Productivity and being on-call

Feb 05 2006

Posted by Gordon as Business Concepts, Company Formation Tips, Tricks of the Trade, Virtual Office

You’re midway into a week-long vacation in the peaceful countryside when your boss rings you up and asks you to turn in your report due for the week after you arrive. You try to argue to no avail--as if you had a choice. Road warriors are all too familiar with this scenario: with all the high tech gadgetry we carry around us all day, we tend to feel as if we’re on a short leash with our offices. Sometimes, the freedom of mobility associated with being connected and/or online from anywhere translates to the feeling of being tethered within a tight ...

Cubicles and Productivity (part 2)

Jan 26 2006

Posted by Gordon as Business Concepts, Business Enhancements, General Management, Tricks of the Trade

While cubicles have been the fad in office design for the past four decades, business solutions and productivity experts advise firms to take careful consideration in whether to keep employees in cubes or give them their own office rooms altogether. It’s a matter of collaboration vis-à-vis focus and privacy. Some occupations require workers to be in constant touch with colleagues. Areas like marketing and advertising would necessitate a constant exchange of ideas and a free flow of information among individuals. On the other hand, some fields require peace and quiet for proper concentration. Bookkeepers, auditors, writers, and even ...

Smile! Your boss is watching!

Jan 20 2006

Posted by Gordon as Business Concepts, Business Enhancements, General Management, Tricks of the Trade

German information technology company Nutzwerk has come up with a policy requiring its employees to be happy. Part of its standard employment contract is a clause that states employees are prevented from whining and moaning within office premises. Employees can be fired if caught complaining while on the job. Officers of Nutzwerk claim that negative energy and moods adversely affect productivity, and hence the requirement for employees to be happy--or at least show they are. Staff agree, in that having a positive outlook even in the face of adversity is helpful for overcoming challenges. The company has even gone to the extent ...

Hiring a CTO?

Jan 19 2006

Posted by Gordon as Business Concepts, Business Enhancements, General Management, Strategies, Tricks of the Trade

In today’s fast growing business environment, a company would inevitably find the need to grow in terms of technological advancement. However, the chief executive (CEO) may not always have the time to diligently review technology choices, nor implement these plans for innovation. And while a Chief Information Officer should have an adequate overview of the company’s information systems, he may not have the time nor training to focus on these. Company formation and business solutions experts believe that it pays to have a dedicated Chief Technology Officer who can properly review technology choices and make the needed recommendations for ...

Telecommuting as solution to absenteeism and non-productivity

Jan 10 2006

Posted by J. Angelo as Business Concepts, Business Enhancements, E-Commerce, General Management, Strategies, Tricks of the Trade, Virtual Office

In this day and age, an employee’s productivity may not necessarily be equated with how long he or she spends at the office or workplace. In fact, given rising travel costs, traffic congestion and the availability of high-speed data communications, one would wonder if it’s worth the trouble of having to spend a good part of the day traversing distances just to go to work. Furthermore, the decline in actual productivity after a certain number of work hours have been reached has to be taken into consideration. Enter telecommuting. A buzzword in the business community since the dawn of the Information ...

New software helps deal with absenteeism

Jan 05 2006

Posted by Gordon as Business Concepts, Business Enhancements, General Management, Limited Companies, Off Shore Companies, Partnerships, Strategies, Tax Free Companies, The Sole Proprietor, Tricks of the Trade, UK Companies

Based on a survey conducted by the Employment Law Advisory Services (ELAS), about one in four small and medium sized business has had more staff taking sick leaves than it has taken action against. But almost 90 per cent of businesses have revealed that they would actually discipline their workers if they were legally confident in doing so. Armed with this information ELAS has released a computer program that will help employers stay within the bounds of the law. The software, a personnel package, will not only keep a record of a worker’s sick days but also alert ...

Grapevine helps Scotland entrepreneurs

Jan 02 2006

Posted by Gordon as Business Enhancements, General Management, Strategies, Tricks of the Trade, UK Companies

A new website called the Grapevine is Scotland’s newest business networking website that aims to provide an effective information tool. The website is the brainchild of Jennie Hamilton. She was aware of the fast growing number of new businesses and would-be entrepreneurs that Scotland was producing and further realised that working on their own or with a small staff, these new businesses could not have that much access to complex information that is required for a successful business development. The Grapevine aims to remedy that problem by providing virtual networking as well as offering help on sourcing business support systems ...

Tips for effective ads (Part 2)

Jan 01 2006

Posted by Gordon as Business Concepts, General Management, Sales and Marketing, Strategies, Tricks of the Trade

For business owners, a new communication plan and campaign is a great way to start off the new year. To start you off in the right direction, here are a few other tips that company formation and business solutions experts agree will help you avoid the pitfalls of making a communication plan: • you need more than one advertising or promotion. Different types have different strengths so you need to mix them up. A short message can be great for radio but a you will need a more in-depth copy if it is for trade journals. • Advertising and ...

Tips for effective ads (Part 1)

Jan 01 2006

Posted by Gordon as Business Concepts, General Management, Sales and Marketing, Strategies, Tricks of the Trade

Company formation and business solutions experts agree that badly planned communications is just a waste of money and should be avoided at all costs. In order to avoid losing money on ineffective ads, you should think about the following things: • What do you want to achieve? The answer to this is usually sales but you have to determine which market, where and at what margin. If you are trying to raise awareness determine if it is for your company, your products/services, or your brand. • What kind of benefits do you want to relay? Different customer types will see ...

Check out your competitor

Dec 30 2005

Posted by Gordon as Business Concepts, General Management, Strategies, Tricks of the Trade

Studying your competitor is one of the most important responsibilities of an entrepreneur. By gaining knowledge about a competitor they will be more equipped to handle the competition. But how do you go about this function especially if you have limited financial resources? Company formation and business solutions experts agree that it doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive to study the competition. Some of the competition-studying tactics that can be done are: • Study the competitor’s website • Talk to the competition (depending on the sector, this is possible but you must follow certain etiquettes) • Ask friends and associates • Investigate the competitor’s SEC papers • Use ...

Previous Entries Next Entries

Our Features

In The News

Daryl of Dunder Mifflin

This news is a little sad for me because I am a huge fan of the TV sitcom “The Office”. I’ve been following this show for the past two years and have really admired all the characters. One of my personal favorites was Daryl, the Dunder Mifflin warehouseman whom Michael (the boss) always always try [...]

Read on ...

More News Features
Business and Money

Who Moved My Cheese: The Cliff’s Notes! (Part 2)

This post is a continuation of my Cliff’s Notes for Who Moved My Cheese, the book by Spencer Johnson, M.D. (also the Author of The One Minute Manager). Hope you enjoy my annotations of the rest of the principles!

Read on ...

More Business Features
Lifestyle and Leisure

Your Carbon Footprint

What is your carbon footprint? Hmm… ok, let’s start over… What is a carbon footprint?
A carbon footprint is a “measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide“.
Here’s a nifty tool from ivillage.com, an online calculator to measure carbon footprints. I think this is [...]

Read on ...

More Lifestyle Features
Entertainment

Virtual Tennis

I just got myself a PSP slim today. What fun! I already have one PSP and the reason for this purchase was to try out the player vs. player mode of Sega’s Virtual Tennis. I could tell you we played for hours! While walking in the mall, at home in the living room, and [...]

Read on ...

More Entertainment Features
Travel

Biking through Amsterdam

It’s not only China that’s going bike crazy, Amsterdam is following the craze with bike rentals by the thousands. If you’re heading the windmill country you may want to consider breezing through the many wonders this city has to offer by riding one of them bicycles.
CNN travel correspondent Rick Steves has written a good [...]

Read on ...

More Travel Features
Family Life

Hit your molars, please!

We all remember how good ‘ol mom would always remind us to “brush your teeth before going to bed, dear”, or “use toothpaste for heaven’s sake” or “would you please brush your molars too?”. It was good for mom to do that, if they didn’t I think half the world (or even more) would be [...]

Read on ...

More Family Features
From the Editor

One win over the paparazzi

Actress Sienna Miller has won a case against a paparazzi photo published in the Daily Star. This photo was taken when she was waiting for an elevator in an LA building. The court ruled that Ms. Miller was clearly harassed and so therefore has decided in favor of Ms. Miller, this decision after viewing a [...]

Read on ...

More Editorials
Blog Resources