Author: anwaryusef

Anwar Y. Dunbar is a Regulatory Scientist. Being a naturally curious person, he is also a student of all things. He earned his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Michigan and his Bachelor’s Degree in General Biology from Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU). Prior to starting the Big Words Blog Site, Anwar published and contributed to numerous research articles in competitive scientific journals reporting on his research from graduate school and postdoctoral years. After falling in love with writing, he contributed to the now defunct Examiner.com, and the Edvocate where he regularly wrote about: Education-related stories/topics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Financial Literacy; as well as conducted interviews with notable individuals such as actor and author Hill Harper. Having many influences, one of his most notable heroes is author, intellectual and speaker, Malcolm Gladwell, author of books including Outliers and David and Goliath. Anwar has his hands in many, many activities. In addition to writing, Anwar actively mentors youth, works to spread awareness of STEM careers, serves on the Board of Directors of the Friends of the David M. Brown Arlington Planetarium, serves as Treasurer for the JCSU Washington, DC Alumni Chapter, and is active in the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace Ministry at the Alfred Street Baptist Church. He also tutors in the subjects of biology, chemistry and physics. Along with his multi-talented older brother Amahl Dunbar (designer of the Big Words logos, inventor and a plethora of other things), Anwar is a “Fanboy” and really enjoys Science-Fiction and Superhero movies including but not restricted to Captain America Civil War, Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Prometheus. He is a proud native of Buffalo, NY.

How to Boost Your Brand for Business Success

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. One of the most critical aspects of one’s business is it’s brand. Customers need to connect with your brand visually in addition to the products and or services you provide. The following contributed post is entitled, How to Boost Your Brand for Business Success.

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Branding is an often overlooked area among business owners, as its value is underestimated by many companies. Smaller businesses may argue that they aren’t big enough to create a brand of any importance. However, when branding is done correctly, it can offer significant benefits to companies of all sizes.

Why Branding Matters

Every business wants to be noticed, to stand out from its competitors, and attract the most customers. Branding offers a solution that enables companies to achieve this. Businesses that operate in a highly competitive marketplace, offering similar products to their competitors, need something extra to help them stand out. Branding is a tool that can be used by companies to differentiate their offering and add additional value to their products and services.

Branding is about so much more than having an attractive logo; branding is about communicating with your target market and making them want to be associated with your brand. The power of branding is the reason that some people will only be seen in certain makes of sneakers, or will only buy a car from a particular manufacturer. Branding extends beyond the product itself. The decision to buy a brand is influenced by the customer’s perception of the brand. This emotional connection toward certain brands is the reason that consumers will happily pay more for branded items, as they are buying more than the product itself, they are also purchasing a connection to the brand and the values that it represents.

Building a Brand

As mentioned above, creating a successful brand is more than just logo design. Branding encompasses both aesthetics and values. To be successful, brands need a personality. Personality is created through both its look and the values that it represents. Here are some of the main elements to consider when building your brand:

What do You Want Your Brand to Say About Your Business?

Before you get started on implementing a branding strategy, you will need to consider what you want from your brand. What would you like the brand to say about your business? Do you want the brand to communicate that you are an ethical business stocking natural products? Maybe you want to focus on breaking into the luxury goods market. Whatever you are aiming for, you need to ensure that your branding embodies it. Knowing what you want from your brand will inform the way that the brand looks and what it represents.

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Design

The visual element of your brand is one of its main features. The design that you select for your brand will be used on everything, including your signage, your packaging, and your promotional material, so getting it right is essential. Creating the visual elements of your brand yourself can be risky if you are not a trained designer. A professional standard of graphic design is needed to make your branding successful, so calling in some help from the professional is a good idea. A graphic design company will be skilled in knowing what works and what doesn’t and will be able to come up with fresh ideas you may not have considered before. The Timmermann Group offer a specialist graphic design service, check them out to see how they can help with your branding.

When considering the design of your branded materials, it is essential to select your corporate color scheme carefully. Thinking about the connotations of the colors that you use is vital, as your color choice can help to reinforce your brand. For example, eco-friendly businesses typically choose green within their color scheme as it strengthens their eco-credentials.

Brand Values

For a brand to be successful and to engage customers enough to make them want to buy its products over and over again, it needs to convey more than the benefits of the product itself. A successful brand has personality and engages customers on an emotional level. The desire to be associated with a brand and what it stands for motivates consumers to buy it.

Customer service and the quality of the product are, of course, vital components for the success of a brand. A product that does not perform well will not be able to retain customers. However, when all things are equal in a competitive market place, brand values become particularly important to gain a competitive edge.

A company should live and breathe its values; they should be at the core of every decision that a business makes. This kind of authenticity is something that consumers crave in a world packed with mass-produced goods. A brand that aligns with its core values can grow a strong base of like-minded consumers, eager to be seen with its products and the kudos that they bring.

Brand Recognition

Transforming a brand into a household name is something that most company’s dream about. When your brand name becomes synonymous with the products that you produce, you know that you are onto a winner. Companies with enviable levels of brand equity can be recognized merely by their typeface or their corporate color scheme without any mention of the brand name at all.

Creating a brand that everyone has heard about doesn’t happen overnight. Building up brand recognition takes time and plenty of focused effort to achieve.

To achieve brand recognition, your branding efforts need to be consistent. A consistent and cohesive brand identity is far more likely to grow into a brand with high levels of brand recognition. This is because keeping all of your branding efforts consistent speeds up the brand recognition process.

To ensure that your branding is consistent in all areas, you may want to draw up brand guidelines to protect the brand. Brand guidelines will breakdown everything from where logos should be positioned on business correspondence through to the tone of voice used in marketing materials, the website, and on the company’s social media pages.

Creating a strong brand and developing brand recognition take time and lots of effort to get right, but the results in the long term are more than worthwhile.

4 Careers To Consider That Will Keep You On Your Feet

Two key focuses of my blog are Career Discussions and Professional Development/Skills. For some individuals, there comes a time for a career change. There numerous exhilarating careers which take place outside of the office and require small or large-scale movement. The following contributed post is entitled, 4 Careers To Consider That Will Keep You On Your Feet.

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Are you looking for a different type of job? It’s possible that you’re not suited for a career where you’re going to be stuck behind a desk. Not everyone is a match for these types of positions and that’s okay. Does it mean that you’re going to be stuck in a dead-end position or that you are not going to be fulfilled on your professional journey? While it is going to depend on the position you choose, in most cases, an active position can be just as rewarding as those where you spend most of your time in the office.

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Law Enforcement

You might want to consider working in law enforcement. This will be the perfect career for you if you have a passion for justice and are keen to help serve your local community. Pay levels can be strong too, particularly as you rise through the ranks. It is important that you receive the right training for this type of position. However, police training is available from numerous companies and can easily be arranged before or during your career path.

Fitness Instructor

Of course, if you want a lighter career path that has a little less pressure and stress attached to the role then becoming a fitness instructor could be a great choice for you. As a fitness instructor, you will be able to push your body to reach its max potential and encourage other people to do the same. You will also be able to stay on your feet for most of the day and thus remain in fantastic shape. It’s a tiring career but it is one that can provide tremendous benefits. Particularly, when you start to think about setting up your own brand or running your own full fitness business. You can branch out too, providing online support as well as gym sessions.

Travel Wonder

If you’re looking for one of the best and most fulfilling active careers, then you should definitely consider a life traveling to places unknown. Now, you’re probably wondering whether you can earn money while traveling. You definitely can but it won’t work for everyone. There is an element of luck involved and yes, it does help if you are conventionally attractive. However, more than this, you need to have a great personality or charm that people can connect with. They have to want to follow you on your journey. This will earn you online followers and will lead to money-making opportunities.

Journalist

Finally, you might think that journalism is precisely the type of career that is going to keep you behind the desk. But this is not the case. The reality is that you will be out in the real world, talking to people, connecting with people and running interviews. You will actually only spend a few hours in the office at any given time in most journalism roles. It provides a lot of the freedom that people often seek when pursuing a different type of career.

We hope this helps you find the perfect active career for you.

How You Can Help A Friend With Cancer

A key focus of my blog is Health/Wellness. Most people will be touched by cancer in their lifetime whether it’s ourselves or a loved on. In addition to actually managing the condition itself, there are psychological aspects as well for both the patient and their loved ones. The following contributed post is entitled, How You Can Help A Friend With Cancer.

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You can hope that everything is going to run smoothly in life, but the fact of the matter is that you can’t always predict what’s going to happen. And eventually, the sheer randomness of life will dictate that something bad happens. Recent studies have shown that around 1 in 2 people will be affected by cancer at one stage in their life, which makes it extremely likely that you’ll know someone close to you that has to battle the disease. In this blog, we’re going to take a look at a few ways how you can help your friend after they are diagnosed.

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Process Your Emotions

Before you try to help your friend, or even before you visit them, it’s important that you take some time to process your own emotions. It’s understandable that this will be tough for you, so don’t feel guilty about looking after yourself too. Ultimately, once you’ve processed your own reaction, you’ll be able to help your friend more. When you visit them, the focus should be on them, not you. Ultimately, if you’re in a good place, then you’ll be able to be the rock of support and strength that they need.

Educate Yourself

One of the best ways you can help a friend who is suffering from cancer is by educating yourself about what they’re going through. There are a lot of misconceptions surrounding cancer, and by gathering as much information as you can, you’ll be able to chat with your friend about their diagnosis. People who are suffering from cancer can often feel alone since no-one else knows what they’re going through. As such, educating yourself is one of the more considerate gifts that you can give them.

Helping Out

One of the less-discussed difficulties of going through cancer treatment is trying to stay on top of all the regular tasks that comprise life. Things like preparing meals, cooking, and the like take a backseat, but they still have to be handled. This is where you can come in. You could help to prepare meals, using cancer fighting foods as ingredients. It’ll help to free up some of their time, and will also ensure that they’re eating well. You can also look at helping to tidy their home when you’re visiting.

Room For Sadness

One of the more difficult aspects of managing a relationship with a friend going through an illness is trying to figure out whether to keep things light or to embrace the sadness. While your friend should set the tone, it’s generally best that you don’t try to avoid the sad feelings. They are present, after all. Some people try to act as if everything is fine, but this can only help to make the friend feel alone.

Stay Yourself

Finally, try your best to stay yourself. This is a unique, unwanted situation, but it’s not as if it has to change everything. Do your best to stay yourself: your friend will appreciate having a familiar presence in their life.

The Importance Of Energy Efficiency In New Home Design

A key focus of my blog is Financial Literacy/Money. A significant purchase for most individuals and families is that of their primary residence. One way to save money on your home, particularly when you’re having it designed is the make it energy efficient. Creating a home that’s environmentally friendly and which will save you money in the long run is a win-win. The following contributed post is entitled, The Importance Of Energy Efficiency In New Home Design.

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When it comes to new home design, there are two words that are increasingly cropping up in conversation ‘energy efficiency’. There’s more focus than ever on reducing the carbon footprint of the building process and creating sustainable energy-efficient homes that are better for the environment and more comfortable for people to live in, so what does the future look like for energy-efficient homes?

What does energy efficiency actually mean?

Energy efficiency, when used in the context of building design, means constructing or upgrading a building to reduce the amount of energy required for it to provide its basic services. Put simply, using less energy for everyday processes such as heating and lighting. Older houses have many inefficiencies which are now being corrected during renovations using up-to-date materials that can provide better results. Newer homes, on the other hand, are now being designed in such ways that their inefficiencies are removed from the get-go.

What are the benefits of an energy-efficient home?

Building regulations are in place around the world to try and ensure a minimum standard for energy efficiency in all-new home designs. But prioritizing energy efficiency is about more than simply being compliant.

● Solving an economical issue
Although energy efficiency can greatly benefit the pocket of the home-owner it is also about reducing reliance on resources such as oil, coal and gas, which are becoming critical economic issues. Homes and other buildings account for nearly 40% of total energy use in the United States, making it a key area for the government to tackle.

● Saving home-owners money
An energy-efficient home can save the home-owner money on wasted energy, particularly in areas such as heating costs.

● Reducing greenhouse emissions

Energy production directly contributes to the creation of harmful greenhouse gas emissions that are currently accelerating the rate of global warming. Energy-efficient homes demand less energy production, thus directly reducing the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced by running them. Reducing emissions has both local and global effects, reducing pollution and the impact on the environment.

Building an energy-efficient home

The easiest way to ensure energy efficiency within a home is to tackle it at each stage of the building project, making new-build housing sites a key area of attention. Contractors, builders and surveyors such as https://thurlow.co.nz/ are all aligning with regards to the importance of energy-efficiency in their line of work. Some of the things to consider when building an energy-efficient home include:

● Using correct insulation
● Weatherproofing the building
● Using high-quality windows with a low environmental impact
● Installing quality systems that last a lifetime
● Monitoring energy performance through audits and making adjustments when necessary
● Using materials whose production has less impact on the environment
● Trying to use renewable energy sources when possible such as solar or wind power.

Doing your part

Although energy-efficiency is easiest to consider during the new build stage, we can all do our part to reduce our energy consumption. Consider small home upgrades that can reduce the amount of energy that escapes from your home. Make more environmentally conscious decisions when purchasing new appliances paying attention to their energy efficiency ratings and adopt more eco-friendly habits.

Finding Success In Real Estate Investing

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Real Estate is a powerful wealth-building tool for those who know how to use it. There are several keys that separate the successful real estate investors from the unsuccessful ones. The following contributed post is entitled, Finding Success In Real Estate Investing.

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Real estate is not as much of a maze as some make it out to be. It is undeniably an expensive way to start investing, and there are some easy ways to slip up and make poor choices with your investments. However, as far as assets go, the property market is reliable right now, and here are a few tips on how to get the best out of it.

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Treat it like a business
As with land investments, it’s a good idea to know where you’re planning to go with your real estate investing. You are going to want to set financial goals and layout a plan on how you’re going to get there. This means knowing how much money you’re going to spend and budgeting for not only the purchase and selling process but the marketing and overheads on services like working with property management or real estate agents. It also means building relationships that can help you grow your opportunities. Don’t treat real estate investments like a savings fund you can sit on, you’re going to want to be active in growing and managing it to the best possible outcome.

Have a plan for every property
There are a variety of different ways to make money with property investments, and different properties might fit different strategies. As such, consider the kind of property you’re purchasing and how it might be most likely to make money. When it comes to luxury spaces like The Towers, for instance, then offering long-term lease options or using it as a vacation rental might make the most sense. Home renovation flips are another popular way to make money on real estate and are often better saved for houses that are in an area that starting to become more financially successful and developed. Meanwhile, long-term residential rentals are becoming much more common and reliable in areas that might not be high cost, but still attractive enough to bring in people who want to live there but can’t afford the mortgage.

Don’t be afraid to outsource
When it comes to leases, rentals, and tenants, you don’t necessarily have to handle all of the property management side of the business yourself. If you’re new to property investment but you want to make sure that you’re managing them as effectively as possible and don’t mind spending a share of the income, then property management teams like Savills can ensure that all of your and your tenants’ needs are taken care of. For that reason, it’s a good idea to do plenty of networking in the real estate space and get to know the different service providers who know their areas and could potentially offer you some benefit.

If you have the capital, then real estate investing can be a sensible way to make use of it. You just need to ensure that you have the plan and the commitment to go through with it. It’s an investment that’s easy to lose money on if you take your eye off the ball, so ensure you don’t do that.

The Future Of Data Storage is Way Crazier Than You Think

A key focus of my blog is Technology. Our world is becoming more and more data driven than ever before. As such, more and more ways to store data are being created. The following contributed post is entitled, The Future Of Data Storage is Way Crazier Than You Think.

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The last ten years have seen something of a revolution in data storage technologies. Solid-state disks in server farms were a pipe dream a decade ago, but exponential improvements in the technology now mean that it is something that the majority of companies use. The price per gigabyte fell below $1 quite some time ago, and now storage costs are competitive with traditional HDD solutions.

The future of storage, however, looks like it is going to be way more exciting than the past. Not only will we get denser and cheaper storage options, but also technologies that keep data safe for longer.

For companies like Interbyte, these trends are important. They mean that the storage industry is going to move away from traditional NAND and disk-based technologies and into radically different realms. What the controllers will look like for the technologies we’re going to discuss below is anyone’s guess. But you can be darn sure that they will look like nothing we’ve seen so far.

DNA Drives

DNA is nature’s storage system. It’s a substance in practically every living thing, including plants and animals, and provides the instructions that allow cells to divide and make new proteins.

Researchers have found that DNA can last for an incredibly long time outside the protective envelope of the cell. Some scientists believe that they may be able to breed new woolly mammoths, even though the last populations died out some 10,000 years ago.

DNA drives are a futuristic technology, but not entirely impossible. The idea is to encode the chemical sequence in a way that a computer could read it and, thereby, derive information. What’s more, because DNA is such a stable molecule, the drive wouldn’t degrade in the same way that traditional storage devices do. You could potentially have a computer that lasted 1,000 years – maybe more.

Then there’s the fact that DNA operates on the molecular level – the smallest possible scales. DNA, after all, is just a chain of atoms held together by a bunch of phosphate groups. Nature probably settled on that design because it was the most efficient way to store information. It is unlikely that there is a way to improve on it. If there were, then evolution would have found it. As far as we know, it hasn’t.

Helium Drives

Unlike DNA drives, helium drives are something that is actually with us already. Boffins and Western Digital – a company that makes storage devices – have come up with a way to pump helium into their devices to improve their performance. These drives, the company claims, need less power to spin (because helium is lighter than air), while still providing the required internal pressurization by the components function correctly.

The cost of these drives is still really low. Another manufacturer, Seagate, currently offers an 8 TB helium drive, which costs less than six cents per gigabyte – that’s competitive.

Are you excited about the future of storage technology? How will it affect how you live your life?

Achieving IoT Project Success

A key focus of my blog is Technology. In addition to Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT) is predicted to significantly impact all areas of life going forward. With this new technology, understanding how to properly use it in projects will be critical. The following contributed post is entitled, Achieving IoT Project Success.

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There is no denying that the IoT is cropping up everywhere at the moment. A lot of businesses are deploying IoT projects. However, there are many of them that are failing to have much success. With that being said, read on to discover a number of tips that will help you with your IoT project.

Understand the cost and impact of not doing the project – You need to understand the real cost of improving the process. It is easy to determine hard costs. However, soft costs are more challenging to figure out. If real value can be obtained, the objection of not finishing the project should not even really be an option at all.

Make sure your IoT project will deliver a ROI – In addition to this, you need to ensure that your project is actually going to deliver value. There are a lot of IoT projects that end up not being rooted in true company value, and instead they become more about playing with the latest shiny objects instead. This is why it is critical to ensure that your IoT implementation actually has the potential to deliver ROI.

Begin with a couple of quick wins – You need to understand your current competencies and then aim for wins that are easy and quick. After all, the more success that you take in the beginning, the greater your organizational appetite is going to be.

Enable software and hardware integration – Aside from the tips that have already been mentioned, it is important to make sure that there is feasible integration between IoT software and hardware. Although both software and hardware require good design, their approaches are very different. You need to ensure that your projects have the capabilities and the understanding of the nuances so that they can be bridged.

Understand the impact of scale – IoT puts forward a bigger challenge of scaling services and systems than we have ever come across before. It is not purely about delivering IoT products or devices but it is also about the management of the lifecycle of these devices, as well as scaling edge and back office computer resources and dealing with the volume of data being handled. This is why it is critical to start small and then plan for scale.

Put more research into the front end of development – Last but not least, a greater amount of work needs to be done before development can even begin. This is critical to ensure that it is marketable and relevant. While this may take a bit of time, it will lower the failure rate, which can end up costing you much more money than the extra research would.

As you can see, there are a number of different things that you can do in order to make sure that your project is a success. If you follow the advice that has been discussed above, you can ensure that your IoT project goes as well as possible.

Why Presentation Matters in Business

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. A common saying that, “Image is everything,” and there’s no other context where it’s more relevant than with your business. You want people to view your business operation in the best light possible. The following contributed post is entitled, Why Presentation Matters in Business.

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In the world of business, presentation matters a lot. If you’re going to be successful, you need to project the right outward image. Sure, you could call that superficial and unfair, but that’s simply the way it is. If you’re going to achieve the things you know you’re capable of achieving, you should first get the presentation side of things right. If you’re still not convinced, here’s more about why the matter of presentation really does matter.

People Are Busy

People have busy daily schedules, especially people high up in business, and those are the one that have influence. They’ll want to make decisions quickly and businesses that aren’t presenting themselves in the right way will often be dismissed before even being considered. You need to account for how busy people are and never take their time for granted when you’re trying to impress them.

Competition is Often Fierce

Competition is often fierce as well. This means that you have to get out there and show what you can do right off the bat. If you don’t, you’ll be left behind and the better presented and slicker rivals you have will steam ahead and leave you in the dust. That’s the last thing you want when you’re trying to build a sustainable business with a strong future.

First Impressions Form Very Quickly

First impressions really do matter and they also tend to form very quickly. That’s something you’ll need to be prepared for. Basic things like cleaning with a Floor scrubber and ensuring desks aren’t messy will make a difference when a person of influence visits your office. If those first impressions are not good, your business will be facing an uphill struggle.

And They Usually Don’t Shift

The thing about first impressions is that they tend to stick. If you don’t show people that your business is doing good things and is able to present itself well, you’ll have problems. They will immediately form a negative opinion of your business that will prove very hard to change. It is possible but your task of impressing people is so much easier when you get it right the first time.

People Want to Work with People They Can Trust

Early impressions and the appearance your business projects to the world will say something to people about how trustworthy your business is. If it seems like your business can’t be trusted, you’re going to run into problems sooner or later and customers or clients will reject you. Any business owner wants their company to be looked at as one that can be trusted by clients and customers, as well as business collaborators.

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If your business is going to be successful in a competitive market, presenting yourself and those around you well will do a world of good. You need to be able to impress people quickly and show them that your business is one that can and should be taken seriously, so start working on this today.

Tips For Dealings With Employees In Business

Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Professional Development/Skills. Whichever business setting/enterprise you’re in, properly dealing with your employees is essential. Effectively doing so and not effectively doing so will have far reaching consequences. The following contributed post is entitled, Tips For Dealings With Employees In Business.

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Dealing with employees within a business can be different for every boss or company out there. They’re dealing with different types of people, and every staff member can be different to the next. So being able to manage everyone with the same value and respect can be a constantly balancing act. Here are some tips for dealing with employees in business, and that will hopefully work for all the staff that work in the company.

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Create A Healthy Working Environment

A healthy work environment is important to get right for your employees because they’re spending most of their day working in the office or work environment. That is a responsibility that the business has ownership over, and staff can share their input on how things can be made better, which you should do if you’re finding that certain changes aren’t helping. The happiness and health of your employees is key because as long as they’re both of these things, they’ll continue working. If one of these is missing, it can affect productivity, and that’s something you don’t want to be sacrificing or lacking at any point during your company’s growth. So, create a space that’s healthy to be in, is clean and tidy, and that you’ve thought about the layout and features of the office that are going to help your staff feel good on a daily basis whenever they’re at work. From meth testing to ensuring there is enough lighting in the room, it’s all important.

Make Your Staff Feel Valued

Your staff feeling valued is one thing that some businesses don’t do often enough. As an individual, we’d all like to be valued a lot more, especially in the workplace and when we’re given that recognition it helps. It can help improve our attitude to work and how we can change as individuals for the better. A simple thank you and praising in the company newsletter can end up going a long way, and further than most companies would think. So try to make your staff feel valued on a daily basis and do this through a number of ways. You can hold more staff meetings to bounce around ideas and to make praises to those who’ve worked hard over that week or month. It could be treating a department to a free lunch for putting in the extra effort where it’s been needed. You can also show appreciation by small tokens like company gifts for employees. This will show that you have realized their hard work. You can accompany the gift with a small card that says, “thank you for all you are doing.” The little gestures can make a big difference.

Offer A Better Work-Life Balance

Work-life balance is one that might take some time to achieve for most of us. It’s not until we’ve got ourselves into a role that we’ve defined ourselves in that we usually get benefits from work. However, it’s important that no matter who it is within your company, everyone deserves to have control over their work-life balance, and demanding more of someone that creeps into their life, needs to be reimbursed. They should be able to decide whether they do that overtime, and if that overtime is done, they should get given that time back in lieu or in payment. Nothing in life is free, and it’s never right to put someone in the position when they’re working for a company, where they need to work longer hours for nothing. Give them the flexibility where possible to take time off or to work from home. It’s only going to better your relationships with the employees themselves.

Encourage Them To Take Their Lunch Break

A lunch break is another important element to your staff’s working day because it gives them an hour to do something different that what’s being done at work. Whether it’s sitting down for an hour to watch their favourite television program while eating their lunch or going out for a walk. That hour or however, much time they have for a break should be honored at all costs. If you’re not encouraging breaks, then it’s only going to reduce their work productivity as a whole.

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Help Provide Further Career Progress

Career progression is important to some people and when they enter your company, they might be at the point where they’ve joined to rise up through the ranks. And as a business, it’s important to provide the further career progression where you can. If you’re not able to offer certain positions or it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen anytime soon, you can still help boost their experience through training and relevant courses. As a company, you should have a staff training budget that can help your staff gain more knowledge and skills that will not only benefit the company but will help your employees become more elevated in what they can achieve.

Sit down with each staff member on an annual basis to run through their hopes and career prospects. Some may have changed what they want to do and where they want to go, and some may not have. It’s good to stay up to date with what they’re up to and what they’re thinking of doing next. Regular meetings can be helpful in most cases to get more of an understanding of your staff and who they are as individuals. Any concerns or worries they may have can also be addressed through this too.

Recognize And Reward Improvements

Improvements and successes within a business are critical to recognize firstly but to also reward. When your company is going well and making financial progress, some of that profit needs to filter back down to the people who made it happen. Rewarding your staff is one thing you want to do to help encourage them and others to continue the great work that they’re doing for the company. It adds a level of respect that they’ll give back to you in return. So whenever you can, reward people’s hard work.

Dealing with employees in the business is one to get right and maintain. Without it, you could end up losing staff or suffering as a company with the growth and success you could be getting.

3 Ways You Can Become a Better Boss

Two of the focuses of my blog are Career Discussions and Professional Development/Skills. Many individuals want to be the boss, but it comes with a great deal of responsibility and risk. In many instances it requires constant learning and evolution. The following contributed post is entitled, 3 Ways You Can Become a Better Boss.

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Looking after your workforce can have many benefits for your business. If you have a high turnover rate, this could possibly mean that staff morale could be low due to the frequent number of employees that have been replaced amongst other things.

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As the owner of the business, the last thing you want is for this to reflect badly on your company. For this reason, you will need to be proactive in making sure you are giving your employees what they need to be able to the job well. And also enjoy the job they are being employe to do and want to stick with you.

A happy workforce has the potential to totally change your company’s fortune. After all, chances are, if you have people working for you, you realistically can’t do this all yourself. So what can you do to change the fortunes of your company by focussing on your employee’s needs?

Staff Training

Are you taking the time to properly train employees when they start work with your company? It can be tempting to rush training, especially if you need to replace employees quickly to keep things ticking over. But in short, this could harm you in the longer-term rather than help you.

Sending an under-qualified, under-trained member of staff to do something they are confident doing could have a detrimental effect on your company. Resulting in poor customer service, flouting of health and safety regulation and again, poor staff morale. Invest in their future with you and make sure they have been thoroughly trained to help them do what they need to do well.

Look After Their Emotional and Physical Well Being

Have you taken the time to get to know your employees and what they require to be able to work? A lot of people have different physical requirements to help them be able to do their jobs. Being able to accommodate this or make allowances or adaptations will make you feel that you care about them and have their best interests at heart.

Contracting a company such as Jobfit Health Group can help you provide healthcare for your staff including pre-hiring checks and workplace injury assessments. Making the health of your staff a priority will instil trust throughout your workforce.

Provide the Correct Equipment

Sure training the team is highly important, but so is making sure they have the correct tools for the job too. Employees can’t expect to do their jobs well without the correct equipment for what they need to. From the right, suitable safety clothing, to stationery, or even company cars to keep in touch with clients. People work better when they have everything they need to do their job easily. Unsure of what they need? Ask them! After all, they are the ones performing the job day after day, they will know what will make things easier for them.

At the same time, if what they need is more flexibility, can you see how you can offer this to. From the working parents who need to start at slightly altered working hours or even the option to work from home to reduce days taken off sick to those with health issues who struggle to do things able-bodied people take for granted.