Mohit Tater's Blog, page 491

8 Creative Benefits Guaranteed To Attract Young Professionals

Growing a business requires time, effort and the right team. In today’s market, acquiring the top talent means you need to be competitive. The techniques for attracting new employees have evolved, as traditional incentives are exchanged for contemporary ones. What may have enticed Baby Boomers to apply to your company might no longer appeal to the younger jobseekers. However, responsibly developing the creative benefits offered to your millennial employees could draw the fresh talent you’re looking to retain.

Who Are These New Jobseekers?

Millennials and Gen Zers are shaking up multiple industries — from homebuying to entertainment — in ways that the previous generation of executives may find hard to swallow. Young adults are shifting practices and guidelines within the workforce by prioritizing innovation, transparency and a healthy work-life balance. These objectives have changed for job candidates over time, but they now reflect a group who holds great value in a positive internal culture and workplace ethics.

Young professionals hold businesses to higher standards and pay attention to their impact on society, for better or worse. Even more, they appreciate the relationship between manager and employee. While hierarchical positions still exist in the modern workplace, Millennials are more likely to seek a boss who trusts and empowers them to utilize their skills and take the lead on professional and cultural projects around the office.

Millennials have shown their interest in spending money on experiences rather than material possessions. A positive office environment and investment in the cultural atmosphere could lead to higher-quality work on the employees’ behalf. By fulfilling at least some of their ideals, employers can ensure that staff members are excited about their work and company.

Change Your Approach

If you want to enliven the staff, start with creative incentives. If your company doesn’t have a huge budget or is struggling to adapt to the evolving economic dynamic, there are other ways to attract a younger generation of workers.

While some business owners might think demands can be satisfied with espresso machines and office dogs, young professionals have pushed to demolish barriers such as glass ceilings and a lack of fair compensation. Millennial employees appreciate emotional intelligence and transparency. If an employer makes genuine modifications to conform to current political and social climates, employees may be more inclined to associate themselves with the company.

Many Millennials also value flexibility in nontraditional ways. While the 40-hour work week has been the standard for decades, many young professionals are straying from this custom. Instead of working strictly at the office, Gen Zers would prefer adjustable work-from-home options, as they are capable of producing high-quality output regardless of location.

Additionally, young employees want to strike a healthy equilibrium between work and personal life. Currently, 41% of American workers don’t use their vacation days, but Millennials are looking to change that. Instead of burning out, these professionals want to respect their mental well-being and use vacation time to foster personal growth and development — and relaxation, of course.

How You Can Attract Young Professionals

While material benefits are a good way to entice and retain Millennial workers, company ethics and strong core values could make the biggest difference in the quality and number of applicants. Increased awareness of professional, cultural and societal footprints can impact your employees and encourage growth at the rate you want. For more tips to attract young professionals, check out our accompanying graphic.

Infographic provided by The Jacobson Group

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Top Tips On Brand Awareness In 2020

Brand awareness is a crucial aspect of every business and can help you to maximise your reach with your target audience. But how is this achievable in the age of the digital era? To help you get started, we have compiled a list of top tips for boosting your brand awareness in the near future to help reach your target audience. 

Be Consistent

When choosing your marketing campaign, it is Important to be consistent across the board with your logo, colour theme and overall message. This will help to make your business much more noticeable due to the logo and consistent marketing techniques. This should also be the same throughout social media posts and all content created online in order to make sure that your brand message is as clear as possible for both existing customers and new customers that are finding your company.

Network As Much As Possible 

In addition to being consistent, making the most out of networking opportunities is vital. Whether you are using platforms such as LinkedIn or visiting events this can help you to build up the network of people that you have around you. At this point, this can help with the growth of the business and can even help to build collaborations and relationships with other brands. By networking, you are also able to find out more about the market that you are in. this is far more beneficial as you can gain tailored advice from others who have already grown their companies which is much more reliable.  

Never Underestimate SEO

Another way that you can build your brand is to use SEO to your advantage. By optimising for keywords and maintaining the loading speed for your website, you can then optimise and improve Google search rankings. In order to fully optimise your content, you should monitor ranking positions as well as relevant keywords regularly, all of which can take time. However, making the most of an SEO Essex agency can provide you with free time to build other aspects of your company for the best possible results regardless of your business model. 

Try Your Hand At Influencer Marketing 

The final way that you can build brand awareness is to make the most of the influencer marketing. Whether this is talking about your services or showing off your products, this can help to build your brand overnight. Whether you opt for a brand deal with a smaller Youtube influencer or you opt for an Instagram post, this can help to build your brand over time. This is the new way of marketing and is often much cheaper than traditional forms of marketing such as billboards and tv advertising and can also deliver you amazing result over the course of a month. 

Whether you are new to the business sector or are looking to boost the brand awareness of your large company, there are several options for you to consider to provide you with the personalised results that you need. 

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How Can Chatbots Be Used In the HR Department

Employees working in an organization not only constitute its working team but are the very essence of that enterprise. Human Resource department developed decades ago, has been widely studied and researched, yet has got its introduction in the board meetings only off late.

CFO has always been more powerful than CHRO. The CEO’s even question the relevance of the latter in the presence of the former, yet they have soon realized that without a motivated workforce they can never be successful.

Technology is not only applicable to develop internet operated products, automatic manufacturing methods and machines run by robots, it has  replaced the ‘human’ in the HR and has lead AI do the work that has always been gauged monotonous and not so important. HR is now one of the most celebrated functions and has a huge scope for technology integration.

What is a HR Chatbot?

HR Chatbotsare AI laden HR solutions for the development and interaction of all the employees across the organization. These chatbots ensure that employees are trained and on boarded in the most efficient manner and leave no chance for human negligence. When data driven technology is used to interact with employees at all the levels, it reduces miscommunication and replaces personal bias and prejudice with a pure intelligence and meaningful interaction. A HR chatbot is the future of HR department that promises a wide array of benefits at a minimal cost.

It has the following uses in the HR department.

1. Orientation and Introduction to the policies of the company.

A new employee is full of enthusiasm and expectation. Similarly the organization expects a lot from a new incumbent and thus a relation of expectation is built on both the sides. When employees undergo rigorous orientation programs for the initial few days they find the process to be monotonous and the excitement starts fading. To avoid unnecessary long monologue on companies policies and procedures companies today prefer HR Chatbots for the orientation and introduction process.

The new incumbents do not go through the long orientation process anymore. Rather they are introduced to the AI enabled HR chatbots which help them with the basic introduction and explain the policies when required. For instance if the new employee wants to apply for a leave, he can simply interact with the HR Chatbot and get appraised for the entire process. In this way, it saves time and efforts and makes the employee understand everything without any personal bias.   

2. Chatbots are powerful Trainers. They are revolutionizing the process of Training.   

Employee demographics and the diversity in workforce are making the trainers rethink the training strategies and pedagogy. Each individual comes from a different background, belongs to specific sect and has different ethical and cultural upbringing, independent ideologies and a unique mindset.

Training all of them under one training capsule might not be very effective in this context. Thus the use of chatbots in training is proving to be a new dawn in the sphere of training and development. The employees no longer need to escalate queries and wait for the responses from senior HR personnel.

HR Chatbots are programed with narrative and information to answer FAQ’s that solve most of the queries raised by the employees. Automated training modules help these chatbots to deliver training as and when required, and does not queue the process to fancy auditoriums or training calendars.    

HR Chatbots encourage interaction and are more effective than watching a presentation slide or a video on employee safety and standards.

3. Employee Perks, Benefits and Enrollment for Recognition.

Employees are always encouraged and motivated when they receive any reward, acceptance or recognition. The financial and non-financial motivation tools work very well to keep the team rolling and deliver best results. To serve the purpose companies introduce many schemes, contests, employee engagement activities that define the parameters to participate and enroll for such programs.

Usually these contests and schemes are confusing and employees hesitate to question or put forth their queries or status repeatedly. In this situation HR Chatbots serve as the best solution, where all the information is stored and the process is updated automatically. If anyone wants to know the status, he can get complete information from the chatbot. Moreover benefit enrollment queries are best solved through this automated Chatbot system.

4. Feedback, Assessment, Appraisal

Managers really find it very difficult to communicate the appraisal reports and conduct the feedback analysis of the workers. It is very difficult to point out mistakes and inform the underperforming employees. Usually the employees take the appraisal as an opportunity to improve themselves, at times it has been observed that employees take the feedback personally and start nurturing grudges against the manager or the organization.

HR Chatbots giving proper information with factual data and comparative analysis become very instrumental in conveying the results of appraisal especially to the underperformers. As the employees are aware that HR Chatbots cannot be biased and process information only on the basis of facts they can comprehend the report without bearing any negative stand towards the appraiser.

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Getting the Equipment Your Business Needs

Entrepreneurs are required to contend with myriad issues, not least of which is the acquisition of equipment necessary for the business to operate smoothly. Cost constraints make it exceptionally difficult for business owners to purchase equipment outright. This invariably brings equipment financing options into the mix. A variety of equipment financing options are currently available to business owners. The specific loan amount is dependent upon several factors, notably the cost of the equipment.

Nowadays, it is entirely possible to secure an SMB equipment financing loan from any number of reputable lenders. These equipment financing loans are indispensable when it comes to purchasing office desks, PCs, Macs, heavy machinery, farm equipment, industrial equipment, commercial washers and dryers, restaurant equipment, et al. Without this equipment, businesses simply cannot function. Equipment financing takes place via a lease or a loan. The borrower finances a physical asset with this type of loan. This differs from a capital loan where there is no physical asset requirement. With equipment financing, the loan is secured by the asset that is being financed.

Equipment Financing Process

Since most entrepreneurs don’t have the funds available to purchase equipment outright, equipment financing allows a down payment to be made, and the rest of the cost is paid for by a loan. Even businesses with funds available tend to prefer equipment financing options in order to maintain cash flow. A business that invests all of its available capital in equipment runs the risk of not being able to meet its day-to-day cash requirements.

Equipment financing serves many important purposes in a business. The rapid rate of technological innovation, redundancy, and need for upgrades necessitates a forward-focus from the business owner. To this end, obtaining equipment financing is part and parcel of a growth strategy. The process of applying for equipment financing is straightforward. The business owner put a down payment on equipment to be purchased, and the rest of the funding is provided by the loan company. Repayments are made in monthly instalments, and include the principal amount of the loan + interest.

Banks or Online Lenders for Business Financing?

Businesses have several avenues to explore in the equipment financing arena. Banks are the traditional option. Their interest rates and terms are often the most favourable, but their credit standards are exceptionally high. Many budding entrepreneurs simply don’t have all the requisite paperwork to satisfy bank requirements for equipment financing loans based on business valuations. In this vein, online lenders known as small-business lenders fill an important role. They readily offer equipment financing solutions to qualified entrepreneurs. The trimmed-down application, submission, and approval process is much easier than traditional banks, allowing businesses to acquire the equipment they need as quickly as possible.

Several important elements factor into the terms of equipment financing loans. If a business expects to use the computers, furniture, vehicles, machinery for a set number of years, the loan should be spread out across the lifespan of the asset. If the repayment term is too short, that means that the payments will be higher to repay the loan. If the repayment term is too long, the business will continue repaying the loan long after the lifespan of the asset. Ideally, the length of time the asset will be used should match the repayment term of the equipment loan.

 What are the Benefits of Equipment Financing?

For starters, equipment financing is known as a secured loan. The asset that your purchasing is used as collateral for the loan that you have received. Equipment financing is useful for business owners who either need to replace existing equipment or who need to acquire new equipment but don’t have the funds available to buy it outright. Fortunately, equipment loans are typically available at low rates of interest. Once the loan has been approved, the equipment can be purchased and transferred into the business’s name immediately. Once the loan is fully repaid, the equipment may be sold, to recoup some costs and go towards upgraded equipment. All interest paid on an equipment financing loan is tax deductible, and there are depreciation tax benefits available too.

How to Seal the Deal with Equipment Financing

In most cases, a credit score of 600+ is required, and lenders will need to see proof of the business owners ability to make good on the repayments. These can be in the form of equipment lease, or a loan. The financial health of your business is an important determinant of your ability to secure equipment financing. Tax return forms, bank statements, balance sheets, income statements, cash flow statements and the like provide fantastic supporting evidence re the health of your business. You may be required to provide a voided business check to get the ball rolling.

Should I Lease or Finance Equipment for My Business?

Entrepreneurs many familiar with the leasing or financing options when it comes to business equipment. Similar to leasing a car from a dealer, equipment leasing does not require the business owner to have the down payment for the loan. The cost so much lower for leasing, and this option is particularly attractive if the business does not intend to keep the equipment for very long, or will be switching out the equipment for new equipment in the future. When you lease, you don’t own the equipment – it belongs to the lender. At the end of the term, you may be able to purchase the equipment for a set price from the lender. When you finance the equipment with a loan, you own the equipment. But if you default on your payments, the equipment serves as collateral for an unpaid loan.

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The 3 Best Ways To Deal With Conflict Resolution In The Workplace

Any business brings in workers from all walks of life with many different personalities. No matter how hard your human resources department tries to hire to make a team that works well together, there will be conflicts.

People butting heads is an inevitability but it doesn’t have to be a disaster or lead to a toxic work environment. In fact, some conflicts are actually ok if it comes from a place of wanting what they think is best for the company. If two employees are both doing their best to advance the company’s goals but disagree on the how then this is easy to manage.

Other conflicts can damage a business and effect the bottom line. How you deal with these conflicts is very important to prevent bigger problems later on.

In this article, I will go over several ways that you can prevent conflicts from arising and then deal with them if they do pop up.

1 – Focus on team building

Think about team building in the same way that a professional sports team operates. They practice every day with set drills to make things a habit. During the game they can react immediately as a single unit since they prepared for the situation they find themselves in.

Doing team building exercises like scavenger hunts, corporate retreats, or even virtual team building activities these days will do the same thing. They reinforce teamwork but also give the employees the tools to manage themselves. When they butt up against an obstacle that ordinarily would cause conflict, they are trained on how to get around it with as little friction as possible. 

2 – Don’t make emotional decisions

Sure, your emotions are going to play a part as they are part of your personality and how you react to the world around you. But, when your emotions cause you to dig into a position then this affects the team from the top down.

Emotions cause people to draw lines in the sand and this prevents moving forward to collaborate on a way to resolve the problem. It causes people to end up withdrawing to the familiar to feel comfort in their beliefs rather than come out of their shell to compromise and find some common ground.

If your management does this, then the employees will as well, so taking emotions out of the equation is essential.

3 – Pick your battles

There are some hills that you just shouldn’t choose to die on ideologically speaking. Try to evaluate each conflict as it arises and then decide if it is worth sticking with your position. 

It may be worth it in the long run to give in to that particular point and forge ahead begrudgingly. In fact, some conflicts allowed to pass by may end up strengthening your position later on if you don’t try to make it a point early on. 

After all, it’s better to win the war and lose the battle.

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Recognize When You Have Too Much Debt

Being in debt is a pretty common experience. Most individuals carry some kind of debt. The average credit card balance is now $6,200, and the companies providing this money have on average boosted borrowing limits by 20% over the past ten years. Add in student loans, mortgages, car loans, and other types of borrowing, and you see how it’s become so common to owe money.

While owing money is normal, the ability to recognize when you have too much debt can help you fix the problem and keep the situation from getting worse. Getting debt-free is a healthy financial goal that, once achieved, opens up your opportunities to do more with your money.

If you’re in too much debt, one thing you can do is contact a licensed insolvency trustee to discuss solutions. They offer a number of tools including bankruptcy, consumer proposals, and credit counselling that will give you a chance to get a handle on your debts and even reduce your obligations to your creditors.

Getting Out of Debt with Bankruptcy or Consumer Proposals

These are both insolvency options that will forgive a portion of your debt while giving your unsecured creditors a chance to recover some of what they’re owed. They are effective ways to reduce your debt and pay it back without interest.

They come with significant financial consequences, as they will be recorded on your credit report, make it harder for you to qualify for credit in the future, and you may have to either give up assets or make monthly payments for up to five years. However, they may be better alternatives than struggling to pay it all back yourself.

How Much Debt Is Too Much?

Filing for bankruptcy or a consumer proposal is a major financial decision. You should be able to recognize when you have too much debt and should consider these debt solutions. There are several ways you can evaluate your debt load.

#1 Debt-to-Income Ratio

One way to determine whether or not you’re overburdened is looking at your debt-to-income ratio. As a rule of thumb, if you owe more than 40% of your annual income in unsecured credit (not including your mortgage), that’s generally considered too high. You would be unlikely to qualify for new loans and may struggle to make payments.

#2 Credit Utilization Rate

Your credit utilization rate is an important contributor to your credit score. It’s a ratio of how much credit you are currently using (carrying as a balance) compared to your total credit limit. Once your utilization rate increases beyond 30% of your available limit, your credit score can start going down.

#3 You Can’t Make Payments

Finally, rates and ratios don’t matter much when you simply can’t make payments on credit card bills or personal loans. If you’re stuck making minimum payments, missing payments, or having to choose between one bill and another, it’s time to get in touch with a licensed insolvency trustee.

There are options for settling debt when you can’t make payments or you’re overburdened. Talk to a licensed insolvency trustee about your options.

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5 Tips to Improve Your Website’s SEO

Getting on Google’s first page search results is every website owner’s dream. Learn 5 easy SEO tips to boost your web traffic now.

Ever wanted to be on the first page of Google? 

The first few results in search engines are the most coveted spots. It’s no surprise when they take 60% of all user clicks!

But getting to the top spots requires work, knowledge, and plenty of perseverance. You’ll also need to start practicing search engine optimization (SEO) to really see results. 

Start climbing the ranks today with our easy SEO tips.

1. High Click-Rate Keywords

When it comes to Google optimization, keywords are the most frequently discussed topic. But the way they’re used to boost SEO is changing.

This is because Google is creating ‘no-click searches’. This is when their query is answered on the search page and they don’t need to click to any of the URLs. 

So, when you’re compiling keywords, a high search volume isn’t enough anymore. You also need to look at keywords that have a high click-rate. This often means tackling more complex questions with your keywords that need in-depth answers. 

2. Always Use Header Tags

Heading tags are one of the easiest optimization steps you can implement. Search engines favor content with headers as they provide a better user experience. Your users will also be more likely to read your content if it’s split up into smaller sections. 

If you’re using a website builder, you should be able to easily change header tags. Use H1 for your main title header, and H2 for subheadings. 

For bonus points, use your keywords in your headings to boost your SEO. 

3. Improve Page Loading Speed

If you’re looking for ways to get the fastest SEO results, take a look at your load speeds. Google hates slow-loading websites and so does your audience. In fact, 53% of users will leave a site immediately if it takes over 3 seconds to load. 

This can really harm your website traffic ranks and drop you down the search results. Check your speed online to work out if it needs to be improved. If it does, you might need to change your server or remove unnecessary features on your site, such as videos. 

4. Use WordPress and Install Yoast

When it comes to easy SEO for beginners, WordPress is the best website builder to use. It’s simple to navigate and has plenty of SEO-focused features to help you optimize your site.

If you’re using WordPress, make sure to download Yoast. It’s an amazing tool that guides you through improving your SEO every time you’re working on a page. From optimizing metadata to adding a focus keyword, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it.

5. Hire an SEO Expert

These days, SEO is vital to an online business’s success. This is why if you don’t think you’ll have the right knowledge or time to make sure your site is always optimized, you should look into hiring an SEO expert. They’ll be able to manage your on-site and off-site SEO to make sure you’re always taking the top spots. 

Boost Your Business With Easy SEO

Every business wants to be on the 1st page of Google, but it takes real work to get there. Start actioning these easy SEO tips and watch your site move up the ranks!

For more business tips, check out other articles on our website.

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Why Should Businesses Be More Environmentally Friendly?

We all know why and how to make changes in our own homes to do better for the environment and help save our planet from further damage, but it’s easy to forget our places of work. We spend a quarter of our lives at work and not following the right steps can be damaging to our own health, as well as the planet.

Your workplace may already have recycling bins, energy-saving bulbs and cycle-to-work schemes but have you ever considered how the building is cleaned? With more than 1,000 commercial cleaning London companies alone, it can be hard to filter through contractors to find the right one who does the job properly but also cares for the environment.

There is also the added problem of company directors reluctant to make any cleaning changes. This can be down to many reasons, from cost to ignorance. However, with the right information, it can quickly become obvious why businesses across the globe should be making the switch and become a greener office.

It’s Good For Us

It’s no new revelation that chemical cleaning products aren’t great for our health, after all, those bright warning labels are there for a reason.

However, it isn’t just contact or accidental consumption that impacts our own health. All chemicals cleaners have to be washed and wiped away so they do not contaminate surfaces with harsh chemicals.

These chemicals are then rinsed and flushed down our drains and often not a second thought is given to them. But these chemicals have to end up somewhere, water waste plants try their best to remove these chemicals but the overall process is incredibly hard to do.

Unfortunately, this means chemicals are released into our water systems, marine life live within this, consuming these toxins.

These creatures could end up on your plate next time you have a seafood dinner. While eating a tiny fragment of contaminated meat probably won’t do much harm, over time, as more chemicals end up in our rivers and oceans and more generations of marine life are exposed to this, we could end up with harmful consequences.

If you suffer from asthma or similar conditions that affect breathing, you could unknowingly be exposed to danger at work. Monoethanolamine is an ingredient in many cleaners and can cause inflammation, leading to asthma attacks.

For this reason, many schools and nurseries have banned products containing these and work tightly with their contract cleaners to ensure children and staff are not exposed. However, there is no regulation within the workplace for this yet.

It’s Good For Our Work

Even if you can’t smell cleaning products, they are still there, lingering throughout the office and impacting us.

Most modern office buildings now opt for air conditioning instead of open windows. Great for hotter months but this means poor air is in constant circulation and toxins aren’t removed.

Poor air quality decreases our productivity. In fact, employees who work within a green condition perform better with cognitive tasks than those who work within a standard environment. Doubling ventilation within a green environment can increase cognitive performance by up to 100%.

If you have been battling with your bosses to change to green cleaning and they are yet to agree, simply show them those stats and they will certainly think differently.

It’s Just As Effective As Chemical Cleaning

Some believe that green cleaning products don’t produce the same results as conventional cleaners. In reality, you can achieve the exact same results. It is true that a little more of the product may have to be used as sulphates are removed and a little extra elbow grease is required to get soap suds to appear.

Green cleaning companies are trained to know how these all work and can implement the right methods to get the job done right. 

Another worry is bacteria will not be killed, surely chemicals are required to get rid of the common cold and flu virus? Actually, simple household ingredients can kill these and ensure workforces are safe from falling ill. Vinegar has been proven to kill the cold and flu virus, it makes a brilliant multi-surface cleaner and can even be used for a streak-free finish glass cleaner.

Unfortunately vinegar doesn’t provide a pleasant smell, but mixing with warm water and a few drops of essential oil can leave a fresh and clean scent in the office.

It Can Save Money

If there’s any reason for bosses to change their mind about cleaning, the promise of reducing costs is a very tempting one.

While the initial purchase of green cleaning supplies may be more expensive, most last longer. For example, replacing paper towels in bathrooms with washable ones will decrease expenditure over time. 

If your office supplies its own cleaning products, buying refillable bottles and making your own natural cleaning products will come out at just a fraction of the cost.

A simple carpet freshener can be made from 10 drops of a preferred essential oil with a cup of baking soda, leave for a few hours and vacuum. An effective disinfectant can be produced with 2 teaspoon of borax, 4 tablespoons vinegar and 3 cups of water.

Even the dreaded blocked kitchen sink can be tackled with green cleaning products with ½ cup of baking soda, followed by ½ cup of vinegar. The two together break down fatty acids, follow with boiling water roughly minutes after and your drain will be back to normal.

It’s 2020 and there really is little excuse for businesses to make this change. The more demand for green cleaning services, the more pressure conventional commercial cleaners will feel and be forced to change to adhere to the market.

If we all made the changes at work, our environment will significantly benefit and we will feel happier and healthier for doing so.

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Will Earning A Higher Salary Make You Happier?

As humans, we naturally strive to do better in life to achieve higher-paid roles. With families to provide for, mortgages to pay and bills constantly climbing, we all believe we could do with more in our paychecks. This is why so many people push themselves in their professional life. From putting in extra hours, taking on unpaid responsibilities and using our free time to gain more qualifications with CPD accreditation.

But after all this effort, will earning more actually make us any happier? While we can all have more disposable income we can pay for experiences that can bring happiness, such as holidays and new cars, this often only provides a temporary state of mind and does not actually contribute to our overall wellbeing and happiness.

Recent data collected by The ONS was cross-referenced to find out if higher salaries are a contribution to happiness. Working professionals were surveyed across a variety of industries to produce the below results. You can see the results here: https://www.cpdstandards.com/news/more-money-more-happiness/

Weekly Earnings and Happiness

Respondents provided their average weekly earnings and also rated their general happiness levels between 1-10. These were then analysed to see if there was any correlation between the two.

Retail showed the largest correlation at 92%, revealing that this sector possesses happier employees as their salaries rise. The next highest scorers were accommodation and food services at 89%, education at 89%, administration at 87% and manufacturing at 86%.

However, there were industries that showed very little correlation between their average weekly earnings and their levels of happiness.

Mining and quarrying provided the least, at a meagre 22%. While exact data as to why this was so was not provided, we can speculate. Industries such as this are highly demanding on an individual’s mental and physical health.

As such, larger salaries are often provided to compensate for this and attempt to alleviate stress from harsh working conditions. It appears that despite this compensation, it is not enough to alter the levels of happiness with employees.

Salary and Anxiety 

Just as happiness was recorded, anxiety was scored on a scale of 1-10 and cross-referenced with respondents earnings.

Almost all industries that reported the highest levels of happiness with earnings also reported higher levels of anxiety.

Retail possessed the strongest correlation, at 75%, manufacturing at 72%, education at 69% and accommodation and food services at 68%.

This correlation was not as strong as the previous happiness scale but there is still something to be taken from this. Anxiety should not be mistaken for unhappiness, we can be both anxious and happy in our lives and the two emotions can live side-by-side.

As salaries rise, so does job responsibility which can impact our daily lives, this shows that anxiety increases with this.

An interesting point to take from this is the health and social work sector scored the lowest within this category with 53% correlation. This is an industry infamous for high-stress levels and anxiety within the workforce, however, it appears this does not increase as wages go up.

This could be due to staff gaining more experience within their careers and being able to handle stress better. It could also be that as promotions are achieved, more support if provided for those who face a battle on a daily basis.

Happiness and Bonuses

Bonuses are seen as a way for businesses to thank their employees for a job well done. It is an incentive for staff to meet and exceed targets while hoping to boost staff morale with the promise of some extra cash.

However, this survey has shown that these results are not being achieved. Overall the industries surveyed, there was little correlation, the highest was the construction industry at just 41%.

We can interpret this in many ways. Perhaps target-driven bonus schemes are placing too much pressure on employees, causing stress and fatigue as they push themselves to meet these targets in order to gain bonuses. The mean does not justify the outcome.

It could also be that employees do not see these bonus sums as large enough to justify a change in their attitude, or perhaps it simply isn’t money that brings them happiness.

Income Satisfaction and Happiness

More money doesn’t equal income satisfaction. Those on a modest salary can still be satisfied with their income, it all comes down to if we believe we are being paid fairly for our time, effort and skills.

Once again, retail shows the highest happiness levels in correlation income satisfaction at 87%.

Mining and quarrying was the lowest scorer with just 9% correlation. It appears that due to the long-term health implication of the role, very few employees in this sector believe they are paid fairly to ensure their happiness.

Anxiety and Living Comfortably

Those who feel they have enough disposable income to not be worried about cash flow and classed themselves as ‘living comfortably’ reported the highest correlation of anxiety levels at 90%.

Roles that provide this kind of financial stability are often incredibly demanding and hard to ‘turn-off’ in. Longer working hours, teamed with high responsibilities and the common occurrence of having to travel and not being able to spend time with loved ones are all contributing factors to this anxiety. 

Overall, the study shows us that yes, money can bring us happiness but only if we choose the right industry to spend our working lives in. We do however need to be prepared to sacrifice our mental health and take on higher levels of anxiety in order to achieve. 

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How to check Wi-Fi signal strength

Blazing-fast internet speeds are a necessity in today’s world. Households and businesses across the globe are using multiple devices simultaneously to quench their data consumption needs. To keep up with this massive data streaming, your wireless network must play its part. Keeping your Wi-Fi signals running at optimum levels makes it easy to avoid issues like network degradation, buffering, and latency.  As a rule of thumb, the stronger the wireless signal, the better your network speed will be. 

What is considered a good Wi-Fi signal strength?

To check Wi-Fi signal strength, we must understand what is considered an ideal range. The unit of measure for Wi-Fi strength is called decibel milliwatts (dBm). It is a negative number that is in the range of 0 to -100. The best average strength is task-dependent. For example, for a home user performing basic tasks like checking emails or shopping online, an average speed of -70 dBm will be sufficient. On the contrary, if you add multiple devices, streaming videos, and gaming apps into the picture, then your wireless signal strength would need a boost accordingly. In the best-case scenario, a signal strength of 30dBm is always considered ideal. 

How to check Wi-Fi signal strength

There are various ways by which you can check and keep tabs on your Wi-Fi signal strength. Here are a few that we will discuss:

Use device utilities

The initial way of monitoring your Wi-Fi signal strength is via the built-in settings for your network devices. Whether you are a Windows or a Mac user, you can take advantage of device settings to ensure that you are receiving the actual signal strength promised by your ISP. For iPhone users, go to Settings> Wi-Fi. This will bring up the network you are connected to, its strength, and the neighboring and available networks with their signal strengths as well. The green curved bars are signal strength indicators – the more bars you have, the better your signal strength is. You can utilize similar approaches on Android phones and tablets as well. For a Windows user, accessing the network settings from the Control Panel to analyze the Wi-Fi settings is the easiest way. However, your signal strength output is not always 100% accurate if you utilize this method, but overall, it can give you a good grasp of where your wireless signal stands. 

Perform browser-based speed testing:

A browser-based speed test can solve a big piece of the puzzle when you are dealing with sluggish response times and buffering issues on your devices. It is a simple ping test where you plug in your IP address which is then pinged across a test server to measure the response time. Various download and upload speed tests are also performed at this point.  

Use Wi-Fi Analyzers

A Wi-Fi analyzer is a signal strength meter app that provides a WiFi site survey of your network and the adjacent hotspots. It is also used for performing surveys, drawing heatmaps, and troubleshooting underlying network and security related issues. Wi-Fi analyzer apps are abundant on the internet, however, one top of the line app that experts recommend for measuring WiFi signal strength is known as NetSpot. It provides an assortment of Wi-Fi analyzing services ranging from free to premium options which are geared towards both beginners and advanced users. It is the best app for anyone trying to enhance their wireless network and its speed and agility. Not only does this app provide a great visual tool for a deep analysis of your network, but it lets you create charts and a detailed heatmap of your entire network. If you are on the quest to investigate any flaws in your wireless network, then giving NetSpot a try is a must. 

Use spectrum analyzers

Most network users only require a software-based network analyzer to assess their Wi-Fi signal strength. However, mission-critical networks might need an analysis of the physical layer as well. This is where an RF spectrum monitor comes handy. Using physical layer test instruments like spectrum analyzers is important when demanding services like VoIP, streaming videos and security-based infrastructures are experiencing inconsistencies in their wireless signal quality. 

Use portable Wi-Fi locator devices

People who are always on the move benefit greatly by investing in small key-chain sized portable Wi-Fi locator devices. Due to their portable nature and small profile, they are an ideal companion for long road trips, so you can easily locate and access a Wi-Fi signal on the spot. 

How to improve Wi-Fi signal strength

There are ample ways to give your Wi-Fi network signal a boost.  Let us delve deeper into a few:

Check your router 

A router plays an integral role in running your wireless network smoothly. Just by changing the placement of a router can sometimes yield a great improvement in your network speed. Keeping the router away from clutter and obstructions helps and so does keeping interference producing devices like cordless phones at bay. Also, keeping your router’s firmware updated or replacing an old router with a new one can sometimes solve a lot of problems. If nothing works, consider adding a strong mesh router in conjunction with the one provided by your ISP to boost the speed of your wireless network. 

Use a Wi-Fi extender to amplify your signal 

A Wi-Fi repeater or extender can provide great improvements in your signal strength. Even though a range extender is not a router, but it acts like one. It simply takes your Wi-Fi signal from your current router and re-broadcasts it. A range extender is especially useful in amplifying signals for larger spaces like office buildings and huge houses where signal degradation is unavoidable. 

Create a heatmap 

A heatmap is a simple yet detailed map of the signal and coverage of your entire network. It helps by pinpointing the strongest and weakest signal spots in your house or network. As mentioned above, NetSpot provides a great visual tool to create a complete heatmap of your network. 

Conclusion

In today’s fast paced world, nothing can be more frustrating than having a sluggish wireless network. However, with the above-mentioned tips and minimal insight, you can easily monitor and improve your Wi-Fi signal and avoid many loopholes along the way. 

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