Category: Career

As a business leader, you may have set ambitious sustainability objectives within your business. However, most of these will only come to fruition if your employees are completely engaged with your mission.

It’s common knowledge that businesses are expected to be leaders when combating climate change and its devastating consequences. Firms need to be unequivocally committed, and there’s no room for half-hearted attempts.

You must follow all the latest sustainability laws and regulations. However, you should also take initiative to take it a step further. Going beyond the minimum requirements is essential and says a great deal about the character of yourself and your company.

Of course, all of these achievements are a group effort. You must unite your business and rally them around sustainability efforts. Keep reading for some tips on how you can achieve this.

Take a Course

Authority often comes with being informed. Once you have information on your side, creating effective strategies and inspiring your workforce will be an easier endeavour.

You can learn sustainability practices in business with an online course. Drive social responsibility across your organisation’s value chain, explore marketing and communication roles, and understand how technology, design, and innovation can facilitate sustainable business practices. Upon completion, you’ll be able to relay what you’ve learnt to your team and articulate the importance of sustainability.

The best leaders are also learners. They keep advancing their skillset and respect that they need to keep up with the evolution of their industry. Enable your wisdom to flourish and share crucial insights with your team once you’re more knowledgeable in sustainability issues.

Consider that your workers will have more confidence in you as a leader if your strategies all have a solid educational foundation. Nobody wants to follow a manager or CEO if they rely on guesswork to succeed, even if they have good intentions. Get informed first, then act decisively with precision.

Assess Other Companies

Seeing other businesses implementing sustainability initiatives more successfully than you can be intimidating. However, sometimes a reality check is needed to make significant progress.

Research everything other companies are doing to meet their eco-friendly goals. For example, some departments are being held financially accountable for emissions. Others feature their eco-credentials as part of their recruitment drives, hiring only the best employees committed to the same goals. Of course, both of these incentives are great ways to keep employees enthused about sustainability.

By exploring the work that your competitors and other companies in the corporate landscape are doing to help with sustainability, you can find innovative new ideas that you might not have considered previously. Also, you can review the customer feedback and participation in specific schemes to see if they will bring the engagement that you expect.

Invite Employee Feedback

When employees can pitch their own ideas for improving sustainability, they feel like they are integral to the process. More responsibilities may stimulate them in their roles and boost motivation.

Chair a series of meetings where each department can discuss these issues openly. Create an environment where each person in attendance can feel compelled to speak at any given time. Open the floor with questions like:

• How are we doing? Different departments of your business may have their own methods of ensuring eco-friendly operations. Get an overview of all the various measures people are employing and gauge which are most effective.
• Do you feel the business is doing enough? Some honest feedback may cancel out any tensions in the workplace. You could be seen as a strong leader, inviting constructive criticism for the betterment of all.
• Would anyone be willing to volunteer? Passionate workers may be willing to monitor the sustainability activities of your business. Appoint them as a lead in monitoring these efforts. Their commitment could inspire others.
• Has anyone read anything interesting? Updates on developments in sustainability frequently circulate in the media. Allow people to share their impressions of the latest headlines and data, and let business-related ideas be brainstormed from there.

Employees may be more engaged with eco-friendly activities when they can see your seriousness about them too. They may turn down better job offers if they aren’t as serious about sustainability as you are. Feedback is a great way to provide a daily reminder of your own attitude. From there, employees may follow your example and build a more proactive work culture in the process.

Develop Community Outreach

Sustainability initiatives should not only be focused around the benefits it can create for your business but the positive impact it could have on society as well.

An increasing amount of businesses work hand-in-hand with their communities, facilitating community development funds or having staff volunteers that help out with local initiatives. Employees need to see that you are willing to explore opportunities beyond the immediate confines of your business.

Workers are becoming less inclined to work for purely profit-driven corporations. Employees are perhaps hoping to work for entities that care for the health and well-being of their employees and surrounding communities. Sustainability may not appeal to employees if it is done to simply tick boxes or appease lawful regulations. Your actions should show that you genuinely care.

Combine this approach with that of your sustainability- focused meetings. Ask your employees if there are any causes that are near and dear to their hearts. This could provide a great opportunity to connect with your employees and show them that your priorities align.  It will drive further engagement, and closer links could be established between your business and the community.

Set the Right Tone

There is a lot at stake with the eco-friendly efforts of businesses. The news around the topic is often bleak, which can create unwanted negativity in your workplace.

Your employees will work best when they are as positive and proactive as possible. This is the type of environment you should be endeavouring to foster. Every initiative you launch should be an uplifting experience, so that your team can feel invigorated and ready to do some good for the planet.

Try to frame your company’s sustainability efforts around a sense of fun at any opportunity. You could offer fun-filled incentives, orchestrate friendly competitions between colleagues, and attempt to inject everything with an air of informality. That way, people may feel more inclined to get on board with what you are trying to achieve, even if they are apprehensive at first.

For example, a carpooling scheme could work effectively. Employees could commute to work together, develop a strong rapport with one another, and cut back on their emissions simultaneously. Chart who carpools most, and reward them for taking the initiative. In the end, these smaller incentives can add levity to the situation.

You can improve employee engagement with sustainability by expanding your knowledge, improving communication, expanding outreach, and developing exciting projects and incentives to get fully immersed in. 

More than 70% of the World’s Most Attractive Employers (WMAE) believe that employer branding should be one of the top priorities of the companies. And there is a reason behind this– your reputation as an employer determines the sort of candidates that apply to get jobs in your company. If you have a bad name in the market, a major portion of the good and highly-skilled candidates will keep searching for a better option than you.

However, it is your job to convince the new candidates that your company offers a great workplace environment and has a valuable internal culture. In order to convince them, you can turn to your employees to become the mouthpiece for your company. New candidates find employee testimonials to be highly-relatable which helps them build an emotional connection as well.

In this blog, we’ll see what employee testimonials are and why are they important? Moreover, we’ll also take a look at some ways to collect impactful testimonials and some examples too. Without any further ado, let’s jump right into it.

What is an Employee Testimonial?

Employee testimonials are official statements from employees that explain their overall experience with your firm. It describes what they like about their job in your company, how they feel to work here, what a typical day looks like at the workplace, how they developed personally and professionally, and much more. Employees might also suggest why eligible clients should prefer working here.

Employee testimonials have the power to paint your firm in a great light. However, if you amalgamate it with employee stories, it’ll be much more effective. A story elevates an ordinary employee testimonial. You can put an example/story of something that the firm did for the specific employee to show your company’s culture and values in action.

These testimonials can be shared in many forms: photos, video, interviews, articles, social media posts, etc.

Why Are Employee Testimonials So Important?

When 84% of the job seekers are saying that the reputation of a firm as an employer is one of the biggest factors that affect their decision to apply for a position, you should take it seriously without any second thoughts. The job seeker today only wants to work for companies that value innovation and inspire purpose. They want to work for a company that offers surety regarding professional growth. And to get a coveted position, these candidates don’t mind doing a little extra research.

Customer testimonials are important and there’s no doubt about that. Candidates prefer to hear the lockdown directly from the horse’s mouth. It is mainly because normal employees are more relatable to these candidates than the CEOs of the company. You need to give more importance to these testimonials to gain control of the narrative.

Collect Impactful Employee Testimonials

We know how crucial employee testimonials are, but it can be challenging to begin with collecting these testimonials. You can make this process easier for yourself by following these tips listed below:

Do not script

One of the first things that an employee testimonial needs to be is sound natural. You don’t want your staff to ramble, the testimonials that they come up with should be crisp and consequential. If you are presenting these testimonials in the form of an interview, give them a basic idea of its structure and topic to talk about.

But it is also essential to ensure that the video you post is not scripted. A scripted video will only ruin things for your firm as it would look like the employee(s) is forced to say positive things about the brand.

Answer their questions

Even if you employees have a story to tell, it can be difficult for them to reel out a speech. You can give your questions to the employees beforehand, so they at least know what to answer. It will make things natural for them and their flow look natural. Asking questions out loud and giving them a few minutes to frame an answer is also a good option, you can always edit the video in post-production.

Capture emotions

People don’t want to see robots in the videos. You want your employees to be as relatable with your potential candidates as they can be. You can ask your employees to talk about their personal connection with the brand. If the candidates like their experience, they’ll be more than eager to join your firm.

Do not overdo

You need to keep your testimonials as short and sweet as you can. Candidates are not likely to see long videos just for the testimonials. All they want is a snapshot of your firm’s culture. Try to stick to a single topic in one video. When your videos are short, they can be shared on social media platforms too.

3 Great Employee Testimonials Example

Here are three of the great employee testimonial examples that we gathered from different industries and in distinct formats. You can take inspiration from these companies and then work with your employees to put out a consequential testimonial.

Capgemini

Format: A combination of short videos and text interviews

Capgemini offers a good collection of testimonials of their employees across the company. These employee testimonials are in the form of short videos, and some key excerpts are presented in a question-answer format.

This combination is quite effective for Capgemini as it allows the audience to skim through the content if they are short on time, and can see the whole video if they want to know deeply about the experience.

Nike

Format: Montage video and employee journeys

In their employee testimonial segment, Nike has done what Nike does best– creating short montage videos of employees and moments at Nike. The infectious music that they put in the video hooks the candidates to see what’s coming.

In the video, some selected employees share their joining process and how they felt after it. There are some behind the scenes and inspiring words too that allure candidates towards Nike’s mission.

P&G

Format: “Day 1” employee video stories

P&G is a global company, reinforced by quality employees present across the world. They have shared testimonials of employees from all over the world (US, Brazil, Singapore, etc.) When candidates see the video of individuals from all over the world, they see an opportunity to relocate, and this is exactly what P&G seeks in their potential candidates.

The videos shared by P&G are engaging because you get to see both the personal and professional lives of the employees, and how they are in harmony with each other. 

Final Words

As we have mentioned in the article, employee testimonials are a great way to attract top talents. You get to show the benefits you provide as a brand and also build an emotional connection so that when the candidates become your employee they already feel connected to the firm. You can take the best practices into consideration to easily form impactful employee testimonials.

The advent of remote working and hybrid work schemes has opened up a world of opportunities for online entrepreneurs and business owners. 

What’s more is that the Great Resignation era is well underway, and millions of professionals around the world are looking to reconfigure their lives and improve their job satisfaction levels. 

With so much going on, online businesses can access a worldwide pool of diverse and highly skilled talents that are no longer out of reach due to geographical limits. However, there are a few factors to keep in mind – start with the ones below!

Invest in Tech

Online businesses and startups benefit from unlimited expansion potential, and they are able to minimize overhead costs. However, there are some investments that truly should not be overlooked, especially if you are leveraging a remote workforce. 

The most important investment you should make include tech tools, such as communication and collaboration platforms. These are essential to keep your global team and network running smoothly and efficiently. 

Don’t Overlook Training

When dealing with a remote team, it is easy to underestimate the importance of training and development schemes. 

However, you should also provide opportunities for your employees to develop their skills, increase satisfaction levels, and become more loyal to your business. Training opportunities, volunteering initiatives, skill development schemes, and other activities. Your employees will pay you back in productivity, motivation, and high morale. 

A Diverse Team for the Win!

Whether your team is local or global, you should never underestimate how important diversity is in your team. Looking to bring together a diverse team for your business to thrive? Get started with the infographic below and help create diverse talent pipelines. 

Infographic designed by Ezra Coaching

In the ever-growing business industry, a lot of entrepreneurs are looking for a way to start a new business with minimum costs. There is no need to open a store or start an office with huge expenses and hire employees.  Some businesses that you can try from your home are photography, blogging, designing, and even acting as extras in movies. Most of these business ideas are geared for those who work from home —requiring only an internet connection and a laptop.

20 best business ideas to start from home in 2022

1. Blogging

This is one of the most popular business ideas that individuals are trying from home for a long time now. Startup costs and minimal maintenance fee makes blogging very appealing to those who take up online businesses. If you already have a personal blog or site, you can include advertising as another source of your income. The downside is that blogging is not a self-sustaining business. You will need to update your content on a weekly or daily basis depending on your blog’s subject matter.

2. Online shop

If you have the knack for making items, you can start an online store and sell them online through Facebook or any other similar platform. This is one of the easiest businesses to start from home as you do not need to go out and look for customers. Somebody will always be looking for anything that can make his life a bit easier or more convenient. You can create a variety of items like bags, shoes, and jewelry, among others. To make your jewelry and accessories even more interesting to the public, you can add in a card detailing the amethyst stone benefits!

3. Wedding photography

This business will not only require you to take photos of weddings but also many other happy events. It will be a wise decision to ask for referrals or recommendations from previous clients especially those who have hired you on your wedding day.

4. Acting as an extra

If you think that you look good in pictures, this business will suit you perfectly. Many movies and TV shows are looking for extras who fit the role they want them to play. You can also take it as a stepping stone if you aim to be famous someday.

5. Painting

If you have a good eye for colors, you might be thinking of painting as your business idea to start from home. This one may need more than just a laptop and internet connection. You will need to find your own clients who are willing to hire you.

6. Buying and selling of secondhand items

If you have a knack for buying items in bulk from garage sales, garage sales, or flea markets, you can always turn them into cash by reselling or pawning them for money. You can also buy certain items that are not readily available in your area and resell them at a higher price.

7. Commercial photography

This is actually the same as wedding photography, but it focuses more on photographing events for companies or businesses. Photography requires some additional equipment aside from your camera, laptop and internet connection.

8. Interior design

If you have an eye for colors and designs, interior designing is a good business idea for you to start from the comfort of your own home. You can offer services to your relatives and friends who will need some help with their home interiors.

9. Music instructor

This is one of the best business ideas to start from home. Those who are musically inclined can teach other people how to play musical instruments. Aside from piano lessons, you can also offer violin, guitar, or drum classes depending on your interest and expertise.

10. Makeup artist

If you are good in putting colors on people, why not start an online business as a makeup artist? Makeup artistry is one of the best business ideas to start from home that are trending nowadays. You can offer services for weddings or special events.

11. Quality assurance

This is actually one of the most popular business ideas for those who work from home because it requires no startup fee and minimal monthly overhead. The job of a quality assurance team is to look for mistakes or errors in a product which can be an app, video game, website, or any similar type of program.

12. Mystery shopper

This sort-of work from home job will enable you to make money from shopping at different stores by pretending to be a real customer. You will need to take note of the way they do their business and what kind of service they provide for you as a customer.

13. Internet marketing

This is another one of the best home-based businesses nowadays because it requires little or no additional equipment aside from your computer and internet connection. Online marketers just need to learn different strategies on how to promote their products or services on the web.

14. Translator

If you are good at speaking more than one language, translating is a business idea which you can start from home. Aside from translating documents related to law, medicine, and other fields of specialization, you can also translate foreign movies into your own language.

15. Copywriting

If you have a knack for writing and expressing your thoughts, copywriting is one of the best home-based business ideas that you can start today. You will be able to write articles or give your clients some written content like e-books and white papers.

16. Lawn service

If you love gardening and landscaping, a lawn service business is one of the best business ideas that you can start from home. This will give your house a more aesthetic look when visitors come to visit.

17. Power washing

If most of the time you see yourself in dirty clothing, power washing is another idea for a home-based business that you can start. You just need a power washer and a couple of accessories to get started.

18. Direct sales – This type of business can be done through different avenues such as home parties, craft fairs or even online using social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. It is similar to multi-level marketing, but it does not require a hefty investment.

19. Tutoring

If you are good in teaching other people, tutoring is one of the best home-based businesses that you can start today. You can teach kids or young adults who are having trouble in school because of math problems or foreign language classes.

20. Voiceover

This type of home-based business is also known as “non-union voice acting” and it will require you to have a home studio or recording booth where you can record different scripts for commercials, tutorials and other similar types of projects.

What are the essentials needed to start a business from home?

Starting a business from home is one of the best ideas that you can entertain today. All you need to do is to look for local opportunities and choose the ones that suit your skills and expertise. You also need an effective marketing plan so other people will know about your products or services. Lastly, make sure to network with other entrepreneurs or professionals in your field who will be able to give you helpful tips on how you can start your own business.

How do I make my home-based business successful?

One of the most important things that you need to remember when starting a home-based business is to plan ahead. You also need to determine what kind of market or industry you will be targeting. In addition, you need to build a home office or studio which can be your “money maker”. You should also have the necessary equipment so you will be able to produce quality products and deliver excellent services. Lastly, make sure that you are committed to your work because success in any business is hard-earned.

Summary: Starting a business from home in 2022 and become successful

A home-based business is one of the best ideas that you can start because it does not require a significant investment. You just need to know what kind of business will suit your skills and expertise, where the target market or industry is and how you can effectively promote your products or services online. Lastly, make sure to plan ahead so you can start your own business on the right foot.

Real estate agents play a critical role in the real estate industry. They are responsible for matching the needs and wants of buyers with properties listed by various sellers.

Thus, they act as intermediaries between homeowners who want to get rid of their property and prospective buyers looking to get into the real estate market.

The best characteristics of real estate agents are: ·

Hardworking and Well-organized

One of the reasons you should choose a real estate agent for your property is that they are not lazy. They can work as hard as possible to meet buyers and sellers to allow the sale or purchase of properties to go through smoothly.

Hardworking real estate agents are consistently effective in their jobs. They are always on time to show properties they are selling or buying. Real estate agents who are not hardworking will be ineffective in meeting their buyers and sellers, leading to the loss of potential deals.

Good Negotiator

Real estate agents know how to negotiate deals and not give in to the demands of either party. They think realistically and strive for win-win situations.

Easy-going real estate agents often cave in to the demands of both buyers and sellers, which can lead to ineffective transactions.

Negotiation is a skill every real estate agent should learn. A real estate agent who cannot negotiate can lead to losses for buyers and sellers.

Knowledgeable About the Real Estate Market

An excellent real estate agent should always keep updated about current market trends and conditions. They must provide credible information to buyers and sellers of properties.

The more knowledgeable a real estate agent is, the easier it will be to convince potential buyers and sellers. It goes without saying that a professional should be studying to become a real estate agent people can trust and rely on.

Professional

A real estate agent should act professionally at all times when dealing with clients. Real estate agents must maintain good relations with current and past clients even when they are not working, which shows that you are a level-headed individual who knows how to be cordial even when no business is involved.

Clients respect real estate agents who have good relations with these clients. Professionalism in real estate agents is a good characteristic because it is the key to success.

Good Team Player

Lone wolf real estate agents who do not work well with others are useless in their jobs. They will be an ineffective team member who can lead to failure in closing deals and transactions.

A good real estate agent should be excellent at working with other team members to close deals. They should also be able to recognize their areas of strength and weakness to work on improving weaknesses where necessary.

Creative

Good real estate agents are creative in coming up with ways of closing deals. They do not leave room for failure even when no deal is involved. Creativity does not mean being illogical or overthinking things.

Real estate agents should always think rationally and logically before coming up with strategies for different scenarios. Creativity is a necessary trait to have as a real estate agent because it sets the successful ones apart from the rest of the pack.

Well-informed

Real estate agents should be very well educated about the market trends, nearby amenities, and other relevant information that could help close deals. They should also keep themselves updated with information about new listings available for sale or properties on the market.

Good real estate agents know how to get hold of any property-related information in their locations to use it to improve their chances of closing deals successfully.

If you want to become an excellent real estate agent, try having these qualities or traits yourself. You can start by reading books to help you acquire the necessary skills and knowledge required for this profession.

In the end, remember that nothing comes easy, so if you want success as a real estate agent, work hard to get there one day at a time.

Revenue has always been the bone of contention in any industry, however, nowhere has it been a more pressing issue than in the healthcare industry. It’s rather difficult for the healthcare providers to deal with all the different regulations imposed on them and this leads to issues in collecting the correct amount of revenue. Collecting revenues within the healthcare industry is way more complex than it ideally should be, however, revenue cycle management is a tool that can be used by almost anyone to make it simpler and more efficient. RCM basically involves the processing of payments, handling billing, and most importantly- collecting revenue. Most people don’t know what it is and this leads to confusion that could have easily been avoided with a little bit of studying. 

In this article, we’re going to take an in-depth look at what RCM is and why it’s so important for you as a healthcare service provider. You’ll be able to understand how it works and how it can help you make your revenue handling easier and more efficient. So without further ado, let’s get to it and find out everything you need to know about revenue cycle management. 

1. What It Is

As we discussed above already, RCM relates to the proper handling of billing, processing, and revenue collection. The entire cycle initiates when the customer makes a purchase and comes to an end when the payment is collected. There are many different types of businesses that handle this process very differently. For example, a retail store will be able to do both of these things at the same time which means that the cycle will be a very short-lived one. However, in certain cases like healthcare, it usually takes much longer because of the time difference between the patient coming in and actually having their issues solved. The hospital-based RCM process is usually a bit more time-consuming but it’s also very smooth. It enables you to bring in as much revenue as you’re legally entitled to and takes away the hassle that you might’ve had to face otherwise. Also, the statistics show that the global healthcare industry is set to grow further with each passing year, and this necessitates the use of RCM since such growth can’t be sustained without proper management. 

2. How It Relates to Healthcare

We’ve already discussed how RCM is a handy tool that can be utilized by most businesses that have to deal with transactions that last long. However, you might still be wondering how RCM can actually be implemented in the case of healthcare services and how the transactions can be improved. One of the biggest advantages of utilizing RCM is that it helps with claim preparation. Every claim that’s made has to be supplemented with the patient’s treatment details and usually, this is done right before the very first appointment and helps cover the patient’s insurance. Many people underestimate the role of RCM but the Importance of revenue cycle management can be seen with an aspect closely related to the claim itself- the claim submission which finalizes the entire process of making claims from the insurance company. This shows that RCM is useful not only for the healthcare service provider but also for the patients. It helps avoid unnecessary errors that can easily be avoided, but if you’re careless about these errors, it can lead to complications in the future. The complications that can arise due to the errors related to a patient’s claims can even take a serious turn into the realm of legal battles. You definitely don’t want to deal with the legal ramifications as it can lead to huge financial losses for you and that’s something that every business wants to avoid. 

3. How It Can Help You

Perhaps the most significant and the most sought-after benefit of implementing an RCM is the increase in revenue performance. Even though your revenue won’t increase magically just because you’ve implemented RCM, it’ll definitely help you bring it in faster, process it sooner, and save a lot on your expenses as well. Since the primary motive of you implementing RCM is to save money, this should be reason enough for you to adopt it. Even your visibility will improve quite a lot as your team can identify the core issues and inefficiencies in your systems which helps expedite all the processes. If you still feel that there aren’t many benefits of making the switch then you should think about the other aspects like the ability to demonstrate your value. You can very easily prove your organization’s prowess to the investors and stakeholders so that it’s easier to convince them. RCM will provide you with solid data that you can use to gain an upper hand and that’s something that you don’t want to miss out on. All in all, adopting an RCM is the best chance you can bring into the structure as it helps avoid all the frustrating parts of a business while helping you to improve the fundamental processes at the same time. 

These are some of the most crucial things you should know about a revenue cycle management system. Most people are unaware of one or all of its aspects since it isn’t a widely adopted system yet. However, if you choose to adopt it then you’ll be able to witness significant changes rather soon. If you are still on the fence about this decision then go on ahead and compare the businesses that have adopted RCM to the businesses that haven’t. The differences you notice will be more than enough to convince you to make the switch. We’ve only discussed the basics and there’s much more to it than what’s visible from the outside. Whatever your reasons are for adopting the revenue cycle management system in your business, the important thing is that you make the change soon so that you can safeguard your business from the legal battles and all the loss of revenue that might happen at any time.