Archives for June 2021

Genius Ways To Keep Your Employees Happy (and Focused) This Summer!

June 9, 2021 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

Summer is a time for ice cream cones, trips to the beach and long cold alcoholic drinks sipped through a straw. Unfortunately, few of these things tend to be available to your employees as they work through the summer months. This feeling of missing out while waiting for summer vacation is an issue that can cause problems for your business, such as low morale and productivity. Fortunately, there are some strategies you can use to keep your workers as happy as possible during the warmer weather months. Keep reading to find out what they are.

Head outside when you can

First of all, to keep your employees happier in the summer month, why not head outside when you can? One way of doing this is to hold meetings out of doors, which is easy if you have grounds or some outside seating space.

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Also, supplying your workers with laptops means they can take them outside and work in the sunshine if they so choose, which can be a real treat for many. Lastly, why not swap a traditional 1 to 1 meeting across a desk with a walk outside instead? Indeed, a change of scenery is likely to reduce everyone’s stress levels.

Adjust your dress code

While looking smart is vital at work, if it’s interfering with your employee’s comfort and concentration in the summer months, it’s working against the success of your business.

With that in mind, why not consider revising the dress code for when the weather gets scorching? Short sleeve shirts, khakis, and even Bermuda shorts can work well, and make sure to loosen your rules on ties. Watch out for sandals, though, especially in workplaces where they would cause a health and safety risk.

Keep everyone cool

Another way you can help your employees be happier this summer is to provide cooling facilities in the office in HVAC. Of course, when you have HVAC installed, you must make sure that it’s well maintained and ready for when the warm weather hits. Luckily, all you need to do is search for heating and cooling in my area to find an HVAC specialist local to you. Such professionals should help you with everything from selecting the right system to fixing one that is faulty.

In addition to the suggestions above, summer can be ideal for getting some training and team-building skills going. Instead of putting your team in front of a day-long PowerPoint lecture, why not consider an outdoor alternative instead? Why not take advantage of the excellent weather and run team-building camping trips that include activities such as canoeing and other challenges?

Do not underestimate the power of ice cream

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Some businesses even go so far as to hire ice cream trucks to come and sit outside of their places of work and provide free frozen treats to employees. However, even if your budget doesn’t quite reach this, treating your workforce to an ice cream bought from the Grocery store on a Friday afternoon can help keep morale up. In turn, ensuring that workers feel appreciated and stay motivated despite the heat.

5 Great Ways To Save Money For Your Business in 2021

June 9, 2021 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

Even larger firms have had to scrape pennies wherever possible to stay afloat as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. Thousands of businesses have failed throughout the world in the past year or so, and if you’ve made it this far, you may be asking how you can save even more money to ensure your company survives to the other side, whenever that may be. Here are some smart money-saving suggestions for your company.

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Continue to allow staff to work from home

Depending on the nature of your firm, you might want to explore allowing employees to work from home whenever possible. This is not only safer in the event of a pandemic, but it can also help you save money in the long run. You’re less likely to pay your typical monthly amount on electric, heating, internet, and phone expenses if your employees work from home. It may not seem like much, but it might save you hundreds of dollars over the course of a few months, allowing your company to stay afloat. If your company could function totally online, consider putting all of your employees on a work-from-home basis for the time being to save money.

Save money on office supplies

Office supplies, from pens and paper to desks, chairs and computers can quickly add up, and if your office is in dire need of a refurb, you might be wondering how you can achieve this as cheaply as possible. There are many options you should consider, such as second hand equipment, finance options and even Unclaimed Freight Auctions to help you pinch some extra pennies.

Do your own accounting

You may have outsourced all of your accounting to an accountant, but this is an expense you should consider cutting. Of course, you’d have to put in the effort, but it’s a terrific method to save a significant amount of money each month. If you’re not familiar with accounting, you might want to explore earning a diploma in accounting so that you won’t have to pay someone else to handle your accounts in the future. There are numerous online courses that can assist you in achieving your goal.

Spend less money but more time on marketing

When it comes to running a business, marketing can be extremely costly, but it doesn’t have to be! Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are among the most popular social networking networks. You may save a lot of money by brushing up on your social media abilities and investing in scheduling systems like Hootsuite. Investing a bit more time in your marketing rather than money will help you save money on a significant investment that could help keep your company afloat.

Reduce company lunches

Finally, it’s all too easy to reach for your wallet as you walk into a work meeting to pay for the company lunches. After all, your employees put in a lot of effort for your business! While it may not seem that you are paying much at the moment, this sum adds up over time, and you’d be amazed at how much money you could save by lowering the number of lunches the business pays for.

Top 6 Security Tips to Protect Your Business

June 8, 2021 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

In these uncertain times, the security of your business should be your priority. There have been many cases of civil unrest and burglaries. So, think about all the legal documents, money, marketing data, and records within the walls of your business and ask yourself if you are doing your best to protect them. Remember that security is key to protecting your company from attackers. So, here are some security tips to help you keep your business safe.

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Begin with the Basics

A strong password might be inconvenient; however, you cannot compare it to a data breach or even a network crash. Also, remind your workers not to use the same password on various devices. And to minimize the risks of a data breach, ensure that you decentralize password access to any delicate data. You can achieve this by distributing entry levels to different workers and maintaining the central access key to yourself.

Light up your Business

Nothing makes a thief happy than a dark and poorly lit place. Unfortunately, this means that they can easily sneak in and out of your premises without being recognized. Therefore, consider setting up well-placed lighting that can keep away the interest of burglars. Motion-sensitive lights are an excellent place to start.

Update your Locks

Many businesses tend to ignore the point of having new locks. However, it is a good idea to change the locks of your business premises, especially if you have just moved into a new building. Remember that there was another occupant before you, and they might still have access to the building. Also, get your locks updated or rent storage units to keep all your documents safe from criminals.

Establish Security Policies

You can ask your workers to work securely, but it is always good to have security policies in place for them to follow to ensure that they are working in a safe environment. For instance, you can have policies that prohibit the sharing of security information via mobile phones.

Having business security policies will help you ensure that all your workers play their part to be security conscious.

Ensure all Systems are Updated

Sometimes, you can fix any security problem you are having just by updating your software. Ensure that all your company computers and devices are up to date to protect your business from cyber threats. Additionally, you can allow computers to install updates automatically, so you will have no upkeep to worry about.

Back up your Data

With the advancement of technology, backups are more accessible than ever and need little time and effort. Most backup programs can even run in the background and store all your crucial data safely offline. However, for extra protection, ensure that you keep all the data in an external hard drive and always have a disaster plan in place.

Having a secure backup program for your business is the best way to prevent serious business interruptions in case of a ransomware attack.

Final Thoughts

All these tips must be implemented to ensure that your company and data are protected from cyber threats, burglars, and catastrophic situations. Start now because many companies have failed due to insufficient security measures on their services and devices. Use security software to store your data online, have strong passwords, ensure all your systems are up to date, and establish security policies.

Too Good To Go: Avoiding Waste In The Food Business

June 3, 2021 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

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Wasting food can feel like a big shame in the modern world. With farmers working extremely hard to produce the food that people eat and many people lacking access to the food they need, most food businesses want to do everything they can to ensure that they don’t have to throw away valuable food. Of course, alongside this, any stock that you have to waste is also a waste of money. To help you out with this, this article will be offering some tips that will help you to reduce the food waste that is created by your business.

Proper Planning

While it would be impossible to always know exactly what you are going to sell each day, planning properly can help to drastically reduce the food that you do have to waste. Tracking your sales trends is a big part of this, with many food businesses being able to see which of their products is most popular each day. Buying just what you need can feel risky, but the money you lose from missing a sale can be far less than the money you lose if you buy too much.

Adequate Storage

People have been aware of a variety of food preservation methods for thousands of years. Cold air can be one of the best tools when you’re trying to make food last longer, but food businesses can’t rely on the small fridges and freezers that would be used at home for this. Commercial refrigeration doors and units can help to solve this problem, giving you loads of space to keep your perishable food. Of course, you also need the space for this sort of option, but this should be easy to find if you have space to store food in the first place.

Employee Benefits

While you can’t always avoid losing money on the food you buy for your business, you can often stop it from being wasted by giving it to the right people. Your employees are great candidates for the food that needs to be thrown out. In many countries, there are laws that prevent certain foods from being sold once a certain date passes, regardless of when the food actually goes off. In this case, you can give food to employees to ensure that it doesn’t simply go to waste.

Finding A Waste Platform

Of course, though, many businesses will want to at least try and sell the food they have that is about to go off. To help with this, there are a lot of apps that have hit the market over the last couple of years that enable people to buy expired food at a reduced rate. You can get around laws that prevent sales of goods like this when you use these types of services, enabling you to make money on the food that would otherwise be wasted.

Wasting food is never ideal, even when it didn’t cost very much. Businesses across the world will want to avoid this sort of issue, and you can often get around it by simply using the right services.

Basic Measures: What Do Companies Need To Do To Protect Employees At Work?

June 3, 2021 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

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Employers have a lot of different responsibilities when it comes to looking after their teams. Not only do they have to make sure that they keep each and every one of their employees happy and covered by the right laws, but they also have to make sure that they are safe when they are work. There are a lot of different measures that employers have to put into place to make sure that the people who work for them have adequate protection while they are at work. To help you out with this, this article will be exploring some of the key responsibilities that bosses have in this area.

The Workplace

Workplace safety is absolutely crucial when you are running a business. Employers need to make sure that the buildings they operate are safe for their teams, using options like a commercial roofing company to make sure that their property is built properly, along with strict internal policies to keep everyone safe. If employees get hurt when they are working because of something preventable, businesses can get into huge amounts of trouble and will usually have to deal with large fines.

The Equipment

Alongside the workplace, the equipment that employees use also has to meet the right standards. There are a lot of laws in place that dictates the types of equipment that has to be used for specific jobs, along with rules that prevent employers from ignoring maintenance of their team’s gear. Much like having a workplace hurt an employee, businesses can get into serious trouble if they let machinery and other equipment hurt their team members.

Training & Policies

Training is one of the best ways to make working environments safe, especially when there is absolutely any potential for danger. Alongside this, though, strict policies that enable employers to take action against their team members when they break the rules should also be in place. There are loads of companies available that can help businesses to train their teams to work safely, though this can be done as an entirely internal job.

The Public

Finally, as the last area to consider, it’s time to think about the public. With Covid-19 still impacting many countries, businesses have more pressure than ever before to make sure that their teams are protected from an illness that could come from the public. Along with this, businesses also need to work hard to make sure that employees aren’t at risk of being hurt by members of the public. This can be hard to guarantee, though proper security measures can be used to solve this issue.

With all of this in mind, it’s easy to see why businesses often work extremely hard to make sure that their employees are protected. Alongside the laws that govern this area, it’s also worth keeping in mind that there is a lot of social pressure on companies to do the right thing for their teams. It would be unfair to expect people to work hard if they don’t feel safe in the process.