Tuesday

Is An Unbalanced Work Life Bothering You? Work From Home Careers May Just Be The Solution You Need

The number of work from home careers available today is astonishing. If you are dreaming of being your own boss so that you can spend more time with your family and kids, work from home careers may be the answer you're looking for. Work from home careers help to restore the work-life balance which may have gotten skewed.

There are so many work from home careers that it can be slightly overpowering when you a sifting through the list. This sifting is extremely important so that you can decide which work from home careers are legitimate and which are scams.

Work from home careers can be divided into two categories: Your own business and working for someone from the comforts of your home.

Your Own Business:
If you wish to start your own business, there are multitude opportunities available to work from home and you should see which one suits you. I have listed a few down.

- eBay Business
Do you have a lot of old unwanted things? Why not sell them on eBay and make some extra money. If you need to make more profit by selling a wide variety of products, here's how you can find products for reselling on eBay:

1. Buy from flea market
2. Deal with wholesaler or drop ship wholesaler

- Virtual Assistant
One of the best easy to work from home ideas is to be a virtual assistant. A virtual assistant works at home for a company or a business. A virtual assistant may have to do data entry, administrative work, bookkeeping, handling customers’ enquiries, issuing bills and many more. The hourly pay for a virtual assistant is $5 to $50.

- Paid survey
One of the good easy work from home ideas. It includes anything from watching movie trailers online and giving feedback, completing 5-minute opinion polls, or testing products like perfume or cologne. There is an equally wide range of compensation for those who contribute a bit of their time and opinions. It is not uncommon to receive $25.00 for a survey that takes 15 minutes to complete.

- Affiliate Marketing (E.g. Refer to link below)
Affiliates make money by selling other people stuff. To generate sales, you need to drive potential buyers to your merchant's website. There are several methods you can use to send potential buyers to your merchant's site:

1. Open a Google AdWords account to advertise on Google.
2. Build an opt-in subscriber list through a website or blog and promote your affiliate products to your subscribers
3. Article writing

- Forex Trading (http://www.forex-united.com/?livefreely)
You can achieve high returns if your trading techniques consistently predict the market movement accurately. However Forex trading is not suitable for everyone. When trading Forex, you should invest only the amount you afford to lose. There are many technical tools you can use to form your own trading system and strategy.

If you start your own business, you will be responsible for providing the goods or service as well as taking care of the business aspects of the business. These include marketing, customer relations, and accounting.

Working for Someone Else:
Now you have work from home careers that allow you to stay at home while letting someone else remain in control of the business aspects, if you are uncomfortable with it.

Many of the businesses highlighted above can offer work from home careers for you, without you having to be responsible for the business. Often, people who have built a successful career in one of these areas subcontract work to those who prefer to provide the service and not deal with the business side of the job.

Other work from home careers can be taking surveys, doing medical transcription or being a translator. Believe it or not, companies do pay you for taking surveys on various topics and subjects. However, there is a screening process to ensure you fit the demographics for the required survey.

Many work from home careers are computer-based jobs since internet has become such an important part of our everyday life. However, work from home careers give people the luxury to work from home while taking care of their families. With work from home careers you control your hours; you can work full or part time, whenever you want.

About the Author
Calvin Heng is an Online Income Expert. His Business Team creates $10,045 sales just by sending out 5 emails. Visit www.deluxeincome.com to get your FREE e-book and discover the simple ways to riches.

Monday

Understanding Burnout Associated With The Workplace

Burnout associated with the workplace is a common issue. This is normally a result of stress that is experienced in the workplace. When an employee suffers from work-related burnout, they often feel as if they are emotionally and mentally exhausted. In addition to this, it is also quite common to experience a true, physical exhaustion as well. When this common experience appears in an individual's life, a general sense of apathy may overwhelm them. They may feel disheartened, and lack the motivation to perform even their basic responsibilities. Here, you will gain an understanding regarding burnout in the workplace.

When an individual experienced work-related burnout, it is a condition that has developed over time. It is not likely that an employee will become overwhelmed with burnout overnight. This is mostly a slow process that develops more and more as time progresses. This is a direct result of stress that is experienced in the workplace. Deadlines, dealing with uncooperative coworkers, unfavorable work conditions, and personal unhappiness in the work environment can all lead to burnout. This condition can affect all areas of an individual's life - job performance, relationships in the workplace, personal relationships, and even a person's health.

There are many signs and symptoms associated with work-related burnout. If you are in charge of employees, it is important that you gain an understanding of these signs. If you are an employee in the workplace, you should also learn the signs and symptoms associated with burnout. The more quickly that you are able to recognize that burnout is becoming evident, the quicker you can work to resolve the issues that you are facing. Listed below are some of the most common signs and symptoms associated with this common, and every real issue:

- One of the first signs of burnout is when an individual becomes frustrated. This frustration may be self-directed, directed to others, or towards the company in which they work.

- The second sign that an employee may be experiencing burnout is when their performance starts to falter. In many cases, this sign may be the most evident. A once reliable individual who completed work in a timely fashion that displayed a high level of quality may begin to take longer completing tasks, and the quality of their work may decline rapidly.

- Many individuals who experience workplace burnout may start expressing the fact that they feel as if they are "trapped" in their work situation. If an individual feels "trapped", this is a bad sign. It is important to be happy and content with the work that we do. If we feel anything else than this, it is important to seek assistance as workplace burnout is becoming evident.

- Those that experience this common work-related issue may start to detach themselves from friends, relatives, coworkers, social situations, and more. Social detachment is not a good sign. This is especially true when an individual is normally not socially withdrawn from others.

- Many who experience workplace burnout may seem extremely irritable. This may show in the means of rapid moods, and similar situations. If there is no apparent cause for this type of personality change, the issue may be related to workplace change.

- Many individuals may feel as if there is no hope for their current situation. They may walk in and out of each and every single day feeling a lack of motivation; many individuals may witness this behavior in the workplace and realize that it is uncharacteristic of the individual. This is a probable sign of work-related burnout.

- If you feel as if you have absolute no power, you are not getting anywhere, and you find yourself constantly feeding negative thoughts and emotions, you may be experiencing workplace burnout.

- Many individuals who experience burnout often start experiencing many different kinds of failures. These failures may be directly related to their work performance, or they may be experienced in their personal life.

There are a number of causes that may lead an individual to experience burnout associated with the workplace. The following reasons may be associated with this type of work-related stress:

- Many individuals set their goals in the workplace too high. Setting high goals or having others in the workplace place too high of goals is a common factor in workplace burnout.

- Many individuals may feel as if they are stuck in a particular job because they are unable to afford a change in careers, or they are unable to pass up the benefits that a job poses. For these individuals, workplace burnout may be experienced.

- Many individuals who have proved to be dependable and provide a high quality of work may be expected to consistently asked to perform additional work on top of their standard responsibilities. While many are flattered by the fact that they are given more work, this work can often become exhausting.

- There are many who do not feel personally challenged by their work. This type of work can become dull and a person may not feel as if they have anything to look forward to. This can result in workplace burnout as well.

Workplace burnout is a common issue that must be dealt with. If you are in charge of employees, it is important to know and understand the basics of workplace burnout. If you are an employee, it is important that you know and understand the basics as well. By understanding the conditions that cause this to occur, the symptoms associated with the condition, and how to overcome it, you can beat work-related burnout!

Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of My-Personal-Growth.com, a site that provides information and articles for self improvement and personal growth and development.

The Causes Of Workplace Stress And How Best To Prevent This From Happening

The modern world is work focused and employment based. We spend the majority of our waking hours at the workplace and this has its own benefits and problems. One of the most common of these problems is workplace stress. This is a chronic ailment caused by conditions that negatively affect your performance and overall well-being. It can also affect an individuals' psychological and physical health, as well as organization's effectiveness. Workplace stress is affecting a whole spectrum of the population ranging from doctors to plumbers

Workplace stress is now recognized globally as a condition that can affect all categories of workers, in all types of jobs. Stress is a source of tension and frustration that may arise through a number of interrelated influences on behavior, including the individual, group, organizational and environmental factors. This usually leads to loss of concentration, sleeplessness, and it can also increase the risk for illness, back problems, accidents, and lost time. Workplace stress is now one of the most prevalent reasons for lost working days, which hinders the progress of the organization as well as the individual.

There are various reasons for workplace stress and one of them is management. This usually happens when managers behave in an authoritarian way, offer no constructive support or advice to the work force or deny promotional opportunities to the deserving members of the company. This is when employees become frustrated or cynical towards the organization. Another reason for workplace stress is overbearing or jealous work colleagues. Office gossip can be harmless fun if kept within reason but if it is constantly directed towards one particular person then it can be quite damaging and lead to a lot of workplace stress for the person concerned.

There are steps that organizations can take to prevent or minimize the effects of workplace stress, so that they have more contented and happier employees. Some of the ways to achieve this is to make sure that your workforce have a voice and are heard, they are aware of their importance to the organization and are seen as unique and exceptional. Some of the policies that can help towards this are to include flexi-time, working from home, stress coaching, on the job support, keeping jobs open during sick leave, provision of quiet rooms, exercise provision, training initiatives and social activities.

Workplace stress can also be caused because of the work place atmosphere, for instance noisy, dirty, messy areas can all contribute towards job stress. It is therefore a good idea to keep the work areas clean and tidy to have a healthy, relaxed and stress free working environment.

Employees can also contribute towards minimizing and preventing workplace stress. Worker s should refrain from harassment or bullying. They should not tease, insult or even threaten others due to their sex, religion or race. Under no circumstances should they spread malicious gossip in order to destroy another's good name.

By working together, employees and management can minimize and prevent a lot of workplace stress. Organizations should always be looking for ways that lead to a workforce that is happy, healthy and therefore more productive.

Nim Aulakh is a writer and webmaster. Find out more about the causes of workplace stress and how to deal with it. There are so many easy ways to prevent job stress. One easy way is by having aromatherapy stress relief

Thursday

If you ever need anything...

Workplace drama? I've had my share that was my reason for putting together this blog. As I write, I think of one supervisor who loved to walk by my cubicle staring, smirking, or saying something stupid. He was always very careful about what he said and did so that he wouldn't be accused of harassment. One day a co-worker commented to me, "You know why he is always bothering you?" I said, "No." She said, "Because he likes you." That was the last thing I thought. But when I took a moment to think about it, he did act like one of those goofy little boys who would tap a little girl's shoulder and then run or pull her hair, hoping she would chase after him. My co-worker was right. So I made a point not to be friendly and always act very serious where he was concerned.

He tried to make small talk and I would just keep it business related. He wanted to know what was wrong with me? I would always tell him nothing and then quickly talk about the business at hand. He tried to make it his business to get me to open up, but I wouldn't budge. I continued to be guarded in everything that I did when he was around. He got the point, but it didn't keep him from commenting on my hair or looking at me when I wasn't looking. My co-worker liked to instigate him to do or say something, "You know you like her..." she would say. His cheeks would turn bright red and he would keep walking. Oftentimes, her bold accusations would keep him off my back.

I never wanted him to think I was even a little bit interested in him and it all worked out for the best. Eventually we were all downsized and I needed him for a reference. He didn't give me any problems about it. He told me how much he appreciated my work and if I ever needed anything don't hesitate to ask. "Yeah I bet," I thought. He smiled and for the first time in three years I gave him a hug. My big mouth co-worker said to him, "You know you like that!" His cheeks turned red. A few days later I left the job before they told us to go. I was ready to start a new job elsewhere. I know he missed me, I could see it in his eyes. Like I said, it all worked out for the best!

Nicholl McGuire

Wednesday

Companies self-destruct when workplace bullies run amok!

I have vivid memories of being bullied when I was in the fourth grade. Darrell would line me and other classmates up each morning and extort our lunch money under threat of beating us to a pulp! Darrell had already missed about two grades and towered over everyone. We were thoroughly intimidated. Growing tired of watching other kids enjoying their lunches I came up with an idea. I'll tell my mom about it and she will get him off my back! I knew my dear mother would show me empathy.

Wrong! She gave me one of the worst thrashings of my life and said, "Don't you let that boy take your lunch money. I'm going to call your teacher tomorrow to make sure you eat lunch." Now I was really in a jam, I had to decide who I was more afraid of Mom or Darrell! I didn't get an inch of sleep that night and the next morning went off to school hoping to hide from Darrell. Unfortunately, he caught me before the homework bell and proceeded to pound me for refusing to cough up my lunch money.

During the course of the fight I remember being cheered on by other victims of Darrell's tyranny. Mercifully, the teachers arrived and saved me from further punishment. I looked at Darrell and to my amazement, I had actually bloodied his nose! As we were marched to the principal's office, I was cheered and patted on the back by my classmates. I also got a lot of attention from the girls in my class. I explained to the principal about Darrell's extortion racket and mom's response. He sent me back to class and Darrell was suspended for a week. After that, I never had any more problems with Darrell. We in fact became good friends.

Unfortunately there are "Darrells and Darrellettes" in the workplace who are just as intimidating to fellow employees. Standing up to workplace bullies can be just as frightening for the victims. Workplace bullying can take on different forms such as

psychological abuse
physical abuse
emotional abuse
verbal and non verbal abuse
sabotage of the victims work product


According to Wikipedia workplace bullying, "is the tendency of individuals or groups to use persistent aggressive or unreasonable behavior against a co-worker." From my workplace experience, I have witnessed bullying of customers, vendors, visitors and other interested parties! Bullies in the workplace often take advantage of their power by...

humiliating
insulting
affronting and confronting
intimidating


...the "target" of their abuse. Many times this behavior is played out in front of witnesses to destroy the victim's self esteem. When management allows bullying, trust in the workplace is nonexistent. Studies show that when there is an environment of distrust, employees tend to perform poorly. So bullying is bad for business. when employers are aware of bullying from employees and managers and do nothing to correct it, they share in the negative consequences. Workplace bullies come in all shapes, genders, races and sizes and have a great need for control. Here are the four basic types of workplace bullies.


Yellers

They always have to talk over the target(s).

Blockers

This type likes to undermine the reputation of the target and destroy work product.

Backstabbers

Self explanatory, they work in the shadows spreading ugly rumors and gossip aimed at the target.

Nitpickers

This bully lives to find fault with everything the victim does no matter how trivial. The bully will trash any suggestions by the target for improving workplace performance and efficiency as well.

A national poll conducted by the Workplace Bullying Institute says 37 percent or 54 million American employees have been or are bullied at work. Gary Namie, director of the Institute says, "It’s a silent epidemic". Workplace bullying is also called "mobbing" when two or more managers or employees gang up on a victim. Co-workers who witness bullying have increased levels of low morale and stress. Employees who are the targets exhibit...

insomnia
stroke
depression
migraine headaches
low self esteem
high levels of stress disorder
suicidal tendencies
greater risk of heart disease

Because there are no laws protecting employees from bullying there is no clear definition for it. That makes it hard to distinguish from other behaviors such as sexual and racial harassment. To this point, the federal government has no workplace bully laws. Businesses and organizations by and large don't have policies to prevent it. However, several states have proposed legislation to provide employees some protection. There are some things employees can do to protect themselves.

Learn more about it
Stay calm
Promote your good work
Inform management of the problem(if the bully is the manager go over his/her head)
Understand the bully is the problem not you
Keep good records detailing the bullies behavior over a period on time. This includes names, dates, times, places, witnesses, etc.

Try to get the bully to create a paper trail for you. You would be amazed at how easy it is to get people behaving badly in the workplace to email their negative intent toward you. I have successfully used email that required a response to accomplish this. Keep all the documentation you receive from the bully that helps you prove his/her accusations against you are false.

Finally, if possible always try to have one or more witnesses who aren't intimidated or a part of the bullies "mob" around as witnesses to what is said and done.

Raising awareness and making a stand like the one I did against Darrell are the most effective ways to discourage and prevent workplace bullying. Seeking legal guidance is always an option as well until specific laws are passed to protect employees.

Yancey Thomas Jr. has functioned as a certified and trained mediator in alternative dispute resolution of employment and general civil issues for over 10 years. He is a national panel mediator/neutral through the Cornell University Alliance for Dispute Resolution with emphasis on employment/workplace disputes. As an employee, he has a unique perspective on how to prepare for employment. Yancey's you can learn basic employee rights site offers the job seeker and employee more information on achieving workplace success! Follow this link for more relevant info on workplace bullying.

Workplace Communication

Communication is a two-way process. Communication is successful only when the receiver understands the message intended by the sender.
Effective workplace communication is very essential for smooth and efficient functioning of an organization. The manager should have proper communication with his subordinates, else it will lead to absenteeism amongst workers, lower productivity, development of grapevine networks in an organization. There should be two-way communication in an organization. Manager should have personal contact with his subordinates. He should clearly communicate goals and policies of the organization to his subordinates and should get feedback on these goals and policies.

Feedback plays a very important role in the communication process. It enables us to evaluate the effectiveness of our message. Giving the subordinates chance to provide feedback is important for maintaining a open communication climate. The manager must create an environment that encourages feedback. For example: after communicating a job assignment, he should ask "Do all of you understand?", "Is that clear?", "Do you have any doubts?", etc. This will ensure that whether his message is understood or not.

Both upward and downward communications are important. Upward communication will keep manager informed about employees job satisfaction, employees feelings for their peers and about organization in general. Downward communication is important so that manager can give job instructions, explain the roles and policies and explain the issues which need immediate attention. Similarly we have horizontal communication in an organization which is also very important. It is essential that people working at same level should have effective communication amongst them so that there is co-ordination between them. Communication at workplace should be clear, concise and specific. There should be effective use of body language at workplace. Body language reflects the position of a person in the organization. A manager should make effective use of his body language while communicating with his subordinates.

Communication at workplace is mainly of two types - Verbal (Meetings, Speech, One to One feedbacks etc), Non Verbal (Written, printed, emails etc).

A healthy communication at workplace is good and essential for every business. Author is publisher of www.managementstudyguide.com/business_communication.htm, which provides more information on business communication.