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Home/Work: What Does The Ideal Home Office Need?

July 16, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

Home Office

As the benefits of remote working appear to be outweighing those of the standard office scenario, the influx of people choosing to work from the comfort of their own home doesn’t just mean a benefit for them personally, but for that of the business. But, it seems that we are unable to get the balance right. A lot of people view working from home as a little vacation, when in actual fact, it should aid your productivity, rather than hinder it. So this means you’ll need to consider exactly what the ideal home office needs. And if you are running a business that demands the necessity of home working, and you are someone who is spending more time at home than in the office, what do you need?

Ease Of Access

Many businesses spend years thinking about maximizing productivity by laying out the fundamental components in close proximity to each other. Take this method of thinking to heart when setting up your space. If you have a lot of multifarious tasks, you need instant access to every aspect. If you work with a lot of paper files, you need a filing cabinet nearby, or if you are constantly on the phone or dipping in and out of Skype meetings, you need a method of productivity that lends itself well to your home environment. Consider your layout in relation to the amount of space you have and this includes the amount of equipment to have in your home. For example, do you need a photocopier in your home office? Or is it unnecessary expenditure?

The Ability To Focus

Working from home can provide so many distractions, that you may find yourself pining for the sterile nature of an office. Having the ability to focus is important, and whether this includes the right lighting, as well as sufficient privacy, you need to ensure that you have these demands met. You need to think about your own ability to focus, for example, do you need to block out sound? If so, do you need to soundproof the walls in your working space? Or will earplugs suffice?

It’s A Safe Space

Health and safety is viewed as a bugbear of many modern offices, but it’s still worth thinking about even though you are at home, this includes ergonomics, especially in relation to your desk and chair, but also, are you working in a part of the home that is going to aid your productivity? For example, if you’re using your basement as the working space, will it actually be a safe space to store electronics? Waterproofing the basement is something that can be costly from time to time, but you can choose Helitech or various other building specialists to waterproof your basement, so you can have an abundance of electronics down there.

While setting up your home office space could be a dream come true, there are some things that need to be implemented to ensure that you are working productively. The ideal home office is, unfortunately, a replication of the working environment in essence. Remember, it’s not about sitting on the couch with your computer on your lap.

Improve Safety Throughout Your Supply Chain

July 13, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

Ensuring health and safety throughout a supply chain is tricky, but it’s also imperative. One slip up in one part of the supply chain can have a knock-on effect for the rest of it. From manufacturers to retailers, everyone needs to be responsible for keeping employees and customers safe. You might not be able to control what other companies do, but you can make smart choices about which companies you choose to work with. You also have plenty of control over certain parts of your supply chain, so you can make sure they are performing to the right standards. Use the following advice to maintain safety throughout your supply chain.

How Health and Safety Can Move Down the Supply Chain

It’s important to understand how health and safety can affect your supply chain. Something that happens in one part of the supply chain can easily have ongoing repercussions. For example, if a supplier chooses to package their goods in heavy, difficult to manage packaging, it could mean health and safety problems for the delivery drivers, warehouse workers or retailers who have to handle them in other parts of the supply chain. Therefore, it’s essential to consider not just how a choice will affect one area but how it could have a wider effect too.

Workplace Safety

Gather Data to Monitor Risks

One of the best things any company can do to improve safety along their supply chain is to collect relevant data. Big data is becoming more and more important throughout different industries, and it has many different applications. Collecting data and information from throughout your supply chain can help you to spot any safety issues and make the best decisions about how to address them. Some monitoring can be done automatically, using sensors and other high-tech tools. Other information can be gathered with the input of staff or even customers. With the right information, you can identify the best ways to improve safety.

Make Sure Third-party Buyers and Suppliers Are Being Safe

It’s difficult to have a lot of control over what third-party suppliers or buyers are doing. However, you can examine them carefully and ensure that they’re working safely. You can also set guidelines that you expect them to follow as part of your supply chain. If you’re not happy with the conduct of anyone concerning safety, there is always the option of cutting your losses and working with someone else. If any part of your supply chain has issues with safety, it can reflect badly on you. Auditing your suppliers and buyers will help you to keep everything in line.

Use the Right Packaging Solutions

One specific issue that you might need to consider for your supply chain is how things are packaged. Packaging can make a big difference to several factors related to handling products in your supply chain. It can dictate how much contact people have with a product, as well as how the product must be transported. Some liquid products might need to be transported in steel drums like those from www.clsmith.com to ensure proper safety standards. Some products may need to be packaged in sizes, shapes and weights that can easily be carried manually, without the risk of injury. It’s essential to think about this throughout the supply chain.

Safety Signs

Examine the Impact of Customer Requirements

Businesses should think about how customer requirements could impact on safety within the supply chain. For example, customers could have particular requirements for processing or presentation of products that make it difficult to achieve proper health and safety. Hygiene requirements could even have an effect on safety. For example, keeping floors clean could lead to slippery surfaces. This makes it important to work together with customers to ensure that the correct levels of safety are being maintained.

Fulfill Legal Responsibilities

It’s always important to check your legal responsibilities where safety is concerned. Your requirements can vary, depending on your industry, your location, and even the size of your business. If you’re not sure, you can check local and federal websites to find the relevant regulations. Failing to follow the law could not only lead to injuries, but it could also mean that your business gets in a lot of trouble. If you want to avoid big fines or getting sued, you should comply with regulations.

Check Your Workers’ Knowledge and Experience

You need your employees to cooperate if you want to improve safety throughout your supply chain. However, if you’re unsure about how well they are currently able to help you, you need to ask them. Conduct a survey to ask your workers about their knowledge and experience related to health and safety. Use the survey to find out about what they know, and whether they feel that safety practices are carried out adequately.

Provide Training to Staff

If your survey raises any issues, you need to make sure that the correct training is provided to staff. Of course, you also need to ensure everyone has the tools and the management necessary to help them work safely. Staff training gives your workers the knowledge they need to work safely. You can also partner with suppliers and customers to make sure that they are also paying attention to their employees. Good management is also key to training so make sure that it is in place.

Develop Stronger Guidelines

You don’t have to just pay attention to the legal requirements imposed on your business. You can show that you’re willing to go further and take responsibility without being compelled to do so by the law. Creating your own robust guidelines for ensuring safety throughout your supply chain is a smart and useful thing to do. These guidelines can be useful not just for your own company but for anyone you partner with too. You might create guidelines concerning how materials should be packaged, handled or transported, for example.

Start improving safety in your supply chain to make sweeping improvements throughout your business. There are many ways you can improve safety and make things better for everyone.

Maximizing the Productivity of Your Remote Workers

July 13, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

Remote work is a source of great excitement across a variety of industries. The developments in technology has meant that companies can now offer remote working as one of their most lucrative perks. Some companies love to sing the praises of being able to save money on their overheads, hire freelancers who take care of their own taxes and be able to have a remote team working that is made up with global talent. That’s the other thing about encouraging working remotely in your business; you are able to reach out to talented individuals across the globe instead of just looking in the local area for the best employees. Telecommuting is one of the best things to happen to businesses over the years and it’s one of the best things to happen to people who crave a work/life balance.

There are, of course, those who don’t agree with it, preferring to have their team on site at all times to be able to watch and wait as deadlines are hit and growth is achieved. Don’t worry though, there is still an amazing amount of evidence that suggests that remote working increases the productivity of your employees massively. This can happen, but only if you manage your remote workers correctly. You should be thinking about the individual remote employee and how they work, how they like to achieve. You should think about how you can reach your remote workers during office hours and how you can train them to access the company cloud based storage so that everyone is on the same system. People who work in their own time on their own deadlines, without being micromanaged every second of the day, are more likely to be successful in their job and are more likely to be more productive each day. Productivity is so important for management teams in business, because the better their staff work, the better the company does. It’s in your best interests then to ensure that you are doing everything possible to make your employees as productive as possible. Employees crave freedom and flexibility when they are stuck in the office, but if you can learn to manage remote workers correctly, you can maximise their productivity and benefit from their enthusiasm.

There are some jobs out there that are far better for remote work than others. You can’t exactly allow nurses to work remotely, because patients don’t live in their homes. However, you can allow administrative staff to work from home as all they require is internet access, a telephone and a computer to work from. If you have the capability to allow teams of people in your office to work from home, you should look into it. By clearing most of the desk space, you are going to be able to save a lot of money on commercial office space and funnel that cash into your IT systems and security. This can mean that you are putting the budget that you have against the things that are going to do well for your business. Trusting your staff to work from home on their own schedule is not a foolish idea; in fact, employees are more loyal to those who give them a little autonomy and trust in their own schedule. The next question that you should have to ask yourself is whether remote work is good for the people who work for you.

Remote Workers

Not everyone wants to work remotely. Some people need the social interaction and the bustle of an office environment to be productive in their roles. Not everyone has that discipline to sit down and work their schedule without the micromanagement. Before you decide to go remote with your staff, why don’t you sit down and discuss the option with them? You can’t do better than asking those you would like to give this perk to if they want it or not. If you need to save your budget, you could offer remote working on a trial basis and let them test the waters. It’s your responsibility to maximise the productivity of the individuals that work for you and understanding the way that these people work is the first step. It takes a lot of respect on your part to allow people to make this choice for themselves, and your reputation in the industry will be massively praised by allowing a choice.

If people do decide to plough ahead and work from home, you need to make sure it’s worth it. Teams of people need to have access to online chat and file sharing facilities. You don’t have to pay out tons for a fancy service, but it can benefit your business to find the programme and software that is the most efficient and works the best for everyone. Schedule training days to ensure everyone is up to speed on how to use these systems before you let everyone loose to work from the comfort of their own home. If team members have the chance to collaborate together online, you’re going to give them a much smoother remote working experience overall. This is going to reflect back on you, because you’ve done everything in your power to increase their motivation, productivity and you’ve given autonomy to people in your business.

To be able to have a successful remote workforce, you must ensure that they have a proper office set up to work from. If not an entire room with a desk and a chair, you need to be able to give out office technology to your staff to work from home and access internal business systems. All the effort that you put into your business is going to pay off if you put the same effort into your employees. There’s no doubt that managing a remote workforce that you don’t see very often is a challenge, but that doesn’t mean that it cannot work. Sit down and make a plan, then share that plan with your staff. Lastly, sit down and wait for the magic to happen.

Does Your Healthcare Practice Need A Website?

July 12, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

Running your own healthcare practice is noble. Many practice owners start out because they want to do things differently and give their clients more. They want to help and take care of people and offer fare healthcare to as many people as possible. They might be unhappy with the way the healthcare system is run or find themselves unable to find work in the existing system that offers them the flexibility or style of work that they need or want.

But, it’s still a business. However, much you want to improve the system and the lives of those that live in your community, it’s still a business. You need to make money, find patients and become successful. You need to employ the best doctors and nurses and spend time working on systems for keeping patient records and other admin. You need to work with insurance companies, market your practice, communicate with other healthcare providers and officials, train staff, look after them, keep your establishment clean and tidy and make sure it meets all safety requirements. You are responsible for ensuring that your practice is safe, friendly and able to offer the best healthcare services that you can.

On top of all of that, do you really have time to run a website? Do you even need one? The online world has become a massive part of our everyday lives, but has it spread to healthcare? When you’ve got so much to do and to think about, is this extra burden worth the effort?

In short, yes. A website can be a handy tool for a small healthcare practice. It can give you a much better and more convenient way to contact your patients. But, there’s a lot more to it than that. Used well, a healthcare practice website that has had thorough web app penetration testing and is completely safe and secure can help you to build your business, help your patients and build relationships with the community as a whole. Here are some of the reasons your practice needs a website.

To Communicate

One of the biggest annoyances most members of the public have with their healthcare providers is communication. Getting an appointment can be almost impossible and many people find themselves on hold to their surgery early in the morning, in a queue to get an appointment. This is the last thing that you want when you are feeling ill or facing an emergency.

A website offers an alternative way to communicate with your patients. You could have an appointment booking system online, as well as a live chat element so that people can ask for advice without needing to come in and take up an appointment time. A website can also automatically direct patients to the services that they need, cutting time for both them and the doctor. A pregnant women, for example, could make an appointment with a midwife directly without having first to see a doctor or speak with a receptionist.

It can also offer a prescription ordering service, which can then be linked to an online pharmacy who can deliver directly to patients. Saving everyone time.

Having an online presence, and a good website that your patients use regularly also gives you a great way to communicate changes and essential information. If you are closed for an afternoon, advertising online or sending out an email is a much easier and faster way to let everyone know.

Education

A good website isn’t just about communicating information and booking appointments. It has the power to do a lot more. Your site can educate the community. Helping them to take responsibility for their own health and saving your doctors time. They’ll no longer have to teach every patient asking about the flu jab the same things. They’ll be an informative article on your website that they can read.

Post regular informative content. Try to make sure it’s relevant. In summer, talk about seasonal allergies. In winter, write about colds and flu. Offer patients advice on symptoms, prevention and treatment, as well as letting them know when they need to come in and get checked out. You can even film videos with self-care advice or show people how to check themselves for lumps and other serious symptoms. This is an easy way to save lives, build a reputation and develop trusting relationships.

24-hour Access

Many modern surgery’s offer a late-night opening day, or even a weekend surgery to cater for the modern worker. We don’t all work set shifts and have the same days off and visiting the doctor can be hard. But, we’re unable to offer 24-hour care. Especially as a smaller practice. A website gives you this ability. You still won’t be able to see patients. But they’ll be able to book appointments, read up on their symptoms or even send a message asking for a call or some advice, to replied to asap. This is much better than having your patients frightening themselves reading random articles they’ve found by Googling their symptoms.

Marketing, without Marketing

Healthcare providers often feel a bit off about marketing their services. It’s certainly not why people enter the profession. A website gives you a soft way to show yourself off without any hard sell marketing. Add a section about your staff, tell the story of why you started the practice, host Q&A’s with other professionals and let the world see the human side of your practice. It’ll bring new clients in and help them to trust you with their most embarrassing issues.

To Stay Up to Date

We live in a world where the internet is a part of everything. If we look up a store to find it hasn’t got a website or the one that they have is dated and slow, we worry that the store is old-fashioned, behind the times and out of date. An online presence makes you look like you are at the forefront of modern technology. It’ll make people think that you are also up to date with modern healthcare techniques and methods.

Giving Your Offices A Professional Look And Feel

July 10, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

There’s a chance that the importance of first impressions has been overblown. Can you win back those people who didn’t like what they initially saw? Probably…but it’ll be much harder than just getting them on board the first time around. As such, it’s best to make sure there are no question marks about your business. If you give your offices a professional look and feel, you’ll be able to get down to the important matter of taking care of business. Below, we take a look at how you can get your premises in tip-top shape for visitors.

First impressions

First Impressions

There are some companies who spend a lot of time taking care of their interiors, yet completely overlook their exteriors! Remember: the first thing that your visitors will see won’t be the splendid interior you’ve crafted. It’ll be your entranceway, the greeting they get from the receptionist, and so on. As such, take steps to make sure that this aspect of your office is watertight. You’ll want your entranceway to be well sign-posted, well-lit, and welcoming. It’ll be the best way to let the world know that beyond those doors, serious work is taking place.

Lighting and Infrastructure

You can sometimes just get a feel for a place that seems professional, and ones that don’t. But there’s normally a cause for that ‘feeling,’ and it’s the lighting. If you’ve got dark, uninspiring lighting, then you’re not going to impress too many people. If, on the other hand, you have natural lighting, sharp overhead lighting, and polished concrete floors that make the office sparkle, then you’ll be getting off on the right foot. Don’t forget your infrastructure, either: it’s worthwhile having high-quality desks and chairs, and not just to keep your employees on board.

Neat and Orderly

It doesn’t matter how much effort you put in elsewhere: if your offices are in a state of disarray, then that’s all your visitors are going to see. As such, make sure you’re hiring a cleaning firm to take care of keeping your offices in tip-top condition. Also, consider going digital; there are benefits to your energy bill and the environment, of course, but it’ll also reduce the amount of loose paper that’s flying around the place. It’s much easier to keep the sleek and modern minimalism look in order when you have less stuff in the office.

A Space for Meetings

There’s nothing worse than inviting someone for a meeting and then just sitting at your open plan desk area. It’s not a professional look. It’s much better to have a dedicated meeting room located within your office, even if that means you can’t have your own private space.

Set the Standards

Finally, remember to set the standards for your employees! It’ll be much easier to maintain high professional standards across the board if everyone on your team knows what’s expected of them. It might be a case of just ensuring their desks our tidy come the end of the day, but it’ll make a difference.