Work

Enticing Potential Employees: 4 Strategies for Making Your Company an Attractive Workplace

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Attracting new and qualified employees can often be a challenging and complex process. There are many factors to consider when recruiting new employees, such as the background, qualifications, and educational history you are looking for. Many qualified applicants are searching for specific qualities in companies when job hunting. Therefore, not only will you need to be aware of the type of employees you are searching for, but you will also need to ensure that you have created a company culture that is conducive to their needs. The following information provides four helpful strategies you may want to consider in order to make your company an attractive workplace for job seekers.

Create a Desirable Company Culture

You should strive to create a desirable company culture by developing an environment that promotes innovation, inclusion, and diversity. This will allow employees to think freely and creatively to come up with new solutions to business problems. It will also show that the company is ethical in its hiring and promotion strategies. Everyone should feel like a valuable asset to the company, and employees should be encouraged to be respectful to each other despite their differences. All of these factors combined should help to create a company culture that attracts the top talent and discourages high employee turnover rates.

Offer Competitive Wages and Benefits

You will also need to make sure that you are offering competitive wages and benefits to your employees. The top talent wants to work for a company that values them and invests in their potential and professional success. Therefore, you should encourage their growth and always strive to reward hard work.

Make Ethical Decisions

Your company should strive to create a positive and ethical reputation for itself. This can be achieved through manufacturing products in an ethical manner that doesn’t damage the environment or communities. It can also be helpful to give back to your local communities through charitable endeavors and to listen to the feedback and concerns of your customers in order to provide them with the best products and services.

Become More Eco-friendly

Many companies are making a shift towards becoming more eco-friendly. This is something all businesses should consider because the health of our ecosystems is vital to our future. Ways you can reduce your carbon footprint and make more environmentally friendly decisions include reducing your energy and water usage, manufacturing products in a way that causes less harm to the environment, and disposing of waste in the proper manner through research and by hiring professionals, such as aerosol disposal services.

Overall, there are many ways you can make your company a more attractive option for talented and qualified applicants. You just need to strive to be ethical and compliant and to invest in the future of your employees. The aforementioned tips make excellent starting points and there are always ways to improve and grow in order to become a better company for your employees.

Guest author, Lizzie Weakley is a freelance writer from Columbus, Ohio. She went to college at The Ohio State University where she studied communications. In her free time, she enjoys the outdoors and long walks in the park with her 3-year-old husky Snowball.  @LizzieWeakley

4 Ways to Create a Productive Workplace for Your Employees

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Productivity in the workplace starts with creating an inspiring environment where employees are motivated to do their best work. This sort of atmosphere is one that is encouraging, supportive, and authentic. Curious as to how you can maximize productivity in the workplace? Read on.

Know the Difference between Productivity and Efficiency

While both productivity and efficiency have their place in the working world, the most productive businesses know that productivity focuses on performance rather than streamlining resources. With efficiency, companies focus on cutting costs and reducing resources by any means necessary. While saving money is important, business focused on boosting productivity must invest in their employees and their workplace. For example, instead of trying to be more efficient by cutting out funding for office cleaning, employers focused on productivity will find a way to improve their bottom line by encouraging their employees to do work more effectively.

Tap into Employees’ Purpose

The most productive workers have a deeper reason for why they come to work. While getting paid is part of why they do what they do, it isn’t the driving force that pushes them to work hard. Employees that really believe in what their company is doing will always give more of an effort than an individual that is just looking to collect a paycheck. Employers that are able to feed this need for passion for their team members will ensure that they feel fulfilled doing their work, which will lead to an increase in productivity.

Compensate Employees Well

To do their best work, employees need to know they are valued. What better way than to compensate them accordingly? Employers that pay their team fairly and consistently will always find that their employees are more dedicated to their jobs than they would be otherwise.

Prioritize Work-Life Balance

Instead of leaving the act of finding a work-life balance up to employees, employers that take the initiative to establish a well-defined work-life balance will be able to give their workers a better sense of personal well-being. Being able to sufficiently separate life from work will reduce the risk of burnout, allowing employees to come into work more refreshed and ready to get work done.

When employees do come into work, they should feel that they are coming into a place that is filled with positive energy. Employers can make the actual experience of working more enjoyable by implementing various practices like hot desking and remote working to make their employees feel that they have some flexibility with how they get work done.

Productivity in the workplace isn’t something that happens by accident. Employers must be intentional about creating a work culture that cultivates passion and motivation. Use these four tips to take your employees to new heights of productivity.

Emma is a business strategist-turned blogger. She lives in Auckland, New Zealand. Emma is a  passionate traveler and yoga aficionado. She is in love with coffee, interior design, books, and good vibes. 🙂 

How Can You Be Happier in Your Working Life?

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For many of us, work is predominantly a means to an end. Let’s face it, if you won the lottery tomorrow you’d probably hand in your notice. However, until that happens, your career should be more than just a way to pay the bills. It’s not to suggest you need to love your job so much that you leap out of bed every Monday morning (because honestly, that’s just not realistic), but you do need to find something rewarding or interesting in what you do. We live in a world that’s heavily based around work, and a huge part of our lives are dedicated to it. If you’re not content while you’re working, unhappiness is sure to seep out into other areas of your life. Here are some of the ways you can be that bit happier in work.

Live a healthier lifestyle

Living a healthy life in general can massively improve the way you feel at work. When you eat well and get enough sleep, are properly hydrated and exercise enough, you’ll feel bright, focused and motivated. You might be excellent at your job, but your poor lifestyle choices can leave you feeling sluggish and foggy minded. Most of us these days work sedentary jobs in some form or another, and so spend a large portion of the day almost completely inactive. So doing what you can in your spare time can be really beneficial. Walk or cycle to work, get yourself a gym membership, go on hikes and play sports at the weekends. Not only is this good for longevity and overall health, but you’ll more than likely improve your performance at work too. When you’re working a career you really care about (or are doing all you can to get promoted to where you want to be) then this is something not to overlook.

Get your morning routine right

Your morning can really set the tone for the rest of the day. If every morning you’re waking up late, in a rush, struggling to find what you need and making it into the workplace by the skin of your teeth then it’s going to leave you feeling anxious and stressed- not great for productivity. A few simple changes can really start every day off on a good footing, and it’s not at all difficult or complicated. Sort your lunch and work bag for the next day before you go to bed. Make sure your clothes are clean and ironed and have everything laid out for when you get up. If you have a bath or shower before bed, you save yourself a few extra minutes in the morning. Plan your breakfast and make sure you have the ingredients you need so you can get up and eat, instead of putting it off and being ravenous all morning. If you know your car is low on fuel, sort it the night before rather than waiting until the morning and giving yourself an extra thing to do. These simple preparations ahead of time mean you get get up, get ready and start your day feeling fresh and organised. You could put on some uplifting music, stretch and repeat a positive mantra to really get yourself in the right frame of mind.

Change careers

Your career might have once been a perfect fit for you. Perhaps you’re living out a childhood ambition, or maybe you got interested in it later on and managed to snag the job of your dreams. However, people change, and our interests and values can really move on over the years. If you’re in a job that was once a good fit but no longer is, you probably aren’t as happy as you could be. Maybe you want to do something that makes a genuine difference, such as teaching or healthcare and are no longer purely motivated by money. Maybe you’ve developed an interest and would like to pursue it as a career, it could be anything from design to psychology to engineering. Changing careers is a bold move, but something that could make you much happier in the long run. It will almost always start with study, when you’re moving over to do something new then you need to gain some qualification and certification in that area. If you’re in a position to resign and start university full time and completely commit then you’ll get it all done much more quickly. However, that’s not realistic for everyone. Thankfully there are online courses you can do in your free time in a completely flexible way, enabling you to earn qualifications in any area you’d like. From full degrees and postgraduate qualifications to diplomas, HNDs and other certification, find out what you’d need to get started in the new field. Gaining experience is also extremely valuable, chances are you’d need to do this on a voluntary basis. Find a company that’s willing to take you on as a volunteer so you can shadow an existing worker and they can teach you some of the skills and experience that you’ll need. You could also attend training days and other formal events to boost your skills and network if needed. All these kinds of things show an employer that you’re serious and willing to get out there and do what you need to do to get your dream job. Working a career you’re passionate about will bring you excitement, give you job satisfaction and generally make you a happier person all round.

Start your own business

Do you have an entrepreneurial head on your shoulders? Perhaps you have a great idea for a business but are yet to do anything about it. If you want a change of career but don’t fancy working for someone else then why not become the boss? If you’re new to business you could start with a franchise since you get to run your own venture but get a lot of support. Otherwise, go it alone but do plenty of research before time to help improve your chances of success. It can be smart to gain a qualification of some kind in business, leadership, marketing or another topic linked to the running of a company. You will need to do plenty of market research of your product or service before launching so that you know it’s something that people will buy. You’ll need to find the right employees, as well as provide them a good working space, this article 11 Tips For A Happy And Productive Office Environment explains how to do this. There’s a lot that goes into it but don’t get overwhelmed, you can always start small and grow organically. You could even begin right from your home, and move into commercial premises once things have picked up and your turning a profit. There’s less risk involved this way, as you’re avoiding many of the overhead costs involved in starting a business. Instead of hiring employees, you’d outsource and utilise third party companies, only opening your own department and finding the your own workers once you can afford to do so.

Start a side hustle

Even if you don’t plan on going into business full time, it’s always worth having a side hustle. Ideally, something related in some way to your career helps you to gain more skills and earn money, but in a fun way. You could write and monetise a blog, or work on freelancing websites. You could buy and sell products for a profit, or make your own products. If things go well it’s something you could do full time later down the line if you wanted to, so it gives you more options. And a second income source is never a bad thing.

Set goals

Regardless of what you’re doing in your career, it’s so important to have goals. Many people start feeling unhappy at work as they fall into a rut, they stop improving their skills and after being in a position for a long time, you can start to stagnate. Look for ways to move onto the next rung of the career ladder, or seek new opportunities if your current role has no progression. Having a general idea of what you want from your career and how you’re going to get there ensures you stay sharp and motivated. Your goals will probably change over time, our priorities in life are constantly shifting depending on what’s going on. For example, an aspiration you once had might no longer fit when you have a family as you might prefer something less fast paced. Or on the flipside, having a family might motivate you to reach higher job roles to earn more money. It’s all relative, so set goals but stay flexible. Look back on them at least once a year to check where you’re at, what you need to do next or whether you need to alter your path.

How do you think you could be happier at work? What changes would you need to make?

Why Coworking Spaces Are Perfect For Entrepreneurs

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The coworking space has been described as many things. For one, it is known as a great place that can help foster relationships that lead to collaboration. It is also known to be a very functional space that is one of the most affordable office plans around today.

However, there is a reason the coworking space is more than trending. It is one of the fastest growing sectors in Australia’s real estate market. In fact, it got its popularity through the number of start-ups that found it to be the perfect place to work and meet other professionals. Take a look at Servcorp’s coworking spaces in Australia by clicking on the following link at https://www.servcorp.com.au/en/coworking/ and looking at the various amenities on offer.

Continue reading to learn why coworking spaces are an ideal solution for entrepreneurs to take their business to new heights.

Access Without Expense

While not the most expensive real estate market, Australia’s rents can be pretty steep, especially the closer you move to some of its urban centres. The coworking space, alternatively, provides entrepreneurs of all budgets the chance to work in prestigious locations around the country while saving a lot on office overhead. The coworking space usually provides businesses with all of the amenities of conventional office space, and the only difference is that the office is shared space.

A Platform For Making Connections

An entrepreneur is always on the search for relationships that will connect him/her to new relationships. These business relationships are going to provide the leverage and growth needed for a new venture. Relationships fostered in the coworking space can potentially lead to collaboration and lead to building multiple teams in the space. The coworking space is fertile ground for establishing a framework for partnership.

Inclusive Agenda

The coworking space is one of the few spaces that engender community. If the person fits in with community members, it is very easy to get pulled into a community that can be very supportive. Not only in terms of developing business relationships, but the coworking space can be a great resource. With a diverse range of professions and backgrounds in a space, the entrepreneur benefits from just being exposed to a variety of experience and information. More importantly, the coworking space’s emphasis on community can pull entrepreneurs struggling to gain traction in the community a means to do so.

Access To The Worldwide Landscape

The entrepreneur also has access to the online community through coworking spaces internet connection. The online community can be a place to perform research, to build your company’s brand, and to connect with your public using social media marketing. In fact, industrious entrepreneurs can manipulate the online platform, even creating a presence by building their own website that can do a number of tasks.

Tasks related to taking payments, allowing clients and customers to have an account online, and allowing the general public to complete a number of tasks can also be done in the coworking space. The only thing the online platform does is extend your reach into communities outside of the geographical location. This reach also lends itself to being able to tap into worldwide talent, which can give you more choice in whom you chose to hire.

The Traction Needed For Success

The coworking space can give businesses the traction they need to launch their ventures. The person only needs to come to the office with their best interpersonal skills to do well in the coworking space. Moreover, being able to access resources in the space and online makes it possible to leverage business potential.

Enhancing Communication In Your Modern Business

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Year after year, the landscape of business changes. Becoming more modernized to suit the needs of the next generation, businesses must adapt to a new way of operation. One of the biggest trends seen in recent years, is the concept of a flexible work arrangement; more employees are opting to work beyond the traditional hours of 9-5, and often choose to work remotely all together. With change comes the need to adapt. Here are three ways to further incorporate technology into your workforce that facilitate stronger communication.

Go Wireless and Unify

Gone are the days of coming into the office and working from your hardwired desktop computer and phone system. Employees are constantly on the go. Whether they’re collaborating in meeting rooms or working from out-of-office locations, your employees need to be able to access their work and team members at their fingertips. Start by considering replacing your phone systems and opting for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Calls through VoIP work by converting voice from analog to a digital signal. Basically, all your employees need is a connection to the internet. If you’re seriously considering VoIP, look into a complete unified communications package. Aside from your phone services, you can include your other tools like web and video conferencing, team messaging, and screen sharing. You can customize your unified suite to include whatever your company needs.

Digitally Manage Projects

Maintain the trend of going digital by looking into online business productivity software. When you’re able to track project status, you are more likely to increase communication amongst team members. Productivity software holds all stakeholders accountable for their contribution to any given initiative. Managers and team members can track goals and deadlines in real time, therefore making it easy to identify when extra assistance and mentorship is necessary. This process translates into larger business productivity; with teams practicing frequent collaboration to achieve goals, and seeking continuous learning opportunities to develop new skills. The ability to track individual processes will further motivate your workforce while making them more alert and hard working.

Create a Digital Workplace

Beyond tracking your employees’ productivity, you should be seeking to incorporate channels that facilitate the type of teamwork you’re looking to encourage. Look into incorporating a digital workplace. Social intranet software is becoming a more widely known concept. Providing employees with digital platforms allows colleagues to work and manage tasks, further streamlining their working relationship. Digital workplaces allow for members to share documents, collaborate on content and provide real time updates for the status of their work. Teams that work closely together can even create sub spaces to further organize projects and communication.

No matter your field of business, the right tools can help employees gain a better understanding for each other and the work they’re doing. This correlates to an increase in productivity by allowing employees to work more efficiently; translating into the achievement of business goals.

Author Bio:

Cameron Parish is a business enthusiast who actively seeks opportunities to share insight on communication.

The Importance of Staying Hydrated While Working at Home

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Working remotely from home is often as mentally consuming as working onsite, but it gives you more control over your working conditions, timing and breaks. For this reason, you have to make sure you manage your food and fluid intake in order to stay productive. Research conducted at the Indian Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences shows that only 2% of dehydration will negatively affect cognitive functions like short-term memory, reasoning and hand-eye coordination, although they also state that a mere 1% is enough to lower your intellectual performance.

How to drink enough water at home

Remote workers have to mind their fluid intake in order to prevent mild dehydration, which can be difficult because it’s easy to become absorbed in the work and forget about everything else. Many use the old trick of placing a bottle or a big cup of water by their computer or on their working desk, in order to remember to drink some every now and then. This is a good idea, just make sure to use a capped bottle or a cup with a lid on if you are working with materials that could be damaged by an accidental spill, such as blueprints or cardboard models.

Some workers opt for tap water, while others stay they prefer mineral water or spring water because it is healthier. In fact, bottled water tends to be safer than tap water, but the main downside is that it is more expensive. Since the suggested daily water intake is 9 glasses for women and 12 glasses for men, buying spring water is an expense you have to consider when planning your monthly finances. Mineral and spring water also have ionized minerals that help improve your cognitive functions.

Best drinks to order when working at a cafe

Many remote workers and freelancers like to step by their favorite cafe – or a new one every day if they are traveling workers – and spend a couple hours working there. Some actually focus better and produce more when working at a cafe, and ordering a large cup of a nice beverage helps them stay hydrated. Now, not all of them know that some drinks are better than others for their hydration. Coffee, tea and sodas have a high percentage of water, but many have caffeine, which acts as a diuretic (a dehydrating agent). So decaf drinks are more recommendable in these cases. Also, juice fruits and milk-based drinks tend to have a lesser percentage of water than infusions, so they are not as good in that regard.

Food that hydrates you

Drinking water is not the only way to stay hydrated. Many foods are very rich in water, so if you eat them at lunch or during your breaks, you can add up to your daily fluid intake. Fruits such as grapes, watermelon and grapefruit are among the most hydrating aliments you can eat. Soup and Jell-O are also big sources of water. Interestingly enough, many types of meat such as beef and chicken, have up to 60% of water, so a hamburger at lunch or a nice hot pot for the winter can be just as great as a glass of water.

Staying hydrated is not as difficult as you may think, but it’s certainly very important to keep you at the top of your game. Make sure to drink enough water and use these hydration hacks to keep yourself productive, awake and making the best out of your remote working hours.

Guest Author, Jenny Holt, is a former HR executive turned freelance writer, who now spends more time with her young family and ageing, but ever eager Labrador, Rover.

Why health incentives are a work perk you shouldn’t overlook

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When it comes to considering a new job, most people think first of benefits such as salary or paid time off. They’ll use those as the only measurement when considering whether to take what’s offered, or whether they should push harder when they bargain.

But here’s the thing: There are other tangibles that make just as much of an impact on your daily life as do salary and vacation or sick time. For example, what about not ever needing that sick time because your employer has helped you do whatever it takes to be as healthy as possible? Have you ever considered the idea of negotiating health benefits in order to achieve that end?

If you haven’t, you should. Health incentives—whatever you have and whatever you can negotiate—can help you not only feel better but reduce your out-of-pocket costs. Here’s what to consider as you review them.