Monthly Archives: November 2019

Working with Health Issues

Working when you are unwell is difficult. Even working with a cold or other mild illness can be tricky, as you are tired and uncomfortable. But, working with a more serious and long-term condition can be much worse. However, most people that are struggling with chronic illnesses have to work. They can’t afford to take too much time out, and health care costs just make this worse. They might worry that even if they took a little time off, they’d lose their jobs. 

But, if you are trying to work while suffering from health issues, you might have experienced pain, emotional problems, symptoms that affect your ability to do your job, and even discrimination. It can sometimes seem impossible. But it doesn’t have to be. Let’s take a look at some of the things that you can do to make working when you are unwell more bearable. 

Let People Know

It’s important to let your manager know. They might be able to accommodate your needs better, but you need to give them a chance. If you are suffering from hearing loss and need to learn more about affordable hearing aids, there might just be a period of adjustment, which your manager should be happy to make allowances for. 

A more serious condition might need further allowances, but you should still tell them. Your manager can help you by offering more flexible working conditions, allowing you time off when you need it, understanding and offering you the support and changes to your role that you need to get through the days.

You might also want to tell other colleagues. While your illness is your personal business, and you aren’t under any obligation to tell anyone, it can help to have more understanding and support in the workplace, when you are away from friends and family. 

Look at Treatment Options

We’ve usually got more than one option when it comes to treatment. While there might only be one option when it comes to medication, you might be able to supplement it with massage, stress relief, meditation, yoga, and other more holistic therapies. 

Don’t rule anything out, keep an open mind and try alternative treatments, while always taking advice from your doctor. 

Keep Otherwise Healthy

A health issue doesn’t have to mean that the rest of your health suffers. It’s often the other illnesses that make work impossible. You might be managing day to day, working through pain or other symptoms, then you are struck down with a bad cold, and it all gets too much. 

So, make sure, whatever you are going through, you look at ways to boost your immunity and stay otherwise healthy. 

Work from Home

Could you do your job, or perhaps a slightly different role from home? More people than ever are working remotely, and making work tasks can be done from outside of the office. Speak to your manager about the possibility of working from home, at least some of the time. This can ease the pressure on your body and help you to manage your symptoms. 

Confide in a Close Work Friend

If you have a close friend at work, or someone in a similar situation, confide in them. You might want to put a brave face on, to make things easier, but it’s always wise to have someone that you trust. Someone that you can turn to if you are feeling low, or that can cover for you if you need to take five minutes. It’s always nice to have a little extra support, so take it wherever you can find it. 

Look at the Positives

Working can actually help. You might need to make some adjustments, but working can get you out of the house. It can help the time pass faster, improve your mental health and give you something else to think about. Then, of course, there are financial benefits and possible insurance perks. 

Be Honest About How You Are Feeling

Putting a brave face on can be helpful sometimes. But, you should still be honest about how you are feeling and what you need. Don’t try to do more than you can. If you are suffering, tell someone and explore your options together. 

Speak to HR

If you work for a large company, you might have an HR department. Get in touch. Explain the situation and talk through your options and needs. This can offer you legal protection further down the line. 

Get Plenty of Rest

You are bound to be tired. Get rest when you need to. Try to get into a sleep routine, and take regular rest breaks through the day. 

 

5 Outsourcing Mistakes To Avoid

Outsourcing involves delegating business tasks to a third party. When done correctly, it can save your company a lot of time and money. However, when done incorrectly, it could end up having the opposite effect. Here are just several mistakes to avoid when outsourcing.

Outsourcing too many tasks

Nowadays, you can outsource practically any task from answering the phone to arranging business travel to even dismissing employees. However, just because you can outsource anything, doesn’t mean you should outsource everything. Every company/individual you outsource will expect payment and you could end up forking out huge amounts of money for tasks that you could have done yourself for free. You may not save much time either as you’ll be constantly checking in on all the people you’ve outsourced (the only exception may be if you’re outsourcing supply chain management).

Outsourcing your strengths

You should only outsource tasks that you’re not good at or don’t enjoy. There’s no benefit to outsourcing tasks that you’re good at or that you love. For instance, if you’ve had success generating buzz on social media and find it fun, don’t outsource a social media marketing company to take over. Focus on outsourcing your weaknesses and honing your strengths.

Going general, not specialist

There are lots of companies out there to choose from when outsourcing. Some of these companies may be better catered to your niche. For instance, if you’re a dental company looking to outsource IT support, don’t just outsource a general IT consultancy firm when you can outsource a specialist dental IT support company such as Pact-One Solutions. There may also be specific tasks that you want to outsource in certain instances that could be better handled by a specialist. For instance, why outsource a general marketing company to just handle SEO when you can hire a specialist SEO company.

Focusing on price, not reputation

When deciding which company to outsource, don’t always choose the cheapest company to outsource. This may seem like the best move to save money, but often the cheapest suppliers will deliver the lowest quality. In some cases, you could end up wasting time and money on a poorly-done task that you could have executed better yourself. While cost is an important factor to research into, make sure that you’re also researching the reputation of the companies that you’re outsourcing. This could include reading reviews, looking for mentions of awards and possibly checking out their social media channels to see how big a following they have.

Communicating too little/too much

It’s important that you keep communication with the companies/individuals that you outsource. You want to be certain that they’re doing their job and that they haven’t forgotten about you. That said, you don’t want to be constantly badgering them – too much communication will not just take up their time but also yours, and the whole point of outsourcing is to save time. You’re much better off hiring an in-house employee if you want to constantly keep in communication (and even then, you don’t want to resort to micromanaging). 

 

How To Maximize The Potential Success Of Your New Business

Starting a new business can be a really risky process, and often it requires a generous amount of time, effort and investment, meaning there’s really a lot you could lose if it doesn’t all go to plan. However, ensuring that you are as successful as possible in your venture needn’t be as strenuous as you might think, as there are a few simple steps that you can follow in order to increase your chances of becoming a hit. So, if you want to know more about what you can do to aid your company in reaching its aims and gaining popularity and profit, then read on for some of the best top tips that you can begin implementing today!

Ensure You Fill A Gap

One of the most important things that can heavily influence whether you pass or fail is that there’s an actual demand for your new business. You must be able to fill a gap in the market, or at least have a few concepts that make you stand out from your competitors – nobody will need to make use of your business if there are hundreds (or even thousands) of other similar ones. You must ask yourself several questions in order to identify whether you will be receiving the attention you had hoped for: who is your target market and how might you be able to reach them? What are your business’s unique selling points? How can you stand out from the crowd of other organisations on the market? Does your business solve a common problem or provide customers with necessities? Taking some time to consider and improve your response will help to make sure that you cover all of the most important features when creating your new business, therefore increasing your chances of success dramatically. 

Get The Right Equipment

It’s all well and good having the right mindset to succeed, but if you do not have the right equipment to complete each tasks to the highest standard, you will be desperately holding yourself back. Each new business requires its own machinery and devices to make it run as smoothly as possible, and to allow your staff to get the job done without any mistakes or issues. Depending on the aim of your business, Square One can help to provide you with a completely specific and personalised set of equipment that can really improve the quality of whatever you produce or provide. Failing to invest in the perfect equipment for the job will simply leave you up the creek without a paddle, and falling at such a vital hurdle may cause you to lose what you have worked for up until now.

Maximizing the potential success of your new business has never been so simple when you make an effort to implement these top tips. If you’re ready and willing to dedicate some time and energy to making your company work, then now is the time for you to get out there and start marketing your aims to the world!