You Should Talk

If a business strives to become more streamlined and productive there needs to be acknowledgement that such efforts may not bare any fruit if the results of their initiatives cause among the workforce widespread dissatisfaction and a high turnover of staff. The benefits of an organization having a highly motivated workforce can be considerable and the two goals of having employees that are both motivated and productive should not be regarded as being mutually exclusive to one another.

Left unresolved employers run the risk of alienating their employees and events can then cause employee frustrations to explode resulting in employers finding themselves on the back foot, faced with problems that cannot be ignored.

Ideally employers would take time to understand the needs of their employees and learn from their experiences of working on the front line, but employers are often themselves tied up day to day fighting their own fires.

By automating much of the intelligence gathering process and the findings being instantly available in a format that can be readily analysed online surveys provide employers with an affordable method to help achieve staff satisfaction and high productivity.

Dissatisfied & unproductive

There are many reasons why employees may be dissatisfied with their job and more often than not staff frustration is channelled into a demand for higher salaries and less hours. Managers who tackle problems thinking it is all about salary and hours, will often find later that they have been dealing with the symptoms and not the root cause.

Not just about the money

The following are common barriers to achieving productivity, none of which are likely to be resolved by increasing salaries or reducing hours:-

• Inadequate training
• Out of touch management
• Dated working methods
• Lack of proper tools and equipment

There have been many studies that have consistently revealed that financial reward is not the most important motivator for employees, providing an employee is being paid the market rate the employer would be wrong to think that the solution to all employee problems is through paying higher salaries.

Take the case of a single mother who is juggling a full time job with the need to look after four children. Out of frustration she may demand more money so that she feels that she is able to cope where a better solution, for both her and the company, may be more flexible working hours.

Good communications

It is in all companies interests to encourage good communication. A company that makes communication between personnel and management difficult, or that takes the view that if personnel have a problem they will say something, can often delude themselves into thinking their workforce is content when it is not. It only takes one small problem and one disgruntled employee to feel aggrieved for an entire workforce to develop a destructive ‘them and us’ attitude.

Improving communication

Meeting one on one between the employer and employee would be ideal but really it is only a practical solution for smaller companies.

Regular meetings between management and worker representatives are good in theory but can degenerate into talking shops and slowly lose their purpose as the participants from both sides become familiar with one another and the meetings run the risk of being hijacked by the more extreme personalities.

Suggestion boxes are useful but can be viewed as token efforts by management as they wait for personnel to highlight a problem.

Newsletters can be useful, but their main purpose is generally to inform and not discuss issues.

Maintaining the initiative

Conducting employee satisfaction surveys regularly you are able to ask each employee specific questions and presents a pro-active management initiative where the whole workforce can be consulted on various issues. Surveys are able to provide a level playing field between the quieter and more vocal employees.

Being prepared to consulate with employees should not be seen as a sign of weakness, a confident manager will take counsel from all quarters before making a decision. By issuing a survey and keeping the initiative the employer is able to tackle problems from a position of strength as opposed to waiting for problems to fester and then develop out of proportion.

If small problems are left unresolved the employees mood can change from positive to negative over night should a minor problem breaks the camel’s back.

It is quick and easy

For most organizations online surveys represent a proactive and low cost solution. They can be created very quickly and for the majority of organizations, where most of the personnel have desktop computers, they are also quick to deploy direct to the individual.

Where not all of the personal have access to a computer there are various options available that will allow you to accommodate their responses such as providing a shared computer, conducting telephone surveys or as a last resort, a hardcopy survey where the hard-copy responses can be added to those who competed the survey online.

Job satisfaction

There are a number of elements that combined will provide an employee with job satisfaction, from company ethics, working environment, methodology and ethos to having good and effective management. Job satisfaction brings benefits through improved productivity and motivation from a workforce that feels that they are treated as individuals and not a commodity item.

Educate and inform

An often overlooked benefit of online surveys is that they can be used to educate and pass on important information to the workforce, ensuring that the ‘message’ does not become corrupted as it is handed down by the phenomenon of Chinese whispers.

An online survey can explain a difficult situation to the employees and get valuable feedback as to the best solution. It is rare in this situation that the workforce would appear negative; it is more likely they will feel informed and empowered and that might be enough to turn a negative problem into a positive challenge that unites the workforce.

Exit surveys

Exit surveys represent are a good way of making sure that when people leave an organisation they are leaving for the right reasons and not due to reasons that if appreciated earlier could have been addressed and resolved by management. If a problem has been identified it may be too late to prevent an individual from leaving but if addressed it could prevent other key personnel leaving for the same reasons.

For a Sample Employee Satisfaction Survey:- Employee Satisfaction Survey Template

For a sample Employee Exit survey:- Employee Exit Survey Template

Drug tests and in particular hair drug testing is becoming far more commonplace, especially across western Europe and North America. This method of drug testing has a significant advantage over other detection methods such as saliva, urine and blood, in that it provides a far greater period of time for which drugs can be detected. (Referred to as the detection window). It is possible to detect drugs for several months - even years if the hair has been allowed to grow for that long. Most commonly however, tests require 90 day detection: This compares to typically 4-5 days for fluid based testing (or in severe cases of marijuana misuse, 28 days)

Approximately fifty hair follicles are required for successful hair testing. This equates to the thickness of the end of a shoelace, meaning that most people would show no obvious signs that a sample had been taken unless their hair is particularly short.

The cost of hair testing is higher than urine based tests - which are the only other viable method of achieving top-quality test results. Testing blood samples is not widely available partly due to the challenges in taking a sample in the first instance.

A typical hair test costs around £60-£70 for preparation of the sample (which basically means turning the hair from a solid to a liquid) and then a further £40-50 per drug type required for detection. This compares to an approximate charge of £60-75 for laboratory testing of urine which will pick up substances of misuse across all drug classes.

The biggest question asked of course is how to pass a hair drug test. Very simply, there is only one definite way in which to do this - Don’t take drugs!

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Pontoon boats have become extremely popular boats, partly because of their stability and fuel efficiency and also because of their usefulness as fishing boats, party boats or family vessels. New pontoon boats often include some form of pontoon boat enclosure as standard equipment. If you already own a pontoon boat now is a good time to consider adding a pontoon boat enclosure in polyester or marine canvas to increase your boating pleasure.

There are four types of pontoon boat enclosure to choose from to suit your requirements:

• The quick weather enclosure – it has curtains attached to a bimini top that can be rolled up and down quickly if there is a sudden change in the weather

• The half enclosure – an economical way to enclose just a portion of the deck

• The slant front full pontoon enclosure to enclose the full deck area without the addition of a bimini frame

• Camper enclosure – can turn your pontoon boat into an on-water camper

If you simply require shade rather than an enclosure a pontoon boat bimini cover will provide you and and your passengers with plenty of shade on summer boating trips and the bimini can be folded down and out of the way if you’d prefer to enjoy the sunshine. A storage trunk holds the bimini top when it is folded down and not in use.

A pontoon boat playpen cover can be useful when your pontoon boat is being trailered or moored, or when in storage. They usually come with several support poles so that the cover doesn’t collect rain.

Pontoon boat enclosures can be extremely versatile and a canvas pontoon boat enclosure or a polyester pontoon boat enclosure will protect you from many adverse weather conditions.

Full pontoon boat camper enclosures can be custom made for many uses including fishing, family outings, entertaining, and sleeping aboard for weekends or vacations.

When buying a pontoon boat enclosure the recommended products are Sunbrella acrylic or marine polyester. These products provide protection from both UV and weather.

Thanks for reading about Pontoon Boat Enclosures.

Stress reduction exercise is a highly recommended form of stress reduction method that medical professionals endorse to persons suffering from not only severe levels of stress but even those with only low levels. It is a popularly regarded by experts that exercising is one of the best stress reduction methods which is why you should also consider doing some form of stress reduction exercise.

It’s All about Tension Release

Primarily, doing stress reduction exercise helps a person to let loose. When you release pent-up tension in the body, stress reduction is not hard to achieve since it helps in releasing the endorphins, the so-called happy hormones, which will obviously make you feel better. Another benefit of stress reduction exercises is that it becomes an avenue to let go of your emotional tensions as well.

Finally, a major advantage of using stress reduction exercise into your daily acitivities is that it encourages you to be more sociable which is a good way to relieve stress – having friends to talk to and share your problems with.

If you are concerned in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, you should make an effort to include stress reduction exercise in their day to day activities. You can do these in several ways: karate, yoga, swimming, and even walking. Yoga is a popular stress reduction exercise since it promotes a better physical wellbeing by making the body supple and flexible. It also helps the mind to meditate in peace which reduces stress in a physical and mental way. Most people fail to entertain any thoughts about how a thing such as stress reduction meditation exists and this is unfortunate because meditation is in fact a very powerful tool that helps to provide immediate relief from stress.

Karate is also an good stress reduction exercise since it helps a person become more disciplined. In addition, it also promotes a sense of safety since you will be more competent to defend yourself from any vicious attack.

Swimming is another brilliant stress reduction exercise which soothes you while getting you into a better physical shape. It is also an effective way to let off steam. Walking is another stress reduction exercise that allows you get rid of all the negative energy. Walking is an activity that can be easily practiced by anybody, at any given time of the day making it a simple yet active method of working out whatever problems are causing you to feel stressed.