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How to Create a Better Work Environment for Your Employees

How to Create a Better Work Environment for Your Employees
As an entrepreneur, you have a variety of matters that you have to see to on a day-to-day basis. From managing your personnel to ensuring that your products and services meet the highest standards, it can often seem like employee satisfaction isn’t as high a priority. Neglecting the satisfaction of your workers, however, can be a grave mistake for any business owner. Ultimately, you want to do what you can to create the sort of professional environment that people want to be in. Taking the time and putting in the effort to improve your work environment for your team will help to improve employee retention rates and overall keep your workers happy. When your employees look forward to coming in to work every day, they are more likely to perform better and produce quality work for you. There are many aspects of your work environment that you might need to address in order to make the necessary improvements. Here are just a few to consider looking into so that you can create an overall better work environment for your employees. Start With Cleanliness The best place to start when you are looking to improve the quality of your work environment is with the cleanliness of the space. No matter how functional an office space may be, people are going to notice if it isn’t clean. A work environment that isn’t as clean as it should be can be off-putting and generally make your workers uncomfortable. The best way to address the cleanliness of your workplace is to have the space professionally cleaned thoroughly. Once that is done, you should look to hire a quality office cleaning Hobart service that can come and clean your offices on a routine basis. With a cleaner workspace, your employees will be much happier with their environment when they are on the job. Improve Functionality Once things are clean and tidy, you should address the functionality of the workspace that you are looking to improve. Again, depending on the sort of business that you run, your workers might have specific needs in regard to the functionality of the space they work in. Make sure that everyone has enough space and breathing room in order to do their jobs well. For instance, if your employees tend to handle or discuss confidential information with clients, you should ensure that they all have access to privacy so that they can do their jobs properly while protecting the customer’s information. Address Personnel Issues The physical improvements that you make to a workspace are only part of creating a better overall work environment. You also need to address any issues with personnel that might be going on with your team. One bad apple in the bunch is enough to drive your talented workers elsewhere. So if you sense that not all is well among your employees, do what you can to get to the bottom of things and make any changes that you see fit to...
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Business Ethics: Disposing of Your Business Waste

Business Ethics: Disposing of Your Business Waste
Gone are the days businesses could simply dispose of their waste without giving it much thought. Nowadays, with the focus firmly on the environmental impact waste is having, businesses have to consider what they can do to reduce the damage they are doing to the planet. So what can businesses do? Here are a few things to think about. Reduce The first thing a business can take a look at is if there are any ways to reduce the amount of waste created in the first place. One thing they can do is check out exactly what’s going in the trash and consider if there are reusable or waste-free solutions. If you have a water cooler for example, get rid of disposable cups and encourage employees to use reusable cups and water bottles. It’s small changes like this that can make a big difference. With advancements to modern technology and business software options, there’s never been a better time for switching to a paperless office. Digitizing documents and using cloud-based storage can not only help reduce your carbon footprint but it can also help reduce a business’s bottom line by reducing paper, printing, and storage costs. You can get more ideas for reducing your waste here. Reuse The next step towards a greener business is to reuse. Can you save packing boxes and use them for your own shipping? How about replacing single-use pens or printer cartridges with refillable alternatives? Again, the solutions which work for you will depend on your individual company and your current business practices, but moving to reusable could save your business money in the long run. Take a look around, and you might find lots of ways to go reusable at work. Recycle While recycling has numerous benefits both for business and the environment, in the US, there are no national laws making recycling of any kind of material mandatory. So to find out what your legal responsibilities are, you will need to check local and state government requirements when it comes to recycling. But don’t let that stop you from reducing your trash. There are many materials that can be recycled and many reasons to do it. If you still need persuading, it’s worth knowing that not only is it the right thing to do environmentally, but as recyclables become a more valuable commodity, the more opportunities arise to actually sell your waste. If your company produces a lot of recyclable waste, it might be worth investing in machinery which can help deal with the materials more cleanly and efficiently, such as balers, conveyors and shredders. Materials such as cardboard, textiles, foam, plastics, cans, and bottles can be compressed in balers and then baled for transport to a recycling facility. There’s lots of information at balingwiredirect.com about baling machines and the equipment needed to run them. You’ll also find some blogs about the types of material you can recycle. With innovation, smart thinking, and growing demand for eco-friendly products, the recycling industry is expanding and diversifying. Waste Advantage Magazine have reported on the top 15 recycling industries, but there are many more besides these. Perhaps you can use these industries and the examples above to transform your business into a greener...
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What is Equity and Why is it Important to Your Business

What is Equity and Why is it Important to Your Business
What is Equity and Why is it Important to Your Business?   So, you’ve finally started your own business. You are officially an entrepreneur. While you might feel a fleeting sense of accomplishment, it may not last forever. For many new business owners, the thrill of starting a business wears off quickly and is replaced, at least in part, by worry. Will your business be profitable? Have you taken every legal step possible to make it a legitimate endeavor? Did you borrow too much money to start your business? How long will it take to be profitable? While there are many notions to understand as a business owner, equity is a key concept and you should have a firm knowledge base of how it works. It is essentially what will drive your business and its profitability.   What is Equity? Equity is essentially the value of any asset, in this case your business, minus any liabilities on that asset. A liability may be a loan or debt that is owed against the business. Here is an example: If you bought your business’s physical building for $400,000 and the mortgage balance is $200,000, your equity is $200,000.   There is also the concept of owner’s equity. This is essentially the total amount of equity you, as the owner, have in your company. Let’s look at this in another example. If your company has $200,000 in total assets but also carries $50,000 in total debt, your total equity in the business is $150,000. A simpler way to think of owner’s equity is that it is the amount of money that would be left over if you sold all of your business assets and then paid off all of your business debts. The lower your debts, the likelier you are to have positive equity in your business and the higher the probability you would make a profit should you decide to sell it.   Negative Equity Negative equity, as its name suggests, is not a good thing for any business owner. It applies to the concept of when your ownership interest in your business is equal to less than your liabilities and debts. So, for example, if you purchased your business’s building for $300,000 and took out a loan for $250,000 to pay for it but the value drops to $200,000, you now have negative equity. That is because the value of the building is now less than the balance owed on it. You want to avoid negative equity as much as possible. You would not be able to sell your business for a profit if you had negative equity.   Types of Equity You can have both tangible and intangible assets in your business. Tangible assets are those that you can physical touch. If you run a business that keeps an inventory of product, that inventory is a tangible asset. An intangible asset cannot be touched but may even be more valuable than a tangible one. An intangible asset might be the reputation of your business. This can obviously bring you more customers. Another intangible asset might be brand identity. Everyone knows, for example, that golden arches represent McDonald’s. The more recognizable your brand, the better. If customers know you, they may use you for your services or goods.   Importance of Equity Equity is of the utmost importance when it comes to your business. As your owner’s equity increases as time goes on, you can potentially sell your business and turn a profit. So, if you want to eventually make a profitable business, you need to be consistently building equity in it. This means the value of your business should...
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Types of Plant Layout and Advantages

Types of Plant Layout and Advantages
Types of Plant Layout Layouts can be classified into the following categories: Process Layout Product Layout Fixed Position Layout Combination Layout Group Layout Become a Product Manager | Learn the Skills & Get the Job The most complete course available on Product Management. 13+ hours of videos, activities, interviews, & more Process Layout Process layouts are found primarily in job shops, or firms that manufacture customized, low-volume products that may require different processing requirements and sequences of operations. Process layouts are facility configurations in which operations of a similar nature or function are grouped together. As such, they occasionally are referred to as functional layouts. Their purpose is to process goods or provide services that involve a variety of processing requirements. Process layouts are also quite common in non-manufacturing environments. Examples include hospitals, colleges, banks, auto repair shops, and public libraries. Process Layout Advantages: Better machine utilization Highly flexible in allocating personnel and equipment because general purpose machines are used. Diversity of tasks for personnel Greater incentives to individual worker Change in Product design and process design can be incorporated easily More continuity of production in unforeseen conditions like breakdown, shortages, absenteeism Process Layout Disadvantages: Increased material handling Increased work in process Longer production lines Critical delays can occur if the part obtained from previous operation is faulty Routing and scheduling pose continual challenges This is a typical store layout of Walmart: Product Layout Product layouts are found in flow shops (repetitive assembly and process or continuous flow industries). Flow shops produce high-volume, highly standardized products that require highly standardized, repetitive processes. In a product layout, resources are arranged sequentially, based on the routing of the products. This type of layout is generally used in systems where a product has to be manufactured or assembled in large quantities. In product layout the machinery and auxiliary services are located according to the processing sequence of the product without any buffer storage within the line itself. Plant Layout of Coca-Cola: Product Layout Advantages: Low material handling cost per unit Less work in process Total production time per unit is short Low unit cost due to high volume Less skill is required for personnel Smooth, simple, logical, and direct flow Inspection can be reduced Delays are reduced Effective supervision and control Product Layout Disadvantages: Machine stoppage stops the line Product design change or process change causes the layout to become obsolete Slowest station paces the line Higher equipment investment usually results Less machine utilization Less flexible Two types of lines are used in product layouts: paced and unpaced. Paced Lines: Paced lines can use some sort of conveyor that moves output along at a continuous rate so that workers can perform operations on the product as it goes by. For longer operating times, the worker may have to walk alongside the work as it moves until he or she is finished and can walk back to the workstation to begin working on another part (this essentially is how automobile manufacturing works). Unpaced Lines: On an unpaced line, workers build up queues between workstations to allow a variable work pace. However, this type of line does not work well with large, bulky products because too much storage space may be required. Also, it is difficult to balance an extreme variety of output rates without significant idle time. Fixed Position Layout A fixed-position layout is appropriate for a product that is too large or too heavy to move. For example, battleships are not produced on an assembly line. Other fixed-position layout examples include construction (e.g., buildings, dams, and electric or nuclear power plants), shipbuilding, aircraft, aerospace, farming, drilling for oil, home repair, and automated car washes. THE A...
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Cash Accounting

Cash Accounting
Some Definitions of Cash Accounting: 1. An accounting method where receipts are recorded during the period they are received, and expenses are recorded in the period in which they are actually paid. Cash accounting is one of the two forms of accounting. The other is accrual accounting, where revenue and expenses are recorded when they are incurred. Small businesses often use cash accounting because it is simpler and more straightforward, and it provides a clear picture of how much money the business actually has on hand. Corporations, however, are required to use accrual accounting under generally accepted accounting principles. 2. An accounting system that doesn’t record accruals but instead recognizes income (or revenue) only when payment is received and expenses only when payment is made. There’s no match of revenue against expenses in a fixed accounting period, so comparisons of previous periods aren’t possible. 3. An accounting method in which income is recorded when cash is received, and expenses are recorded when cash is paid out. Cash basis accounting does not conform with the provisions of GAAP and is not considered a good management tool because it leaves a time gap between recording the cause of an action (sale or purchase) and its result (payment or receipt of money). It is, however, simpler than the accrual basis accounting and quite suitable for small organizations that transact business mainly in cash. Also called cash accounting. Cash Accounting Basics It is the simplest method of accounting. Transactions are recorded only on the actual flow of cash in or out of business. Revenue is recognized only when cash is received from the customer while expenses are recorded only when cash is paid. There cannot be any match of the revenue against expenses in an accounting period. Cash accounting is ideal for sole proprietors or businesses with no inventory. Cash basis is considered beneficial from the taxation point of view as recording income can be put off to the next year and expenses can be booked immediately. Advantages of Cash Basis of Accounting: It is very simple as adjustment entries are not required for prepaid and outstanding expenses. This approach is more objective as very few judgements are required. This is suitable for all organizations whose transactiona are on cash basis. Data can be taken from minimal sources – bank statements, cheque book, deposit book. People with limited accounting knowledge can more easily understand the financial reports,. Disadvantages of Cash Basis of Accounting: It ignores prepaid and outstanding expenses, accrued income and income received in advance. It does not follow the matching principle of accounting. This does not differentiate revenue and capital items, and as a result there is no consistency in the profits of consecutive years. Less insight into long term trends. No structure for invoicing. Does not conform to...
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