Michael Levitt's Blog, page 82

The Importance Of Having A Solid, Reputable Lawyer On Board

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In the world of business, you need to ensure that you have the right individuals and groups behind you. The better your employees and contacts, the more likely you are to have success. You may be able to get so far with substandard people on board, but longevity requires skill and hard work. This applies to the wide range of people in the business. Find the best, and you’ll likely be the best. 

 

This especially applies to the legal side. If you have a top-class lawyer on your team, then you’re going to be in a much better place to work. Good lawyers will know every single potential instance that might unfold. They’ll know what to do and how to behave whenever your business needs them. On your end, they’ll put you at ease – you’ll be able to work without stressing and looking over your shoulder. 

 

It doesn’t matter whether you have a group of talented maritime accident attorneys on board or business litigation lawyers on your team, the experts will absolutely put you in a better position. Here are a few more specific reasons as to why a solid lawyer is absolutely necessary: 

 

You’ll Be Helped Out When Starting Everything Up

 

When starting up a business, it can be difficult to understand absolutely every law and rule. A successful entrepreneur is lying if he or she ever says that they never got help along the way. You may be breaking all kinds of rules without knowing as you build up a business. It’s very easy to do as there are so many fine laws and tedious tasks. If you have a lawyer on your team, then they can guide you through certain decisions and keep you in safety. 

 

They’ll Help You Take Action

 

You might not like what you’ve seen from a rival company. You may feel as though they’ve taken advantage of you or have straight-up copied you. In this case, a lawyer can 100% help you take them down. Doing it on your own or with a substandard practice might not be the best move, of course. 

 

They’ll Help You Defensively

 

Likewise, you might have accidentally caused a problem or tried something a little underhanded. You could be on the end of a serious legal issue. A good lawyer will help you out if your business gets sued. You could be on the brink of danger and they’ll bail you out!

 

You’ll Learn A Thing Or Two From Them

 

When working together with them, you’ll learn an awful lot along the way. Right now, you probably know next to nothing about certain laws and practices – in a couple of years’ time, you might know an awful lot more than you currently do. Without realizing, too, as a lot of it would be through experience. 

 

The Business With Gather A Positive Reputation

 

If people know you have a certain firm on your side, they’ll see you as a genuinely important business. Perception is key, and having friends in the right places makes a heck of a lot of difference in this world.

Checklist for Your Restaurant Health Inspection

Even when you do everything right, a health inspection can be a challenging experience. You may feel as though you forgot something critical or that you weren’t as thorough as you could have been in your cleaning and sanitation processes. For these occasions, have a checklist for your restaurant health inspection to ensure that everything is as good as it can be before the inspector arrives.

How’s Your Food Storage?

How you store your food is the key to a positive health inspection. Make sure that all food in storage is at least six inches off the ground, that you separate food items from chemicals, and that your storage unit provides a clean and dry environment.

Are You Maintaining Your Refrigeration Systems?

Items that need cold storage require some unique considerations. As in regular food storage, food in refrigerators and freezers must be at least six inches off the ground, and the environment must remain clean and organized. However, unique to cold storage, you need thermometers that are clearly visible to those outside. This way, you can make sure you keep freezers at an appropriate temperature to maintain food items and keep them from spoiling.

How Do You Prepare the Food?

You’ll need separate cooking stations for different types of food to prevent cross-contamination. Also, all frozen food must thaw adequately before chefs handle it. You need to demonstrate that you know ways to clean foods such as fruits and vegetables to eliminate the threat of harmful bacteria.

All employees must also handle foods with the proper equipment, such as gloves, beard guards, aprons, and utensils. Employees improperly handling the food is among the most significant health concerns in restaurants.

Are You Disposing of Garage Properly?

Garbage is a normal part of a kitchen, and you need dedicated areas where you safely store waste until you can get it to the dumpster. Take out the garbage the moment it becomes full to prevent over-filling and spills, and ensure that the dumpster is as clean as it can be and free of pests. Regularly clean off the excess waste and garbage residue on your disposal bins to maintain a clean environment.

Maintain a Clean Environment Year-Round

You must maintain cleaning and hygiene beyond when you believe you have an inspection coming. For the safety of workers and patrons alike, keep your food clean, your workstations and utensils sanitized, and your employees up to date in their training on to handle food properly and dispose of garbage. Otherwise, having a checklist for your restaurant’s health inspection will be for nothing.

7 Ways to Motivate Employees When They're Feeling Defeated

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A lot can affect hardworking employees leaving them less productive or motivated. As an employer, you should notice these trends and work hard to restore employee's enthusiasm and joy, although sometimes this might not be as easy as you think.

Employees have bad days, just like everyone else. It's how they handle the terrible days that determine their success in the workplace. However, there is a lot you can do to get them back on track and motivated to work for you. Here are a few tips

Concentrate On Strengths

Assign jobs tailored to their skillset, expertise level and talents. For instance, don't give the secretary accounting tasks because they don't have the necessary skills. Instead, outsource to an experienced company. If you want to understand your employee's skill levels, ask them specific questions primarily when recruiting. 

If you need accountants with sage accounting experience, your employees might not even know what a sage accountant is; therefore, outsource but to an experienced company. One that understands- What is a sage accountant? 

Make Them Feel Valued

Workers want to feel included in the decision-making process. They also want their input valued and respected, not ignored or flat out dismissed. Be open with your team about what's going on behind closed doors. Let them know that they are a valuable part of the business.

Offer Encouragement

Employees want a support system and rewards for their hard work. Give them the recognition they deserve and encourage them every step of the way. Letting your team know that you're there for them is a huge motivation, so make sure to take time for each one individually or as a team. 

Take time to celebrate their wins even when they are personal such as a birthday, a new baby or a wedding. Let them see you as a leader and not a boss.

Keep them Busy

Employees need to feel like they are constantly on the go to stay productive and motivated. If their work doesn't involve anything challenging or new, offer tasks that boost their morale and confidence. Once they conquer the challenge, they'll be confident to take up more challenges in the future. 

Give them Enough Breaks

Your employees need to take time off from work to relax and recharge. Whether it is taking an hour or 20 minutes away, make sure they know that you support their idea. Create relaxing spots in the office and make sure they understand the importance of taking breaks. 

Also, give them enough time, a few days off, to get away from everything to relax or spend time with loved ones.

Build Friendships

Communication is critical in a work environment. Make time to talk with your employees about their personal lives, workloads, career aspirations, and struggles. The more open communication channels there are between you and your team, the more you'll understand their personalities and help them grow, enjoy their work and live a balanced life. 

Offer Flexible Working Schedules

Design flexible work schedules that allow workers to handle tasks even without coming to the office. It will allow them space and time to complete assignments promptly without feeling overworked or overwhelmed.

When employees embrace the workplace as their second home, they will be more motivated to deliver the best.

How To Improve Employee Retention in Your Warehouse

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Employing enough individuals to work in your warehouse can be a difficult task, and retaining those employees over a period of time can be even more challenging. But knowing how to improve employee retention in your warehouse can ensure that you have the best people for the job—and that they are willing to stay. Consider your current processes to determine where your management may be going wrong regarding worker satisfaction and retention.

Be Selective in the Hiring Process

Employee retention begins with the employee and whether you feel that they are responsible enough to handle the job. There may be times when you need to fill a position quickly, and that type of need can lead you to hire people who may be unsuitable for the demands of the work. Make sure that you are hiring reliable and trustworthy people who know what the job requires of them.

Face-to-Face Interview

Check their work history and confirm that the jobs, positions, and dates they give are accurate. A history of reliable work is a good start, but you will also need to meet with them in a physical interview to determine how you feel about them. Sometimes, your gut may tell you that they are not suited for the job based on the answers they give to your questions. Pay attention to how they answer and how they act.

Engender Trust With Employees

The best way to promote trust between employees and management is to show your workers that you have their best interests in mind. In your warehouse, that means implementing procedures and protocols that directly protect them from injury while on the job. A warehouse can be dangerous, and workers are more inclined to stay in their current position if they know that their working conditions are above the industry standard.

Prevent Injuries

Know what the common safety hazards are in your warehouse and how to reduce the number of recordable injuries. Create a safe environment where workers feel comfortable, and they will reward your efforts with their continued loyalty.

Listen to Your Employees

Even when you actively strive to create a safe and productive environment for your workers, there may still be shortcomings that you aren’t aware of. Invite your workers to be part of the conversation when the question of warehouse improvement comes up. Employees are more likely to stick around when you ask them how their work is going and what you can do to support them better.

Start With a Good Foundation and Build Up

As management, it is your job to determine who is best suited for any particular position, but it’s also your responsibility to take care of your employees when you hire them. Improving employee retention in your warehouse means fostering good relations with your workers and building loyalty between them and the company, making them more likely to stay where they feel heard and supported.

How You Can Quickly And Easily Avoid IT Downtime

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All companies depend heavily on technology, which, when functioning properly, makes things far more effective. However, many companies lose money as a result of IT outages.

When systems fail or some programs stop running, your workforce is unable to complete tasks. Your company will suffer immensely if IT downtime is a daily occurrence and problems are not resolved quickly.

Here, we look at some of the steps that you can take to avoid IT downtime.

Keep your technology updated

The most common blunder made by companies is holding on to outdated technology after it has outlived its usefulness. Regardless of how much you care about your old machines, they will operate slowly and crash often. In addition, out-of-date software is more likely to have problems, and there may be less assistance available. That's why it's important to keep the technology up to date. New technology will also have better functionality that will help you increase production and stay ahead of the competition.

Hire a good IT company

When things go wrong, it's important to get them back up and running as quickly as possible so the staff can resume their duties. As a result, it's critical that you employ a reputable IT company. They will be able to resolve problems when they arise before they have an effect on your productivity.  The right IT company will also be able to perform routine repairs and maintenance which will help you prevent problems in the first place.

Monitor your tech

The secret to that technology downtime in your company is spotting problems and intervening with them before they occur. A big part of that is having the right IT team but you should also be using a networking monitoring system. It will notify you if any programs are using an excessive amount of memory or if servers are rebooting themselves without purpose. Network monitoring systems give you the opportunity to perform maintenance and repair issues before they become a major issue by raising these red flags early.

Physically check your hardware

Water damage or fires can also cause problems with your IT, which is why you should conduct physical checks as well. You should check the office once a week to ensure that there are no possible hazards that might damage your computers or the office as a whole.

Back up everything

There's a risk you will lose a lot of confidential data if anything goes wrong. Data loss will cause major issues, and if you can't restore anything, it will take a long time to get everything back to normal, which will cost you a lot of money. That is why you should back up all of your data on a regular basis so you can quickly restore everything and get your systems back up and running.

Technology downtime will cost you a lot of money, but if you follow these measures, you can cut it down to the bare minimum.

How Can You Improve The Internal Technology Within Your Business?

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Websites, mobile apps, and other customer-facing tech tools are often a priority for businesses. Huge amounts of money will be invested into areas like this, ensuring that customers have an amazing experience. Of course, though, while the technology that your customers are exposed to is important, you also need to consider the tools that your employees use during this process. To help you out with this, this article will be exploring some of the best ways to make sure that your employees are able to use the tools you provide them with effectively. Let’s dive right in.

Modern Hardware & Software

There are few things worse than having to use an outdated computer for time-sensitive tasks. This can end up costing huge amounts in both time and money, especially when your team members heavily rely on the computers you put in front of them. Leases are a great way to make sure that your employees have access to fast and modern machines, with companies like Dell offering services that enable you to update your machines on a regular basis. Of course, though this isn’t the only part of this software.

The software can also make a huge difference to your team. Many companies are still using old versions of things like the Adobe suite, hoping to save money by keeping their teams using outdated options. Like hardware, this can make it hard to work quickly, but it can also leave your team struggling to do their jobs when they don’t have the modern features they need. Updating your software can have a major impact on the quality of the service you provide to customers.

Employee Training

While the hardware you use will impact employee effectiveness and productivity, few things are more important than training. Everyone you hire will have a different level of computer competence, and this makes it crucial that you offer courses that enable them to reach the same level. There are loads of companies out there that can provide this sort of service, giving you the chance to make your team more productive with this small investment.

Of course, though, you need to do more than simply training your team on how to use computers. Compliance with local laws, avoiding issues like phishing, and keeping computers safe from malware are all also crucial to the success of your business. Some people may not be aware of these issues, and this can make it very hard to make sure that they are using their computers properly. Companies like Microsoft put new team members through extensive training to make sure that they have the skills they need.

Support Systems

IT support can make or break your business when computers start to have problems. Having a good support team in place is essential when you have a lot of team members who all use computers, but you need to make sure that this part of your business is set up properly. Ticketing systems can be great for this, with options like a Microsoft Teams Ticketing System making it incredibly easy for your employees to get help when they need it. Many companies ignore this when they are setting up their tech support.

Some companies choose to use third-party services for their tech support systems. While this can be a cheaper way to handle something like this, companies with a lot of employees may find themselves struggling when they don’t have experts on-site. Thankfully, your support team doesn’t have to cost you a fortune. Team members like this can handle more than just problems with your IT systems, with many support employees being general computer experts. It’s always worth making sure that team members like this have the right skills for the job when you hire them.

Make Partnerships

Companies often make partnerships with large tech companies to ensure that they always have access to the latest technology. This can be a great way to ensure that your team members have access to the latest machines, while also giving your tech support team the chance to take advantage of the expert advice these companies offer. Setting up servers, for example, will always be much easier when you’re able to talk to companies like Cisco during their setup. Getting started with this can be as simple as sending a couple of emails when you need help.

As you can see, giving your team the chance to make full use of the technology within your business can be easier than you might expect. There are a lot of companies out there that can help with this, but it’s also worth taking internal steps to make sure that your employees are productive. This will get easier as time goes on, but you need to take a proactive approach.

Ways To Make Your Warehouse More Sustainable

It pays to value sustainability. Along with helping the environment, sustainable companies tend to see higher productivity and lower operating costs. Plus, your brand benefits when people learn about your eco-friendly efforts.

But some aspects of a business’s operations prove difficult to make sustainable. This often involves warehouses. Finding ways to make your warehouse more sustainable takes strategy and hard work, but it’s well worth it.

Building ConsiderationsLighting

Some sources report that US warehouses consume as much as 6.1 kilowatt-hours of electricity a year, adding up to about 13,400 Btu of natural gas. This costs businesses and the environment dearly. Consider these ways to make your warehouse lighting more sustainable:

Replacing metal halide lighting

Switching to LED lighting

Using fewer bulbs in the space

Utilizing skylights

Using timers and sensors

Heat and Cooling

Heating and cooling already takes a lot of energy, especially when it involves a space as massive as a warehouse. To make both heating and cooling more efficient, try using high-volume, low-speed fans. This will increase air circulation for warm months and push rising warm air down in the winter. Additionally, installing panel doors in your loading dock can help maintain the inside temperature.

Equipment ConsiderationsSustainable Equipment

We usually try to cut down on electricity use when striving toward sustainability, but sometimes, electricity is the more eco-friendly option. For example, you can get an electric-powered forklift. Exhaust from diesel engine forklifts contributes to ground-level ozone and pollutants, which are dangerous for the environment and your employees. Electric forklifts produce no emissions.

Equipment Rentals

As your company considers which forklifts to acquire, they should also think about how they acquire them. Sustainability is just one reason to rent forklifts instead of buying them. Renting forklifts means fewer machines going into production, and your company doesn’t have to spend the resources and funds on maintaining machines when not in use.

Common Hazards That Can Ruin Your Ethernet Cables

The Ethernet cables in your office facilitate faster upload and download speeds, allowing for a quicker workflow and increasing productivity. But there are factors that can harm your Ethernet cables, resulting in a degradation of speeds, and also eventually resulting in your cables no longer functioning. Learn the common hazards that can ruin your Ethernet cables to better maintain your office’s productivity levels.

Water

Water can be one of the most immediate dangers to cables and electronics in general; liquids can cause electrical devices to short out, destroying hardware and affecting connected components. There are typically two common ways that electronics in the office are exposed to water—either resulting from an accidental spill or through humidity.

How To Prevent Water Damage

While you can’t control whether an employee has a glass of water at their desk, you can combat the humidity that can lead to water forming. Have the appropriate climate controls to cool the area enough to eliminate the threat of moisture.

Extreme Temperature

Temperature, whether it be too high or too low, can significantly affect your cables. Heat, in particular, poses a more common issue because electronics generate heat while in use, so the threat of overheating is more prevalent than freezing. Heat has several effects on Ethernet cables, but they all eventually end with a destroyed and unusable cable.

How To Prevent Temperature Damage

Much like dealing with humidity, you need to ensure that you keep the temperature of your office at a comfortable level. Check to see if there is proper airflow throughout your office to eliminate the possibility of stagnant air that cannot cool down.

Physical Damage

Sometimes, wires need to run across areas where they can be exposed to physical damage, such as being rolled over by chairs or stepped on by passersby. This won’t cause a problem in the short term, but given enough time without protection, the wiring inside cables will deteriorate due to the constant damage they are sustaining. Cables won’t immediately stop working; instead, their quality and speed will gradually decrease until they finally fail altogether.

How To Prevent Physical Damage

Tucking wires away behind desks and in areas where they cannot be reached is the most ideal situation, but not something that can always be achieved. For times when you need to run them along the floor, consider protective mats to shield them from the full force of footsteps and other harmful factors.

Protect Your Cables

Without your cables, the productivity of your office will suffer and can potentially grind to a halt. Take the necessary precautions to eliminate possible threats that may harm or outright destroy your cables.

How Demolition Crews Can Partner With a Scrapyard

Much like the restaurant industry, the demolition industry operates on razor-thin margins, and unlike our friends in food service, demo crews can’t sell alcohol at a sky-high markup. Every penny counts in this business. Speaking of some tiny pieces of copper, making the most of metals on demolition sites can make you more than a few extra cents. Scrapyards are always on the lookout for metal to resell, and this isn’t just their livelihood—it benefits the planet, too, eliminating the need for extensive mining.

Scrapyards appreciate long-term and dependable business relationships. By exploring how demolition crews can partner with a scrapyard, you can begin to forge one of those relationships. It can quickly become a win-win situation.

On-the-Job Sorting

Metals your crews obtain from demolition sites fall into one of two groups—the ferrous, which contain iron, and the non-ferrous, which do not. Recyclers want common ferrous alloys like steel in high volume, and when it comes to the non-ferrous, they’ll take as much they can get. But don’t just expect them to show up and figure it out for themselves. Sorting your metals expedites the process and strengthens your partnership, and for that, you’ll want an industrial electromagnet on the job site to draw out the naturally magnetic iron and steel while leaving the non-ferrous metals behind for further sorting. Once you find the aluminum, copper, lead, and brass on your site, you’ll bring in a few extra dollars and have some very happy recycling partners.

Pick Up the LEED Points

By partnering with a scrapyard to recycle metals from demolition, new construction coming up in its place can come ever closer to attaining LEED certification. If you have a hand in the construction as well, this certification has value. Diverting waste from landfills helps score points toward receiving that LEED designation.

Deliver the Goods

Many yards have the necessary fleet to show up to the site, make an assessment, and haul away their newly acquired scrap metals. Doing business this way is fine for a one-off, but for your demolition crew to partner with a scrapyard in the long run, delivering your sorted metals to the yard will ensure better returns and a stronger partnership. When recyclers know that they can depend on your firm for timely, convenient, and regular business, word will travel fast about the quality and integrity of your operation. Those razor-thin margins might just start to widen a bit.

How Retail Companies Can Boost Their Reputation

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What sets you apart from your competitors? Is it the products you sell, the deals you offer, or the employees who work for you? All of these things and more influence how customers perceive you. Your business’s reputation can help you smash through goals and reach new heights. It can also scare customers away and make your profits plummet. A good reputation is the key to expanding your company successfully, but how do you make sure you leave a good impression with every transaction? Discover how retail companies can boost their reputation with these surefire solutions.

Prioritize Customer Service Everywhere

Good customer service is a staple of the retail industry. For decades, stores have strived to greet customers with the friendliest and most helpful employees possible. In today’s world, however, you can’t just focus on friendly employees for your customer service. Modern customer service means having a fun and accessible website, managing efficient and useful customer service lines, and implementing effective processes for returns, customer support, and more. Every individual who interacts with any part of your store or business should feel welcome and important. When you prioritize customer service across your company, you create positive customer interactions that lead to glowing reviews and loyal patrons.

Create Thorough Security and Defenses

Information is sacred in our modern world. It’s also intimidatingly easy for outside forces to access said information. That’s why retail companies must invest in thorough, reliable, and proactive cybersecurity. Your company routinely manages and stores customers’ personal and financial information. In return, customers trust you to use that data responsibly and protect it from devastating security breaches or losses. You must learn the importance of data security in a retail environment. Losing customer data is a breach of trust that deals a serious blow to your reputation, costing you thousands of customers and transactions.

Give Back Beyond Your Industry

Many retail companies already offer coupons or other great deals to their customers. However, one of the best ways retail companies can boost their reputation is to give back beyond their own products and customers. With corporations growing so large, customers love to see a business that cares about more than just their profits. When you participate in environmental efforts, charities, and other noble causes, you show that you care about the world beyond what it can do for your sales. These actions demonstrate your company values and make you more relatable in the eyes of your customers. The positive media exposure also helps you get your name out to a wider audience.