Tips for Planning a Company Summer Barbecue

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One of the best ways to show appreciation towards your company employees is with fun corporate events. After the hard work everyone did throughout the winter and spring months, plan a company summer barbecue and treat employees to a well-deserved company party. 

To cultivate a hard-working team, you must allow them to let loose occasionally and enjoy the celebration of working for a fantastic company. You can operate the grill yourself or hire a Corporate Event Catering company to do it all for you. From the BBQ to the sides, you can ensure that everyone in your business who attends your corporate party is well-fed, happy, and enjoying themselves!

A Successful Barbecue Starts With The Right Gear

When planning a successful company barbecue, having the right equipment is essential for a memorable and enjoyable event. Explore a wide range of high-quality grills, smokers, and accessories on websites like https://www.bedsbbq.co.uk/ to ensure your company gathering is a sizzling success. From top-of-the-line barbecues to must-have grilling tools, you can find everything you need to elevate your outdoor culinary experience and create lasting memories with your team.

Have Various Food Options To Accommodate Diets

With multiple employees, we can guarantee that there will be people who cannot eat a portion of the meal. Before the event, send out a survey to get an idea of everyone’s diets. Of course, you still need the staple BBQ supplies, but sneak in a few easy lunch snacks to hold everyone over until the meal and for the employees who cannot necessarily eat the main dish.

Plan Out Plenty of Activities

You cannot have a company party without some team-building exercises or fun games for people to play! Set up multiple stations; the choice depends on how many employees attend the event. You want to ensure everyone is occupied and having as much fun as possible.

Consider the Weather

Mother Nature does whatever she wants, whenever she wants. The forecast a week before an event might say sunny, but it could be pouring rain when the day comes. Ensure you have a backup plan if you cannot do what you originally planned.

Ask for Employee Input

Just as you should send out questions about dietary restrictions, you can also send out a survey regarding what everyone prefers to happen at the event. Ask for activity suggestions, food items, decorations, themes, etc. This is the best way of guaranteeing there is something at the party everyone will enjoy.

Are you ready to plan a company summer barbecue? Summer is the perfect time to step back from work and honor the employees who put in 100 percent of their daily effort. Show your employees you appreciate them by throwing an unforgettable barbecue!

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Useful Tips for Performing a Waste Audit

Businesses can benefit from investigating their waste management practices. Audits allow companies to see firsthand how they generate and dispose of garbage and how these methods affect their operations. Whether you’re looking to cut costs or reduce your environmental impact, dissecting your facility’s waste practices is helpful and necessary. Here are some useful tips for performing a waste audit to help improve your business.

Establish Clear Objectives

Before your start your investigation, take some time to establish clear objectives. What goals would you like to meet by the end of this process? You might decide that you want to identify places where you can save money or wish to find areas where you can improve your current recycling techniques. Whatever your goals are, it’s critical to define them early on to help guide you through every stage of the audit.

Assemble a Qualified Team

Depending on your business’s size, waste audits can take lots of time and energy to complete. You’ll need to assemble a qualified team to help you organize, collect, and analyze your data. Gather professionals from various departments, such as finance, safety, and HR, to weigh in with their particular expertise. You might even think about hiring a third party to perform your audit if you want an honest, unbiased opinion.

Prioritize Safety Measures

Waste audits involve more than observing collection and disposal methods; they’re about getting your hands dirty and sorting through all of your trash. Be sure to prioritize safety during this stage, as some garbage might be dangerous. Invest in personal protective gear like gloves, safety goggles, and masks to safeguard your team’s health. This useful tip for performing a waste audit will help you avoid sustaining any life-threatening injuries.

Carefully Analyze Data

Once you’ve done the work and collected information, you need to analyze your data carefully. This is the time for you to interpret your facts and figures and apply them to the goals you set earlier in the process. For example, there are many benefits of lab packing hazardous waste that could help improve your safety standards. What did you learn about your current methods that could enhance your lab packing practices, and what should you keep the same?

Conducting a waste audit will provide you with valuable information to develop your business. Use these tips when you’re ready to upgrade your operations and watch how much better your practices become.

How To Gain Some Objectivity Over Your Business

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When you run any business, it can often be hard to know what is actually going on in the business and whether you are misguided about that. That is simply due to the fact that, when you are too close to something, it is often challenging to work out exactly what is really going on. If that is a position that you find yourself in and you are wondering what you can do about it, the truth is that there are many ways to try and gain a sense of objectivity over your business. In this post, we’ll take a look at some of the main ways you can do this, so that you can know for sure exactly what your business is doing.

Seek Advice

One way is to get some advice from someone outside the business. A good way to do that, for example, is to hire a business advisor who can tell you objectively what is going on with your business and what you might need to do about it, along with some ideas and notions related to what kind of a position it might be in. With that kind of advice in place, you can then ensure you are much more likely to make the right decisions, and that is obviously something that you are going to want to be aware of as best as you can be. Seeking that kind of advice regularly is a hugely powerful move to make, so make sure that you are considering doing so.

Carry Out Research

There are many kinds of research that you can carry out on your business, and doing so is one of the most powerful ways to ensure that you can figure out where your business is and what it might need to do in order to improve. By carrying out the appropriate research at the appropriate time, it could be that you can start to lead your business to a better and better position. So make sure that you are doing this, but do get the help of professionals: namely, a research organization that has done plenty of this kind of research before and knows exactly what it is looking for. That will prove to be a really powerful way to find out what you need to do to improve your business’ performance.

Keep Records

Finally, you will also find that keeping records can be a really powerful way to gain some objectivity over your business. That’s because you can then simply look at your past records and compare them with your current ones, and see what has been happening in terms of trends over time. The more data you hold on to, therefore, the more likely it is that you will be able to do this effectively. As such, it’s a really good idea to start keeping records now if you don’t already and to store them appropriately so you can easily file them and use them as and when you need to.

Emerging Tech Trends In Burnout Prevention

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Original article from AngelList for this post can be found here

Workers are stressed—can tech help?

First Covid. Now layoffs.

It’s an anxious time for many in tech today.

During Mental Health Awareness Month, tech leaders are speaking up about the importance of employee (and founder) well-being. They warn about the impact of around-the-clock work culture, noting that tech workers are already burned out and stressed out from the pandemic and its many disruptions.

For many, the quick pivot to all-remote work blurred already obscured lines between work and home. A recent survey found that 62% of IT workers feel “physically and emotionally drained” and more than half can’t unwind after work.

Vanquishing the ‘ghosts of burnout’

Experts warn about the “ghosts of burnout” that drive employees to consider quitting: professional self-inefficacy, emotional or energetic exhaustion, cynicism, and depersonalization.

More founders, too, are openly talking about the prevalence of things like depression, ADHD, and bipolar, all of which share traits similar to those commonly found among Silicon Valley founders (outgoing, risk-taking, etc.).

The natural question, of course: Can tech help?

Health gets digital

Tech companies are putting $30B in venture capital funding in 2021 to work on addressing every aspect of healthcare. About $5B of that investment went to companies innovating the way mental health is delivered.

Facebook’s owner, Meta, just made its first early-stage investment in the Asia-Pacific region, investing in mental health startup Ami. Meanwhile, up-and-coming companies like Big Health and Real are working to make talking to a therapist as easy as checking the weather and as comfortable as talking to a friend. Bicycle Health offers virtual treatment for opioid addiction.

So-called “digital therapeutics” (DTx) are helping to fill in gaps in health delivery and already constitute a $4B industry. Mobile mindfulness, too, has grown into a billion-dollar business.

Companies are using AI to create new ways to automatically and remotely keep tabs on patients from home and intervene in order to reduce their mental health symptoms. Apple recently partnered with UCLA to develop algorithms that measure symptoms of depression using data collected on Apple devices.

How To Improve Emergency Preparedness in Your Organization

No organization is immune to emergencies, whether natural disasters or man-made accidents. That’s why every business needs to have an emergency preparedness plan.

Every business is different, so there is no one-size-fits-all approach to planning for disasters. However, there are some general steps to improve emergency preparedness in your organization.

Identify Potential Threats

The first step is to identify the potential threats your organization could face. Common hazards include fires, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and terrorism. This step will vary depending on your location, industry, and other factors.

Once you have identified the potential threats, you need to assess the risk of each one. This identification will help you determine which threats are most likely to occur and how severe they could be.

Create a Strategy

Once you have assessed the risks, you can develop a plan. This should include steps before, during, and after an emergency. A plan for something like a hurricane will look much different than the procedures for a gas leak.

Some of the things you should include in your plan are:

• A list of emergency contacts

• Evacuation routes

• A communication plan

• A method for dealing with critical infrastructure

• A procedure for accounting for employees

You should also consider what you will do if your regular systems and procedures are not available. For example, if you rely on technology for communication or data storage, you need to have a backup plan in place in case of power outages or other disruptions.

Develop a Continuity Plan

In addition to your overall plan, you should also develop a continuity plan. This will help you keep your business running in an emergency.

Your continuity plan should include things like:

• Alternative methods of communication

• Alternate locations to do business

• How you’ll deal with damaged or destroyed facilities

• How you’ll continue operations if key personnel are unavailable

It’s wise to also have plans for suppliers and customers. For example, you may need to find alternative suppliers if your regular ones cannot deliver goods or services.

Audit These Plans Every So Often

After creating your emergency preparedness and continuity plans, audit them regularly. This step will help you ensure that they are up to date and that all employees know them. After any significant organizational changes, such as a merger or acquisition, you should also review them.

Practice Makes Perfect

It’s not enough to have a plan in place—you also need to practice it. This practice will ensure everyone knows what to do in an emergency.

You should conduct regular drills and exercises to test your plans. You can also use simulations to help employees understand what to do.

By taking these steps, you can improve emergency preparedness in your organization and be ready for whatever comes your way. Review your plans regularly and practice them often to ensure complete preparation. Your business and employees will thank you for it.

3 Top Soft Skills for Laboratory Managers

Poor management support in laboratories negatively affects the efficiency of sample analysis. It also contributes to low morale in the workplace. Many lab managers worked effectively in previous staff roles with strong technical skills. But management positions place a stronger emphasis on soft skills that people use to communicate with one another. Let’s look at the importance of the top soft skills for laboratory managers.

1. Communication

When people communicate with each other, they exchange information. These exchanges can be written, verbal, or nonverbal. This simple concept becomes complicated when either the sender or the recipient lacks interest, gets distracted, or feels strong emotions. Using imprecise language or loaded words—especially with a negative tone—also frustrates communication efforts.

Great lab managers choose the right time and the right words for delivering their messages. They also listen and read actively to understand the other party. Effective communication increases accuracy in labs, which is why managers with poor soft skills are top laboratory workplace challenges.

2. Relationship-Building

When lab managers develop a relationship with each team member, this benefits the manager, the employee, and the whole team. Personal relationships build respect and understanding between management and the team. Managers can develop these relationships with one-on-one staff meetings and positive interactions.

Lab staff are more likely to go to a manager with a problem or for guidance when they feel the manager knows them personally. And managers benefit from a deeper understanding of the day-to-day work in their laboratory. Building relationships is a top soft skill for laboratory managers because fractured laboratories don’t produce high-quality work.

3. Problem-Solving

Problem-solving requires hard technical skills, but in a management position, it often also requires soft skills. When a manager relies on staff to solve an issue, effective communication and good relationships come in handy. Managers must maintain a higher-level focus on problems by managing staff who work on a more granular level to achieve goals. Managers who stay calm, positive, and open in the face of intimidating problems help staff perform at their highest levels.

Aid Your Company In Reaching New Heights

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Business owners are prone to feeling imprisoned from time to time. Sales have reached a stalemate, hiring staff to increase production has been tough, or you simply feel stuck. When this happens, you may need the help of a new set of eyes to help you re-energize and grow your business. 

Examine Every Option For Reaching Your Audience 

Consider launching a digital storefront as a way to enhance sales if you're a retailer who doesn't already have one. Once you've gathered enough subscriber emails, consider executing an email campaign to keep your brand in front of your audience. Also, don't forget about social media.

You can also look to go beyond digital, sometimes consumers just don’t know how much they need or want something until they see it in person. If you think your business could grow more by having a physical storefront you can look at getting a commercial real estate lawyer and someone to help you scope out the best location so you can get more traffic and more sales. 

Use Social Media Wisely - It's More Than a Sales Channel 

Companies must abandon the bad habit of selling constantly on social media networks. Marketing and sales are two different things, and focusing just on social media sales could lead to failure. Create and document content that benefits the customer while also building a relationship. This might include information about the industry, how-to videos, or even humorous behind-the-scenes footage. 

Giving more than you take is the foundation of all relationships. Share your market research, trends, and insights. When a potential customer is ready to buy, they will turn to a brand they are familiar with and trust, which will be you! 

As a small business owner, it's vital to know who your customers are, where they spend their time, what they're looking for, and how your firm can meet their needs. In today's world, waiting for clients to come to you is no longer a sustainable business strategy. Companies must approach their clients and build close relationships with them to leave a lasting influence in today's shifting business environment. Your small business won't be able to grow its revenue if it can't extend its customer base. Social networking is an excellent and cost-effective approach to accomplish this.

Get Your Customers to Trust You And Be Loyal

Customer loyalty is built on the foundation of excellent customer service. A joyful client experience is the cornerstone of excellent customer service, and first impressions are critical in this regard. If a customer appreciates their experience with your services, they are more likely to use them again and again. If your company has a user-friendly website and relevant marketing collateral, your prospects will rise, and customers who have gotten good service will commonly promote you to friends and associates. This is why investing in your customer care team and their training is critical.

Don’t Forget About Your Customer’s Experience

A good customer experience is key for any organization. It can make the difference between a successful business and one that struggles to find customers. The problem is that many businesses struggle to provide satisfying customer experiences. This is because they don’t have the right tools, systems, or processes in place.

To improve your customer experience, upgrading your customer experience management system is essential. This includes everything from employee training to creating an environment that encourages feedback and collaboration. Doing so can ensure that your customers have a positive experience interacting with your business. It will also help you build a loyal base of customers who are more likely to recommend your brand to others. 

And consider all facets of the customer experience. This includes traditional contact and modern digital experiences. If you’re unsure how to improve digitally, check out this easy-to-follow Digital Customer Experience Guide. By upgrading your customer experience management system, you can create a better customer experience for everyone who interacts with your business.

Improve Your Communication 

Communication is key when you’re aiming to run a successful business, as you need to be able to make your voice heard within your company while being able to spread your message quickly and securely at any time. Opting for structured cabling for your communications systems is always a smart move, and it’s a good idea to seek out and install a good communications software that allows you to speak to employees in other departments or even staff who work remotely. You need to take the opportunity to improve your communication with your clients or customers too, as it’s important that they never feel as though they are in the dark whenever they are dealing with your company. Always keep them in the loop, and be sure to maintain constant contact with your audience whenever they are going through a transaction. You can continue to spread your message to your audience through marketing materials even after they have done business with you if you get their email address or phone number, so always make communication your main priority.

The business world can feel like a minefield and be tricky at times, there is always another avenue to take and new things to try. 

Top 4 Reasons Why You Should Choose a Coworking Space

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It doesn’t matter what you do for a living. Everyone needs a designated space to work – including people with flexible work arrangements. For some, it’s a dreary office, while others turn their home into an office or try to find space in a busy cafe. Coworking spaces are an excellent alternative for flexible workers. As with the nature of your work, coworking spaces are also incredibly flexible as you do not have to sign a long-term lease to use them. Here are a few compelling reasons why you should choose a coworking space to work.

Better Work Environment

In general, a traditional office environment is not quite as inspiring as you’d expect it to be. With a dull color palette, cramped workstations, and dated facilities, most offices lack the innovation professionals need in their working life. On the other hand, modern coworking spaces are well-equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, they have fantastic amenities, and they are stocked with refreshments to keep you going throughout the day. Additionally, they usually feature first-class interiors, which makes it a joy to go to work. Not to mention, many coworking spaces have extended opening hours for those who would prefer to work outside of the usual 9 to 5 hours. These flexible working environments can help give you more time after work, which means you can spend quality time with friends and family or focus on a hobby. Look into spaces that include hotdesking and private offices; for more information, visit thebrew.co.uk.

Coworking Spaces Nurture Productivity

The coworking community is filled with unique individuals from a range of backgrounds. This lively environment is great for inspiring innovation and nurturing productivity. Working with people that share a similar mindset as yourself can help stimulate your brain and boost your mood. Just sharing a workspace with a bunch of talented personalities can be incredibly motivating. Not to mention, these spaces feature high-quality tech and high-speed connection, all for a reduced cost to what you would pay at home. In addition, you don’t need to worry about overhead costs, and there are office staff who are constantly available to lend a helping hand.

Positive Work Culture

One of the best things about coworking spaces is that they naturally have a positive work culture. Coworking communities thrive because of the positive and productive mindset of the individuals. In these spaces, there are no office politics to detract from work, and everyone working in these spaces actually wants to be there. Compared to a traditional office setting, morale is generally elevated.

Opportunities for Organic Networking

Coworking spaces provide an increased opportunity for organic networking. Working in a flexible office space means that you will be around working professionals from a variety of industries, which increases the chance of collaboration. Besides opportunities for business collaboration, you can also develop meaningful friendships with whom you can simply enjoy a drink after work.

How To Maintain Productivity in Your Machine Shop

A machine shop thrives on productivity. Keeping everything moving ensures a business gets the job done for its customers, does it well, and does it quickly. Like every other business, a machine shop strives to run like a well-oiled machine, but sometimes things get in the way of productivity. Use these tips on how to maintain productivity in your machine shop to ensure you are putting out the best product while also keeping a quick turnaround time.

Invest in Your Employees

One of the best ways to keep productivity in machine shops is to invest in your employees. This investment works for any industry, but it is crucial in the metalworking field, where technology and employees constantly change. Because the industry is so variable, you must put time and resources into your employees to keep your productivity consistent.

By giving them the space to learn new skills and making them feel like a valuable part of the team, you are helping them and your shop. An employee who is a permanent part of your business brings so much more than a revolving door of new employees.

Invest in New Tools

A machine shop needs a massive number of tools to function, but wear and tear make themselves known as time goes on. Tools start to rust, make strange noises, or fail to work the same. To maintain productivity in your shop, you need to constantly buy new tools or look for signs that your existing tools need servicing to ensure they are working their best.

Your shop is full of great employees, but the tools they work with can limit them. When your business gives your workers the tools they need to get the job done, your productivity rises, and your customers will also leave satisfied with their products.

Maintain Good Organization

Another excellent way to maintain a high level of productivity in your workshop is to keep it organized. If your employees have difficulty locating a specific tool, precious time is lost that they could have otherwise spent completing a project. By adhering to an organizational system on the floor, everyone knows where they can find what they need, leading to a greater culture of efficiency.

When staff carelessly leave items out or hide them in various drawers, the machine shop as a whole runs poorly. Alternatively, if everything has a designated place and there is an order and process, the shop will run along that same efficient order and process.

These were just a few tips on maintaining productivity in your machine shop. They will go a long way in keeping everything controlled and efficient, ensuring your business puts out the best product possible.

Must-Have Equipment for Your Warehouse Space

When running a warehouse, there’s a lot of equipment that you need to help things run more smoothly. Whether you’re new to the industry or have been in it a while, there’s always room for improvement in terms of the gear that you use. This list of must-have equipment for your warehouse space is a good starting point to ensure that you’re on the right track.

Pallet Jacks, Forklifts, and Cranes

It would be highly unlikely for you not to have at least a set of pallet jacks or forklifts in your warehouse. It would be impossible to move anything around without them, but do you have both? Some warehouse owners only choose to use forklifts. While this is doable, it’s more expensive, and you’ll have fewer pieces of equipment to use for moving pallets around. Don’t underestimate the humble pallet jack. They are great for moving lighter pallets from place to place with ease.

However, if you want to forego forklifts completely, you could potentially use overhead cranes instead. These can easily lift heavy crates and pallets up and down like a forklift. You’ll need to make sure you have sturdy pallet jacks to move them around once they’re on the ground. Still, the best solution would be to use a mix of all three options.

Pallet Weighing Scales

Even though your crew already knows how heavy all your crates and pallets are, it’s still a good idea to know the exact weights. This will help keep your workforce safe and keep you from overloading trucks.

Platform scales are a go-to choice, but if you want to save some time and money, you can buy equipment that has scales built into them. Pallet jacks and crane hooks are both common items that can double as a scale. If you buy a hook-based one, make sure you know the difference between hanging and crane scales before making the purchase.

Energy-Efficient Lighting and HVACs

The last items on this list are energy-efficient lighting and HVAC systems. It’s no secret that warehouses are huge, so it’s not easy to ensure that you have them lit and cooled properly.

Covering every square inch of your facility with these two things will cost a lot of money, so you want to make sure the systems you use aren’t using energy excessively. The money you save on electricity can then go toward more important aspects of your business, like some of the other must-have equipment for your warehouse space mentioned in this article.

The 5 Core Principles Of A Durable Business

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Building a business that lasts is inherently challenging. You have to weigh your resource requirements today against likely outlays in the future, and that requires a lot of forecasting and guesswork. 

With that said, some businesses are more durable than others. While most are a flash in the pan, many last for decades, often longer. 

In this post, we take a look at the secrets of durable businesses and what they do differently from the rest of the competition. Check out our principles below: 

Hire People Who Believe In What You Are Doing

Most businesses assume that loyalty is a thing of the past. Millennials and Gen Z, they tell themselves, won’t stick around if a better offer comes their way. 

However, that’s not necessarily true. Even today, it is possible to find loyal people, so long as you can align them with your mission. Once they see what you are trying to achieve and agree with what you are doing, they will bear almost any hardship. 

Own Property

Most companies lease property, equipment and plant to improve their cash flow. However, that’s not always the best approach, particularly if you want your balance sheet to offer some flexibility. 

In light of this, many firms are now becoming property owners and moving assets into their balance sheets. They’re investing in buildings that use prefabricated structural components, similar to steel house frames, that will stand the test of time and reduce construction costs. Many are building workplaces that are completely bespoke, underscoring their intention to continue providing services long-term. 

Offer Impeccable Customer Service

Long-lasting companies have another trick up their sleeve: impeccable customer service. They know that even if technology disrupts their business model, a core of clients will continue to use them because of the high-quality personal service they offer. 

How you provide great customer service depends on your business model. However, it all comes down to the same thing: treating your customers well. If you can find ways to do this better than your competitors, then you will go a long way. 

Adapt To New Technology

Brands that ignore new technology do so at their peril. Those who don’t keep up run the risk of being disrupted by their rivals, and booted out of the market entirely. 

If you can develop your own technology, that’s great. However, even if you can’t, keep a close eye on developments in the market. Follow your rival’s strategies and look for threats coming at you from outside your industry. Don’t be afraid to make significant organizational changes to take advantage of new technologies if the opportunity arises. 

Establish Your Brand

Lastly, if you want a durable company, you need to establish a brand. Doing this makes clients and customers think twice before swapping to a competitor offering a cheaper price. If you can convince them that you offer the best quality in the market, they will flock to you. 

So, which of these principles will you use to build a durable, sustainable business?

Staying Calm When Your Company Has a Crisis

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Being a business owner can be tough. Not only are you responsible for the success of your company, but you are also responsible for the financial lives of all your employees and your own family to boot.

So, it’s fair to say that life as a business owner can be pretty stressful even when things are going well. When a crisis happens, it can be all too easy for business owners to fall apart. Of course, this is the worst thing you can possibly do; you need to stay calm to get your business through.

With that in mind, here are some top tips for staying calm when your company has a crisis:

Take a minute

When your company is plunged into a crisis, it can be tempting to throw yourself right in and start firefighting. It is often better to take a step back, take a minute to breathe deeply or maybe even meditate, and get yourself ready to deal with whatever the issue is. Just taking that moment of calm is often enough to stop you from panicking and overreacting.

Accept it

So your data has been hacked or your office has been flooded. There isn’t anything you can do to change that and the sooner you start accepting it, the sooner you can make plans to put it right. If you go into denial, the problem is only likely to escalate and that will make you panic, even more, when you finally come around, so try to practice acceptance as soon as you can.

Focus on what you can do

If you want to avoid falling into a pit of panic and despair, it is wide to start thinking about what you can practically do. Can you call in flood restoration services to salvage the workplace after a storm? Can you notify your customers that they should change their passwords following a data breach? Focus on what you can do to get back on track and you will soon see that it isn’t as big a disaster as you thought it was.

Seek help

Just because you own the business doesn’t mean you have to do it all alone. In a crisis, people and together, so tell as many of your trusted employees as you can what is going on and work out how you can all help to resolve the situation together. A problem shrewd really is a problem halved and it’s much easier to stay calm when you know that capable people have your back.

Do some disaster planning

Of course, it’s easier to remain calm if you know in advance what you will do in a crisis which is why you should consider doing some disaster planning today before you experience any crises.

If you can keep your head in a crisis, you can steer your company through even the biggest disasters and come out the other side stronger than ever, So, when a crisis happens, remember the above and above all, do your best to remain calm. You got this.

How To Lose Customers In Seconds When They Visit Your Office

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You’ve been tailing a lead for some time and finally convinced them to come in for a consultation. The date is set; you’re waiting in your office, and your new customer walks through the door. It’s an exciting time as you’re ready to close the deal! 

Unfortunately, unbeknownst to you, you’ve already lost this customer. 

Before you’ve even uttered a word, they’re not interested in you anymore. They’ll stay for the consultation to avoid any awkwardness, but their mind has already been made up. 

How? 

How can you lose a customer in seconds without even speaking to them? It all comes down to the first impression they get when they reach your office. If certain things are present, they can instantly decide that this isn’t the business for them. 

Keeping that in mind, it’s good to know how to lose a customer so you can do the complete opposite! So, here’s what will land you in deep water:

A poorly maintained office

You lose loads of possible clients if they walk up to your office and see that it looks awful. The windows are dirty, the outside is unkempt, and things worsen when they enter. 

There’s dust everywhere, overflowing bins, and a weird smell —there’s just generally nothing clean about it. Would you trust a business that presents itself like this and makes absolutely zero effort when it knows a possible customer is coming for a consultation? I wouldn’t!

This is all avoidable with some simple office cleaning. If you can’t do it yourself, hire a company to do it for you. Keep your office spotless and shiny, and you immediately make a better first impression.

No greeting at the door

Your lead appears at your office and stands there looking confused, like that Jon Travolta meme. There’s nobody to greet them or tell them where to go, so they immediately think less of your business and how you treat potential customers. 

Not every business has a receptionist or a lobby for people to wait in. However, the very least you can do is have an access system where people buzz you to let you know they arrive. Now, you can go down and meet them, welcoming them inside. 

If your leads walk in and nobody greets them, it will leave a sour taste in their mouths. 

A weird office atmosphere

You may have a well-maintained office, you may even have someone greeting the lead as they enter. But you can still lose their interest before you’ve said a word. 

As they walk through your office, they notice a weird atmosphere. It’s either too loud or too quiet. A loud office seems way too rowdy and unprofessional, while a quiet one just seems eerie and strange. If the atmosphere in the office isn't good, they start to develop thoughts about you and how you run your company. 

As such, focus on creating a good work environment for everyone. Make your office seem like a place people enjoy working in. This reflects well on your company and can make the lead more likely to convert. 

There you go: how to lose customers in seconds when they visit your office. Avoid the things above to stand a better chance of converting leads and making sales.

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These 3 Things Will Improve The Profitability Of Your Warehouse

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If you have a business that operates out of a warehouse, you’re probably wondering how you can make it as profitable as possible. Primarily, your business model revolves around the idea of storing goods and shipping them out to customers. You may have an online store where people can place orders, then your warehouse team gets the right stuff and it’s sent out. 

So, how can you improve the profitability of a warehouse? There are a few interesting ideas and concepts, and here are three of the best to try: 

Rent out some warehouse space

Are you making the most out of your warehouse space? If you’re leaving shelves unoccupied because you don’t have anywhere near as much stock to fill them, then you’re basically losing money. 

Many small businesses start off like this as they rent a warehouse for the long term. In the future, you may increase your stock and be able to fill up more of the warehouse. For now, you can boost profitability by renting this space out to other small businesses. Let them pay you to keep their goods in your warehouse. 

Smaller companies have an affordable place to store and sort their goods, and you get some extra money on the side for doing pretty much nothing. 

Improve the warehouse layout

You need to have a productive warehouse layout to make it as profitable as can be. This includes using clever things like a warehouse racking system and a one-way movement system throughout the place. 

Why is this beneficial? Well, it means that you can find goods far quicker than ever before. Time isn’t wasted, so you’re able to process and ship orders at a faster rate. It allows you to reduce delivery times, which can encourage more people to purchase things from you. After all, consumers are greedy and they don’t like waiting!

Another efficiency you can add to your warehouse is the use of mobile platforms. Customizable platforms will work in a variety of settings and give you the extra space and access to your warehouse needs.

Theoretically, if you have local customers, you might be able to process orders so quickly that you can deliver them on the same day. It’s only possible when your warehouse layout is perfect!

Implement warehouse technology

You can easily find a good WMS (Warehouse Management System) that helps you make your warehouse more productive. 

The idea of these systems is to use technology to help you figure out the best routes for picking things up, and so on. Some tech can even send out order notices to people on the warehouse floor as soon as they come in, meaning they know exactly where to go and what to pick up. 

Warehouse technology can also reduce the chances of shipping the wrong orders by scanning codes to double-check that you’ve picked up the right thing. Wrong orders are draining for your profits as they mean you waste money having to deal with a return. 

Evidently, these three ideas will definitely help you improve the way your warehouse operates. As a result, this could set you up to make more money. Focus on using all the technologies available, improve your warehouse layout, and rent out any free space that you’re not currently using.

Stopping the Slouches! 4 Ways To Effectively Minimize Office Downtime

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Downtime is one of the biggest killers of productivity across the board. Every company will have its busy times and slower times, and employees usually think about downtime as an opportunity to relax. But this can be very frustrating for managers who want to maximize productivity, so if you are looking to improve employee engagement by maximizing productivity during slow periods, here are a few things for you to consider. 

Starting at the Very Beginning

One of the best ways to minimize downtime or lapses in productivity is to hire the right people at the outset. This is not always a good option but if you're trying to make big changes to the organization, you've got to make sure you are finding the right caliber of employees. There are things you can do at the inception stage such as a pre employment medical check to ensure they are the right type of employee for you, but also ensuring that employees are headstrong enough to spearhead changes on a cultural level. Many employees want to slot into the company, but if you are trying to make big changes hiring people that have the bravery to withstand office politics is vital. 

Offering Training

Cross-training is something that can be very beneficial to employees, especially when we're looking at minimizing downtime during a working day. Giving your employees additional training in another aspect of the business means that they can “hop” onto another station, which helps you to build a stronger workforce but also helps employees to feel more valued. 

Communicate a Downtime Policy

When employees are going through a quiet period, you can benefit from reinforcing the downtime protocol. In many organizations, downtime is just not an option but is where you can incorporate a to-do list of things that need to be completed. When you're creating a downtime to-do list, it should be made up of things that are not urgently needed, but to make sure that these things are done properly, you need to communicate the importance of these tasks during the onboarding process. Hiring new employees means that you have the opportunity to set the tone and build an awareness of these downtime tasks.

Adding Incentives

Incentives are always an excellent way to engage employees. When we encourage employees to focus on those downtime tasks, this will ensure that the tasks are completed but the sense of fulfillment is greater because of the incentives and rewards on offer. For example, a simple reward could be for your employee to leave early. This is something that we could do if the entire day is slow or if there are issues with the equipment. But this may only work if you have salaried employees; if you are paying employees by the hour, the time off may be worth more than the paycheck itself. 

If you are trying to keep your staff motivated during periods of downtime, there are plenty of little things you can do that will make a big difference.

5 Tips to Keep Your Business Premises in Tip-Top Shape

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Maintaining a commercial property is a big job. First, you have to keep the grounds looking nice, but you also have to ensure all equipment is in working order. If you don't have time to do it yourself or are unsure where to start, here are five tips to help get you started!

Perform Regular Maintenance Checks

One of the best ways to keep your business premises in good condition is to perform regular maintenance checks. This means checking for potential problems and addressing them before they can cause any damage. Some things you should check regularly include:

• water pump repair

• electrical wiring and outlets

• plumbing and drainage

• roof and gutters

• windows and doors

• air conditioning and heating unit

• signage and exterior lighting

Suppose you can schedule regular maintenance checks simultaneously each month or year. This will help you stay on top of any potential problems.

Be Proactive About Damages and Maintenance

Business owners should be proactive in addressing any damages on their premises. By being vigilant, business owners can prevent minor issues from becoming more significant problems down the road. Ensure that all aspects of the property are functioning correctly.

Creating a cleaning and upkeep routine is one of the best ways to ensure that your business premises always look their best. By dedicating specific days or times each week to doing general cleaning and maintenance tasks, you can ensure nothing slips through the cracks. This should include things like regular cleaning but also contacting commercial heating services to have your air conditioning systems serviced on a regular basis. This makes it easier to stay on top of any potential problems since you'll be able to spot them early on before they have a chance to become more significant issues.

Stay On Top Of Tenants

Regarding your business premises, it's essential to monitor your tenants. Have a schedule for when they are expected to maintain the property and what they are responsible for. This will help keep things running smoothly and make your building look its best.

It's also essential to conduct regular property inspections, both internally and externally. This will help you quickly identify and fix damage or problems before they become more serious.

Be Prepared For Emergencies

It's essential to have a plan in case of an emergency. Ensure you can access all necessary emergency supplies, such as fire extinguishers, first aid kits, and smoke detectors. Also, ensure your emergency plan considers any special needs or requirements.

Hire A Cleaning Company If Needed

Keeping your business premises clean is essential for several reasons. It will make your space more pleasant, but it can also help maintain a professional image and protect your health. If you're finding that you don't have enough time to keep things tidy on your own, or if the level of cleaning required is beyond your capabilities, consider hiring a professional cleaning company. They'll be able to take care of everything from sweeping and mopping to dusting and sanitizing, leaving your space looking and feeling great. Just be sure to research beforehand to find a reputable company with a good track record.

Maintaining clean and tidy business premises is essential for creating an excellent first impression with clients and ensuring employees feel comfortable working in an organized and pleasant environment.

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How to Keep Hold of Your New Business's Early Customers

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When your business is first starting out, you obviously want to capture as many customers as possible. But gaining customers is only the first challenge; after that, you need to make sure that you keep hold of them and make sure they keep coming back for more. That’s a challenge that lots of new entrepreneurs overlook but that’s a big mistake. Here are some strategies for keeping hold of those early customers.

Stay Friendly and Approachable

First of all, you’ll want to make sure that your business is friendly and approachable at all times. It costs nothing at all to offer a smile and a friendly welcome to customers or potential clients. It immediately sets you off on the right foot and makes your target customers willing to engage and more likely to return to the business in the future as well.

Work to Reduce Friction

It should be one of your top priorities to reduce the amount of friction for the customer when using your services or buying your products. The last thing you should ever want is to make life more difficult for your customers. If you do end up making things more difficult for them, you’re only going to end up losing those customers to other companies that really do make life easier for them.

Ask for Their Feedback and Act On It

It’s always a good idea to ask for the feedback of your customers and to listen to what they have to say. These are the people you’re trying to impress and keep hold of, so it makes sense to want to know what they're thinking and how they feel about the performance of your business. When you get your feedback, make sure you act on it in some way too.

Give Out Free Bonus Items to Customers

If you want to make sure that people stick around and really fall in love with your business, one of the best things you can do is give them something for free. You can create your own merchandise and have it made with the help of wholesale embroidery services, and then give out those promotional items such as t-shirts to your early customers. You could give away merchandise with every purchase, for example.

Stay in Touch

Finally, you should try to make sure that you stay in touch with your customers after they make a purchase. That way, you can ensure they feel cared for and not abandoned as soon as you’ve got their money. There’s definitely a risk of losing customers if they feel that you stop caring as soon as you’ve managed to make a sale.

As you can see, there are plenty of good strategies you can use if you want to make sure that the customers you win in those early weeks and months of your new business are kept hold of for the long term. So try to implement as many of the ideas above and give your startup a more sustainable future.

The Benefits Of A Tidy And Minimal Workspace

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Using external storage units for a business can offer many benefits. Not only does storing stuff away in external units help to tidy up the space, but it can help with staff productivity and more. 

It is easy to find safe and secure external storage space units, such as on places like StorageArea.com. From there, your business can enjoy more space and better organization. Plus, these following benefits.

Staff efficiency

A cleaner and tidier space will streamline your business's processes, as a tidy space equals a tidy mind. 

The more staff are able to focus, with minimal distractions, the more efficient and productive they can be. It is said that staff distractions can significantly reduce the amount of work that is done each day. Hence, minimizing the space by storing stuff in external units will ensure to help staff stay focused.

Offers a better impression to clients

The tidier and cleaner an office is, the more impressive it will look to clients. If a client walks into your office and there is a mess everywhere, then it won’t look great. 

Therefore, you can always keep your office tidy and minimal by storing stuff away in external units. It will guarantee to maximize the space and make it appear clean and tidy at all times.

Happier employees

Likewise, a cleaner and tidier workspace will also likely increase the happiness of employees. Some employees might not mind working in a mess, but others might. 

Therefore, catering to those who it bothers will ensure to make as many employees as happy as possible. Those that do not care if they work surrounded by mess will also not be bothered if there isn’t mess. Therefore, storing stuff away can create a happier business. 

Improve health

The messier and dirtier a space is, the more likely it is to make someone ill. With germs and bacteria lying around, staff can easily pick them up and become poorly time and time again. With less stuff, there will be fewer germs and a much more hygienic work environment. 

Hence, storing items away and keeping the workspace clean and tidy will ensure to help staff avoid illnesses. 

Reduce hazards

Likewise, a messy office can be dangerous. With lots of stuff lying around, employees could fall and seriously harm themselves. Therefore, you can reduce hazards by creating a more minimal and tidy workspace. 

You will no longer need to leave dangerous objects lying around or machinery in hazardous places. Instead, you can free up shelving or cupboard space so that these objects can be stored in a safe place. The things that you remove from these areas to create space can easily be stored away in external storage units. Hence, you will be able to improve the safety of the workspace while making it tidier. 

Using these tips, every business can understand and attain the benefits of creating a tidy and minimal workspace by using external storage units. Storing your things out of sight will make clients and staff happier and safer while boosting productivity.

Improving Staff Retention In Unusual Work Environments

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Finding and retaining the best talent for your business is the key to success. No company can hope to survive long-term if they constantly struggle to keep staff on board. 

Staff retention is a simple statistic that helps a business retain knowledge and expertise and reduce costs. Indeed, when staff resigns, a business must invest in recruitment and training. The process is not only costly, but it is also time-demanding and can significantly affect growth and overall survival. Perks such as healthcare benefits, ongoing training, and recognition can play a crucial role in keeping employees engaged in a typical office environment. 

However, the typical staff retention strategy may not be effective in unusual work environments. Therefore, it becomes essential to consider new ideas to address employees' needs.

Provide tools for remote and on-the-go needs

Whether employees are on a business trip or prefer to work remotely, they need tools fit for the job. Contrary to common beliefs, remote equipment doesn't only include a laptop and a collaborative digital solution. On-the-go equipment can also help employees face unique and unexpected situations such as:

• A doctor attending a conference could use a Philips lumify ultrasound device to help diagnose a fellow traveler

• An IT developer traveling abroad could rapidly fix a damaging bug if they could access the database remotely

Ultimately, employees bring years of experience and knowledge. Being unable to use their knowledge outside the workplace is frustrating and can make them feel trapped. 

Offer unlimited holiday allowance

How much holiday should a business offer? The answer is: It depends on the situation and the employees' needs. Unlimited paid vacations can be a source of stress for companies, as it is a difficult strategy to implement successfully. However, some businesses have been able to introduce irregular days off policies successfully, such as Netflix, LinkedIn, and GitHub. What difference does it make?

• Employees who travel to visit relatives are not more torn between booking holidays for the family or for themselves

• Employees with children can make sure they are available when kids are off school

• Employees can recharge their batteries when they need to

• Employees don't have to worry about sacrificing their paid vacations for non-holiday reasons (such as plumbing repair, doctor appointments, etc.) 

• Employees exposed to high-stress environments need more rest

Don't isolate specific individual needs

Every employee is different. Businesses often try to appeal to families by ensuring parents can work from home when the kids are sick or too young for school. However, these generous and understanding policies don't necessarily apply to single employees or those who have no family. As a result, employees who do not wish to have children may feel somewhat punished for their choices. 

Similarly, employees with a long-term illness may receive more advantages than other employees in terms of work flexibility. Yet, it seems unfair to favor one specific population in the workplace. So, if businesses are willing to introduce benefits to retain category of employees, those benefits should apply to the entire workforce regardless of:

• Gender

• Age

• Health

• Location

• Family status

• Etc. 

Employee retention is the ability to recognize the needs of the team and address those effectively. Consequently, it makes sense for businesses to research and identify what employees in a unique work environment crave, whether it is the ability to use their expertise anywhere or to have the same advantages as specific groups. 

6 Ways to Improve Your Skills as a Young Professional in a Corporate Environment

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To be successful in any field, it is vital to continuously improve your skills. As a young professional working in a corporate environment, there are several things you can do to enhance your abilities and make yourself indispensable. This post will discuss six ways to improve your skills as a young professional.

1) Get involved in company-sponsored training programs.

Many companies offer their employees opportunities to attend workshops, seminars, and other types of training that can help them improve their skills. If your company provides any kind of training program, be sure to take advantage of it. In addition to company-sponsored programs, there are several other ways you can get training and education outside of work. For example, you can take classes at a local community college or university, participate in online courses or MOOCs (massive open online courses), or even attend STL Learning and events related to your field. These activities will allow you to learn new things and expand your skill set.

2) Take on new assignments and responsibilities.

One of the best ways to improve your skills is to challenge yourself with new tasks and projects. If you're always doing the same things at work, you're not going to get better at them. By taking on new assignments, you force yourself to learn new things and step outside your comfort zone. This will help you improve your skills, but it will also make you more valuable to your company. Your boss will be impressed by your willingness to take on additional responsibility and may give you more opportunities for advancement in the future.

3) Seek out mentors and role models.

Having a mentor or role model to look up to can be extremely helpful when improving your skills. Mentors can provide you with guidance, support, and advice when you need it most. They can also introduce you to new concepts and ideas you may not have been exposed to otherwise. If you don't have a mentor at work, try reaching out to someone in your field who you admire and see if they're willing to meet with you for coffee or lunch. You never know what kind of impact a mentor can have on your career until you've had one.

4) Read industry-related books and articles.

Another great way to learn new things and improve your skills is to read industry-related books and articles. This can be anything from a book on leadership to an article about the latest trends in your field. By reading, you expose yourself to new ideas and information that you can use to improve your work. Make it a habit to read at least one industry-related book or article every week, and you'll be surprised at how much your skills will improve over time. You can also try listening to podcasts and watching webinars related to your industry. Podcasts and webinars are great because they're usually short and to the point, so you can easily listen or watch them while working or commuting.

5) Network with other professionals.

Networking is not just about meeting new people and exchanging business cards. It's also about building relationships with other professionals in your field. These relationships can be highly beneficial when you're improving your skills. Other professionals can provide you with advice, feedback, and support when you need it most. They can also introduce you to new concepts and ideas you may not have been exposed to otherwise. So don't be afraid to reach out to other professionals and start building relationships. You never know what kind of impact they can have on your career.

6) Practice, practice, practice.

The best way to improve your skills is to practice them as often as possible. For example, if you're a writer, write every day. If you're a salesperson, make sales calls every day. If you're a designer, work on designing something every day. The more you practice your skills, the better you'll become at them. And the better you become at them, the more valuable you'll be to your company. So if you want to improve your skills and make yourself indispensable, start practicing today. Additionally, don't be afraid to ask for feedback from your boss or co-workers. They can give you valuable insights into your strengths and weaknesses, which can help you focus your practice time on the areas that need the most improvement.

Remember that improving your skills is essential to success as a young professional in a corporate environment. By following the tips listed above, you can give yourself a significant advantage over your peers. So get out there and start learning new things today!