Self Help Motivation and Inspiration At Work

Author: Kym Robinson

Self Help Motivation and Inspiration At Work

Do you wake up each day feeling great, but once you hit the office you feel your inspiration and motivation have prematurely left the building? If so, there are some inspiring workplace ideas that you can put into action so that you feel more inspired when you work. You know, it doesn't matter how good you are at your job if you don't feel passionate about what you are doing all day!

Simple Ideas to find Inspiration at Work

One of the best ways to put yourself in a position to find the neccesary motivation is to make sure you are comfortable. You need to make sure your chair supports your back, your desk is at the right height, and you have an ergonomically correct keyboard and mouse. Repetitive strain injuries have been on the rise for some time now, so speak up and you just might find your employer willing to cooperate. I'm sure he would rather adjust the environment rather than deal with a workers compensation claim!

If that is not so - Worst case: bring in your own office supplies or equipment. There's no reason that your body has to suffer even if your boss is really stingy!

Clean Up and De-Clutter Your Workspace

I find inspiration by getting rid of the clutter on my desk and getting everything back to tidy! A cluttered workspace can zap you of your creativity because you spend more time trying to find things than actually getting your work done.

Look at your workspace objectively and ask yourself: "What absolutely NEEDS to be here?" Remove the things that make you feel claustrophobic, stop hoarding rubbish and toss the things you never use. File or bin anything else as your work items should be filed away in an organizational system that works for you.

Here's the bottom line: only keep the things that you absolutely need! Keeping anything else serves no purpose and adds nothing more than clutter and distraction. Then, all this clutter zaps your motivation and inspiration, so avoid it! Once you do, you'll think clearer and feel far more relaxed.
How Can You Create an Inspirational Computing Experience?

If you work in an office,I bet you spend most of the time on your computer? Do you ever clean up your computer? or do you have 72,000 emails sitting around and files you never use saved to your hard drive? Clean out your computer! Delete all your temporary internet files and your computer will run faster and then bring inspiration into your workspace through inspirational wallpapers.
Inspirational wallpapers are usually free downloads that inspire you during those long 8-hour workdays. After all, it can be hard to stay focused staring at your screen all day. But if you have to stare at it - make it something Inspirational!

You can check out these wallpapers when you are having a hard time getting started, getting motivated, or just finding the inspiration to push forward. Inspirational wallpapers typically contain beautiful landscapes with inspirational quotes or sayings. Sometimes all you need to get going is a gentle push in the right direction, and inspirational wallpapers just might be what the doctor ordered. It really can be that simple!

The great thing about these wallpapers is that they don't take up any physical space, so there's no need to worry about clutter. You also can use some of the images and quotes on the wallpaper to create screensavers for your computer. Your computer has the potential to inspire you in so many ways!

Inspiration can often seem impossible to find at work, but you may need to think outside of the box and find ways to get inspired. Keep things simple and don't let clutter get you down.

A really good idea is to listen to your Ipod or similar - if you can!

I listen all day long to self development cd's and find it just so good. Even when Im down and really struggling to find motivation, this workd great!

Now , if you are like me, and work from home - it can be really tough to stay on track somedays. If you have tried all of the above only to find you are still missing something, then get up and go for a walk around the block!

After all, this is the main benefit to working for yourself! You can go for a walk anytime you like! My block has water on 3 sides - its almost an island. I have the beach on one side, an inlet on the other and a lagoon on the other! I can see the inner city and beautiful pictures everywhere I look -now thats very inspirational for me, I feel very lucky!

When you feel down for whatever reason, use self help techniques to find motivation and inspiration at work and have a great day!

Ref: http://www.submityourarticle.com/articles/Kym-Robinson-4189/-43964.php

ABSENTEEISM: FLU THE BIGGEST CULPRIT

To view our latest article - click here: http://www.camsolutions.co.za/newsdesk_info.php?newsdesk_id=40&osCsid=f1cf3fe113ca1f88a0af6bed5aed7028

CAM SOLUTIONS

Sick Absenteeism Management

Sick absenteeism management is rapidly becoming an area where a number of consultants in the HR arena are offering their services to employers and creating an additional revenue stream.

Corporate Absenteeism Management Solutions (Pty) Ltd (CAMS) is a South African based company which is regarded as the local leader with regard to sick absenteeism management and providing benchmark information on absenteeism. (A web search using combinations of the key words “CAMS”, “Johnny Johnson”, ”AIC” will provide a number of results to support this assertion)

CAMS is currently in the process of identifying suitable candidates in various countries to represent its software as sole agents in those countries. Should you be interested in this opportunity kindly response to this email with a request for further information.

Below, follows further information on CAMS and its business:

The company owns specialized software, called ABSOLV™, which is utilized by various consultants and employers to perform sick absenteeism audits and to provide ongoing consulting services aimed at reducing sick absenteeism. The software is also used as a tool to measure and monitor the health status of an employer in general and its employees specifically. A sample of the main output from the system, the Absenteeism Management Report (AMR™) is attached to this mail.

Currently CAMS has more than 100 000 active employees on the ABSOLV system and a historical database of more than 170 000 employees which is used to derive meaningful benchmark information.

This software is now available to all consultants with the major advantage being that it is available on a “pay-as-you-grow” basis. This means that the consultant can match their costs with revenues and there is no need to outlay large amounts of capital or to incur upfront or monthly costs before any revenue is earned. Flexible options are available which allows the software to be accessed via the internet (aimed at smaller employers) or loaded on your network, or web server, and accessed by a number of users, aimed at the larger employer or consultant with a large number of clients.

Consultants can also register as an affiliate; refer clients to ABSOLV™, and earn a referral commission of 25% on all revenue earned from that client should they sign up as an ABSOLV™ user.

Consultants in the HR industry can increase their revenue by offering an additional sick absenteeism management service to their existing clients with little effort through the use of ABSOLV™. In addition CAMS offers a two day sick absenteeism management training programme aimed at equipping consultants with the necessary skills to offer this service.

The individual earnings of employees is recorded and utilized to calculate the overall cost of sick absenteeism and can also be used, together with the job grades, to provide useful remuneration information at a later stage.

For further information please respond to this email or visit our website via the link below.

Regards
Johnny Johnson
CAM Solutions
Providing Software Solutions in Health and Absenteeism Management
Tel: +27 41 379 1981
Cell: +27 83 270 4630
Fax: + 27 86 694 1663
http://www.camsolutions.co.za

View our Absenteeism Blogs:
http://camsolutions.blogspot.com/
http://www.absenteeism.iblog.co.za/

IMPORTANT NOTE: This e-mail contains confidential information and any unauthorised use or interception is illegal. If this e-mail is not intended for you, you may not copy, distribute or disclose the contents, including any attachments, to anyone, nor take any action in reliance on the content. If you receive this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer.

What makes people ill?

Why is it that some people never seem to get sick and other people are always sick? What is it that makes the difference? Post your comments or answers on our blog...

Regards,
THE CAM SOLUTIONS TEAM

Helping staff with personal pressures can protect profit

HAVING employees bring their dirty laundry to work is just one way employers are starting to deal with a money-gobbling monster. "Sick absenteeism" cost SA an estimated R19.1bn last year.

In the first half of this year, 3.4% of all sick leave taken was due to stress, depression and anxiety, says Johnny Johnson, CEO of CAMS, a company that looks at corporate absenteeism.

"Companies should therefore continue to ask themselves what they could do to make their staff happy and productive."

With the economic difficulties being experienced by many people, most companies should anticipate an increase in absenteeism due to, among others, illness and stress, says Independent Counselling Services (ICAS).
ICAS provides employee assistance programmes to more than 350 corporate and public sector organisations within Southern Africa.

"Absenteeism doesn't occur in a vacuum, and in order to address it it's necessary to identify what drives it," says ICAS business intelligence and ICT manager Rochelle Mountany.

Organisations need to do an analysis of their leave patterns to identify:

• Their absenteeism rate;
• Who is taking unscheduled leave (according to department, salary band, gender, job grading, etc); and
• Patterns of leave (on what day of the week it starts, for how long it continues and so on).

Once an analysis has been done, says Mountany, steps can be taken to address the issues that emerge. Mountany says another useful tool is conducting interviews with all staff on their return from unscheduled leave. This can help identify underlying reasons for absence and provide assistance.

Most difficulties experienced by employees relate to personal relationships with partners, spouses and family members. This is followed closely by legal as well as financial concerns, with a significant number of worries about issues affecting their children and trauma emerging, she says.

Most of the people using ICAS services are women.

Financial difficulties are being identified increasingly as significant contributors not only to stress but also severe depression, which is often a driving factor in marital difficulties as well, Mountany says.

When there is low morale in a company, the reasons must be established, she says.

One possibility is communication: whether employees feel their voices are heard.

Gender issues can also play a role.

To achieve a healthy, happy workforce, managers can refer affected employees to the employee assistance programme to give them the opportunity to work through those circumstances that are affecting their attendance and work performance negatively, says Mountany.

These should not be seen as punitive measures, though.

The referrals have proved highly successful in resolving such difficulties, and have been found to improve attendance in many cases, she says.

Banking group ABSA says that a behavioural risk audit conducted with a total sample of 1.6% of its workforce showed that workplace and home stress were a reality in the lives of its employees. With this in mind, ABSA introduced an absenteeism-management programme for the first time this year as part of an integrated health and wellness programme.

"It can be expected that the cumulative effect of relatively high home and workplace stress may significantly affect the resilience of our workforce," says wellness group specialist Wezi Khoza.

She says a behavioural stress assessment by ABSA indicated a relatively high level of financial stress as experienced by the population in general.

So it is expected that staff with money problems and poor financial behaviour tend to reduce productivity and increase absenteeism rates.

By contrast, financially well-off employees report high levels of commitment to their work, lower absenteeism rates and greater pay satisfaction.

"Employees did indicate that financial assistance was one of the greater expressed needs."

Although there is no scientific evidence available to prove whether or not ABSA employees experience work-related stress, the company believes that as stress increases in people's lives, absenteeism will also increase. "Stress will always be part of the corporate arena, and will increase and decrease according to the impact that societal factors have on the population in general."

The individual's reaction to these stress factors will be determined by their resilience, Khoza says.

The integrated health and wellness programme's central focus is to assist employees to improve their resilience so that the impact of the everyday stressors is mitigated.

"Our programme has a holistic focus to address the individual."

Immediate counselling and rehabilitation services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, not only for employees but also for dependants of employees. The programme includes an array of externally and internally provided services covering assistance with financial, emotional, physical, intellectual, occupational and social needs.

ABSA determines the needs with an annual opinion survey and develops targeted action plans on the basis of the results.

Khoza says the best way for an organisation to boost employee morale is to demonstrate a caring attitude towards workers.

Vodacom chief human resources officer Lungi Ndlovu ascribes his company's low absenteeism rate to "a relatively informal working environment, where emphasis is placed on allowing employees to strike an optimal work-life balance".

As a competitive and results-driven company, Vodacom attracts "ambitious individuals who thrive under pressure."

The company also recognises that total remuneration has a direct effect on the morale and behaviour of individual employees and ultimately on its culture and performance.

Apart from laundry and dry-cleaning service available at its head office, an onsite "wellbeing centre" provides employees with services such as preventive primary healthcare. It has a nurse, doctor, dentist, dietician, hair salon and beauticians, medical services lifestyle programmes, gym facilities and a choice of personal trainers.
Employees can choose to sue the services of the onsite physiotherapist or wide variety of stress-relieving massage therapies available at the centre.

"The health and wellbeing of our employees are always at the forefront of Vodacom's human resources policies," says Ndlovu.

Business Day

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing perfect way to gain online clients

Affiliate marketing might just be the answer for companies who want to advertise their online services and don’t have large marketing budgets . Affiliate marketing works by offering website owners the opportunity to place a banner on their website, for which they are not paid, but if anyone uses this banner to click through to the advertised website, this information is registered by means of highly secure and confidential IP tracking and commission is paid if a sale is concluded.

Online statistic company CAMS uses this system to market their absenteeism software called Absolv, which is effective in monitoring, benchmarking and then managing absenteeism in companies of all sizes.

“Our software is the only one of its kind the country, and companies who want to clamp down on rogue absenteeism and manage the health and wellness of their employees, will find this is the simplest way to do so,” says CEO of CAMS, Johnny Johnson.

“Absenteeism costs this country R 19 billion per year in direct costs and possibly three times that amount in indirect costs. It is imperative for every company’s bottom line for management to be able to keep track of where money is being wasted on absenteeism abuse, which employees need attention due to illness issues and which managers need training in motivating their employees to greater productivity. This information is available via our software of through our online portal.

Johnson explains how affiliate marketing works, “The CAM Solutions’ Affiliates Database contains all the tools necessary to help those who wish to be affiliates for CAM Solutions to be able to market themselves as such.

"Affiliates register at http://www.absolve.co.za/affiliates and select from a number of marketing banners and tools. These banners and marketing tools are then included in their websites or any in online communication they may have with their clients (e.g. newsletters, etc).

“When a web surfer clicks, through an affiliate link, to our Absolv website, the affiliate username and code that is set in their browser is noted. Their IP address is tracked and stored, in a secure format, in our database along with the affiliate name. When this person decides to sign up and use the Absolv online web-portal, the script will look for this affiliate user name and code and will identify the affiliate, who will then be awarded the commission. Visitors sent through this affiliate link (the web banner referred to earlier) may also decide to sign up at a later stage, and the commission will still be awarded as this information is stored in their browser, as long as they are using the same IP address as the one logged in the database.

"We feel it is imperative to point out that the process is safe and secure and as well as being 100% confidential," he notes.

Johnson says, “Affiliates earn 25% commission of the client’s initial sign-on fee (R1 250) and their monthly fee (R5.00 per employee per month)."

Michelle Bennett from website Eastern Gifts and Things says she has been running her affiliate marketing programme for over a year. Michelle is currently publishing a book on effectively running an e-commerce website, in which she details the benefits of affiliate marketing. She has nine affiliates registered on her Eastern Gifts and Things website, and they receive commission when their websites direct buyers to her site.

"It's a great way to market our product and our affiliates earn money by doing nothing except hosting our banner on their websites, it works for everyone," she adds.

Affiliate marketing perfect way to gain online clients

Affiliate marketing perfect way to gain online clients

Affiliate marketing might just be the answer for companies who want to advertise their online services and don’t have large marketing budgets . Affiliate marketing works by offering website owners the opportunity to place a banner on their website, for which they are not paid, but if anyone uses this banner to click through to the advertised website, this information is registered by means of highly secure and confidential IP tracking and commission is paid if a sale is concluded.

Online statistic company CAMS uses this system to market their absenteeism software called Absolv, which is effective in monitoring, benchmarking and then managing absenteeism in companies of all sizes.

“Our software is the only one of its kind the country, and companies who want to clamp down on rogue absenteeism and manage the health and wellness of their employees, will find this is the simplest way to do so,” says CEO of CAMS, Johnny Johnson.

“Absenteeism costs this country R 19 billion per year in direct costs and possibly three times that amount in indirect costs. It is imperative for every company’s bottom line for management to be able to keep track of where money is being wasted on absenteeism abuse, which employees need attention due to illness issues and which managers need training in motivating their employees to greater productivity. This information is available via our software of through our online portal.

Johnson explains how affiliate marketing works, “The CAM Solutions’ Affiliates Database contains all the tools necessary to help those who wish to be affiliates for CAM Solutions to be able to market themselves as such.

"Affiliates register at http://www.absolve.co.za/affiliates and select from a number of marketing banners and tools. These banners and marketing tools are then included in their websites or any in online communication they may have with their clients (e.g. newsletters, etc).

“When a web surfer clicks, through an affiliate link, to our Absolv website, the affiliate username and code that is set in their browser is noted. Their IP address is tracked and stored, in a secure format, in our database along with the affiliate name. When this person decides to sign up and use the Absolv online web-portal, the script will look for this affiliate user name and code and will identify the affiliate, who will then be awarded the commission. Visitors sent through this affiliate link (the web banner referred to earlier) may also decide to sign up at a later stage, and the commission will still be awarded as this information is stored in their browser, as long as they are using the same IP address as the one logged in the database.

"We feel it is imperative to point out that the process is safe and secure and as well as being 100% confidential," he notes.

Johnson says, “Affiliates earn 25% commission of the client’s initial sign-on fee (R1 250) and their monthly fee (R5.00 per employee per month)."

Michelle Bennett from website Eastern Gifts and Things says she has been running her affiliate marketing programme for over a year. Michelle is currently publishing a book on effectively running an e-commerce website, in which she details the benefits of affiliate marketing. She has nine affiliates registered on her Eastern Gifts and Things website, and they receive commission when their websites direct buyers to her site.

"It's a great way to market our product and our affiliates earn money by doing nothing except hosting our banner on their websites, it works for everyone," she adds.