Thursday, August 4, 2011

5 Ways Companies Benefit When Employees Work from Home

With the lagging economy today, companies are looking for ways to cut costs while continuing to provide the same level of services that they have in the past to their customers and their employees. For years, many companies have allowed employees to work from home. In return, these companies seem to enjoy a higher employee satisfaction rate and employee retention rate. The work from home scenario provides a win-win for both the company and the employee and it is becoming more and more popular. If your business model will allow you the ability to have employees work from home, here are a few reasons to consider implementing this feature into your company:


  • Reduction in Costs – Employees working from home saves on office space and parking as office space alone costs an estimated $10,000 per employee. Employees spend less in gas and maintenance on their vehicles due to reduced mileage driven. Lower costs for employees translates into happier employees since they are spending less money to get to work and will have the ability to use those funds as needed in other areas of their personal finances.
  • Reduction in Absenteeism – Many employees are off work when a child is ill or due to inclement, unsafe weather conditions that preclude them from driving to work. If they worked in the office they would have to take a personal or sick day to attend to a child who was ill. Offering the ability for employees to have what is commonly referred to as "flex time" will allow them to stay at home, tend to their sick loved one or stay safe at home due to weather conditions and still get things accomplished for your company.
  • Enhances Employee Productivity – Studies have shown that employees are more productive when working from home because there are fewer distractions or interruptions from meetings and less socializing with co-workers.
  • Balances Work/Family Life – It provides better balance between work and family life since much of an employee's time is spent at work or traveling to and from work giving them less time with the family. By allowing them to work from home, you are giving them more time to provide attention to family by eliminating commute time.
  • Increases Employee Retention and Loyalty – Employees are happier when they are able to work from home without the added stress of commuting, dealing with rising fuel costs, expensive automotive repairs, etc. Employees who work from home tend to be more content with their jobs and thus more willing to work hard for your company.

Allowing employees to work from home, even for one day of their week, is something important to consider for your company. There are a lot of details that need to be worked out and discussed with your management team. However, if you're able to do it, most experts say that you will see a rise in productivity and job performance will increase as well.

Do you currently allow employees to work from home? If so, let us know what your experience is with offering this to your employees. What kind of impact has it made on your business? Overall do you see it as being beneficial to your company? We look forward to hearing from you.

Color Card Administrator is the parent company of PrintBusinessCards.com and several other innovative Real Estate Business Cards website, we're eager to share with you what it is we do. Give us a call today at 858-522-9335 or email at Author@CardAdmin.com for Online Business Cards. We look forward to discussing your comments, suggestions, or hearing any ideas for future article topics you may be interested in regarding business cards design or business card management. Be part of the professional business cards company.

7 Ways to "Green Up" Your Company's Office

Everyone has become more and more conscious of the need to be more earth friendly both at home and in the office. It really is amazingly simple to start making some minor changes that really don't require a lot of extra work or effort, yet yield some great results for our precious environment. In order to get started with some eco-friendly changes in your office, it's simply a matter of educating your employees on how to "green up" and help our planet and offer them a few tool needed to properly implement your new earth friendly changes.

Here are 7 easy steps that your office can take to "green up" the work place:

  1. Use Recycle Bins – One of the easiest first steps is to invest in some recycle bins or just put labels on regular trash bins: PAPER ONLY or CANS ONLY for all the soda cans that are used in an office.

  2. Replace Incandescent Lights – As lights burn out replace them with the efficient lighting CFL bulbs also known affectionately as the "twisty" bulbs. Ensure that all lights are turned off at the end of the day or as you leave a room to save on electricity.

  3. Economize on Paper – If you do not need to print something – DON'T! But if you do - then print it two-sided for office use to save on paper. Also start buying recycled paper. Did you know that the EPA estimates that 700 BILLION sheets of copy paper are used in the USA alone each year? That's a lot of trees! Recycling paper, working to reduce the amount of copies you make and purchasing recycled paper all work together to save trees and reduce landfill waste.

  4. Eliminate paper coffee cups and plates – Utilize reusable mugs, plates, and glasses or ask employees to bring their own. If you do not have a dishwasher, then each employee should be responsible for cleaning their own. If you must use disposable dishware for an event, consider using products made from sugar cane and corn. Not only are these produces made from abundant, renewable, sustainable resources, they also break down in landfills in no time flat - without any negative side affects.

  5. Install Water Flow Restrictors and Aerators on Faucets – If these are installed on toilets and faucets it will save thousands of gallons of water. Not only is it a good conservation tactic - this can be a long-term money-saver for your business too.

  6. Use Old Stationary for Scrap Paper – When you order updated stationary with a new logo or address, use the old paper for scrap or test printing so that it is not wasted.

  7. Use Green Cleaning Products – Ensure that whoever does the cleaning in the office uses green cleaning products. Reducing chemicals that make their way into our water is an important step that should be taken by every business and everyone in their own home too. There are many great cleaning products out that use safer, natural cleaning ingredients and still do an excellent job of cleaning and deodorizing your office.

These are just a few simple things that can be implemented without too much work and financial investment on your company's part. Rally your employees to make a conscious effort to adhere to the green guidelines that you create for your office. Help them understand why it's important and then...get to it!

Color Card Administrator is the parent company of PrintBusinessCards.com and several other innovative Real Estate Business Cards website, we're eager to share with you what it is we do. Give us a call today at 858-522-9335 or email at Author@CardAdmin.com for Cheap Business Cards. We look forward to discussing your comments, suggestions, or hearing any ideas for future article topics you may be interested in regarding online business cards design or business card management.

Google's New +1 Button is a Cool Way to Make Recommendations

A great new tool that has been introduced by Google is the +1 Button that makes it extremely easy to make recommendations about a new restaurant or the best choice for a dog groomer in the neighborhood. This excellent little referral tool can be used on your website or on your Google Account so that friends, clients, and folks who visit your website can essentially give your website or even a particular page on your site the "thumbs up".

For companies who depend heavily on their exposure on the Internet, the +1 system is simply another way to get site visitors to engage and involve themselves with your website. Do you routinely post new articles in a company or personal blog? If so, you should consider integrating the +1 feature onto individual posts/articles so that readers can visually share their agreement with everyone simply by clicking the Google Plus One button.

The way a +1 button works is this: you first have to have a public profile with Google and your +1's are all kept in a tab on your Google profile. It can be kept private or made public – all depending on how you want to manage it. An individual might like to just have his or her +1's sent to friends and contacts while someone who is looking to expand his business would want it kept public.

So…the next time you want to give a rave review about your dog Cocoa's new groomer or relate the best place to go fishing, you can use a +1 button to let everyone know you were impressed and highly recommend these places.

While the positive "bump" that a Plus One vote gives your site, page, or article may be minimal for search engine results, the visual results for visitors and readers is greater. When folks see that you have obviously made an impression with your article, they are more likely to read your post and vote themselves.

So, it's my opinion that Google Plus One is worth looking into and integrating into various places on your own site. Are you already using it? If so, please feel free to comment and let us know your thoughts and opinions on this new referral/recommendation system.

Color Card Administrator is the parent company of PrintBusinessCards.com and several other innovative Real Estate Business Cards website, we're eager to share with you what it is we do. Give us a call today at 858-522-9335 or email at Author@CardAdmin.com for Business Cards. We look forward to discussing your comments, suggestions, or hearing any ideas for future article topics you may be interested in regarding online business cards design or business card management.