All entries tagged with “christmas”
Posted by on Thursday Nov 13, 2014 10:46 am
According to Punchbowl, a web-based party planning company, nine out of 10 companies host a corporate holiday party. Choosing a venue, activity and entertainment all adds up in time and costs, here are a few tips from the Forum Team on how you should celebrate this year.
Posted by Yasmin Parsloe on Thursday Nov 13, 2014 9:18 am
 The holidays are quickly approaching, which means that a lull in the office may lead to an unproductive period for employees. It’s no secret that the holidays draw extra stress for employees who are distracted by shopping lists and bills – so how can you instill a sense of motivation among your employees this season?
According to ISACA, a non-profit association, employees plan to spend nearly two full working days (14.4 hours) on average shopping online from a work computer or device this winter. One in 10 employees plans to spend at least 30 hours shopping online at work. This degree of unmotivated staff can cost your business $27,000 in staff turnover.
Research shows a motivated worker is sixteen times more productive than an unmotivated worker, so here are several ways to keep morale high over the holidays and improve employee productivity.
- Take advantage of a lull in the workplace by implementing personal development training. Use this time as an opportunity to learn from management levels of staff using role play and sharing skills. Encourage employee-to-employee training!
- Be realistic with your goals. Set goals for December only so outcomes don’t get lost and employees don’t get disheartened.
- Some employees may take long vacations over winter time, leaving a missing gap in the workforce. This is a prime opportunity to get a staff member to fill in and learn new skills.
- Creativity always kick starts the workplace. Consider a competition for the most creative out of the office message and encourage holiday decorating for a positive work culture.
- Welcome flexibility over the holiday season. Employees will naturally have distractions during this time, by being more flexible and understanding, you will encourage them to stay focused on work while in the office.
Remember, a motivated employee is 16 times more productive than an unmotivated worker – so encourage your team to stay in the game this holiday season. Celebrate their success and commitment to work with a holiday party and a big thank you!
How do you keep your staff motivated over the holidays?
Need some bright ideas to celebrate with your team this holiday season? Visit our blog, here.
Posted by Yasmin Parsloe on Monday Nov 10, 2014 9:52 am
According to studies, sales increase by 40% over the holiday season, making it a prime time for customer service from website sales to customer support. Even though demand is high, customers still expect their calls to be answered and problems to be solved. Here is a simple checklist to help your call center prepare for the holiday stress.
- Plan for the best, expect the worse. It’s expected that over the holiday season, customers will come to you aggravated, whether it be over a delayed package of a defective product. Tensions are especially high during this season, and so to ensure customers remain happy, prepare your representatives with credits, discounts and free product to keep customers happy when necessary.
- Hire representatives who engage and connect. People connect with people, and sometimes the right candidate is worth waiting for. As Jim Collins says in his book Good to Great, get the right people on the bus, and then find the right seats for them. The best representatives have an interest in their products. Take the time to screen candidates well in order to create a team of representatives that will help solve a customer’s problem in the first interaction, leading to happier customers.
- Hire early and hire many. Call center strategists advice hiring in September for the holiday season. According to a study by Vcare, out of every 50 interviewees, 10 representatives will fit your culture. Additionally, they recommend hiring 30% more representatives than you need, recognizing that some may drop off.
- Stay in touch with past potential hires. Keep tabs of everyone who has shown interest in employment with your company. Having a pipeline of candidates allows you to hire speedily when volumes increase.
- Train Innovatively. During the holidays, you may need a face turn around for new hires. Consider creating a more engaging and innovative training program developed specifically for the holiday season. Use role play, replicate real-life problems, make policies and procedures visual opposed to a lecture-based training course.
- Monitor, monitor, monitor! With an increase of representatives, the strain on management is also increased. Be sure to monitor phone conversations, emails and chats with customers to ensure quality does not become diluted.
Use these tips as a guide to succeed this holiday season – and remember to incorporate joy and spirit in all of your interactions this season!
Posted by Yasmin Parsloe on Thursday Nov 6, 2014 2:00 pm
With Halloween checked off the calendar and Thanksgiving quickly approaching, the holiday season is in full swing. Decorating this season could put your facility at risk for potential fire hazards. To prevent tragedy, follow these tips for fire safe decorating.
Interior Decorating Safety Tips:
- Use fire-retardant decorations. Flame-resistant material must not exceed 10% of the aggregate area of walls and ceilings.
- Be aware of your decoration placement. Avoid combustible decorations concentrated in one area on a wall to prevent rapid fire growth.
- Crepe-paper and pyroxlin plastic decorations must be documented as fire retardant.
- Do not place natural cut trees in facility.
- Artificial Christmas trees must be effectively flame-retardant treated and placed away from heat vents, fireplaces and sunny windows.
- Do not use extension cords, circuit breaker power strips are recommended for a safe electrical power source. Do not connect one power strip to another power strip.
- Do not light candles indoors.
- Pre-test lights that are UL listed. Plug them in for 15 minutes before decorating, then check for excessive heat or damaged wiring.
- Check your lights for cracked or frayed wires and loose or broken plugs.
- Avoid overloading light strings. Do not connect more than 200 miniature lights or 50 large lights together. Small lights are safer because they produce less heat.
- Turn off and unplug lights at night. Grasp the cord by the plug; never pull on the cord itself.
- Do not block exits or fire pull stations with decorations or Christmas trees.
- Do not hang decorations on light fixtures, smoke detectors or sprinkler heads.
- Decorations on doors should not prevent their function or cover the identifications as the means of egress.
Outside Decorating Safety Tips:
- Do not use indoor lights for outdoor decorating. Be sure to check the label on the box to see if the lights are for indoor or outdoor use.
- Limit the use of heavy duty extension cords.
- Be sure extension and light cords do not create a tripping hazard.
- Turn off and unplug lights at night.
- Do not block the exit discharge with holiday decorations.
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