Feedback Tips

Posted on by Orla Fitzpatrick
feedback

Giving feedback on an employee’s performance is an essential part of helping them be all that they can be in your capitalist regime. Giving a quick review now and again on what they’re doing right and what they’re doing not-so-right can really help for all parties involved; they get a pat on the back and an incentive to work harder and you get to criticise someone mercilessly. Fun!

However giving feedback can also be tricky. You need to know how to strike a balance between firm and fair; too firm and you won’t have any employees left but too fair and no one will get anything done. Ultimately if you or your employee are leaving the feedback session without knowing exactly what improvements need to be made and how, then you need to work on your technique to better communicate what needs to be done. A poorly handled feedback session will just leave everyone confused and productivity can be left in a worse shape than before. Luckily here’s a handy guide to not do that! Nice.

Courtesy of the Harvard Business Review 2015, reprinted in the Irish Times, here’s a nice and easy top five list of ways to improve your feedback giving skillz. So really everybody gets to improve, far out. Presented by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, the CEO of Hogan Assessment Systems, this guide will have you dishing out feedback like a certified pro.

Understanding Brand Colours

Posted on by Orla Fitzpatrick
brand colours

One of the most important factors in designing a successful logo is colour. It’s the first thing a consumer will notice and they will associate this reaction with your brand forever. You don’t want to mess it up.

Marketo have compiled this really lovely-looking infographic going through the ins and outs of brand colours and what kind of message a certain colour will send with plenty of neat facts and figures along the way. This infographic gives you the basics of everything you need to know about brand colours with plenty of practical examples and statistics from the world’s top brands themselves.

It is vital to get the right message across to your customer as quickly as possible and this guide is a wonderful starting point.

 

Survey: Irish employees report high stress

Posted on by Orla Fitzpatrick
stress survey

A new survey states that over 82 per cent of Irish employees are feeling increased personal stress over health and financial concerns, the Irish Times reports.

Red C conducted the survey of 502 Irish employees from around the country on behalf of Mercer. A similar survey conducted in the UK on over 1,000 participants shows that Irish employees are feeling greater stress. In the UK 74 per cent of participants reported increased personal stress, 8 per cent less than the Irish figure.

The study also revealed that over 59 per cent of Irish participants felt concern over maintaining a balance between a health lifestyle and their work schedule. 51 per cent expressed worry over savings for retirement and over 54 per cent displayed reported concern over their family’s wellbeing in the event of their own illness or death.

These high stress levels also seem to be impacting Irish employees’ performance in the work place. 44 per cent felt that stress and anxiety were causing their productivity rates to slip while 64 per cent reported low concentration levels. 59 per cent of those surveyed reported dissatisfaction with their jobs.

“Irish employees are clearly suffering from the burden of increased stress and worry that is damaging their ability to concentrate and deliver the best results for their employer,” stated Niall O’Callaghan, a representative of of Mercer. “Across all life stages and ages, employees’ personal worries about health and financial security are having a dramatic effect on how they operate at work. If employees are worried, distracted, not as healthy as they could be, then they are not as engaged as they could be either.”

As an employer, it is vital to understand the stress employees could be under as a result of their job.

Hasbro Competition with Indiegogo

Posted on by Orla Fitzpatrick
hasbro competition

Hasbro, Inc., board game manufacture extraordinaires, have joined forces with Indiegogo to launch a new competition looking for the next big hit.

From 28th of August to 30th of September, plucky hopefuls will be able to submit their ideas for the next big board game. Hasbro professionals will then pick their top five finalists who will then go on to duke it out through the medium of Indiegogo campaigns. The ultimate victor will be decided on 3rd of December, winning a not too shabby $10,000 and an all-expense-paid trip to Hasbro HQ to work with the Hasbro team and make their game a reality.

Submissions will be judged based on gameplay, theme, potential for fun-ness, and viability. The goal is to come up with the next happenin’ party game to be played face-to-face with some sort of “physical component,” whatever that means. Whether your intended audience is college kids or actual kids or extended families looking for something to do at another boring reunion, anything goes.

Unfortunately the competition is only open to US residents. But maybe you’ve got an American cousin who you know has got the moxie for this kind of thing. Or you could hop on a plane yourself and apply for citizenship because this competition means that much to you. The sky’s the limit. Here’s the submission page anyway to whet your submission whistle.

Back-To-School Stationery Checklist

Posted on by Orla Fitzpatrick
back-to-school stationery

It’s officially September, which means all the back-to-school stationery is just ripe for the picking. Send your young’uns to school in style with pencil cases brimming with the essentials and nonessentials alike till they’ve got protactors falling out the sleeve holes. They will cherish their new swag always up to approximately the first week of school, after which they will slowly but surely start to lose each tool until they’re fumbling their way through the last few weeks with nothing but a chewed up pen they found in the hallway one time. And then it’ll be September again and you’ll be back to loading up the stationery once more, the cycle cycles on, The System Works.

Euroffice have compiled a nice and easy top ten list of all the tools your bundle(s) of joy will need to arm themselves with for the coming term. Divided into subjects, the list helpfully guides you through the necessities required in each academic field from Maths to Art to the Humanities. Retailers can check it out as well to see what kind of school merch parents will be on the lookout for.

Once you’ve got an idea of what to get, why not try moseying on down to our Stationery section and see what takes your fancy. And what, would you look at that, we’re currently having a sale on back-to-school/college merch, haha wild.

Top Brands in Ireland

Posted on by Orla Fitzpatrick
top brands

Checkout magazine have released their Checkout Top 100 Brands list for this year with Coca-Cola winning the top spot for the 11th year in a row.

Checkout compile their list “based on branded value sales across the Irish grocery sector“. Over 6,500 brands were taken into account but only 100 top brands could emerge victorious.

Irish brands prove to be popular among consumers, with Avonmore, Brennan’s and Tayto all securing spots in the top five. Other high-placing Irish brands include Jacob’s (9th), Club soft drinks (13th), Irish Pride (14th) and Dairygold (15th).

“It’s never been as competitive in the Irish grocery landscape, and Ireland’s biggest brands have risen to the challenge,” remarked Stephen Wynne-Jones, the editor of Checkout. “While Irish shoppers are largely creatures of habit, this year’s Top 100 indicates that consumers are willing to switch, provided their quality and value expectations are met.”

And here’s the Top 20 for all your Top 20 needs:

1. Coca-Cola
2. Avonmore Milk
3. Brennans
4. Cadbury Dairy Milk
5. Tayto
6. Lucozade
7. 7UP
8. Walkers
9. Jacobs
10. Extra
11. Yoplait
12. Pampers
13. Club
14. Irish Pride
15. Dairygold
16. Müller
17. Goodfella’s
18. Danone
19. Nescafé
20. Red Bull

Toys R Us to Launch in Ireland

Posted on by Orla Fitzpatrick
toys r us ireland

The massive American toy retailer Toys R Us have yet to set up shop in the Emerald Isle in their 65-odd-year span of being in business – until now. The toy chain have announced their plans to open ten stores across the Republic of Ireland over the next five years and have just secured their first two locations in Dublin and Limerick.

Toys R Us’ plans to open in Ireland come with the intention of overtaking Smyths, currently the biggest toy retailer in the country. Toys R Us already own four stores in Northern Ireland and while it is possible to order and deliver products from these locations online, the brand have yet to set up shop across the border.

It will be interesting to see how Toys R Us’ presence in the Republic will shake up current trends in the Irish toy market. The chain already boasts a sizable 1,500 stores worldwide in over 33 countries and evidently these numbers only continue to grow.

The first two Toys R Us stores will be located in the Westend Shopping Park, Blanchardstown, Dublin, and in the Parkway Retail Park, Limerick.

Easy Steps to Prevent Fraud

Posted on by Orla Fitzpatrick
prevent fraud

Companies are plagued every year by the damage caused by fraud. From business to not-for-profits to government institutions, organisations of every size are losing over 5% of their annual revenue due to fraud and unethical behaviour. It is becoming more and more pertinent for company owners to become familiar with both detecting and preventing fraud in their ranks. And here’s a handy blog post on how to do just that. Neat!

FraudEdge are dedicated to helping Irish organisations combat the dangers of fraud and their post on the Top 10 Fraud Prevention Steps is one of their most useful resources. Laid out in easy-to-read chunks, this list covers pretty much everything you need to know in being proactive in preventing fraud in your own business.