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Business Energy Management: Become Efficient And Save Money Fast!

[The following is a guest post brought to you by uSwitch For Business]

Businesses are facing a great deal of pressure in these days of recession. As well as simply trying to stay afloat they need to consider their environmental impact. The good news for businesses is that in many cases financial and environmental savings can go hand in hand and there are resources available such as uswitchforbusiness to help companies do a better job of business energy management.

Business Energy Management: A Way To Improve Your Bottom Line

Business energy consumption can be one of the major costs faced and can be a difficult cost to tackle. When staff are employed in an office or building to run a business, electricity and gas are needed to keep the work environment lit and heated as well as keeping equipment such as computers and machinery working – another benefit of using “work from home” days as a method of showing employee appreciation.

One way of saving money is to compare business electricity and gas costs. Comparison websites will allow businesses to compare the costs of business electricity and gas amongst all the major UK suppliers. Inputting details into these companies will give your business access to the many deals and offers available to business users from these suppliers to find ways of saving money.

Depending on the amount of energy your business consumes, shopping around for a cheaper supplier could save your business hundreds or thousands of pounds a year.

As well as finding a better energy deal online, there are many other ways of saving energy costs and improving the environmental profile of your company. You may need to get your employees on board to implement some of the changes necessary to save money such as encouraging them to switch off office equipment when not in use rather than leaving it on standby.

Business Energy Management: Simple Things Make A Huge Difference

Your business could save up to £35 on each computer and monitor each year by ensuring that it is properly switched off when not in use overnight or on weekends and bank holidays.

Using energy saving light bulbs and encouraging staff to switch off lights when they leave the room could cut your business’s lighting bill by up to 15 per cent and up to £400 could be saved annually by making sure taps are fully turned off and any dripping taps are fixed as soon as possible.

Turning the heating thermostat down by one degree could reduce your business’s heating bill by as much as eight per cent. It is likely that your staff will not even notice the slight drop in temperature.

Getting Grants To Help You Save

As well as encouraging staff to have some responsibility for cutting energy costs it may be worth your business investing in energy efficient equipment. Grants that are available from the Carbon Trust to help towards the cost and the overall savings on energy bills are likely to make the initial investment worthwhile.

There is plenty of information and advice available for businesses from the Energy Saving Trust on ways to reduce energy costs and become more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. The Trust can help to evaluate your energy consumption and offer advice on ways of making savings.

photo by jannoon028

4 Ways To Lower Your Car Costs

By guest

[The following is a guest post on behalf of Jake Ashaye, giving tips on how to produce lower car costs]

Car costs can often work out to be a significant portion of your income, especially if you are someone who drives quite a lot. At a time when many of us are looking for ways to tighten our belts and save money wherever possible, it’s definitely worth taking any steps you can to reduce your costs. Read to find out about four ways you could create lower car costs.

4 Ways To Lower Car Costs

Drive less

This might not be possible for everyone, but most of us probably could drive less than we do. The majority of journeys currently involve a car – including short journeys that would be easy enough to walk.

One option for reducing your car costs is to walk or cycle wherever you can. This way, you’ll use less gas, which is naturally one of the biggest costs associated with cars. You might also be able to save on your car insurance costs, as the fewer miles you drive, the less you are likely to have to pay for your insurance.

Lower Car Costs By Driving More Efficiently

If you have to drive, it’s a good idea to drive as efficiently as you can. Ideally, this means driving in a way that conserves fuel as much as possible so you can minimise the amount you have to spend on gas.

It’s thought that driving at speeds of between 58-65mph offer the best efficiency when it comes to fuel consumption, so if you’re driving somewhere the speed restrictions allow it, keeping your car between these zones could help you to save cash.

Other tricks, such as slowing down for the lights in good time so you don’t have to slam the brakes on at the last moment can also help you to save small amounts of fuel that will add up over the longer term and help to lower car costs.

Compare Car Insurance

Another major cost related with your car is the car insurance. Getting good value, cheap car insurance depends on a range of factors, including the security of your car, how big your engine is, where you live, your driving record and more.

[Khaleef here: I wrote about how we were able to save a ton of money on car insurance, just by changing our address.]

The fact that so many things are taken into consideration when generating car insurance quotes means that different insurers might well offer you significantly different prices. Doing a regular comparison online can help you to find out where the best deals are while still making sure you have cover for everything you need it for.

Get Regular Services

Finally, you can also reduce your long term caring costs by getting your car serviced regularly. Of course, it’s going to cost you money to get the car checked once a year, but it’s definitely worth it as it can save you money in the long run.

After all, paying for a small repair now will cost much less than paying for major work to be done to your car in the future if you do nothing while you have the chance.

Getting a regular check-up can also make your car safer to drive, which is something else that can have an impact when it comes to reducing your car insurance costs so it’s definitely something worth doing at least once a year.

photo by krossbow

6 Free or Frugal Ways to Show Appreciation to Employees

By Khaleef Crumbley

As a result of the downturn in the economy, many companies have decided to do away with raises and bonuses. If you are a manager or a business owner who is searching for ways to demonstrate employee appreciation and employee recognition for all of the hard work performed by your workers throughout the year, without breaking the bank, then keep reading. This way you can ensure that your employees don’t choose a different career path once the recession is over!

Here are six simple things that you can do to demonstrate both employee recognition and employee appreciation:

Employee Appreciation for Free!

Offer Flexible Schedules

Not all employees need to work a 9-5 schedule. For those who have work responsibilities that can be handled during any hour, this may be a great benefit to them. Think about it, if you have a harsh commute when working a 9-5 shift, changing your hours to 7-3 would do much to reduce the stress and cost of your commute!

Allow Employees to Occasionally Work from Home

Telecommuting is becoming increasingly popular. If it isn’t possible to allow your employees to do this full-time, allow them to choose one day each week on which they can work from home.

This will not only save on energy, water, and all other costs associated with having more bodies in your building, but it will also save the employee on gas and wear & tear on their car (or paying for public transportation)!

Offer Opportunities for Additional Training

This would be a real benefit to employees, as they will have a chance to learn additional skills – or improve on what they already know – and position themselves for promotions and other opportunities!

This can be as simple as having members of your IT staff offer periodic training in MS Office, or other commonly-used software; or as complex as implementing a rotation program where employees are allowed to function in different positions and develop new skill sets!

Have Dress Down Days

Allowing your employees to dress down for one or several days a week can help to lighten the mood of a stressful work environment (of course this gesture is meaningless if you are not already being a godly employer)! It may also help to change the dress code to a more casual one – especially for those employees who do not need to meet with clients/customers.

Employee Recognition on a Budget!

Partner With Local Vendors

There are two ways that you can do this. First, you can leverage the buying power of your group of employees to get massive discounts for them – this can work for anything from cars to computers to tax preparation!

Second, you can barter with local vendors – providing your services to them in exchange for free services for your employees! Even if you aren’t able to give a raise or bonus, you can still provide a tangible benefit to your workers by providing them with a free session with a local tax preparer or financial consultant.

Another great way to show your appreciation for your employees is to bring in a local massage therapist once a week to provide free basic massages! Here are some other gift ideas to help you get started!

Celebrate Employees’ Achievements Each Month

Depending on the size of your workplace, this may need to be handled at the department level. Cater a basic lunch (a pizza party works for me) and give simple awards to your employees. You can have them vote on things such as “the most helpful coworker”, or “most dependable”, etc; then give out these awards once a month or quarter!

Broadcasting various customer/client accolades may add a nice touch as well. This would definitely be a great way to show employee recognition and employee appreciation for a minimal cost.

You can also use this as a time to acknowledge all of the birthdays that occurred during that month.

Set Up a Rec Room

If you have the space, set up a recreation room for your employees. You can include a TV, an air hockey game, pool table, or even a massage chair! You have to set a few guidelines on when this can be used, or you can just trust your employees to be responsible and get their work done in between their air hockey tournaments.

Remember, with whatever programs you implement, you should seek to do one of two things. Demonstrate your appreciation to your employees by providing a tangible benefit to them (more than just a “thank you”); or make the workplace more enjoyable by creating a more relaxed atmosphere.

Both of these goals can help to foster an attitude of loyalty in your employees, even at times when you are unable to offer raises and bonuses!

Reader Questions:

For Employers

In what ways do you demonstrate your appreciation toward your employees?
In your mind, how far do these, and similar, measures go in fostering worker loyalty during a time of salary freezes?
What else would you add to this list?

For Employees

Does your company offer any of these non-traditional benefits?
Does this change how you view your employer at all?
What else would you add to this list?

photo by bettyx1138

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