Category: Business

By now many people have heard about standing desks and maybe even read reports on their potential to change lives. Many articles focus on the negatives of sitting: sitting at a desk is as bad as smoking, people who sit at their desks have shorter life spans, or sitting all day promotes terrible posture. The solution? Standing desks. Desks that allow workers to stand so they can improve their health, productivity and quality of life.

People are turning to standing desks more and more, but are they really better than sitting desks? Here are the pros and cons of standing desks.

Pros

Researchers at Cornell University cite recent studies that suggest sitting for too long is potentially linked to an increased risk of coronary heart disease and kidney disease. While that sounds scary, those studies don’t prove that sitting all day causes those health problems, just that people who sit all day tend to have a greater risk of such issues. There could be other factors at play.

Still, standing all day does change a person’s posture and takes more energy than sitting, so it burns more calories, though there is disagreement about how many calories. For those who use exercise workstations (desks that combine a treadmill component, for example), even more calories are burned and workers are exercising while working.

Some workers say they enjoy standing desks. They cite increased energy and alertness, greater engagement with co-workers, and better core strength as positives.

Cons

There are some concerns about standing desks, however. Standing is more tiring than sitting and can negatively affect productivity. People tend to have more difficulty with tasks that require fine motor skills when they stand than when they sit. Standing is also linked to varicose veins and puts pressure on a person’s circulatory system.

If your employees work longer than eight-hour days, a standing desk can be exhausting, not to mention hard on the legs.

As far as exercise work stations go, studies show that computer work performance decreases while the number of errors made increase when a person walks on a treadmill while working.

While sitting all day has been linked to heart disease, so has standing. A study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology found that standing for long periods throughout the day is linked to two times the risk of heart disease.

Final thoughts

Sitting and standing at a desk for too long both appear linked to increased health risks. If you’re looking to science for answers about standing desks, you may have to look further.

Some workers might prefer a standing desk but if their concerns are about getting enough movement in a day, not hurting their posture, or improving their health there are more effective routes to go.

Provide ergonomic desks and chairs that properly support their heads, necks, and backs.

Encourage your workers to get up at least every 30 minutes to stretch their bodies or walk around for a few minutes. This will stop them from sitting in the same position for too long and will give them some vital opportunities to move in a day, which will also help their circulation and improve their health.

Instead of sitting at your desk when you have one-on-one conversations with employees, encourage a short walk around the office or outside if the weather is nice.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with providing employees the option of a standing desk at work and seeing how much people use them if that’s what you want to do.

Okay, there probably aren’t a lot of people who need to be convinced that a shorter workweek is a great idea. Small business owners, however, might be on the list of people who need a little encouraging. After all, every day they take off could mean a longer day to make up for the missed hours.

There are some very real benefits to working a shorter week and those benefits aren’t just about the long weekends—though who would complain about those?

Here are some great reasons to consider shortening your workweek.

Your employees will love you for it

In 2018, a company in New Zealand allowed its employees to work four regular workdays instead of the usual five. The employees kept their regular salary and weren’t required to lengthen their other days. The experiment lasted for eight weeks and at the end, the company found that employees reported lower stress levels, improved job performance, increased work engagement, and a better work-life balance.

The key? With a shorter workweek, employees were more careful about how they managed their time. Meetings tended to be shorter and workers were careful to keep noise and disruption to a minimum, to allow other workers to also get their tasks done.

It attracts talent

If you’re looking to hire only the best employees—and who isn’t—what could be more attractive than earning a decent wage while working fewer hours? Offering an extra day off a week is sure to attract the attention of highly skilled workers without breaking your bank.

It can save you money

If you’re not already offering a shorter week, consider it in place of a raise for employees. It saves you money, makes workers feel valued, and will improve employee morale and satisfaction. Some may even prefer it to a raise.

In an ideal world, you could pay your employees the same while giving them a shorter workweek. Your company may not be able to afford that, but some employees might gladly take a pay cut to have an extra day off a week.

If you want to offer a shorter workweek but can’t afford to keep the pay the same, give your employees a choice.

Final thoughts

If moving to a shorter workweek permanently isn’t practical for you, there are still ways to give employees extra time off. You could run summer hours, where every Friday in the summer people leave early, or every weekend people take a Friday or Monday off. Or you could give employees the option of choosing what day to leave early. You could consider having every second week throughout the year be a flex week.

If you really can’t give up the hours, offer your employees a compressed workweek or see if your business is set up to allow working from home one day a week. Cutting out that commute saves them time.

Or you could be like some companies—including Netflix and Groupon—and offer unlimited vacation days.

Study after study has found numerous benefits to shorter workweeks, with none of the drawbacks that business owners often fear.

Offering a shorter workweek won’t prevent staff from doing their work, it’ll encourage them to do the same work in less time—provided, of course, each person isn’t already doing the work of two people.

Sources

https://www.fastcompany.com/90205776/the-four-day-work-week-works

https://www.inc.com/marla-tabaka/summer-hours-are-good-for-business-yes-you-can-afford-to-offer-this-perk.html

When you own a business, any time you speak in public you’re representing your company. That’s a lot of pressure, especially when you consider that most people are already nervous about speaking in front of people. There’s no magic cure for fear of public speaking but there are some things you can do to feel more confident, comfortable and natural in the spotlight while drawing your audience in.

Tell a relevant story

Stories are a great way to hold your audience’s attention and keep them emotionally invested in your presentation. Make sure the story is relevant to your overall topic, otherwise they’ll wonder why you spent time on it. The story can be about you personally or about someone at your company or a client—though don’t give away personal information without asking permission first.

Audiences like a personal connection with their speaker, and telling a story is a great way to not only establish credibility but to connect with the people listening to you. Be honest with your story and don’t be afraid to share tales of your own failures or adversity.

Keep the focus on you

Figures and graphics make presentations memorable but too many slides and your audience will stop focusing on what you say. Their attention will only be on the visual in front of them. Use graphics sparingly, to make a vital point or to illustrate data that’s too complex to say easily. Don’t read directly from the Powerpoint—use it as a prompt to remind you of what you wanted to say and grab the audience’s interest.

Be yourself

Audiences like speakers who are genuine, whether that’s in the form of being highly energized, somewhat funny, or more laid back. They can tell when speakers are trying to be something they aren’t, and changing your style will make you more uncomfortable when the spotlight is on you. If your style is laidback develop a more relaxed presentation. If you’re very comfortable improvising then make room for it when you talk. If you hate improvisation then make sure you’ve written your entire presentation ahead of time.

Know who you are and how you’re most comfortable and stay true and authentic during your presentation.

Practice, practice, practice

Okay it’s not the most ground-breaking advice, but one of the main concerns about public speaking is the worry that something will go wrong. The best way to prevent something from going wrong is to practice it as much as possible.

Write your presentation beforehand and read it out loud. First practice reading it out loud just to yourself. This will help you find any awkward phrasing or sentences that are too long. Then get your family or some friends together to hear it. Ask them for feedback about your content or your presentation. Did you speak too quickly? Look down too much? Seem uncomfortable? Use their feedback as you continue to practice.

The more familiar you are with your presentation, the more comfortable you will feel. And, because you’ll become more familiar with it as you practice you’ll spend much less time checking your notes, which will make the whole thing feel more natural.

Final thoughts

There will always be minor glitches or unexpected snags that happen in presentations. Audiences know that and are generally very forgiving of such things. Don’t spend too much time worrying about everything that could possibly go wrong, instead focus on things going right.

If you go into each presentation feeling confident and prepared, you can handle any minor issues that might arise.

As another year winds down, it’s a good time to reflect on your recent business successes – and consider what you’d like to achieve in the coming twelve to fifteen months.

These tips can help you with the process of making plans to help guide your business to greater success.

Set priorities

Entrepreneurs are typically highly creative and optimistic; as a result, they often have difficulty narrowing down their ideas from among all the exciting possibilities, whether it’s an opportunity to expand to a new market or choosing a better time management strategy.

As you update your business plan, focus on what’s most important for your business to achieve this year. Then break your goals down into smaller tasks, to maximize productivity and enjoy the little successes that lead to big changes.

Start by defining your top three business goals for the next four quarters. With those in mind, do some research to help you decide on the best way to achieve those three goals – and a reasonable timeline for meeting specific targets.

Think different

Your priorities in the coming year may be to hit a certain revenue target, launch a new product line or tap a completely new market.

An important thing to keep in mind as you make plans to move your business forward is how you’ll stay competitive. For instance, it’s important to review your pricing strategy on an annual basis, to ensure you continue to attract new prospects and retain customers.

As part of your overall business planning process, spend some time on competitive intelligence, too. Include in your plans how you’ll increase value for your offerings and continue to stand apart from the crowd.

Find money

If scaling your business is on your agenda for the year ahead, and you don’t have savings earmarked to fund your ideas, you’ll want to make sure your business plan includes adequate financial planning.

Applying to a lender for a business loan is one option. In this case, you’ll want to include up to date cash flow reports, income statements, budgets and projections in your plan for a potential lender.

If your business doesn’t have a credit history, you may need to look at other options for financing your plans. Using a business credit card on a regular basis and paying off the balance can help you build a good credit rating, which will help you prepare to apply for a loan down the road.

Your accountant can also help provide additional financial advice and support as you update your business plan, based on your most current financial records.

With these business planning tips in mind, you’ll be well-prepared for a new year of growth and continued success.

Final tips

• Review your business plan every quarter to ensure you stay on track with your goals and priorities throughout the year.
• Be realistic about opportunities and challenges as you plan ahead. Your accountant can offer business advisory services – and help you set meaningful short and long term goals.
• As alternatives to applying for a loan or line of credit, consider crowdfunding or angel investing to help you meet your business goals.