Contributed Posts – Page 191 – The Big Words Blog Site

Deliver The Best Deliveries For Your Customers

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. For businesses that ship inventory to consumers, it’s important to be able ship your deliverables in the most efficient manner and to keep customer satisfaction high. The following contributed post is thus entitled, Deliver The Best Deliveries For Your Customers.

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Do you know what the biggest issue many customers have with businesses? It’s that they don’t offer quick enough deliveries or that they seem to overcharge for the shipment. As a result, some companies can struggle with their customer service reviews, and they might get a few more poor online reviews than they would like.

Don’t let your deliveries drag you down like this! There are ways you can up your game and improve the overall delivery and shipment processes within your company. Read on to find out more!

Make The Internal Process As Simple As Possible

One of the first things to work on is your internal delivery process. One of the main problems that many companies have with their process is that it is far more complicated than it should be. Thankfully, it can be easy to cut down and make a lot more efficient. The key to that is to try and take away as many steps from the whole process as possible. That will slim it down and make it a lot more effective.

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Train Your Warehouse Staff

You also need to offer regular training to all of your warehouse staff. As these are the employees that will be handling all orders and ensuring that they are shipped out on time, keeping them well trained will ensure their productivity. It also informs them about the best way to handle fragile goods and perishable items that might need to follow special regulations.

Consider Outsourcing Deliveries

If you find that trying to handle all of the deliveries is too much for your company, you could always outsource them. You could hand the packaged shipments to a courier service, for instance. If you sell large items, then you might need to find a flatbed trucking company. There are some businesses that also like to outsource their storage as well. Thankfully, there are some courier companies that will be able to store and ship all of your products for you for very reasonable prices.

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Be On The Ball With Your Stock Takes

If you do keep hold of your own stock, then it’s best to stay very organized with your stock takes. Ideally, you should try to carry them out at least once a week. This helps you carry out stock rotation and will reduce the chances of you ever selling out.

Ensure Customers Are Up To Date

I’m sure that all of your customers will want to be kept up to date with all the orders that they placed. In fact, it’s the not knowing part that can often result in a lot of bad reviews! So, make sure your customers always receive a tracking number and that they can use this to see every step that their item makes on its journey. At least this will give them a better idea of when they can expect their purchase to arrive!

Hopefully, all of these tips can help you improve the delivery of all orders for all of your customers!

Financing A Business When You Don’t Have Capital

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. A key to starting a business and growing it to the point where it thrives is acquiring the startup capital and then finding ways to run budget surpluses going forward. The following contributed post discusses tips for doing this and is entitled, Financing A Business When You Don’t Have Capital.

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One of the hardest parts of trying to run a business in the modern world is the spending which has to come alongside it. With fewer people than ever before managing to build up savings, most don’t have the money to start something like this when they are working in a normal job, and this makes it a challenge to try and find a foothold. Of course, though, you don’t need to finance something like this for yourself. Instead, as long as you’re willing to do some research, you can find loads of ways to fund your company without having to save.

Investments: Traditionally, investments have long been one of the most popular ways for a new company to be able to afford their initial expenses. You will often have to pay for this by giving away a piece of the business, making it appealing to some people, while also providing an easy way to get yourself started very quickly. There are loads of companies out there which can put you in touch with someone like this, making it even simpler to get started.

Loans: If you’d rather avoid giving away a slice of your hard work, you could look down a slightly different avenue. There are consumer portfolio services all over the world. These businesses provide funding for other companies on a loan basis, with special terms and conditions which are designed to make your first few years very secure. In this case, you will have to pay all of the money back by yourself, but will have an income to help you to do it.

Something Free: Not all ventures need to have money spent on them to get started. In fact, over the last few years, it’s become much more common for people to seek methods which give them the ability get their company started for free. Working online, dealing with services, and a host of other ideas make it possible to get started for nothing or very little investment. This is a great way to avoid getting involved with tricky finances which could make life harder later on.

Grants: Finally, as the last idea on this list, you may have the chance to look towards your government to help you. Certain types of industry are being heavily pushed by these groups, nowadays. Green technology, computing, and loads of other fields have grants available to small companies. You will have to work to meet certain criteria to be able to get something like this, but this will be worth it once you’re able to fund yourself for free.

There are loads of ways to handle this sort of work, and most people will have their own idea of what should be done. Of course, though, it’s always worth doing plenty of your own research, making sure that you’re not going down the wrong route with your business. If you need direct support with this, a business management company will be able to give you some advice, making it even easier to get started.

Cut Through The Mumbo Jumbo Maze To Keep Your Business Secure

Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. Most businesses today have a digital component and thus it’s important to know how to keep your information systems secure. The following contributed post is thus entitled; Cut Through The Mumbo Jumbo Maze To Keep Your Business Secure.

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Every business should be focusing on security these days. But it can be difficult to know where to start with the task of keeping your business and indeed your customers protected. There’s a lot of tech nonsense online about how to do it that the average business owner probably doesn’t understand. This leaves them with only one option. Hiring an expensive security professional to handle the job for them and make sure all the bases are covered. Or, alternatively, you could cut through the nonsense and make sure you have the basic systems in place to keep your business secure. Let’s look at what this could mean.

Passwords 101

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You will have important data files related to security on your business computer or network. If you don’t have passwords, this should change right now. It’s crucial that you do take measures to keep those files and systems safe from prying hands and passwords are the best way to do it. Just don’t fall into the trap of creating a pass that is easy to guess. Passwords should be completely random and should not contain any personal information relating to you or your company. You might think about using digital or electronic passwords, and the issue here is that the device storing them can be stolen and then used against you.

Get On The Cloud

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You might still be wary of using cloud servers in your business model. But they are a great deal more secure than the average document that can be taken at any point. Cloud servers simply mean that data is stored on a network and the actual storage space won’t even typically be in your business property. This makes hacks far more difficult and complicated, guaranteeing that most online criminals won’t even bother to try.

Encryptions

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You might have heard of encryptions and wondered what that actually means. Encryptions simply means that data can be taken but not viewed outside of a closed network. A token is an example of this. With tokens through systems like BlueSnap, it’s possible to hide user account numbers completely making transactions far more secure. Of course, this is just one example of a potential encryption.

You might also be talking to colleagues or clients through social media. Certain social media like Whatsapp offer encryption options that are secure enough they can be used by medical staff such as doctors and nurses.

Anti-Virus Software

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Finally, do make sure that you are putting anti-virus software on your business computer systems. Failing to do this is essentially like leaving the gate wide open for hackers and thieves. They won’t have to make much of an effort at all. Instead, they just need to make sure that a trojan virus is downloaded onto your system. That can be as simple as sending a fake email from a ‘client.’ Once the virus is downloaded, it can be filled with various dangerous pieces of software that could help a criminal clone your entire system and all your data. Alternatively, they might just choose to send you back to square one.

Want More Customers? It’s Probably Easier Than You Think

Two of the key focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. A key to running a successful business is to attract new customers and to continue to cultivate the relationship you have with your customer base. What are some ways to do this? The following contributed post is entitled; Want More Customers? It’s Probably Easier Than You Think.

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It’s common for business owners to overestimate how difficult it is to gain new customers and clients. You probably think a surge in new customers requires a heavy or hard marketing push and this is not always the case. There are easier, more financially friendly ways to gain new customers that you might want to consider. So, let’s look at some of the possibilities and determine whether they could be the right move for your company.

More Buying Options And Methods

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One of the easiest ways to increase sales and customer levels is to simply give them more ways to buy. You should work hard to make sure that every purchase option is filled. For instance, these days, mobile purchases have become a must for the typical business. In 2017, mobile web interactions increased beyond the level of more typical desktop interactions for the first time. As such, you should make sure that your site is mobile optimized and ready for orders from tablets and phones. This could include setting up an app. Apps provide an easy, fast, effective way for customers to make the purchases they want.

Of course, it’s not just about the resources themselves but how customers can interact with them. Some customers will want to buy on credit. You can make sure that this is possible by using services from providers like BlueSnap. This will ensure that customers who want to buy through credit systems are able to do this, providing more access to sales.

Access Existing Customers

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Business owners are typically focused on growing and reaching new customers. The reality though is that a lot of existing customers are already being neglected. Instead of looking for the new sale, you should be searching for the repeat sale. You can do this by utilizing customer mailing lists. No, email marketing is not dead and rather far from it. Through email marketing, you can access customers who have bought from you before and who could easily be pushed to do so again.

The trick here is to make the marketing personal. Make sure that an email is addressed directly to those who haven’t bought something in a while and fits with that particular target audience. This is something that must be considered when you are building or creating email marketing content.

The Recommendation

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Finally, you need to make sure that you are getting recommendations from existing customers to new consumers who have not yet used your product or service. To do this, you need to make sure that customer service quality levels are better than the rest. Do this, and you will have no trouble at all winning those recommendations. If you are addressing this issue, it’s a good idea to check on the reviews of your business as well. Make sure there are no flies in the ointment that are making people leave the feast before they have sampled the goods.

We hope you have found this advice helpful and see now that getting more customers doesn’t necessarily require an expensive marketing push.

The Benefits Of Running IT As Intended

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“Computers are a key component of most businesses today. Mismanaging your Information Technology (IT) services can cost your business money and stagnate.”

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Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Businesses/Entrepreneurship, and Technology. Computers are a key component of most businesses today. Mismanaging your Information Technology (IT) services can cost your business money and stagnate. Properly managing it can help it grow and thrive. The following contributed post is thus entitled, The Benefits Of Running IT As Intended.

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Computers have been taking an increasingly central position in the world of business, especially when you’re working in a field which relies on these machines, such as IT consulting to immigration law firms or marketing. As time goes on, more and more companies are adopting measures which make it possible to handle their work digitally, and this is only set to continue into the future. Of course, though, this area is often handled incorrectly. Not only does this leave businesses without the tools they need, but it can also be very expensive to set right, making it worth running your IT as intended by the engineers.

Resources: The first area to consider in all of this is resource management. When you are running a large network with a lot of devices on it, knowing which machine needs the right level of bandwidth is very challenging, and the whole system can be slowed down by this challenge. By using managed IT services for businesses, you can put this job into someone else’s hands. Using methods which have been tried and tested, companies like this are very good at this job, and will be able to handle all of your routing needs.

Security: When you don’t know how to setup a service system or computer properly, it can be very easy to overlook crucial areas which will impact the security of the end result. With data laws tightening around the world, and more and more companies getting in trouble for being too relaxed in this area, this isn’t something you want to deal with. Instead, it will be worth hiring a company with the skills to handle this work for you. If you’re unsure about your current state, you can have an audit performed to figure out where you need to improve.

Updates: Keeping computers up to date is one of the most important areas to consider when you’re thinking about IT in business. When you have a large number of machines, deploying updates one device at a time doesn’t make much sense, and it will be a good idea to have this setup with a software management system. A lot of tools, like Windows, have this sort of feature built-in, making it nice and easy to keep yourself on the right versions. Some tools, though, will require a more hands-on approach.

Versatility: Ideally, the computer system you have for your business will be able to handle a very wide range of tasks. Ensuring that your business IT is suitably versatile to meet your needs is dependent on areas like system specifications, application availability, and even the way that your office is layed out. To help you with this, there are loads of services on the market which are designed to help companies to find the best setup for their needs, and you can often borrow all of the hardware you need to do it.

Hopefully, this post will inspire you to start looking outside of your business when it comes to the IT systems which you need to have in place. This area is very complex, with loads of pitfalls and problems which company owners can find themselves in.

Businesses Are Heading For A World Without Employees

Three of the key focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship, and Technology. In current times, there is a lot of talk about workers being replaced by machines and automation. This discussion is often approached from the perspective of the employees, but is seldom discussed in terms of the advantages of the employers. What are the advantages to employers? The following contributed post is entitled, Businesses Are Heading For A World Without Employees.

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At least, employees in the traditional sense of the word. Instead, there are new options for business owners that need help but don’t want the headaches that come with having a full team of workers on staff in their building.

This isn’t surprising as when you get right down to it, workers can come with a lot of problems. That’s not to say this is their fault or that they are the ones to blame. In most cases, it’s fair to say that it’s employers who are causing the brunt of the issues, but that doesn’t matter. Now that the business world is, changing employers can escape the responsibility they were once tied to. So, let’s look at some of the issues employees cause and the factors that will bring big benefits for business owners.

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Employee Headaches

There are quite a few issues that you can have with employees. Harassment claims are certainly in the spotlight right now thanks to various Hollywood scandals, and slowly but surely they are seeping into the real world too. Offices are being flooded with claims, some legitimate others not, of workers who feel they have been treated terribly. It could cost business owners horrendous amounts of money.

Or, how about injuries at work? As a business owner, it’s your responsibility to keep your office or workplace safe. Failing to do this will result in a hefty fine that yes, you will need to pay. Workers comp lawsuits are often hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages and may, in some cases reach the low millions!

There’s even the time and effort it takes to hire and fire employees to consider. You have to spend hours interviewing people, many of whom won’t be qualified enough or experienced enough for the job in question.

So, why are employees now on their way out of the business model?

Machine Learning

Yes, machine learning will almost certainly pave the way for more processes to be completed by machine and an automated workplace. This is already starting to happen, and if you’re let go next year, there’s a good chance it’s because a computer system or piece of software can now fulfil your role. Don’t worry though, everyone will be on the chopping board for this reason soon enough.

Going For The Gig

As well as this, businesses are now learning more and more towards hiring freelancers and outsourcing companies. The good news is that these outsourcing companies still need staff and it’s causing a boom in the gig industry. The bad news is that it’s allowing businesses to essentially ‘hire’ employees without offering any of the typical benefits or incentives. So basically, it’s a big win-win situation for business owners.

What Does It Mean?

For business owners, it could be the solution to perilous lawsuits. For society as a whole, we might see the introduction of a universal living wage, and it does seem like the only suitable solution as workers become less needed in far more industries.

Machine Maintenance: Savings In Industrial Business

The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success, and three areas of focus are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship, and Technology. In industrial businesses, maintenance of equipment is key and it can be a major cost if neglected over a long period of time. The following contributed post is thus entitled, Machine Maintenance: Savings In Industrial Business.

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It can often feel as though saving money in the single most important part of your business, especially when things aren’t going according to plan. When your in this position, it will be hard to justify spending money on even the important things, making the jobs which take less precedent be left completely untouched. In the world of industrial business, though, this sort of approach can end up being very costly, and is something worth avoiding. To help you out with this, this post will be exploring the field of machine maintenance as a way to save money.

Know What Needs To Be Done

The first part of this will involve doing a little bit of research, figuring out exactly what could go wrong with the machines you have. In some cases, it may only be vehicles which you have to worry about, making the information you need very easy to find. If you have less common machines, though, you will have to spend more time learning, and may even have to refer the manuals you have for them. With anything mechanical, there will be a mix of regular work and jobs which don’t need to be done very often. Electronics, on the other hand, may not be so easy to predict.

Repair Vs. Replacement

Once you have an idea of what needs to be done for the machines in your business, you can get started on the work which you have to do to keep them in good shape. This can range from replacing oil to full-on diesel truck mechanics, making it worth looking for the right professionals to help you at each stage, ensuring that work is handled correctly. This stage is important because it will stop minor issues from becoming much larger. When one piece of a machine breaks, it can often take others with it, forcing you to replace them. If repairs are handled early, though, you won’t have to worry about this side of the job.

Automating The Process

Of course, in the modern world, this job doesn’t have to be something you handle completely on your own. Computer systems can lend a great hand here, providing you with tools which can keep an eye on your machines for you. There are loads of tools on the market which use cameras, lasers, and other sensors to get an idea of the health of your machines. Using this data, they can provide you with early warnings before you suffer a loss. This will be expensive, but could save a small fortune when it comes to making repairs in the future, especially when you have very expensive tools in service.

With all of this in mind, you should be ready to go out and start the process of maintaining your machines. A lot of people struggle with this sort of work, finding it hard to know exactly what needs to be done when they are using heavy machinery in business, and often wasting money where it simply doesn’t have to be spent.

What To Do When Medical Treatment Goes Wrong

A key focus of my blog is Health/Wellness. Unfortunately there are instances where medical procedures and treatments don’t go as planned and the patient becomes injured or even dies from the administered care. In these cases, it’s very important for the patient and their family to know what to do. The following contributed post is thus entitled, What To Do When Medical Treatment Goes Wrong.

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You’ve just undergone medical treatment, but it hasn’t been successful. Perhaps you’ve had a reaction to a drug or there were some complications during surgery that have led to other injuries. Perhaps you were promised that a certain pain would go away and it hasn’t. Whatever the case, it’s important that you don’t ignore the warning signs. Here are just a few steps to take if you suspect there’s been a medical fault.

Talk to the doctor that gave you the treatment

Your first step should be to get in contact with the medical professional that gave you the treatment. You may have been warned about certain side effects beforehand or told after treatment about complications, in which they will likely have given you instructions to get in contact again if things got worse. In most cases, your doctor will be willing to take a look at the problem and decide what further action to take.

Get a second opinion

You may wish to get a second opinion if you feel you can’t trust the doctor that gave you the treatment. When it comes to symptoms that aren’t visually clear such as unusual pains, nausea or dulling of certain senses, this second opinion could be useful in helping you to get a clear diagnosis.

Take things higher

In the case of a serious medical error, you may want to file a complaint to the head of the clinic. Medical clinics often have staff that deal solely with complaints – in the case of large hospitals, there may be lots of complaints to process, so don’t worry if you don’t get an immediate response. You could also consider taking things higher and complaining to the governing body in charge of the clinic – they will be able to launch an enquiry into the incident and may be useful if you feel that the clinic’s staff aren’t taking your side.

Consider a legal claim

When medical treatment goes wrong, it’s often possible to seek legal compensation. There are many lawyers out there that deal with medical malpractice. It could be worth looking for specialist attorneys to help you make the best case – whether you’re looking for a transvaginal mesh lawyer or a brain surgery lawyer, you’re certain to find someone that specialises in this area. Many lawyers won’t charge you unless your claim is successful.

Decide on your future treatment options

Corrective treatment may be needed to recover from the medical error. For example, in the case of a faulty hip replacement, you may need to seek hip revision surgery. A legal claim may be able to cover the costs of this. Whilst you may be apprehensive of trusting doctors again after such an incident, it’s important that you receive the corrective treatment that is recommended otherwise you could create further injuries for yourself.

How Walking Could Help Your One Man Business

The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success, and three key areas are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship, and Health/Wellness. Running a business is no minor undertaking, and can be taxing on all levels. It’s thus important to know how keep a healthy mind, body and spirit, while maximizing growth and productivity. A simple way to do that is by walking regularly. The following contributed post is thus entitled, How Walking Could Help Your One Man Business.

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It’s not uncommon for people to source pleasure after a massive project or work schedule by meandering through the same old crap on Facebook or catching up on their Netflix programme. This may be your go-to fix to become energized to begin work again, but what if there’s a better way? One that doesn’t cost any money and has multiple benefits, which could impact your business positively. The idea is for you to start walking to better you and in turn your business, here are a few reasons why.

Creative Thinking

If you’re setting up or have begun a business requiring a lot of creative energy from you, it can be overwhelming to try and continuously revitalize that inventive source without burning yourself out or worse getting a complete creative block. However next time you think that watching TV or playing games is a suitable option for a distraction, think about taking up walking instead.

Whether in your local park, to the shop, to your moms, or better yet go rogue and have no plan in mind, go on a mini adventure and get lost a little while. Why you ask? Because scientists declare walking helps improve creative thinking. Which if you’re an artist, writer, designer and so on, creativity is your muse, it needs to be nurtured through activating the imaginative senses in your brain.

Walking provides you with new stimuli to engage, indulge, and think about. We sometimes become disconnected from our imagination causing stagnant thoughts. Even if you decide to walk the same path a million times, you will always find something new that you hadn’t noticed before.

Save Money

An incentive to start walking is that it can help save you money, which when you’re starting your own business, keeping money in your pocket is one of the best things you can do. You could get rid of your scooter or car and make use of your own inbuilt transport system in the form of your legs, which will help save you a ton of money each month on fuel, car tax, car insurance and of course repairs. Unless you live in the sticks, walking is an excellent alternative to driving to help cut costs and save more money to invest in your business.

Self Confidence

Healthy self-esteem and confidence in yourself will reflect on your business, walking can assist with this. If you start walking regularly, you will improve your physical appearance as walking helps to make people look trimmer and your skin to appear more youthful (exercising stimulates collagen). A healthier appearance helps to give people confidence.

Alongside enhancing your presentation, you will also improve confidence by practicing walking alone. Some people refuse to go anywhere alone. For those starting a one-man business, you need to feel confident and capable that you can do tasks on your own accord relying solely on yourself. Taking a stroll alone can help encourage the confidence of your capability and courage to do things by yourself.

Walking helps us to reconnect and engage our minds and bodies in comparison to watching mindless television programmes, you can help stimulate your brain to encourage new ideas and thinking and even help to improve your memory. It will also help you to distress when you’re feeling a little overloaded with work or you’re stuck for direction. Try to avoid negative connotations or anxieties about walking alone, and stop giving yourself excuses such as pedestrian accidents or that staying in front of your laptop is beneficial because you’re available and ready at all times for your next business call. Get up from your desk, away from your screen and start walking your way to better thinking, a better body and a better business.

Why You Should Think Carefully Before Accepting Overtime At Work

The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success, and a key focus is Career Discussions. Not all careers and sectors are the same. Whether earing a salary or a wage, a key consideration to any career is working overtime. Some workplaces offer it, and some don’t, and there are often rules associated with it. The following contributed post is thus entitled, Why You Should Think Carefully Before Accepting Overtime At Work.

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Overtime at work is something of a double-edged sword. Sure, working extra means that you will benefit in more money in your pay packet at the end of the month. However, overtime isn’t always that simple, and there might be some jobs that don’t pay for their employees’ extra hours or won’t let them take any in the first place. So, if you are on the lookout for a job that will come with the option of plenty of overtime, you might need to take this into consideration. That’s not the only thing you will need to bear in mind when contemplating overtime – here are a few extra pointers to remember.

Not Every Job Will Come With Overtime

As I’ve already briefly mentioned, not every job will allow its employees to take overtime. More often than not, jobs that pay their workers in a salary often fall into this category. That’s because employees will receive the same payment each month. They are paid for the whole year, split into twelve payments. This is different to workers on a wage, as they will be paid according to the number of hours done. So, as you can see, it’s easier for an employer to work out overtime for staff who earn a wage, as they just need to add the extra hours to their paycheck.

Unauthorized Overtime Still Has To Be Paid

Most of the time, an employee will have to OK their overtime hours in advance with their manager or supervisor. However, in some cases, an employer can then turn around and try to argue that they never authorized the overtime hours in the first place, and could refuse to pay. This is an example of wage theft and is unacceptable. If this ever happens to you, you should speak to an employment lawyer for advice. In most cases, they will advise you to take your employer to an employment tribunal to sue them and claim these lost wages back along with compensation.

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On A Salary? You Can Still Take Overtime

I may have mentioned that it is unlikely for salaried employees to be offered any overtime, but there are some cases where it could happen. In fact, you need to look at your job responsibilities and current salary to see if you are entitled to extra overtime. Normally, it is offered to workers at the lower end of the payroll. Unfortunately, though, this still depends from company to company, and your employer might not be too keen to offer you extra hours if you are on a salary.

Don’t Overdo Overtime

The prospect of more work to earn more money might be too good to pass up on. However, you need to be careful that you don’t overdo it with the overtime. You need to make sure that you get plenty of rest between shifts or else you could end up exhausted and stressed. And that could have a very detrimental effect on your work!

So, are you ready for overtime?