Flexible Payments Mean Happier Customers

Most businesses start out with limited payment options, but as your business grows, it is important to offer your customers as many payment options as possible so they will spend their money with you.

Keywords:

accept credit cards, accept debit cards, payment processing, merchant account

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As a new business owner, you probably started out accepting cash and checks but not credit cards. Or if you have a business online, you might have accepted PayPal but no other payment options.

As your business grows, you will have more people asking for more varied payment options, and as your budget allows, you should expand to offer as many different payment options as you can.

Paying with credit cards and debit cards is becoming very popular. You might be hesitant to accept credit cards because of all the fess associated with them, but the truth is you might make up the cost of the fees in increased sales.

People are likely to spend more when they are using plastic and to make more impulse buys than they would if they were paying with cash or a check.

In addition to accepting credit cards, you should also get a payment processing device that allows you to accept debit cards, meaning it has a keypad on which customers type their PIN numbers. Many people like using a debit card because it's faster than writing a check but still makes them control their expenses since the money is coming right out of their bank account.

Accepting debit cards is great for you as well because you know the customer has the money if the debit card payment goes through. The fees are also lower when accepting a debit card transaction than they are on a credit card sale.

These days customers want flexibility. They, just like you, are busier than ever. There are a lot of people out there who never carry cash and who hate to write checks. If you don't offer a credit card or debit card option, you've lost a sale -- potentially a lot of sales.

Opening up to different methods of payment will make your customers happier and bring you more profits. It doesn't have to take a lot of time or money to get set up with a merchant account, and once you do you'll wonder why you waited for so long. Some payment processing companies even offer free equipment and have very competitive rates that mean you'll get to keep more of your money and put it back into building your business.

Having a merchant account is part of the price of doing business in the 21st century. Do some research about the different payment processing options and move forward on accepting credit cards as soon as you can. You'll be glad you did.

Fixed Versus Flexible Working Hours in Workforce Management

Flexible working hours have been found to lead to a happier workforce, and to far better customer service and share valuations. However, there is a fear that implementing flexible working hours is complicated and that it could lead to a flood of impossible demands from employees.

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Time and Attendance, time, attendance, Employee Scheduling, Absence Management, Rostering, workforce management, workforce scheduling

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Flexible working hours have been found to lead to a happier workforce, and to far better customer service and share valuations. However, there is a fear that implementing flexible working hours is complicated and that it could lead to a flood of impossible demands from employees.

Before we look at flexible working hours in more detail, let us take a brief look at the standard working hours.

Working Hours for Employees

Working hours for employees have changed dramatically over the last two centuries. Back in the nineteenth century when industrialization started in Europe, workers were compelled to work even 16 hours a day. In twenty-first century France, however, the government had fixed working hours at 35 hours a week.

Most industrialized countries have regulated the workweek by stipulating the maximum number of working hours per week, minimum daily rest periods, annual holidays and sickness pay. The standard is around 40 working hours per workweek, typically Monday through Friday. Paid vacations range from three to five weeks a year.

Long working hours can lead to stress-related health problems, less time for busy parents to attend to child-rearing, and less leisure to enjoy consumer products and services. Henry Ford introduced low working hours so that his employees would have the leisure to buy and enjoy the cars he produced.

Flexible Working Hours and its Impact

One major problem with fixed working hours is that employees find it difficult to balance the demands of their personal lives and work lives. Flexible working hours can lead to better work/life balance and result in a happier workforce.

Flexible working hours can come in different forms such as:

• Part-time working that enables an employee to be free during business hours to attend to personal matters. For employers, it could mean engaging employees during peak workload hours, and reducing overall payroll costs






• Flexi-time working where employees work extra time when needed by employers and bank the extra hours/days off for arranging their personal commitments






• Annualized hours is an arrangement where times worked and times off are balanced across the year as a whole. Extra hours are worked during peak business seasons and less during lean seasons. Employers can retain experienced employees instead of hiring inexperienced casual or contract staff






• Customized flexible working hours during special events to enable employees watch, say, world cup matches and yet meet their work time requirements

Studies have indicated that flexible working hours produce tangible benefits to employers in the forms of:

• Reduced absenteeism and employee turnover






• Lower recruitment costs as they can retain their existing staff






• Higher staff morale leading to better work performance, customer service and even company stock performance

A survey even revealed that employees preferred flexible working hours to substantial additional pay.

Implementing Flexible Working Hours

Employers must know when they have peak workloads, needing more employees. This is not too difficult to assess with today's technologies like EPOS and computerized systems that can record transaction times.

Once the requirements are identified, flexible rostering software can generate rosters to fit the workload. This software would then help to optimize the rosters to meet:

• Work contract requirements






• Sociability factors, and






• Employee work preferences to the extent possible

Where employee preferences cannot be met in full, the software would show the employees why this happened. This creates greater trust in the employees that their needs are being genuinely attended to.

Conclusion

The standard practice so far has been fixed working hours arranged in different shifts. This can lead of difficulties in balancing employees' personal and work life demands. Flexible working hours help better work/life balance and lead to a happier workforce. A happier workforce results in less absenteeism, better customer service and higher stock performance.

Good Flexible Jobs… Separating The Good From The Bad

Congratulations! So you’ve decided to make a leap back into the workforce after having a baby (or two!).

Millions of moms have known for years that you can manage the two and do it without being burnt out and without sacrificing quality time with your family.

In fact, most working mothers report that their life is much more rewarding because they have the best of both worlds. How do they do it?

If you want to get back into the workforce what you really need to do ...

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Congratulations! So you’ve decided to make a leap back into the workforce after having a baby (or two!).

Millions of moms have known for years that you can manage the two and do it without being burnt out and without sacrificing quality time with your family.

In fact, most working mothers report that their life is much more rewarding because they have the best of both worlds. How do they do it?

If you want to get back into the workforce what you really need to do is find a good, flexible job that allows you to have time for your family and still bring in some extra money.

The problem is there are a lot of scam artists out there tying to sell you jobs that aren’t legitimate.

How do you separate fact from fiction? Simple. Good flexible jobs have several characteristics in common.

You should look for these characteristics when considering any job offers that come your way as you prepare to re-enter the workforce:

Short Commute – You want a job that you don’t have to spend more than 20-30 minutes getting to on any given day. Why? You will cut back on the amount of time you spend driving and increase the amount of quality time you are spending with your family. Unless you are the primary breadwinner in the family, there is no reason for you to be driving more than 30 minutes to work every day. You’ll simply be wasting time and energy.

Flexible Not Rigid Schedule–Now you’ll have a hard time finding a job that will let you come in whenever you want and work for as many hours that you want on any given day. However you can find a job that might allow you to work flexible hours certain days of the week, or even work four days per week instead of five. You should also look for a position that allows some flexibility if you need to take a longer lunch break to say, take a sick child to the doctor or pick someone up from daycare. If your employer is going to meet you at the door at 5 o clock to make sure you don’t leave a minute early, then your job isn’t flexible and you need to find something else.

Work Hours and Pay are Compatible – Don’t go for a job that requires that you work 60 hours per week and only pays you for 40. Your money is hard earned, and every dollar you make is time spent away from your family. Because of this it is important that you get the most ‘bang for your buck’ and find a job that pays decently and requires that you work a reasonable amount of hours every week.

Benefits – Always look to see that a job offers you some kind of benefits. Even if you are only going back part time, many employers now offer perks and some benefits to their part time employees. If you don’t think the benefits are reasonable, ask for more. You never know what an employer is willing to give to attract high quality candidates such as yourself.

You’ll want to avoid jobs that are obviously scams. If a job sounds too good to be true, it probably is. You want to be sure to do your homework when it comes to working.

There are hundreds of jobs out there that target moms looking to stay at home, and many of them aren’t legitimate.

If you’re not sure, call your local better business bureau to ensure that the company is legitimate, and at the very least ask for references… then check them!

You can find a great job and still enjoy time with your kids, as long as you keep in mind the above points when searching for a career!