Although there are distinct advantages to conducting regular employee satisfaction surveys online to measuring employee satisfaction - there can also be risks.

Listed here are some of the main advantages, considerations and the possible risks to conducting employee satisfaction surveys online.

Advantages

Identify Problems - Surveys are can be very effective in identify problems areas before they become serious, especially those that are hidden from senior management.

Working Environment - From something small like a broken chair to the more serious problem of sick building syndrome that can result in personnel experiencing headaches; eye, nose, and throat irritation; a dry cough; dry or itchy skin; dizziness and nausea; and difficulty in concentrating. Surveys that focus on the environmental aspects of an organization will ensure that areas of concern are identified in a manner that can be properly measured and controlled.

Remuneration & Benefits - Measure and monitor how satisfied personnel are with their remuneration and benefits.

Mood and Moral - Provides a simple but effective method to measure and monitor the mood and moral of an organization.

Benchmark - In the same way that an organization will consider their financial position by comparison with previous years, so the regular use of online surveys will allow an organization to monitor and measure their progress and development in non-financial terms.

Processes & Procedures - As businesses evolve some of the traditional processes and procedures can become antiquated, personnel are often the first to know and the last to be asked. New technology is often a driver that will cause a business to evolve and the business processes need to be constantly challenged to ensure that they are properly aligned with the technology.

Training - Lack of proper training is a common cause of dissatisfaction among employees and can lead to more serious problems such as stress.

Communication - For an organization to run efficiently good internal and external communications are essential, surveys can provide a method to help organizations to monitor and measure how well an organization communicates.

Goals and Objectives - Surveys can measure and monitor the extent that the personnel are aligned with the senior management’s business goals and objectives.

Cost Effective - Using survey questionnaire software surveys are quick and easy to create, simple to deploy and will provide real-time results.

Compliance - To properly comply with an ever increasing array of regulations the modern organization needs to be able to disseminate information throughout the organization and ensure, through records, that the information has been received, and importantly, understood. Online surveys can provide an organization with a cost effective method to meet many of their obligations.

Keeping the Initiative - It is always better for management to ask than be told. By conducting periodic employee satisfaction surveys the management is able to retain the initiative in trying to identify problems that could otherwise metamorphose into demands.

Considerations

Management Backing - A survey that is both sanctioned and has the support of senior management will go some way in ensuring that any action required, based on the survey findings, will be implemented.

Ask the right questions - Consider careful the questions being asked. If employees feel that the survey is a token effort and is unlikely to effect positive change the survey could backfire.

A survey that is to be conducted annually should try and ask questions that will provide senior management with an overall health check of the organization.

Ensure that the questions that are asked are relevant to all departments and personnel. Where there are areas of the organization that would appear to require detailed investigation consider running a further survey that can be focused towards specific personnel.

Incentive - Most employees will feel that by being able to give their opinions that they are already stakeholders in the exercise and will be happy to participate in the survey as they will expect to benefit from the process.

However, some incentive may help improve the overall response rate or could be used to encourage early participation.

Either all participating employees could be awarded a small incentive or entered into a prize draw for a much bigger prize.

Anonymous - The decision to allow respondents to remain anonymous or not needs careful consideration. Surveys that are conducted anonymously may encourage employees to be more honest, however, the anonymity may also encourage some individuals to make wild accusations that can not be substantiated and cause unnecessary concern. It is often better to keep everything ‘on the record’ rather than ‘off the record’.

Where survey respondents are not anonymous there is the opportunity to encourage those that have not completed the survey to do so and also to allow issues that have been identified by the survey to be follow up directly with individual who raised them.

Comments - Keep free text comments to a minimum because they are difficult and time consuming to measure and analyze.

Consider limiting free text comments to one at the end of the survey or, in the case of surveys that are not being conducted anonymously, allow for a post-survey follow-up to obtain more information where additional and more specific detail is required.

Risks

Management - Some managers can regard any form of employee consultation as a sign of weakness and may have a tendency to dismiss out of hand any negative comment.

Warts and All - A survey is likely to reveal warts and all. Senior management should be prepared for discovering that the top down view can differ from the bottom up view and that ignorance, of any identified problems, can no longer be used as an excuse.

Non-Action - Many employees will invest time and effort in participating in a survey and their hopes and expectations will be raised. Any post-survey non-action is likely to promote cynicism and jeopardize any future initiatives to obtain employee feedback.

Management should be prepared to formally recognize and respond to any issue that is raised as a result of conducting a survey even if the demands of employees are not to be met. If the senior management team have previously advised the employees that some of the issues raised in previous surveys are to be addressed and resolved then that action should have at least started before any follow up surveys are conducted.

Can Cause Problems - Where surveys reveal, or bring problems, to the surface there could be a tendency for senior management to blame the messenger.

Summary

The benefits of conducting regular online employee questionnaires can be considerable, but for them to be effective important upfront considerations need to be made. Employees can find responding to surveys therapeutic but it is the post-survey analysis and the management’s response and action that will ultimately determine how useful and effective the process has been.

For a sample employee satisfaction survey: Employee Satisfaction Poll

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There are thousands of websites that offer help with freelance work.
Good way to find the right websites by doing a word search relating to the type of work.
For example, if looking for work that involves website design, enter the following words: freelance website design.
Placing inverted commas around the words will narrow the search to links that contain the words in that order only, so focusing the search.
For freelance designers and developers, finding work is one of the biggest challenges.
Especially in the current economy, this is aspect of freelancing that prevents you from achieving everything they want.
Fortunately, there are plenty of great articles available online that can help you to improve in certain areas that will help you to have a steady workload.
One of the biggest struggles for many freelancers is finding a way to stand out from the crowd of others providing similar services.
In many cases is a huge difference from one freelancer to the next in terms of quality of work, quality of service, specific services provided, experience, and turnaround time.
However, clients often think that we are interchangeable and all the same.
So they see price as the main point of difference.
The best way to differentiate yourself is to specialize in a very specific area of work in your field.
Instead of being a know as a general freelancer, take the category you know the most and market yourself as a specialist in this aspect.
Many of us work in fields that allow us to serve clients all over the world.
Freelancers can work in any country in the world for one client.
That flexibility sometimes causes us to lose sight of the fact that we still have the option to target local clients

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We’ve all done it, I suppose, we’ve all gossiped at work, and perhaps even condemned it. But, it’s important to realize that gossip exists within workplace communication because it serves a purpose.

It’s perfectly natural for the human being in us to speculate about the what and the why when we have incomplete information and want ‘closure’. In other words, we try to guess at both facts and motivations. It’s as if we’re staring at a jigsaw puzzle and trying to mentally fill in the picture. We can’t help but try to guess what those missing pieces might show us.

A lack of facts or information makes us uncertain, and prompts us to extrapolate from known facts, or to guess at them. After all, if we knew all the facts or all the motivations, we would be certain and confident of our knowledge.

Since we’re uncertain, it’s also natural to exchange our speculative ideas with others, and of course that’s how gossip starts. “Here’s what I think….” you say, and the person you’re with counters, “No I think…” Or perhaps, the person with whom you’re speaking has discussed this issue with someone else, and counters, “Jane told me….”

The latter brings us to the informal networking aspect of gossip within the context of employee communication. The speculative ideas of many people begin to circulate and interact with each other. Over time, the core ideas may begin to coalesce, giving us what might be called an ‘institutional’ view on the issue.

So, let’s learn to accept that gossip is not necessarily the musings of malicious people. Instead, let’s come to see it as a natural inclination among all of us to try to understand the personal and organizational situations in which we find ourselves.

Still, if you’d like to curtail the gossip in your workplace, you’ll need to start by eliminating information gaps. That’s relatively easy for organizational matters: Normal workplace communication vehicles such as meetings, newsletters, and memos can provide information that either fills the information void or at least steers opinions in the right direction.

Dealing with personal gossip is a much greater challenge. After all, only the person who’s the target of the gossip can provide the ‘facts’ and most of us are hesitant to provide that information. After all, why should we be held hostage to misinformation, whether malicious or well intentioned?

In summary, gossip is a natural organizational communication phenomenon. It is more likely driven by a lack of information, a desire to fill information voids, and uncertainty than by maliciousness among coworkers.

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All of the technology and business people I regularly talk to keep telling me cloud computing. But what is it, what is the impact on business and what are the economic and physical benefits?

Cloud means Internet. The computing is done on the Internet – in place of the software you use running on your computer, it’s hosted on the Internet on a server located in a data centre commonly staffed by people who are proficient in managing technology. This type of “cloud” software is commonly known as “on demand” or Software as a Service (SaaS).

Some shining examples of well established Software as a Service are:

Web based CRM Software (Customer Relationship Management) – Salesforce.com pricing around $9 per user/month.
Small business management and accounting software (small business ERP) – Salesorder.com pricing $45 per user/month.
Medium sized business ERP software – NetSuite pricing around $99 per user/month.

There are 3 substantial benefits for every business here:

Time, cost savings and reliability

Businesses no longer require a permanent IT professional to help them identify, bed in and manage the hardware and software infrastructure thus cutting operating costs and time to deploy. The effort of regularly backing up data is taken away as this is almost always an inherent feature of the “cloud” software. Cloud software “operators” almost always have stand by systems that can be turned on in seconds should a catastrophic failure occur.

Easier selection and wider choice

Using a web browser, businesses now have 24/7 access to a big selection of applications they can in the majority of cases immediately evaluate and effectively assess if the software fulfils their needs at no expense. This makes it very easy for innovators in large businesses to get around the standard information technology purchasing processes and easily test and prove their business case.

Superior user experience

The internet provides rapid feedback to application designers and has fuelled substantial progress in user interface design resulting in easier to use software thus reducing learning times and increasing user satisfaction. This of course means faster adoption and higher productivity.

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Bella Solutions, a leading provider of web based Field Service Software launches version 4.2. This release provides customization for Field Service businesses to easily integrate the software into their current business process eliminating the need to change the way they do business. Fields sales and field technicians no longer have to visit the office or drive inefficient service routes. Bella connects the field resources to the back office systems and customer data. As a result, jobs are completed faster, more jobs are resolved on the first visit, and job tracking is improved, all of which enhance customer satisfaction, reduce costs, and increase profits.

In addition, a robust Customer Portal feature was added giving Bella clients the ability to greatly increase customer satisfaction by the use of online service requests and updates. Client’s customers are provided real time access to view Job status, history and provide feedback. Field Service organizations are able to reduce costs by automating this process and increase sales by maximizing technician’s time in the field. View more information at Bella Service Software

Scheduling and dispatching field service and sales resources are challenges for service organizations. Many organizations rely on out-of-date software, paper-based and telephone-based processes to link field service workers with the office. Traditionally, field resources have been required to physically visit an office or call office staff on the phone to receive dispatch instructions, which is costly and takes time that could be better spent servicing customers. At the remote service sites, workers often did not have ready access to the information required to complete the service call on the initial visit. In addition, once a service call was completed, the need for completed forms and other documents delayed the closing of the service order, which in turn delayed billing and reduced customer satisfaction. Bella’s web based software enable’s field service organizations to automate their schedules and dispatch processes, thereby reducing office costs and increasing technician and sales productivity.

Company officials said, "We work closely with our Clients who provide invaluable real world requirements. Merging these requirements with our flexible technology allows us to provide the best possible solution for the Field Service Industry.”

About Bella Solutions: Bella provides web-based software for Field Service companies such as Cleaning Services, IT Services, Contractors, HVAC, and many more. Essentially, the software solution can be utilized by any company that manages field sales and technicians or remote resources. Bella provides the ability to streamline operations by providing CRM, Service Job Management, Scheduling, Equipment Maintenance, Employee and Vendor Management, Reporting, Accounting, and Inventory Management all from one application accessed from any computer, laptop, or PDA connected to the internet.

For additional information visit Bella Field Service Software

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I am not happy. My chair has just broken and the printer has still not been fixed. The problem with the company is that it is going to the dogs. The boss really doesn’t seem to have a clue as to what is really going on.

And so it goes on.

These are the sort of thoughts that start to play on the minds of individuals when a company loses touch with their employees; the broken chair, the lack of appreciation, the blaming of ‘management’, even questioning the futility of what they are doing. Small problems rankle and a disparaging and destructive attitude develops. Can you be sure that it isn’t going on right now in your organisation?

What should be social events held outside the office become no more than a forum for complaints and negativity grows among people who feel unable to effect change. Dissatisfaction will often synthesise into a demand for an increase in remuneration, as though like a cheap fix more money will momentarily lessen the pain.

If ignored by management the concerns of this employee will inevitable find empathy with their colleagues own individual concerns, where the only common demand might well be a demand for an increase in remuneration, more paid holidays and a reduction in working hours, all of which will not fix the broken chair, ensure that new personnel are in future properly introduced, trained and managed nor help management identify areas of inefficiency.

Organisations have a habit of pigeon holing people, physically through offices, cubicles or workstations and also in terms of responsibility. With effective and strong management to support this structure it can be productive, but as an organisation grows, and weak or inappropriate management infiltrates the management chain, it is perhaps inevitable that cracks will begin to appear.

Looking at an organization from the top down all the corporate garden can appear to be in full bloom as middle management either disguise or are just unaware of festering problems.

Experience shows us that relying on a limited number of indicators gives a skewed perspective just like a person with only one eye has difficulty judging distance. Good management will therefore establish procedures that sample the mood throughout the organisation from different perspectives providing a rounded picture.

The benefits of establishing good, frequent and extensive communication channels are both direct and indirect.

A senior management team that is known to have their ear to the ground will command great respect and will keep middle managers from becoming complacent knowing that they can no longer dismiss the senior managers searching “How is everything going?” question with a non-committal “Fine”; It is my experience that if someone replies with “fine” you need to dig deeper and ask if they really know what is going on.

Most principals of organisation will not have the luxury of spending time walking the floor and discussing the issues of individuals but through online employee surveys they can achieve the same benefits.

Online surveys provide an ideal method to establish effective communications between the employee and employer. Using a survey hosting service they can now be created and published with ease and speed.

Surveys can be deployed in seconds by utilising the Internet and intranet, they can be completed easily by employees and the results analyzed in real-time exposing the ‘problems’ and giving early warning towards common themes of dissatisfaction.

With their ability to get to the heart of an organization online employee satisfaction surveys can confirm that all is well in the engine room and that there is sufficient fuel to keep it running.

The benefits that online surveys bring are considerable, not only are the real issues identified, but employees feel that their voices are being heard and that their views, right or wrong, have a forum.

Online surveys will not in themselves resolve a problem but what they will do is give senior management the opportunity to address the problems and concerns of their employees, if people then leave the organisation they will at least hopefully be doing it for the right and not wrong reasons.

The grass may always appear greener on the other side but the drivers that cause good people to leave a company is rarely just a monetary concern (although this can often cited as the reason) but more often to do with one or more of the following:-

• the working environment;
• a lack of fulfilment;
• limited training and feedback;
• lack of career growth;
• over work;
• lack of trust and respect with the senior management.

Good communication between the employer and employee can help identify the individual and common concerns of the employees and will give the senior management team the opportunity to address root problems and not just the symptoms of employee dissatisfaction, enabling them to demonstrate to their employees that they are valued as an important resource.

Employee surveys need to be customised so they are relevant for each individual organisation. To get an idea as to how effective online surveys can be try completing the sample employee satisfaction survey, then view the results of the satisfaction survey and just think of the benefits to management being able to measure so easily the heart beat of the organization.

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The relative value of printer cartridges is enough to send an economist back to school. Many years ago Consumer’s Reports magazine gave up trying to figure out the real price of paper towels. They started their figuring based on price, number of sheets, whether or not it was a double roll, the thickness of each sheet (whether double or single), and if they had strengthening strands of fiber. Then, they tried the quality test (the “feel” test). In the end, Consumer’s Reports pretty much gave up. Individual preferences tended to rule the day, which may finally be how you choose printer cartridges.

Dye-based inks, like the ones used in most inkjets, begin to fade in a relatively short time – as little as a single year. Pigment-based inks, like the ones Kodak printers accept, last up to about 90 YEARS! Whereas Kodak machines print out borderless 4 x 6 prints in about 55 seconds, the comparable Hewlett-Packard only takes about 32 seconds to do the same job. However, the pigment-type inks do take a bit longer to dry than the dye-based ink.

Meanwhile, there is still the issue of page output, which is usually listed on the package documentation. Realize, of course, that the print density varies from page to page, so the output number is an estimate, at best. For some of us, we only print in black ink. Attorneys don’t do much in color, other than to copy pictures of exhibits. The issue with color printing boils down to waste. If your printer uses cartridges that are 3-in-1, you will be throwing away some cyan and magenta ink if the only one you need to replace is the yellow. Individual color cartridges mean you only replace what you’re out of – not all three at once. That will help keep costs in line.

If you’ve enjoyed all the exciting information you read hear about printer cartridges,you’ll love everything else you find at inkcarts.com

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When you face the reality that commerce revolves around output from printers, fax machines, and copiers, the printer ink those machines use takes on a new importance. The reality is that, while you may select a printer that is modestly priced, you could easily spend hundreds, even thousands of dollars on ink throughout the life of the machine.

To make the most of your investment, do the research and choose a printer that can offer some sort of a price break on more than just the machine. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) want you to choose their ink – ink in their original cartridges. The mindset is understandable. Once brand name loyalty is established, your part of their income stream is secure . . . maybe.

Almost as soon as the original cartridges were manufactured, some very bright people figured out that, just like aftermarket replacement parts could be made for cars, the same could be true of printer inks. The same caliber of folks figured out that inkjet printers have cartridges that could be refilled a few times before they had to be replaced. And so the remanufactured and bulk ink industry was born.

The enterprise is not without its challenges. To make the refilling and remanufacturing work, standards must be met. All printing and copying machines, as well as the reader-sorter machines, operate within narrow parameters. If inks are not of the proper viscosity and imprint at the proper temperature, production and processing come to a screeching halt. The answer is to find out what your machine(s) require and be certain that the printer ink you order meets the proper criteria. Also, check to be sure using remanufactured cartridges or bulk refill ink will not void the manufacturer’s warranty.

If you’ve enjoyed all the exciting information you read hear about printer ink,you’ll love everything else you find at inkcarts.com

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High quality ink cartridges are at the heart of a high quality product. The efficient operation of any business or institution depends on a reliable supply of the materials required to deliver on promises. When thinking about your source for ink cartridges, start by considering the kind of end product your conscious dictates. If it’s OK to put out inconsistent copies, low resolution or inaccurate colors, that’s one thing. If, however, the game you want to play is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence, you have some choices to make.

Start by investing in the best equipment your bank account can handle. Look for machines that are known for longevity and reliability. In today’s market, some wonderful, feature-packed scanner/copier/printer/fax machines can be had for around $100. For permanent, color-rich output, the price is higher. Expect to pay a bit more for ink cartridges, too. There are, however, some hedges you might want to investigate.

Many of today’s printers use ink cartridges NOT made by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). Highly compatible cartridges are made to virtually the same specifications as the OEM’s and can be used with a remarkable degree of confidence.

Another option is to use bulk ink to refill original cartridges. To this, you must be absolutely certain that the ink has the same temperature parameters as the original. If the refill ink does not operate at exactly the proper temperature, clogged ports will surely result. At today’s rates (bench rates charged to open up a printer and take a look are in the $50 - $75 range), it is often cheaper to buy a new printer than to repair the old one.

The last option is to use a remanufactured cartridge. The hard parts are virtually the same and they have been charged with new ink that meets the OEM’s stringent specifications. They are a good, moneysaving choice.

If you’ve enjoyed all the exciting information you read hear about ink cartridges,you’ll love everything else you find at inkcarts.com

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Laser MICR toner cartridges have to carry a heavy load. In the present market, high speed check printing and processing can make or break a business, a hospital, a school or university. Furthermore, the demands for confidentiality, as well as speed, are defining technology in terms of productivity. Not only do some industries require laser MICR toner, they must even use tamper-resistant paper for specific applications. Medicare and Medicaid prescriptions must now be printed on such papers.

To no one’s surprise, governmental standards and regulations tended to drive developments in the private sector. However, in the case of high speed data processing, the American Bankers Association (ABA) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) keep a weather eye out for improvements in the field. It was this increased demand for high speed processing that prompted United States banks, machine manufacturers and check processors to hunt for ways to meet the growing need.

The resulting E-13B system uses specially shaped characters found in the specifications available through ANSI. MICR line placement and actual components of the lies, as well as routing and other account information appear at the bottom of checks. The Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) laser toner lays down abrasive-resistant codes that make high speed processing, demanded by both government and private sector applications, possible.

The rigors of high speed, high volume processing make it critical for laser MICR toner to perform at the highest level. Substandard ink and clogged equipment lead to breakdowns and mistakes. There is virtually no room for the kind of errors a lesser quality product yields. The real answer is to use the best possible equipment and materials to get the best end product.

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