Work-Life Imbalance tops the causes of stress among working adults. In a society that is increasingly becoming productivity-oriented, conflicts between home and workplace roles emerge regularly. This imbalance between work and family life has been the cause of several negative outcomes like interpersonal conflicts at work, failed personal relationships, poor work efficiency, mental and physical health issues.
Mental health is taken for granted by many who expose themselves to job-related stress unintentionally most of the times. In some cases, the cause of stress stems out from the urge to earn recognition from their peers or superiors as 'hard workers', as it might portray a higher sense of commitment and responsibility. This could quite predictably cause imbalance in both facets of life.
There could be several other reasons for stress. Prominent social beliefs that associate parenthood with a happy and fulfilling life may not hold true for everyone. Credible sociological studies have found it to be quite the contrary – Parents face more mental and physical health issues than their childless peers, having to bear the cost of raising a child being one of the prominent factors among others.
Clearly, stress has troubled employers and employees alike. Constant stress often leads to sexual health problems, cardiovascular diseases, frequent headaches and a weak immune system. Misguided attempts to beat stress may lead to alcohol consumption, smoking and even binge eating.
So the importance of fighting stress is vital for achieving a balance in work and family life. Daunting it may appear but it is achievable. Although without a concrete resolve to achieve balance, it is likely to end in failure.
Talking to family about one's idea of work helps to pinpoint the stress factors that need to be dealt with. It also makes one's family understand the obligations and responsibilities of the workplace, improving their understanding in the process.
It is necessary to create boundaries between family time and work hours. Boundaries are imaginary lines that shield work from being affected by family, at the same time they don't allow family time being compromised by work obligations.
One should also make peace with the fact that in some scenarios either work or family will have to be given priority. A perfect balance at all times may not be feasible. There are no quick fix solutions to the dilemma of balancing work and family. Every person's solution to their work-family equation should suit their individual needs and preferences. But a balance will truly be struck when a person keeps up with his family's needs while performing adequately at work.
It is commendable to love your job, but as big a part of one's life it may be, it ultimately needs to be "turned off" primarily to spend some time away from work. For people who are defined by the work that they do, this can be a lot harder. It's admirable to accomplish excellence at work but an 'always at work' attitude ends up in alienating loved ones by repeatedly overshadowing them by one's job, damaging relationships in the long run. It is also linked with reduction in effectiveness at work as the body and mind need a break from the monotonous schedule of thinking and doing the same thing repeatedly to rejuvenate and keep afresh.
A schedule should not be overwhelming.
While juggling and multi-tasking, it is most important to keep a rational schedule. Both 'work and non-work commitments' and 'downtime and non-work time' should be awarded equal weightage. The commitment to personal activities and family should be as unavoidable as the commitment to work.
Say "No." It's okay to do so.
Trouble might arise by committing to more than you have time for. Every request that heads in your direction should be seriously considered and only after double-checking one's schedule should a decision be made. If it's too overwhelming, there's no harm in turning it down. Undertaking tasks and social invitations that are a handful won't do anyone any good if you're unable to handle it or too tired to enjoy.
The skills honed at work may seem to help in your personal life but if to-do lists start making your personal time all the more work then it's advisable to stop it. List making should be scrapped for a couple of days to take things head on.
With those tips above, one can go on to make a checklist of what brings them stress. That will be half the battle conquered. Once you know what's been irking you, it is easier to get help from family, friends, and colleagues. If they don't or they can't give you enough support, one must not hesitate is seeking professional help. All it takes to beat your blues is to acknowledge one's problem areas and speak up.
How important are customer reviews ?
Market research surveys are often used by companies to collect various types of information about their consumers and clients. Some of this information is gathered by businesses prior to introducing products but a majority of customer data is gathered after the introduction of their products.
Whatever be the case, customer feedback is important for a number of reasons.
To determine a customer's needs and tastes, customer feedback is vital, particularly when a business introduces new products. Companies conduct focus groups, in-person research or customer phone surveys to determine the features, flavours or styles that consumers are looking for in a product. Customer feedback helps companies determine what's important to their customers, according to The Calgary Beacon article "9 Great Reasons to Conduct Customer Surveys." Without customer feedback, a company could not possibly learn about the product needs of the consumer. As a consequence, its products are likely to fail in the marketplace.
Customer feedback also helps a company to better understand how a customer rates and uses their product versus a competitor's product. It is vital in determining where a company's products and services excel or fall short in comparison with alternatives on the market.
Customer service satisfaction surveys are the most common type of market research surveys. Companies can determine whether customers are getting their questions answered and problems resolved. Additionally, through surveys, a company can evaluate the performance of its customer service reps and take corrective measures, especially if the feedback indicates that the customer service reps were being rude to customers.
Customer feedback from lost customers is especially important as it helps the company in determining why customers are no longer buying its products. The goal of the survey becomes determining courses of action that the company can take to win a customer back.
Customer feedback also is important in detecting certain trends among consumers. For example, a new competitor in the market may introduce new and improved version of a product that potentially threatens the current version a company sells. If customers indicate they would prefer and buy this new version, the company will have to consider adopting innovative changes in their current product.
Customer reviews can also have a positive effect on search engine rankings. Since descriptive reviews tend to contain an abundance of keywords, they help a website rank higher on search engines for the products and services on offer.
Reviews on a general level help a company understand the needs of their customers and help them in improving the products and services they sell, adapting to the latest trends, and dealing with their customers. If certain products have received positive reviews, it may be wise to get them back in stock. If certain products prove unpopular, reviews bring it to your attention sooner allowing you to take action in time. Reviews are the real views of your customers, a direct line of communication that allows you to monitor how customers perceive the company's brand.
A good way of encouraging customers to leave reviews is to offer small incentives, such as entrance into a competition or a small discount on the next purchase in exchange for leaving a review. Another practice is to send an email after each order inquiring if the process was satisfactory and requesting the customer to review their purchase.
It doesn't matter which industry a company belongs to, or the size of its business, positive testimonials from customers dramatically improve online visibility and brand image. Customers are conditioned to search for information on the Internet. It has become a norm to browse the internet for a desired product or service that could range from a local restaurant, the latest electronic gadgets, etc.
If the internet search guides the customer to your company, the website should have enough information available to influence their decision. In that scenario, reviews could be the deciding factor. If a company has more favourable reviews in which customers are praising its products or services, it leads to new client acquisitions.
There are several sites that publish user reviews and ratings to help consumers find local products and services: Google Places, Yelp, etc. Companies should be focused on understanding these review services and determining what could provide the most benefit to their business.
Reviews, even if negative, can bring positive developments, as long as they aren't too common. A few bad reviews will provide legitimacy to the rest of the good reviews and reassure visitors that the feedback is genuine and left by real customers.
Google Atmosphere is an online event that provides leading CIOs and CTOs a platform to talk about how technology of the future will take shape and how to adapt to it. Google Atmosphere is also a collaboration and knowledge-sharing platform for top management executives around the world.
The first ever Google Atmosphere in 2008 was initially started as a conference for 250 CIOs but now it has become a global annual-event to be organized in various tech-savvy cities around the world. During the year 2014, grand conferences of Google Atmosphere have been held in London, Munich, Paris, Sydney and many other cities acting as regional tech hubs. Google invites its brightest to impart their valuable knowledge and invitations are also extended to the most innovative minds in the tech world to interact with the tech-savvy audience at the conference.
What is Google Atmosphere about?
How to secure and keep IT agile.
Each session offers unique insights from distinguished speakers on these topics.
Google Atmosphere tends to reverberate that everyone has the gift of creativity, innovation in some or the other way. The idea is to not wither away in the face of odds, as some of the best innovations can be attributed to those who didn't give up on their idea, irrespective of how unlikely it seemed at the time of conception, be it Alexander Graham Bell's Telephone, Thomas Edison's Light Bulb, or the Google search engine itself by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. At some point, all these ideas faced ridicule, or criticism as not being beneficial to anyone but to imagine that there was a time the world lived without either of these things, and how different it would be today without these inventions.
Why is it beneficial to spend two hours to attend Google Atmosphere?
Some Business Executives may be satisfied with the way their day to day operations take place and may not really feel like drastic changes are needed. Critical and creative thinking is how problem-solving capability increases, in case of satisfaction with the status of creativity and innovativeness of a company. Google Atmosphere is a great platform to expand one's platter of knowledge. If nothing else then it is certainly offers an opportunity to sharpen problem-solving skills aided by innovative and creative thinking.
One thing that innovators have in common is the relentless urge to disrupt the usual. At Google Atmosphere, Google in collaboration with top industry experts from around the world will share what drives creativity and innovation, what type of tools and technology help you get that winning edge and how you and your organization can find business solutions through Google for Work and Think Creatively and Innovate Boldly. An interactive live stream for industry leaders, Google Atmosphere will cover tried and true tips to help evolve your business to increase flexibility, productivity and growth.
What to expect at the next Atmosphere event?
At the upcoming Google Atmosphere event scheduled for October 2015, Rich Rao, Google for Work Director, will start the discussion underlining characteristics needed to achieve global success. He will indulge the audience in topics like winning customer affection, cost cutting increasing connectivity, and the advantage being up to date with technology. Alphabet executive and founder of Nest Tony Fadell, shares his vision of the path of future technology and business.
Other notable speakers to feature include Sarah Franklin, VP Marketing & Lauren Grau, Developer Program Manager from Salesforce, enriching the experience for thousands of customers. Woolworths' CTO Ryan Fahy will explain how Google Apps for Work has connected thousands of Woolworths' employees to enlighten them on culture and the best customer service practices. Forrester Consulting's Sean McCormick, Sr. Consultant and Ted Schadler, VP and Principal Analyst will present two big market trends and challenges faced by business leaders and provide the ROI analysis of Google Apps for Work in facing challenges.
CEO Eduardo Guilisasti and IT Manager Daniel Durán of Concha y Toro, South America's largest wine producer will describe what makes their brand a global success, while highlighting the tech they use to optimize operations. WeWork co-founder Miguel McKelvey CTO and David Fano will give an insight about their idea of an optimized working space, also WeWork went international with Google Apps for Work.
In general, Google Atmosphere provides insights on how to add creative value to problem solving. It is a free-of-cost learning avenue offered as a part of Google for Work, primarily designed to understand the process of innovation and then use the insights to guide the audience to implement creativity in crafting solutions for their businesses and their customers'.
Google Atmosphere can be a positive learning experience. It has a line-up of seasoned speakers who will make it impossible for the audience to end the event without having learnt anything new and useful.
Being a part of Google Atmosphere will give a sneak peek into valuable ideas from hundreds of business innovators that can help you discover what could be the next best transformation strategy for your organization. So, all learning enthusiasts should make it a point to make time for registering and participating in the event.
Are smartphones improving or impairing productivity at work?
According to a study by the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Smartphones, thought to hamper workplace productivity due to their ability to make telephone calls, surf the Internet and play games may not be the costly distraction companies make them out to be.
Before the age of smartphones, customers and clients had to be contacted on their office phone. Smartphones provide employees and clients the ability to contact one another quickly and efficiently. Conflicts are resolved faster using smartphones. An individual is considered 'rude' if he does not respond to a simple text message, email, or phone call within a certain period of time.
According to a study by the University of Kansas, "Smartphone Micro-breaks During Work Day are Productive." The study recommends that employees should be given a few short breaks throughout the day. It increases the productivity and more deadlines are met, as mini-breaks allow employees to take their minds off potential work stress and keep their mind fresh. The study says "workers who use their phones for short breaks throughout the day tend to be happier and have a more positive attitude." Let's take a look at some of the credible reasons to allow smartphones for official purposes.
Smartphones help maintain a schedule and keep users up to date about upcoming events and allow them to manage their daily tasks more efficiently. A smartphone allows communication everywhere, away from office or home and personalizes data according to set preferences and priorities.
The best feature found in smartphones is that they enable access to anything from anywhere. Editing or creating documents and organizing appointments can be done on the move. Maps, locations, weather reports and latest updates from the business world can be accessed using a smartphone. Using a smartphone makes it possible for a mobile workforce to stay in touch with the business.
Integration of business applications with smartphones to stay connected with business activities allows users to create and send or receive up-to-date reports of financial and business operations.
Since smartphone devices give video input and output, users can view their business presentations and videos in their gadgets. Business users can connect their phones to a TV or computer monitor and show PowerPoint presentations or display whatever is running on the phone's display.
While certain smartphone features may attract regular consumers, business users are more concerned about the security of their data and official information. Solutions like Google Apps for Work offers Mobile device management MDM at no extra cost, give users more powerful security options that allow its users to keep personal and business data separate on the same device.
The early twenty-first century has brought with it hundreds and thousands of smartphone apps. A smartphone's portability and programmability has made it a device with almost unlimited applications. There are tons of work-related scheduling, task-management and productivity apps available, to keep track of one's tasks, meetings and important deadlines. Besides, Media downloading, Internet and stereo apps keep users connected with the world of audio. Smartphone torches, Compass and levelling apps and have made smartphones handheld utilities.
In earlier days, Web browsing had to happen at a desk in an office, where a wired internet connection could be made available to the computers or laptops. Later on, wireless access and laptops allowed the Web to be accessed pretty much anywhere in the house or office. But in the age of smartphone technology, including broadband and wireless, Web access has made its way onto the subway, into cars and to the park or wherever there is a cellular connection.
Unlike the traditional mobile phones, smartphones are powerful devices with advanced features. From the point of view of businesses, important business files and presentations can be easily shared. Users can also send emails directly from apps. In this way, valuable time saved from performing communication actions can be allocated to other more important business matters.