If your job has meant you’ve had to work from home for the past year due to the pandemic, then you’ll be all too familiar with zoom calls, balancing home schooling and trying to find the best area to work from. There’s no denying that at times, it’s hard to maintain a good level of productivity when working from home, as you lack the social aspect of office life and there are more distractions around you.

For obvious reasons, the past year has been extremely difficult and we’ll have all faced periods where it’s hard to keep motivated. During these times it’s important that business leaders put the correct plans in place to ensure they have a productive workforce, and there are many ways in which this can be done.

FLG have launched a campaign which looks to provide business leaders with a range of ways in which they can boost productivity amongst their employees. After reading through their tips, we found them very helpful and because of this, we wanted to share some of them with you.

Provide the correct tools and equipment

There’s nothing more frustrating than when you have a lot of work to complete, but your laptop keeps freezing or you’re using software which is outdated. As a business leader, it should be a top priority to provide all of your workforce with high quality equipment and advise them on the best programs and software to use.

With many people still working from home and the possibility that this will be a new way of life going forward, it’s important that you still encourage your workforce to communicate, even if they’re not sitting next to each other. Software such as Zoom, Google Meet and Slack have all been hugely successful over the past year in terms of allowing colleagues to communicate effectively.

Be open to flexible working

If one thing has become clear over the past year, it’s that the typical 9-5 day doesn’t always mean maximum productivity. As many parents have had to balance their own work whilst helping to home school their children, it has meant that business leaders have had to be more flexible.

Knowing that you can be flexible with your hours can often increase productivity and lower stress levels, so it’s important business leaders take a more open-minded approach going forward. It’s unlikely that the standard 9-5 office hours will be brought into practice again, so make sure your employees are aware of this and help take some of the strain off of them.

In this post we wanted to highlight how simple it is for business leaders to promote high levels of productivity amongst their employees. Simple changes can go a long way and it’s important all businesses take note of this.

It would be great to hear if you have made any changes to the way your company works and if it has made your employees feel more productive. Share your ideas on social, using #AProductiveWorkforce.

Everyone knows the feeling of dreading their day job. Whether you’re bored of doing the same old tasks and want a new challenge, you are not getting along with your coworkers, or you need to change jobs because of relocating to a new town, you want to make sure you select a company that has a lot going for it.

But how do you find a great place to work? When we are all looking for something different, are there some standard practices we should be looking out for? What even makes a company an excellent choice? Read on to discover some of the things that you should think about when finding a great place to work.

Experience

We are not only suggesting you match your experience to the company – we think you should look into other employees’ experiences. Nowadays, it is relatively easy to find out what other employees have experienced at the company you are applying for. While online reviews should be taken with a pinch of salt, if the same issues keep being flagged up, they are worth considering. Similarly, if employees have an overwhelmingly positive experience of an aspect of the company, that is a big plus!

Flexibility

In the past 12 months, companies have had to be more flexible than ever in how their employees work, what hours they work, and from where. However, it is important to ensure that this flexibility extends outside of times of crisis. Working for a company that trusts you to get your job done without micromanaging your every move is invaluable. Asking questions about this at an interview is a fantastic way to get some insight into the company practices and culture.

Communication

The level of communication within a company should be apparent from your application onwards. If the company is not getting back to you within a specific time frame they have laid out, then this doesn’t bode well for their communication in other areas. If, however, they are transparent about their processes throughout your application and interview, it is a great indicator of things to come. Make sure that you are equally open in your communication to create a positive professional relationship right away.

Benefits

It might sound unbelievable, but not all companies have the same benefits. It is worth checking out what kind of package your potential company offers before you make any concrete decisions about taking a job. A great range of employee benefits (such as the employee benefits solutions offered by Zest) and schemes, promoting a strong company culture and showing gratitude to loyal staff, reveals a company that values its employees. This is much more likely to lead to staff who stay longer, become experienced, and provide you with much-needed support as you learn the ropes.

Have you ever dreamed of designing trending clothes, if yes then you have come to the right place. Having a good fashion sense is good, but to turn your passion into a career option you have to do something more. Same as other things, to master the art of fashion designing you have to practice it again and again. But with the best guidance and some secret tips, you can do it better and faster than the others. 

The fashion industry is expanding day by day and with it, the opportunities to being a fashion designer are also increasing. However, to be a fashion designer you have to do a bit of hard work and smart work together.

5 Tips to Master the Art of Fashion Deigning

A fashion designing career requires not only good expertise but also determination, focus, and curiosity. So here are some tips that you can follow to being a professional in fashion designing.

• Degree or certification: Day by day fashion designing is getting a high competition field, and certification is the best tool to prove you anywhere. Now companies are hiring their fashion designer either according to their education in fashion designing or experience. So to be the best among all the first thing you can do is to get all information about fashion designing.
• Never stop learning: Learning should be never stopped even when you get done with your studies. Stay at top of the knowledge game by continuing new things. Keep sharpening your skills with some new ones and stay cursive about other things.
• Learn Different Sewing Skills: If you know different types of sewing then you can easily turn your imaginations into reality to present them to others. By doing this you can easily get the true analysis of your designing clothes. You can use cheap sewing machines in starting like you can buy any cheap sewing machine for quilting, and for embroidering for practice.
• Stay Up To Date with Trends: In this new generation, trends keep changing but you have to be ahead of them as they shift constantly. Getting updated with new trends can give you the best ideas about what people really like and want currently. If you will able to keep an eye on the trends then it can be a table-turning point for your designs.
• Make a Portfolio: To get a job in the fashion industry you need to be able to prove yourself first. For a fashion designer, the best thing that can represent you is your fashion designing portfolio.

How can I be successful in fashion?

In order to get successful in fashion designing, you should know some main things first. As we already mentioned that now it is getting a highly competitive field. If you want to be a part of it you should be the best according to the needs of the company and new trends.

• Try to being on the front always: If you have something new and unique better than the others then never stop yourself to let people know. Don’t be afraid to stand out for your items and designs that can be a masterpiece for anyone.
• Good relationships: Some internships and apprenticeships can be all those coffee runs and photocopying services. It compels many newbies to leave this field as their future career. But if you survive, then it can be so good for new opportunities. With a good internship, you can get a good start in the fashion industry.
• Be open to advice and discussions: You can never grow if you always try to keep your designs to yourself. Share your work, portfolios, and designs with professors, instructors, and friends to get some improvement tips. It is hard to take criticism on something you have put in your hard work, but with that feedback try to overcome your weaknesses and mistakes.

Can I become a fashion designer if I can’t draw or sew?

Yes, you can become a good fashion designer without knowing fashion designing drawing,or sewing. The solution to this problem is different fashion design software. You can make professional-looking designs and sketches even if you can’t draw or sew properly. In fact, most clothing companies and famous fashion designers are used to make their designs with fashion design software. Due to this upgrading digitalization, most of the manufacturers demand to get their designs in clean digital format over hand-made drawings.

How to design clothes that sell easily?

In order to sell your designed clothes easily, you can do different things. First of all target your market in which you want to sell your designed clothes. Don’t design first and look for the customers, instead of it first look at the customers need and taste and then start designing. Choose your clothing line type and then start designing. Pick one category from dresses, pants, or skirts to do it in a good way.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that customers are the lifeblood of a business. Without a steady stream of paying customers coming through your company’s doors either literally or metaphorically, you can’t expect your business to survive for long.

However, when someone buys from your company, this should mark the start, not the end, of your relationship with that customer. Retaining an existing customer is six to seven times cheaper than acquiring a new one, marketing guru Neil Patel reveals. So, how can you strengthen your relationships with customers?

Have two-way conversations with your customers

While you should naturally keep in touch with your customers, you should be wary of simply treating this as an opportunity to tell them what your business is about. You should also take time to listen to what your customers have to say, including about their pain points – as your business could help to resolve them.

Ultimately, you should aim to proactively act on your customers’ wants rather than wait until they contact you first through one of your customer service channels.

Regularly beat your customers’ expectations

In the long run, it’d be better for your company to under-promise and over-deliver rather than, well, over-promise and under-deliver. You could exceed expectations through, for example, delivering a customer an item sooner than they would think from the delivery estimate you have given them.

For when a customer phones your support hotline, a telecoms firm like Voco could, on your request, put in place call routing menus for that customer to use to more easily find information they need from you.

Be authentic and transparent

Authenticity is about showing your brand’s unique voice without descending into dull, “salesy” language, while transparency is about being ethical and trustworthy.

That means being open and honest about when your company falters and lets its customers down. Your customers will appreciate you showing this kind of transparency, as it is not always too common in the business world and so your own business will stand out for an especially refreshing reason.

Invite each customer to leave feedback

They could do that through filling in and submitting, say, a comment card you leave out on your business counter or a survey you send them online or in the post. Even just that small gesture of inviting feedback from customers would signal to them that their thoughts are important to you.

Whether the customer gives you a compliment or complaint, you should respond quickly, such as by thanking the customer and, if the feedback is negative, addressing the problem.

Show your customers you appreciate them

In an article for Entrepreneur, serial entrepreneur Mike Kappel suggests that you could do this by introducing a loyalty discount program. You could make this work by handing out reward cards or using a loyalty program app to keep track of customer rewards.

A loyalty scheme would let customers earn points when buying from your business and then convert those points into a reward, like money off their next purchase from you.