also just be the foundation for ongoing training. Just as police officers will frequently visit the firing range to remain sharp, company vehicle operators can undertake safety training courses to stay safe on the road. These courses can outline helpful information, such as how drugs and alcohol impair driving, the consequences of a lack of seatbelt use, and the importance of not speeding.

There are many driver training companies out there that can help get your initiative off the ground. You can even hire companies to come in and take over the reins of your driver safety training.

Offer Disciplinary Action and Rewards

If your high workplace accident rate is concerning you, you may consider the idea of disciplinary action. If in the past there have been no consequences for drivers who consistently break driving rules and laws, there’s very little motivation for those drivers to try harder.

What you choose as your disciplinary action of choice may depend on what rule, law, or regulation the driver violated. For severe violations like driving under the influence, employment termination may be an option. For less severe infractions, a progressive form of disciplinary action may be called for, such as a verbal warning, followed by a written warning, suspension, then termination.

For drivers who have a clean record and continue to provide excellent results, monetary incentives might be the encouragement they need to keep up the excellent work. Mentions in staff newsletters and commendations in their work files may also show your appreciation.

Some of the best car accident attorneys can help your business out when collisions occur, but there’s no harm in trying to reduce the risk of them happening in the first place. The information above may prove useful for your business now and into the future.

Top 5 Steps to use QuickBooks as a Time Tracking App for your Remote Employees

Published on December 25, 2020December 29, 2020

Business

In these unprecedented times, it is ideal for working from home. And, it is common to hire remote employees- one, they are productive and have no need to commute, and require no workspace, which is the best option for a small scale business.

Further, it improves employee retention, cost cuts down and increases diversity. Despite these advantages, there is also a bigger challenge-employee time tracking.

An automated time tracking app does the job perfectly for you. QuickBooks time tracking app. works best for all Small to Medium Businesses (SMBs) that have a versatile presence in time tracking. Click here to know more about the most effective time tracking apps that offer seamless integration with Quickbooks.

Here are the steps you need to follow to maximize the effect of QuickBooks time tracking apps.

Onboarding

You must be investing time in ensuring that your employees understand the work culture and procedures correctly.

If your budget allows, you can bring them to your office for a day and clarify their department’s responsibilities.

Provide them with the personal security logins and permissions to access the company’s resources. This foundation will brief them to start their position quickly. It is also a good idea to hold a short training session to refresh your new hires’ memories about the way Quickbooks works.

Design a structure for work

As a team leader, your job doesn’t end with allocating the work to your remote employees. It is much more like conversing with them about whereabouts, inquiring about dependencies, and needing any resources.

This way, they feel accountable and gives them a sense of belonging to their workplace.

QuickBooks time tracking app facilitates a holistic, collaborative platform for all its users.

By which, you and your remote team can effectively manage the project, discuss the tasks, and share documents for reviewing but, more importantly, track the time on individual tasks.

You can use them to design a workflow to help your remote employees follow up with projects.

Agree on deadlines

Providing the freedom of work is the most extraordinary form of trust which your employees feel relieved about. This trust, while difficult to build initially, allows your resources to work with more creative freedom and leads to the building of a happier, more positive work environment.

Indeed, scheduling the meetings and setting a deadline for them with realistic expectations to move at their own pace enables them to deliver on time. This statement is at least true for the employees that have a sense of ownership.

However, this sense of ownership is built as a result of efforts initiated from both, the employee and the employer.

Suppose some of your employees finish the work before the deadline, then, while it may seem counterintuitive, it isn’t wise to allocate more work for them on the same day instead provide them rest.

As the rule of thumb of “productivity,”- working for more hours is not equal to being productive.

To support this, When I Work, a QuickBooks integrated time tracking app tracks overtime, vacation, and leave time automatically.

Handle time zone differences

It is difficult for you and your remote employees who are not working in the same time zone.

So, negotiating with them on the crossover working hours best for both, even during the onboarding session, is the smartest way to handle it.

After all, you cannot expect them to be available according to your convenience. Working with remote resources may be a necessity right now, but the trend is here to stay.

Such a scenario calls for proactive actions from the side of the employers. One such action would be to set up processes that enable resources and individuals from all across the globe to collaborate seamlessly, regardless of the time zone differences between them.

This is where an integration of Quickbooks and an employee time tracking app will prove beneficial.

In fact, you can even use Quickbooks time tracking app to set each member’s local time within the app.

Establish effective communication

Working remotely may give a sense of isolation to your employees. As previously said, engage them with the day to day happenings in your workplace.

Small gestures like emailing them the regular progress updates, scheduling video calls with all in-office team members will make them feel like a part of your team.

Build a team spirit by organizing gatherings at least a couple of times in the year so that they can socialize with you.

An integration of Quickbooks and time tracking will allow you to find out when your employees are lacking behind, or working alone on a project for an extended period of time. If that is the case, you can ensure that special attention is being paid to them to ensure they don’t feel left out and the sense of belongingness stays alive and well inside their mind.

Automate Payroll Processing

Payroll processing is a labour intensive and time-consuming task. Moreover, the monotonous nature of the task means that it is dreaded by most employees that have to do it. Then there is also the problem of a human error occurring, the likeliness of which is much higher when the person doing the work would rather be doing something else.

With Quickbooks and time tracking software integration, this process can be automated almost effortlessly. This will not just save your employees from doing monotonous work, it will also enable you to use your resources for more productive tasks. At the same time, since the entire process will be done by an algorithm, you can rest assured because automation will eliminate all likelihood of a human error occurring.

Conclusion

Managing a remote team needs a lot of motivation and commitment from both sides. By employing well-developed time tracking strategies, you can support your employees to achieve productivity. QuickBooks time tracking app tracks your business and sets you on the right path.

By automating the most monotonous processes and optimizing the productivity achieved by various processes, integration of Quickbooks with your time tracking app will prove beneficial to your business.

7 Simple Tips That Will Improve Your Workplace Communication

Published on December 11, 2020March 22, 2021

Business

Successful businesses are a direct result of good collaboration inside the company. It applies to both small family businesses and mega-corporations. If there are any communicational issues present at the workplace, your business is likely to be stagnant for a while.

Of course, identifying the problem is only the beginning. You’ll need to work hard to find adequate ways to improve workplace communication at your company.

As this can be a difficult task, in this article, we’ve decided to help you out by sharing some simple improvement tips!

So, without further ado, let’s get to the bottom of it!

1. Talk to your employees

There’s nobody better to help you resolve issues at your company than your average employee. They’re the ones who experience the faults of the communication system every single day. They’ve certainly noticed these issues way before anyone else did, so it’s only natural to seek their assistance when trying to resolve these problems.

So, make sure to talk to them and try brainstorming some solutions together. They’ll be happy to oblige, as their jobs will become easier once the issue is fixed, and you’ll get the increase in productivity, so it’s a win-win situation.

2. Team-building exercises

Sometimes, the issue isn’t in the system itself, but it rather lies in the collaborative capabilities of your team. Not everyone is a born team-player, but anyone can become one if pushed in the right direction. That’s why many companies practice holding a variety of team-building exercises, helping their employees in learning how to collaborate better. Knowing each other’s strengths and weaknesses is what’s crucial for better teamwork and higher productivity levels.

So, think of some fun and practical exercises that could help your employees work as a team. It may seem like a waste of time in the beginning, but you’ll soon notice the results.

3. Give feedback and clear information

As the company’s leader, you’re the person who sets the most important goals and objectives. So, you’ll have to convey these strategies to everyone at your company. There’s nothing more frustrating than being confused about what you’re supposed to do on your job. This is why you have to be as clear as possible when giving out tasks. Everyone should understand what their tasks for the day are.

Other than that, make sure you provide your employees with a lot of feedback. Make sure to share these observations in a constructive way, and never berate the employees for their mistakes. If they’re too afraid to ask for your advice, they won’t be able to perform well. You shouldn’t micromanage, but you have to be involved in the daily operations of your business.

So, break those communication barriers, and make your office a place where your employees feel free to share their thoughts and ideas.

4. Go digital

Investing in digital tools might be the best way to deal with communication issues in the workplace. For example, instead of holding meetings non-stop and keeping long e-mail correspondences just to get a task done, you should invest in digital signage software such as Indigo Workplace.

With this type of software, you’ll be able to make small and big announcements to all of your employees without having to hold a single meeting! Also, you’ll be able to provide your employees with constant training and educational materials.

The best part of it is that you’ll be able to do it all remotely and in no time whatsoever!

Alternatively, you can also get a VoIP system in your business for cloud-based communication. Let’s say your business is based in Vancouver. Find a local provider around Vancouver like B1 Communications to install a VoIP system into your workplace. With VoIP, you can reach out to clients and coworkers from far away countries. Pretty convenient for companies that have plenty of remote employees.

Of course, other than just digital signage, you can use many other types of software to your advantage: employee management apps, communicational platforms, and task management software!

5. Improve the HR department

Your HR department is there to resolve conflict and keep everyone comfortable in the workspace. If your employees aren’t able to trust your HR, you’ll certainly have a lot of communication problems.

Make sure to check on your HR from time to time, and keep them updated on the company policies. If you fail to do this, your employees will probably feel unsatisfied at their job. Employee morale is one of the most crucial things when it comes to company productivity. So, ensure your HR is a place where they’ll be comfortable sharing their issues and resolving internal conflicts. Your HR representatives have to be trustworthy, patient, and well-trained on the relevant corporate policies.

6. Reach out to your shy employees

Some people are simply too shy to share their ideas during company meetings. You can’t improve your company’s communication if you don’t include everyone, so keep an eye on those introverted employees.

You should engage them in a 1-1 conversation when they feel comfortable. Every single employee is a valuable asset to your company, so remember to approach everyone differently.

Your ultimate goal should be to create a comfortable, engaging work environment where everyone is able to showcase their talents and communicate their needs and goals. Once everyone’s on the same page, your entire company will begin to flourish.

7. Attend conferences together

If only the CEO and the upper management attend important business conferences, you’ll be missing an opportunity to improve your workplace communication! The more your employees know, the more they’ll be able to utilize for their daily tasks. In addition, attending conferences as a team can be a great way to open up communication and get to know each other. Learning more about the industry you’re all in creates space for new ideas and business development.

The bottom line

Internal communication is a crucial factor in running a successful business. Improving communication in the workplace is a lasting process: it can’t be done overnight, and there’s always room for progress.

Still, implementing digital solutions and creating a comfortable working environment for everyone is a good place to start. Your goal is to make everyone work as a team, so make sure to listen to their suggestions and ideas. A strong HR department and frequent team-building exercises can be your best assets in achieving productive business surroundings.

Tips for Managing the Reopening of Your Workplace

Published on August 4, 2020

Business

Whether you are managing the reopening of an educational establishment, such as a kindergarten, school, college, or university, or a workplace environment, such as an office, retail outlet, or factory, you should consider how you are going to support all your stakeholders. Regardless if your stakeholders are children, students, staff, or customers and clients, you should consider their different needs. Staff may be anxious about returning to the workplace after an extended time working at home, children are likely to have worries about returning to school and customers may have lost confidence about shopping in stores. As a manager, there are certain things that you could consider to support people with the return.

Communication

Communication is a key way that you can help make people feel as safe as possible. It is good practice to engage with everyone, whatever the situation – children, parents, experienced staff, established customers. It is important that everyone is kept up-to-date with the measures that managers and leaders have put in place to keep everyone as safe as can be. This should help provide reassurance that management has risk assessed the situation and has put things in place to minimize risks of spreading the Covid-19 virus. It is also helpful to allow for two-way communication, allowing staff, parents, customers, and children to raise their concerns so that you provide communication about how you are addressing these concerns. This communication can help you build trust and confidence.

Just as importantly, as well as providing reassurance, your communication should make sure that everyone is aware of the measures so that they can abide by them. You should communicate clearly the new rules and procedures to stakeholders, you may need to publish new staff or student guidance, posters may be needed to explain rules to everybody, including customers, children, hotel guests, etc. You should make sure that your communication is accessible to all. For example, if working with younger children, you may need to provide visual messages and when working in a multilingual environment, you may need to provide communication in various languages.

Linguation.com can translate your posters, policies, and information sheets, making sure that all your stakeholders fully comprehend the control measures put in place in the workplace.

Building on current good practice

You should build on whatever you are currently doing well. Evaluate your practices during the lockdown and build on the good things that you already have in place. For example, you could find that welfare calls to staff or families during lockdown has helped build positive relationships. You could continue with these to support the transition back to the workplace / educational establishment. Perhaps you moved to online meetings and these worked well. You might like to consider keeping online meetings in a place where possible, reducing risks for staff even if they are working in the same building.

It may also cut down on traveling time to meetings, which could help with staff work-life balance. The same with online training; many staff enjoyed this and liked the benefits of not having to travel to training. Could this be retained as we return to the workplace?

Supporting with the transition back

It will be difficult to expect everyone to return immediately to their previous routines. People may need time to build up to usual routines. In schools, for example, time may be needed for a more creative curriculum, building in time to reflect and discuss events. Younger children especially may need activities which remind them how to share and take turns. In the workplace too, staff may need time to adjust to the expected work routines and may need a certain amount of flexibility, perhaps an adjustment in work patterns or workspace. It could be that some members of your work community have suffered personal trauma during the crisis, including bereavement. Managers should consider what support they could give in this respect. Does the workplace have a counseling service? If so, do employees know how to access this?

Building staff expertise

Managers and leaders may need to make sure that their staff has the ability to support others. For example, if staff in kindergartens, schools and universities are going to support the mental wellbeing of children and young people, they may need some training on how to do this. It could be that they need a focus on supporting with bereavement or on dealing with anxiety. This may also be the case with managers in the workplace supporting employees. Moreover, managers may find that they are supporting employees worried about the current economic crisis and worried about job security as an added concern. Furthermore, staff may also need training and guidance about recognizing when specialist support is needed and how to make a referral or where to signpost to an appropriate specialist.

Managers may also consider training for all staff on resilience building and self-care. Again, training and support may need to be offered in a variety of languages in a multilingual environment, allowing all staff or students to access the materials effectively. Again, some agencies provide the translation of training materials in a large number of language combinations and at reasonable prices. If you have a multilingual workforce, you should make sure that the training is accessible to them easily.

Managers and leaders – remember to look after yourself

Last but not least, remember to look after yourself! Whatever your place of work, managing the Covid-19 situation in the workplace is likely to be difficult and at times stressful. If you don’t look after your own health and wellbeing, you are not going to be very effective in supporting others. Make sure that you look after yourself and seek support from other senior colleagues should you need to. Moreover, you should maintain a positive work-life balance. This is important and doesn’t mean you are any less committed to work. On the contrary, it should help you function better at work and, as well as looking after your own wellbeing, you will provide a good model for your employees.

10 Reasons to Keep your Office Clean

Published on June 22, 2020

Business

Your workplace is your first impression. It takes around 7 seconds for one to make the first impression. Whenever a client visits you; the first thing he will notice is the cleanliness of the workstation. If your worksite is untidy or dirty, there are higher chances that you will lose your client. Hence it is very important to have a spick and span workplace.

To convince you more, here are a few more points to explain to you why an immaculate workspace is important:

First impression:

Your first impression is your last impression. Your client will create his first impression of your proficiency, as soon as he steps into the office. Do you want your impression to be a poor one? I guess nobody wants that.

Your hygiene is important:

Not only for clients but for yourself too. You should be pleased and feel fresh whenever you step into your workplace. There are several reasons why you should have a dejunk workspace for yourself. Entering into a neat place will give your mind a soothing effect along with a sensation of satisfaction. You’ll be automatically motivated to work. If you don’t feel active while entering your work station, you won’t be able to give a better output.

A clean office is the best investment for your business:

Investing a little to earn a good name in the market and getting a client is not a bad idea. As we discussed above, dirt free, speckless workplace plays an important role in getting the client. But why is that so? For a moment, imagine yourself going to a place with stale air, unclean floors, and smudgy partition glasses. Will you prefer to go to an untidy place with a sticky floor and leaking ceilings? Will you enjoy working at that place? Of course no. This is the same case as your client. If your place is untidy, there are chances that your client will never visit you again.

According to Stockholmsallstad, an office cleaning business, a neat and tidy place will give an optimistic and favorable impact on your client. They will get a hint of your professionalism and efficiency.

Your employees’ health matters:

It is very natural that whenever a bunch of people gather germs and viruses and tend to make their habitat at that particular place. In such a case, office or workplace can never be an exception. Pests love dirty places. If you often see your employees taking off now and then, look around your workspace. There might be some bacteria working along with you. If your talented employee is taking sick leaves very often, this will indirectly affect the productivity of your business. The team of Stockholmsallstad will make sure that they sanitize each corner of the workspace. They will take special care of commonly exposed places like doorknobs, handles, switches, or any other at your workplace.

Sense of enthusiasm:

Clean workplaces create a sense of enthusiasm and energy among the employees too. This can help in getting better output by employees. In the contrast, stepping into an untidy office will automatically kill your mood to work and un freshen your mind. You might become frustrated and annoyed affecting the productivity of your task.

Air quality matters:

Occasionally we have meetings at the workplace and if not there are always many people gathered together. This increases the risk of hazardous bacteria and germs. The consequences can be even worse if someone is suffering from asthma or breathe related issues. Germs or bacteria are not seeable. Hence it is difficult to take safety precautions. By keeping the office environment clean, you can condemn harmful pollutants entering your office. This is important for you and your employees’ health.

Pollution-free workplace:

Keeping your job place pollution free is another factor to be convinced of the hiring cleaning program. You might be thinking that you can hire any other local sweeper who can clean the office from time to time and he will be low on the pocket too. You are right probably, but just to bring in your notice that professional cleaning programs are a team that doesn’t use harsh chemicals. Instead, they use chemicals that are environmentally friendly and don’t create much pollution. These skillful cleaners make sure that workers are not exposed to harsh chemicals.

Contributing to the economy:

New research says that around 31% of the population is employed in cleaning programs. This makes up to 3.5 million people being employed and $78 million contributions in the economy. You can indirectly help the economy by just hiring a commercial cleaning service.

Being a responsible citizen:

Not only this but by keeping your workplace clean, you are playing an important role as a citizen too. Being a responsible citizen, we all are urged to keep our homes and work station clean.

Increased life span:

Although refurbishment is an essential need of every workplace. However, decently preserved floors and carpets increase the living span. If you have a dirty ceiling, pasty floors, and excessive wear tear off the floor it will lead to a short life span. If you have carpets at your workplace, the dirt might not be seable on the surface of the rug, but it makes space beneath the carpet. As time passes by, it becomes noticeable and looks even uglier. Thus, having a cleaning program monthly or bi-monthly is a good idea.

Cleanliness is a very important part of one’s life. It is an essential for a workplace as well as home too. Your health and hygiene should be on your priority list. Otherwise consequences can be worse.

Ways to Live a More Sustainable Lifestyle in 2020

Published on March 5, 2020September 28, 2020

Lifestyle

Sustainable living is a kind of lifestyle wherein the individual attempts to lessen their use of natural resources. Most individuals who try to lead a more sustainable lifestyle focus on reducing their energy consumption, changing the mode of transportation they typically use, and altering their diet. If you’ve been searching for ways that you can start to live a more sustainable lifestyle, the following is a detailed guide that can help you reach your goals.

Tips on Saving Energy at Home or In the Workplace

If you want to save energy in your home or the workplace, there are a variety of small steps that you can take to lower your monthly energy bills. For instance, it’s highly recommended that you switch off artificial lights in the home or workplace as often as possible, which can be substituted with natural light from nearby windows. Using energy-efficient light bulbs can also significantly lessen the amount that you’re expected to pay with your monthly energy bills. Make sure that you purchase LED or CFL bulbs as opposed to incandescent bulbs.

Whenever you’re not using a computer or laptop in your home or office space, place the device on sleep or hibernation mode. Many other electronic devices come with energy-saving features that can lessen the amount of electricity that you use each month. There is also a wide range of devices and appliances that have more energy-efficient counterparts. Dishwashers, refrigerators, and similar appliances can be equipped with an Energy Star label, which denotes that the device is energy-efficient. When you’re not using individual pieces of equipment in your home or office, make sure that you switch them off to save a small amount of energy.

Eco-Friendly Things to Do for Your Home for a Green Lifestyle

If you want to live a green lifestyle and are searching for ways to make your home more Eco-friendly, the first thing you should focus on is how much water you’re using. If there are any leaks in your home, make sure that you get them fixed, which could significantly reduce the amount of water that you use each month. You should also avoid keeping the water running when you shave or brush your teeth. Consider installing low-flow showerheads in the bathrooms throughout your home, which can help you save well over 100,000 gallons of water each year.

There are also consultants that you can speak to if you want to obtain a better idea of how your home can become more sustainable and Eco-friendly. These consultants will take a tour through your home before providing you with recommendations on the changes that you can make. You should recycle whenever possible as well and focus on consuming natural products.

Ways to Save Energy During Hot or Cold Times of the Year

It’s well known that the average household uses much more energy during the coldest and hottest days of the year because of the heating and cooling needs that must be met to keep the interiors at the right temperature. One improvement that you can make to ensure that your HVAC unit doesn’t need to turn on as frequently is to add some insulation to your home. Good insulation will keep the heat in during the winter and the cool air in during the summer, which makes it easier to maintain your preferred indoor temperature.

It would be best if you also thought about using a programmable thermostat, which will give you the ability to change the temperature when you’re going out or to lower it by a few degrees during waking hours. Even a reduction by a few degrees can significantly reduce the amount of energy that you use each month. During the winter, consider naturally heating your home by leaving the curtains open during the day and letting sunlight in. If you find that a window in your home is drafty, seal it with plastic sheets that cover the frame.

According to the people at Electricityrates.com, during the summer, “You can still save money by keeping your thermostat as high as comfortably possible.” Furthermore, they state that “Many experts recommend keeping it at 78℉.” Ceiling fans are another great way to cool your home without needing to use the HVAC unit constantly. It’s possible to keep temperatures in the house low by keeping the drapes closed and the sunlight out. Whenever possible, it’s highly recommended that you stay away from taking a shower with hot water. Instead, it would be best if you tried to use warm or even cool water.

Alternative Forms of Energy

There are two highly viable forms of energy that you can use instead of standard electricity, which include solar energy and natural gas. Solar energy is taken directly from the sun, which makes it completely renewable. It can also get rid of your monthly energy bills if you use it properly throughout your home. As for natural gas, this alternative form of energy is becoming increasingly popular among homeowners. While natural gas will still emit greenhouse gases, the amounts are much lower than other fossil fuels.

Benefits of Using Solar Panels

Likely the best way to power your home is by using solar panels, which can be outfitted to the top of your home. If paired with the right battery, these panels can provide you with energy even when it’s raining outside. If you install solar panels on the roof of your home, you can also obtain the Solar Investment Tax Credit to cover some of the upfront costs. This energy source is entirely renewable, which makes it much better for the environment when compared to other forms of energy. Solar panel kits are easy to find and relatively simple to install, check out wholesalesolar.com to learn more.

If your home is under construction or if you’re planning to change your roof, visit here to know more about ready-to-install solar roofs.

Benefits of Using Renewable Energy

Using renewable energy comes with a wide range of tangible benefits, the primary of which is that there’s no danger in this energy running out. The primary sources of renewable energy include biomass, sunshine, and wind. Since energy is renewable, your overall energy costs should be much lower. This type of energy is also much healthier and is better for the environment when compared to fossil fuels.

There is a myriad of things that you can do to live a more sustainable lifestyle. Even small changes to your current lifestyle can help you save money on your monthly energy bill and do your part in helping the environment.

What a Potential Employee is Looking for from Employers

Published on December 23, 2019January 10, 2020

Business

Businesses looking to attract the best talent aren’t competing solely on how generous a salary they’re willing to offer. Employees today expect a range of fringe benefits that go beyond cold, hard, cash, and some of them are quite difficult to quantify. So what should a modern business offer in order to attract quality employees?

Flexible Hours

While most jobs will require that employees be present at given times, taking an overly rigid approach to attendance might come across as petty, or even irritating. Having to constantly monitor the time might provide an unwelcome source of stress, and demonstrate a lack of trust. Flexible working hours can also help employees when trying to do simple life things, like booking a doctors appointment or trying to MOT or car service, thankfully some companies like Allied Autocare have services where they can come to your workplace to carry out a service, this means employees don’t have to magically find appointments at the weekend or after 5, which we all know are very rare.

Working from Home

Another way to demonstrate trust in your employees is to allow them to work from home. This is a sought-after luxury that’s particularly popular with employees with home commitments. But there’s another reason to favour it: it’ll reduce the amount of time and energy required to transport your workers to and from their place of work, and it’ll thereby slash your carbon emissions. It can also help your employees to feel valued and trusted, therefore it’s more likely they will go above and beyond for the job requirements. It can also help for people with children, childcare can sometimes call through leaving people panicking about what to do, having the option to work for home can alleviate some of that unnecessary stress.

Holiday Time

When workers are forced to work without a break for long stretches, their productivity takes a dive. This is just as true over weeks and months as it is over the hours of a working day. Set aside a generous allotment of holiday time over and above the statutory minimum. It can be a massive selling point when potential employees are looking at your organisation. Having an easy process for requesting holiday is also important, don’t make your employees jump through hops to book simple time off.

Sick Leave

By the same token, paid sick leave will reassure staff that you value their wellbeing, and make them that much more invested in the long-term prosperity of the company. Workers with disabilities might be catered for by converting your premises to make it accessible, and providing specialist transport. Taking the time to ensure everyone feels welcome and has the same opportunities can set you apart from other companies that haven’t done that.

Values

More than ever before, workers and customers are looking for the values of the companies they use to align with their own. That might mean taking a stance on the political issues of the day, or it might mean branding your products to coincide with some cause or other. In some cases, this sort of thing can come across as cynical, so make sure that your values don’t change with the weather. Making sure the company takes part in charity events can also be very important to many people, especially local charities that could have helped people or their families in the past.

Having a good work-life balance is also vital for employees, along with chances for employees to mingle and spend time together bonding can help the organisation to run smoothly. Organising social events for employees to attend and meet people other than who they would directly work with helps people to integrate themselves, especially if they’re on the shy side.

Opportunities

When employees search for new jobs, they aren’t just looking for a position to occupy for the next few years – they’re looking for somewhere that can form part of a career. If there are obvious opportunities for advancement in your workplace, it’ll be that much more attractive to those who are looking for a long-term commitment – which is precisely the sort of worker you should be looking to bring in. Paid for training and courses can make a world of difference, so make sure it’s on offer. Listening to what employees want and actioning reasonable changes is also vital. As a manager you can sometimes end up out of the loop, it’s taking advice from people who do the day to day work that can help keep your company thriving, this is also something that will affect the overall morale of staff and will be reflected by the moral of employees.

All in all there are lots of things you can do to encourage new employees, things which in the long run can really encourage people to want to work for you and once they do, put their all into their job for you.

How To Avoid Workplace Harassment In California

Published on August 29, 2019

Business/People

Unfortunately, employees in California are just as likely to be harassed in the workplace as those anywhere else in the world. However, in California state, employers who are found to be liable for any type of unlawful workplace harassment can end up facing some substantial penalties.

These financial damages can include everything from back pay and compensation to the victim’s legal costs and attorney fees. This means that, should an employee become a victim of harassment at work, they can seek recompense for all they have suffered – says attorneys at https://www.taylorring.com

Harassment Comes In Many Forms

While many people tend to think of sexual harassment as the primary form of harassment in the workplace, the concept of harassment at work also extends to a number of other classes of people who have the protection of the law. Harassment can occur because of race, medical conditions, parental status, age, color, religion, marital status, nationality, gender identity or sexual orientation as well as numerous other characteristics that are protected under local, federal and state laws.

The Role Of The Human Resources Department

The human resources department in any workplace must take an active role in guarding against unlawful harassment of employees in the workplace. Should they see harassment first-hand, or learn about it from a third party, they must be prepared to put a stop to it instantly. Anti-harassment policies must be put in place and communicated effectively to all employees. Management and supervisors must also be properly educated by HR professionals so that they can spot unlawful harassment and put an end to it immediately.

In California, there is an overlap between federal and state law, however, local employers must have a clear understanding of the various areas in which the state law imposes extra obligations. Generally, the regulations which govern the prevention of harassment at work in California have a broader scope than federal law, and this makes the role of the HR professional in preventing, investigating and remedying harassment in the workplace extremely important.

Above all, HR professionals in California must be prepared to take all complaints of harassment from employees seriously and investigate them thoroughly, even if their complaint is not sufficient to warrant a case of illegal harassment being brought against the perpetrator.

The Obligations Of The Employer

Every employer in California must take specific actions against workplace harassment. These include:

Taking every reasonable step to prevent harassment and discrimination from taking place. Should harassment occur, effective action must be taken to prevent further harassment as well as to correct its effects.
Implementing and developing a policy to prevent unlawful harassment and ensuring an effective procedure is in place for making and investigating complaints.
Fully informing every member of staff of their own obligations and rights.

Taking swift and effective action to remedy matters should an allegation of harassment be proven.

Effective Training

The FEHA requires every employer who has 50 or more workers to provide at least two mandatory hours of training about sexual harassment to supervisors within a 6-month period of their date of transfer or hire and then at 2-yearly intervals. Businesses that have 5 or more workers must also provide the same training at 2-yearly intervals.

Although there is no mandatory provision in place to require specific harassment training for employees, it is highly recommended that all workers and managers alike should completely review all applicable anti-harassment laws as well as California law requirements and the policies of their organization so that they are aware of the consequences associated with violations as well as the procedures to be followed in the event of a complaint and investigation.

Seeking Legal Advice

If you believe that you have been a victim of unlawful harassment in the workplace, you should immediately seek legal advice.