Success

Have you ever wondered how you can increase your employee productivity and still keep costs in the workplace low and affordable? From doing surveys to see what your employees want and need to purchasing software that will help to improve customer interactions and keep your employees trained and happy, there are many ways that you can increase your employee productivity and still keep down your costs. Below you can find a few of those ways to get you headed in the right direction, and a few mistakes you don’t want to make that can destroy employee productivity.

Send out some surveys

MaxDiff surveys have been used for a while now to help with statistical analysis, and just to see what customers and employees want and need. Letting your employees know that you care about what they want and need by sending out a survey that actually asks what they think can go a long way towards helping you increase productivity and keep your costs down at the same time.

Make it easier with call center software

The easier you make it for your employees to interact with customers, the more productive they will be. Introducing some call center software features to your staff will help them to not only be more productive, but to be more organized as well. This not only helps your employees, it helps your customers and your desired bottom line in the long run. What’s not to love about that?

Avoid micromanaging your employees

While it’s true that owning your own business means you have to have your hands in everything that goes on in that business, micromanaging your employees is not going to help your business grow or make them any more productive. It’s important to remember that your employees are humans, not machines. If you want them to be productive, then you need to let them do what you tell them to do, without hovering over them every step of the way. Though it might not be easy, it’s the best way to go for everyone involved.

Now that you have three ways to help with employee productivity and reducing costs in your workplace, it’s time to move into a few of the mistakes you don’t want to make below.

Mistake #1: Rewarding busy instead of productive

One of the biggest mistakes companies make is not knowing the difference between busy and productive when it comes to their employees. Instead of rewarding the employee who logs the most time in a day or sends the most emails, try rewarding the one that is the most productive and has the sales to show it. This will motivate the rest to actually be productive, instead of just looking like they are trying to be.

Mistake #2: Having non-flexible schedules

In the past, it was pretty common for everyone to work a 9 to 5 schedule. That’s just not feasible or likely in today’s modern world. With remote working capabilities and the internet, employees have many, many options for getting those hours in each week. Don’t be a stickler with a non-flexible schedule that leaves no room for flexibility. Your employees will thank you for the flexibility, and be more apt to be productive to thank you for it as well.

These are just a few of the top ways that your company can increase employee productivity and reduce your costs in the workplace at the same time, and a few of the mistakes you won’t to avoid. Remember, employees are humans, not robots, so make sure that you treat them as such and you’ll be fine!

If you’re interested in working in the legal field but don’t want to go to school for many extra years just to be a lawyer, plenty of other fields are worth considering. One such field is the area of court reporting, which is an integral aspect of any courtroom process. However, just because you’re interested in doing something doesn’t mean that you will necessarily be a good match for the career itself. Here is what you need to know about the role of a court reporter before deciding whether or not you’re cut out to be in this line of work.

General qualities of a court reporter

Like any career, some qualities make you more apt to succeed as a court reporter than others. Just like you wouldn’t want to work as a preschool teacher if you didn’t like small children, if you aren’t passionate about law and the legal system, it’s probably best to avoid court reporting. At the same time, you need to be able to remain objective and impartial as a court reporter, too. Your role as a court reporter is to provide a factual document that accurately captures the proceedings of a courtroom, and to do this you can’t add any of your own judgment or feelings. Beyond being neutral in the courtroom, you need to exhibit the characteristics of punctuality and timeliness, because a court case cannot start without you present. Organizational skills are also a must, because a judge or jury might request a piece of information be read back to them from any of the prior minutes, hours, or even days.

Typing speed and other knowledge

While soft skills like punctuality and neutrality are good to know, you must possess several hard skills to be a court reporter, too. Court reporters use a variety of technologies in their field, such as stenographer’s equipment, to take notes quickly, so it’s vital that you understand how to operate these tools if you want to succeed in the field. You’ll also need to pass the US Registered Professional Reporter test, which requires you to have an impressive typing speed of 180 words per minute to 225 words per minute without sacrificing too much quality or accuracy. You can use an online typing test to see how you measure up and what you need to work on before completing the test. Many court reporters also need to understand the flow of the courtroom, as well as common legal jargon that may come up during a trial.

Location, location, location

Beyond knowing legal jargon, it’s a good idea to be familiar with the area in which you work. Local geographic terms and state laws frequently get brought up in court cases, and being able to understand and spell these things will help you in your quest to get hired as a court reporter. Even if you’re an excellent court reporter with a history of doing a great job, if you live in Seattle and a high profile court case is happening in Florida, the job is likely to go to a court reporter in Miami. Make sure you consider where you want to live and work as you become licensed as a court reporter, so that you can brush up on the specific local knowledge required to succeed in your field.

Starting out, most court reporters make $27,000 to $35,000 a year; however, a court reporter’s salary can quickly accelerate to the mid $80,000s with hard work and dedication. If you’re interested in studying to become a court reporter, make sure that you possess the above qualities. With effort and the right attitude, you’ll be able to have a fulfilling career in the legal system.

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To ensure that success doesn’t elude you, simply continue reading to discover a few valuable tips on how to become successful.

Success tips to help you chase down your goals:

1. Start each day off by making healthy decisions

In order to be able to be as productive as you’d like, it’s a wonderful idea to start your day off the right day by fitting in an energizing early morning workout and making sure to consume a healthy, nutritionally balanced breakfast.

2. Set your own goals, instead of chasing other people’s goals

When you sit down to set short term and long term goals don’t be tempted to let other individual’s goals or society’s expectations of the success you should want to achieve determine the goals which you set for yourself!

Remember that you’ll be far more likely to strive hard to meet your goals if they actually excite you and make you look forward to taking steps towards obtaining success on a daily basis.

3. Make sure to keep the thoughts in your head positive

Whether you believe you can or you believe you can’t, you’re right. As the only person who can determine the outcome of your future is you. So it’s a great idea to work on training your brain to think as positively as possible. While it’s almost impossible to think positively 100% of the time after a while you will become adept at noticing negative thoughts and replacing them with more positive thoughts.

4. Celebrate your successes instead of merely living for the future

If you take the time to celebrate and acknowledge your successes, you’ll build your self-esteem which will be helpful when you face setbacks or challenges, on the way to achieving your future goals.

Most individuals focus far too much on what they want to accomplish in the future, that they miss out on celebrating the successes which they experience in the present and worse yet completely forget about how far they’ve come.

5. Look for advice or mentorship from individuals who have achieved great success

You don’t have to face your journey completely alone. In fact, it’s actually a smart idea to get to know successful, friendly individuals who are willing to pass on advice and to mentor you on your journey. As an example, if you’re passionate about becoming a successful entrepreneur you may want to get in contact with a free business mentor or to join a group for entrepreneurs, where you’ll be able to get to know other entrepreneurs in your area.

If no such opportunities exist in your town or city, simply turn to internet forums for the advice which you’re seeking instead! As you’ll be able to obtain solid business advice from business mentors located around the world.

6. Set realistic time frames for your goals

The reason why it’s essential to set realistic time frames for your goals is that if you set tight, unrealistic time frames which you’re unlikely to meet, you’ll likely feel frustrated if you don’t meet them. Worse yet, you may even stop striving for your goals.

If you keep the 6 tips listed above in mind, you’ll be sure to meet all of your short term and your long-term goals.