Monthly Archives: March 2019

Keeping Your Employees Healthy At Work

Staying healthy and happy when you’re at work can seem a bit of a task sometimes. Maybe you’ve got work to do that you absolutely hate the idea of, or it’s way too hot in the office and you can’t focus for the sweat rolling off your temples – there’s a lot of situations that make focusing on the task at hand very hard because of your physical and mental state.

But if you’re the boss of the business, and you’ve got an entire payroll’s worth of employees at hand, you’ve got to make sure they’re all feeling up to whatever you need them to do day by day. And not only that, but you need to be sure they’re protected whilst at work, and never have unnecessary hazards to contend with whilst on the shop or office floor.

Your employees are a pretty big part of your company, and you’re never going to get anywhere in the business world without a good team of people behind you! So once you’ve got through all the financial admin, and you’ve brought on an accountant to balance and protect the state of the books, it’s time to turn your eye to your staff.

What kind of working environment are you allowing to flourish? Does it place employee wellness at the center?

Schedule Proper Breaks

Your employees need to take a break, and usually, they get to take a couple per working day, which usually last 15 to 20 minutes per allocation. But if they’re going above and beyond the call of duty, and working more than the usual eight hours per day, they’re usually allowed much longer breaks, up to and including an hour. Make sure you keep these factors in mind when you’re scheduling people into the work plan for the week.

After all, you need to provide proper breaks to allow people to eat and drink away from important electrical equipment at their desk, and away from the shop floor. Give them a chance to take a breather, and socialize with their colleagues, and notice the positive atmosphere of the workplace stack up and up.

In the break room, make sure you provide a fridge so employees can bring their own lunches into work with them – they’re much more likely to eat healthily if they’ve got a way to keep fruit and veg fresh whilst they work. And remember, make sure your people take their breaks as well – they may be in the zone at the moment, but at the end of the day, they’ll be much closer to a burnout tomorrow if they didn’t take any proper breaks that day.

 

Use a Virtual Option

 

Your employees don’t want to have to miss work because of any illness or injury they come down with – hopefully they enjoy their job, and they definitely enjoy getting paid for it! But a lot of absenteeism comes from factors beyond our control, so now’s the time to try and give some of that control back to the people who make up your workforce.

Using a digital medicinal portal to promote workplace wellness is a new idea that’s coming around, but it’s one that could have a lot of use for you as a small business. Let your employees turn to their phones when they’re feeling a sniffle whilst at their desk and let a consultation come to them, instead of the other way around. Or maybe they tripped over a lost wire on the office floor, and now their ankle is aching in a couple of places – having a software on hand that allows them to ask questions about what could happen next, then and there, could eliminate any liability claim a person could make if they had no other option than to blindly work on.

Not to mention, when you allow your employees to always have a health option on hand, that they are free to turn to with no questions asked or restrictions put on them, you’re much more likely to retain the talented and skilled people who work for you. It helps to show them you care about them, and you want them to be at their best when they’re in a working environment – when an employee feels valued, they do their best work for you!

 

Offer On Site Vaccinations

The flu comes around every year, and there’s always going to be a common strain out there creeping into our bodies and blocking our throats and noses up with phlegm. And that’s a nasty state to be in when you’ve got a whole week of work ahead of you! You’re going to be sitting in close proximity with 10 to 20 other people, breathing and coughing and blowing your nose and throwing the tissues away – there’s no telling how many germs could get around that space within minutes of you turning up.

Which is why it might be a good idea to provide onsite vaccinations to your employees, to make sure they’re all getting their flu shots if they have no time to outside of the working day. It helps to keep the place you’re working in healthy and happy, and keeps the spread of germs to an absolute minimum. So, feel free to invite a doctor or a nurse to come into the office to give checkups, with free vaccines if an employee wants one; it’s a great benefit to include in the package for attracting more people to your company.

 

How Healthy is Your Workplace?

We can’t ever be quite sure we’ve got the healthiest working force known to man on our hands, but we can do our best to encourage healthy lifestyles whilst at work. Of course, there are general rules to go around, such as always wash your hands after using the toilet, and always put your rubbish in the trash can, but these alone won’t keep your employees in the prime of health. Make sure you’ve got other policies in place to help your staff out.

Let’s Talk About Tech Baby

Have you been thinking much about tech lately? It has become a more important part of the everyday life of not just people, but businesses too. Without tech, companies fall behind the competition, and spend much of their time trying to catch up, even though this isn’t going to be possible. Well, in this article we are going to be talking about tech, and the kinds of things you need to think about when it comes to having it in your business.

 

The Tech Your Business Needs

You need to think about what it is that your business needs in terms of technology. Do you need computers? Laptops? Smartphones? Or do you need all of this and more? You need to sit down, think about what your business does and what tech will aid your employees in providing the best service to your customers. Once you have done this, you can start figuring out how you are going to implement these changes into your company model. It might not be easy to start with, but that’s why you need other services to ensure that this is managed.

All companies today need technology, and there is no getting around this. If you don’t have it, your company will no longer be able to compete with others in your industry, and you will be left behind in the dust while everyone else dives forward into the new age.

 

Someone To Manage It

If you don’t have a background in IT, then you need to hire someone to manage all of your tech needs. This could be anything from ensuring that they are secure, to making sure that they are all connected to a network allowing them to share information. If you didn’t understand what we just said, then you certainly need to visit zetasky.com or a site like this to get an idea of the services we are talking about. Not only is your network going to be safer, but you can rest assured that it is also going to run smoother than ever before.

There is a range of IT services that you could potentially need to keep your tech working well, and you need to look into them. But most companies offer you an all-inclusive package, meaning that they can handle all of these services, instead of you looking for individual companies for specialized needs.

 

Keeping Up To Date

When you implement tech, you need to ensure that it is all up to date at all times. It is no good for your company to be using Windows XP as your operating system, if everyone else has moved onto Windows 10. Do you see what we mean? One operating system will be slow and glitchy, where the other will run faster and allow your employees to get more done. If you want your employees to work fast and efficient, you need to provide them with the right tools to do so.

Most tech can be set to update automatically when the time comes around, so this is certainly an option if you don’t think you will remember to do it manually.

We hope that you have found this article interesting, and now know more about the tech you could need in your business and the services that you need surrounding this.

 

The Tools and Technology You Need To Work From Home

It’s no secret that technology has been making life easier for everyone in the last few years, with people all around the world embracing the tools the digital field has to offer. When it comes to business, it’s next to impossible to get things done without computers, phones, and other devices.  Figuring out exactly what you should be using isn’t always easy, but to help you out with this, we will be exploring some of the key technology that you will be needing if you want to work from home.

The Computer

Your computer is probably the most important tool you will use. In recent years, they have developed rapidly, with faster components and more advanced features being released all the time, meaning you are always better off spending that extra few dollars and buying something at the very top end of your price bracket. However, if you are working to a tight budget, as long as you don’t choose something too old and go for a quality model, you should be fine.

Many people these days choose to go for laptops over a desktop. More and more people work remotely – from an office, from a coffee shop or even their own bed. The flexibility a laptop has is a significant advantage over a desktop computer, but you do usually pay more for this.

You also have the decision of which operating system you want to use. The two main competitors are Apple and Microsoft Windows, although Linux is becoming a player. Windows is the most common system out there, but Apple is rapidly gaining in popularity. However, Apple computers are generally a lot pricier than their competitors.

 

The Internet & Phone

Communication is vital when you’re working for yourself.  The people you work with or for will want to stay in contact to make sure that work is going as planned, and this means that you will need to have the right tools available to do it. Email is the preferred option for most companies, as it can be accessed at any time as long as one has an internet connection. Instant messenger and video callings, such as WhatsApp and Skype are also popular, providing quick and easy ways to get in touch. You obviously need to make sure that you have a reliable and fast internet connection. Some companies are better than others, so make sure you do your research before committing yourself to one.

Along with a decent internet connection, you will also need to think about the phone you use.  Many people believe that a landline number is more professional, but be aware that this ties you to working in one space, and as we mentioned above the option of remote working is both popular and beneficial to someone who works for themselves.

 

Software

There is lots of software available to help you with your business. From accounting packages which make keeping records of your income and expenditure easier and more precise to your standard office software, such as Office 365 and specialist programs such as Adobe Photoshop. Whatever business you are in, there is bound to be software out there to support you and make life easier.

 

Other equipment

Depending on the industry that you work in, you may need other equipment. Photographers, for example, require a whole array of things, from cameras to light meters. You may want to look into investing in a laminator to laminate signs and flyers, keeping them safe for longer and saving you money in the long run. You may consider buying some sort of vinyl cutting machine if you want to make decals for your business – vinylcuttingmachineguide.com is an excellent place to look for reviews and ideas. The point is there are lots of things out there that may not seem essential to begin with, but you will find useful and cost-effective as time goes on.

Technology and associated equipment isn’t always the easiest or most accessible field to understand as things move on really quickly. It is also a field associated with a lot of technical jargon, and a lot of people are completely overwhelmed by it. Of course,  if you want to use these tools effectively and make them work for your business, you are simply going to have to bite the bullet and learn about them. There are plenty of courses available, both online and offline to help you navigate technology, and this should be a priority when you are planning to work for yourself.