A Winner has been chosen for “A show about anthem lights Giveaway for the USA residents only”

Thank you for your positive feedback

Thank you for all your comments, except for spam, which totaled at least 500 replies for both combined. I had to sieve the grain from the chaff and it was no easy feat. The winner’s name and email had been submitted to my sponsor for the Pureflix Giveaway. For more details, check out https://bizinfo123.com/a-show-about-anthem-lights-part-2-episode-17-giveaway-for-the-us-residents-only/.

In case you did not win this round of Giveaway, there will be more in the future. So, stay tuned. By the way, I also listed just a few of the comments that are relevant than to reply to hundreds individually. This will not be productive for my precious time to engage with you people one-by-one. I wish I could have allocated the time.

I really appreciate the tremendous response from you, my readers, and thank you for returning to this blog for more information and giveaways in the future.

 

Thank you for your comments

Here’s a lovely banner to show my appreciation. It is 1:25 am here and I have to call it a night (or dawn). Take care, stay safe and stay healthy.

What is Furlough?

What is ‘furlough’?

The new work vocabulary

What we know about “furlough”

In exceptional times, we need to take exceptional measures. The economy is taking a massive hit due to the impact of the coronavirus COVID-19. How this is impacting work, especially those running a small business or start-up, with paid employees is a changing situation.

Here’s what we know about Furlough* and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

Even though the full policy hasn’t been published, we are already working with businesses who are looking to furlough staff. This is so they can access a grant to cover wages and avoid redundancies, lay-offs and other measures to reduce costs during this period of uncertainty.

According to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak’s statement on 23rd March 2020:

  • If furloughed, members of staff cannot work for the employer during the period of furlough.

  • Furlough is available from 1st March 2020, so can be backdated, for at least 3 months. It will be extended if necessary.

  • It is available to employees on the payroll at 28th February 2020.

  •  All UK businesses are eligible.

  •  The scheme pays a grant and not a loan to the employer.

  •  The grant will be paid to the employer through a new online system, which is currently being built.

  •  The employer will pay the employee through payroll, using the Real Time Information (RTI) system as usual.

  • The Scheme will be administered by HMRC:

    o  Relevant employees must be designated as furloughed employees.

o  Employers will submit information to HMRC through a new online portal.

o  As this will take time to build, businesses might also want to look to the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme to help them cover the costs or try to delay the payment to the employee until the grant is received.

  • A maximum grant will be calculated per employee and is the lower of:

o  80% of ‘wages’ (includes employers’ NIC and pension contributions), this is determined by reference to a defined period (yet to be announced).

o  To a maximum of £2,500 per month.

There are still lots of things we don’t currently know, including:

  • Can you furlough employees part-time?

  • Can you have a break in the furlough? E.g. If you need an employee back for a short period, can you furlough them again?

  • Is furlough available for employees who have already been made redundant?

  • Is it available to employees who have needed to take leave, e.g. to take care of children as a result of the closure of schools and nurseries?

Like everyone, we are eagerly awaiting the full details to be published and will update everyone when we have more information. Until then, if you need help understanding how to furlough staff, please get in touch and we can share a template letter (free of charge).

Now, more than ever, let’s keep HR human. 

*Furlough is a leave of absence; it’s not a lay-off as it’s designed to be a temporary measure, with workers hopefully returning to work after a period of time.

CEO Says This Is Worth “35 Amazons”

AI Face

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos stunned investors recently when he revealed that one emerging technology is the key to Amazon’s future success….

In fact, Bezos argues that “it’s hard to overstate the impact” of this “powerful trend.”

The CEO of ARK Investments takes Bezos statement one-step further: “We think [it] could approach $17 trillion in market cap — which would be more than 35 Amazons.”

WHAT in the world could be worth “35 Amazons”?

The answer is a radical breakthrough that Wired says is “the rocket fuel of the AI boom.”

And they’re not alone in seeing it that way…

• A Shark Tank billionaire says it will create the world’s first trillionaire
• Baidu CEO Robin Li pivoted his entire company — which includes his $7 billion stake — to take advantage of it
• Even superinvestor Warren Buffett says that it will have a “hugely beneficial social effect”

When so many successful people are all saying the same thing, it usually pays to listen.

Which is why this giant leap forward has Bay Street insiders seeing dollar signs.

And if you’re an investor, I haven’t even told you the best part…

Because one remarkable Canadian company is absolutely dominating this exploding market.

This TSX-listed company is only about 1% the size of Amazon, yet it’s already begun introducing this groundbreaking technology to the market.

So with everything I’m hearing coming out of Silicon Valley and Bay Street…

I don’t feel like I’m very far out on a limb with this “bold” prediction:

Five years from now, you’ll probably wish you’d bought this TSX stock.

And the good news is that you can find out all about this company and this incredible technology today.

Because I’ve laid out the full story on this “powerful trend” in an exclusive report.

And you’re going to want to see this report before you invest $1 on any tech company.

Because inside you’ll discover why some mega-rich investors are rushing to cash-in on this tech trend.

And how one TSX stock could be your best bet to profit from this incredible tech revolution…

But if you want to get in on this opportunity, I encourage you to act quickly.

Because the story of the coming boom is already starting to leak out, and this trend looks ready to take off.

National Nurses Week 2020: Free food deals

Nurses Week 2020

Picture Credits: Pixabay

National Nurses Week begins Wednesday, May 6 and what better way to celebrate than with free food deals? Each year, restaurants around the country offer nurses of all kinds free or discounted meals and treats through the end of Nurses Week on May 12. Now amid the corona virus pandemic, nurses are working even harder to provide care.

Below are some of the eateries providing sweet treats, meals or a cup of Joe to hardworking nurses in Georgia.

Chipotle is providing free burritos to health care workers beginning on Nurses Day May 6 following their 4HEROS campaign. The burritos are provided if workers signup here for a chance to receive them.

Cinnabon traditionally offers a free cinnamon roll at participating bakeries to nurses. The company partners with the DAISY Foundation, which recognizes “the exceptional work that nurses do for patients and families every day.”

Dunkin’ is giving health care workers a free doughnut and medium hot or iced coffee on National Nurses Day, Wednesday, May 6.

Home Chef is offering an exclusive discount to nurses, doctors, hospital employees, first responders and teachers who verify with ID.me at checkout.

Little Caesar’s Pizza has donated one million pizzas to health care workers and first respondents throughout the country. Though the #PieItForward campaign customers can also donate pizza to local hospitals, police and fire departments when checking out. By doing so, customers have already donated an additional 125,000 pizzas.

McDonald’s began offering Thank You meals in April to first respondents and medical professionals who show proof of employment. Nurses are included in this and they can choose from breakfast, lunch or dinner options.

Mrs. Fields is offering 25% off the Heroes Collection so people can thank front line workers — including nurses. A bundle can be sent to doctors’ offices or local hospitals.

» RELATED: Celebrating Nurses 2020: Here are the winners of the ajcjobs Nursing Excellence Awards

Outback Steakhouse offers 10% off all day, every day to nurses, doctors and other medical staff as well as military veterans and first respondents. A valid medical, state or federal service ID is required.

Snickers is giving essential workers an e-gift card for a free Snickers bar that can be redeemed at Walmart. For every bar sent, Snickers will also donate to first respondents through Operation Gratitude.

Starbucks is offering front-line health care workers and first respondents a free tall brewed coffee — hot or iced — through the end of May. 🍿🥯🥠🌮🥗🥞🍟

By Kiersten Willis, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Power of Faith is Infinite – In this Ramadhan Season

This video is pertinent for Ramadhan and those of other faiths, especially since we lament over the lock-down at home during Covid-19 pandemic. It shows a dearly departed disabled boy using 1 finger to type on his phone and being an author of 3 published books while being bed-ridden for many years. It is heartwarming to see this video for those of us who are confused why this pandemic happens.

For those who are disabled, do not laugh nor look down on them; they are also God’s creation. Never look down on the poor, the suffering, and marginalized. You never know who these people are and some could be Angels in disguise. Help them as much as we could afford in monetary terms or in labor.

[abc]

We are all fellow human beings who have a right to live here on planet Earth till our Maker calls us home. The disabled are also our brethren. See how this young fella, named Irfan, who never lost his enthusiasm, despite being lock-down or bedridden for umpteenth years. So, what kept him going? It was his infinite power of faith in the Almighty God. Well, Irfan has published 3 books by just typing with one finger that sold thousands of copies. This is a story of determination, grit, and the will to continue being productive despite his disabilities. Well, sad to say, Irfan is no longer with us – He has passed on – but left a legacy of displaying that the power of Faith is Infinite.

May his soul rest in peace and be in a better place where there are no disabilities, sufferings, sadness, sickness, aging, diseases like the current pandemic of Covid-19 and such. So, my fellow readers, I hope you get inspired by reading and watching this short video with a narrative by another person. Stay safe at home and stay cool.

[abc]

Google Doodle series will thank coronavirus helpers over the next two weeks

Google Doodle series will thank coronavirus helpers over the next two weeks

Last week, Google released a simple and moving ad thanking healthcare workers around the world for combating COVID-19. The company is now continuing that praise by saying thank you to all coronavirus helpers with a series of Google Doodles over the next two weeks.

This week, we’re beginning a series of Doodles to recognize the many people responding to COVID-19 — from doctors and nurses caring for people on the front lines, to teachers and food service workers ensuring essential goods and services are still available

This Google Doodles series — usually reserved for multi-week sporting events like the Olympics and World Cup — coincides with National Public Health Week in the US.

The first thanks public health workers and researchers in the scientific community. Given that there will be several Doodles in this series, Google is using the same basic format where the “G” sends heart/thanks/appreciation/respect to a themed “e” at the end.

Monday’s features graphs depicting curves, while the one tomorrow sees the last letter dressed in scrubs. The Search homepage at the bottom notes who Google is recognizing that day.

[abc]

Google Doodles: Thank you coronavirus helpers

  • April 6: Public health workers and to researchers in the scientific community

  • April 7: Doctors, nurses, and medical workers

  • April 8: Emergency services workers

  • April 9: Custodial and sanitation workers

  • April 10: Farmworkers and farmers

  • April 13: Grocery workers

  • April 14: Public transportation workers

[abc]

Other coronavirus helpers that will see a thank you include:

Over the next two weeks, our Doodles will honor other essential frontline workers, including healthcare workers, first responders, and the many people keeping services like sanitation, food service, public transit, schools, and more up and running. Thank you to all the people who are working to save lives and keep communities safe during this pandemic

Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, Google has leveraged its platforms to provide information and link to health resources.

[abc]

The boss who put everyone on 70K

The boss who put staffs on 70k

In 2015, the boss of a card payments company in Seattle introduced a $70,000 minimum salary for all of his 120 staff – and personally took a pay cut of $1m. Five years later he’s still on the minimum salary and says the gamble has paid off.

Dan Price was hiking with his friend Valerie in the Cascade mountains that loom majestically over Seattle when he had an uncomfortable revelation.

As they walked, she told him that her life was in chaos, that her landlord had put her monthly rent up by $200 and she was struggling to pay her bills.

It made Price angry. Valerie, who he had once dated, had served for 11 years in the military, doing two tours in Iraq, and was now working 50 hours a week in two jobs to make ends meet.

“She is somebody for whom service, honor and hard work just defines who she is as a person,” he says.

Even though she was earning around $40,000 a year, in Seattle that wasn’t enough to afford a decent home. He was angry that the world had become such an unequal place. And suddenly it struck him that he was part of the problem.

At 31, Price was a millionaire. His company, Gravity Payments, which he set up in his teens, had about 2,000 customers and an estimated worth of millions of dollars. Though he was earning $1.1m a year, Valerie brought home to him that a lot of his staff must be struggling – and he decided to change that.

Raised in deeply Christian, rural Idaho, Dan Price is upbeat and positive, generous in his praise of others and impeccably polite, but he has become a crusader against inequality in the US.

“People are starving or being laid off or being taken advantage of so that somebody can have a penthouse at the top of a tower in New York with gold chairs.

“We’re glorifying greed all the time as a society, in our culture. And, you know, the Forbes list is the worst example – ‘Bill Gates has passed Jeff Bezos as the richest man.’ Who cares!?”

Before 1995 the poorest half of the population of the United States earned a greater share of national wealth than the richest 1%, he points out. But that year the tables turned – the top 1% earned more than the bottom 50%. And the gap is continuing to widen.

In 1965, CEOs in the US earned 20 times more than the average worker but by 2015 it had risen to 300 times (in the UK, the bosses of FTSE 100 companies now earn 117 times the salary of their average worker).

Breathing in the crisp mountain air as he hiked with Valerie, Price had an idea. He had read a study by the Nobel prize-winning economists Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton, looking at how much money an American needs to be happy. He immediately promised Valerie he would significantly raise the minimum salary at Gravity.

After crunching the numbers, he arrived at the figure of $70,000. He realized that he would not only have to slash his salary but also mortgage his two houses and give up his stocks and savings. He gathered his staff together and gave them the news.

He’d expected scenes of celebration, but at first, the announcement floated down upon the room in something of an anti-climax, Price says. He had to repeat himself before the enormity of what was happening landed.

Five years later, Dan laughs about the fact that he missed a key point in the Princeton professors’ research. The amount they estimated people need to be happy was $75,000.

Still, a third of those working at the company would have their salaries doubled immediately.

Since then, Gravity has transformed.

The headcount has doubled and the value of payments that the company processes have gone from $3.8bn a year to $10.2bn.

But there are other metrics that Price is more proud of.

“Before the $70,000 minimum wage, we were having between zero and two babies born per year amongst the team,” he says.

“And since the announcement – and it’s been only about four-and-a-half years – we’ve had more than 40 babies.”

More than 10% of the company has been able to buy their own home, in one of the US’s most expensive cities for renters. Before the figure was less than 1%.

“There was a little bit of concern amongst pontificators out there that people would squander any gains that they would have. And we’ve really seen the opposite,” Price says.

The amount of money that employees are voluntarily putting into their own pension funds has more than doubled and 70% of employees say they’ve paid off the debt.

But Price did get a lot of flak. Along with hundreds of letters of support, and magazine covers labeling him “America’s best boss”, many of Gravity’s own customers wrote handwritten letters objecting to what they saw as a political statement.

At the time, Seattle was debating an increase to the minimum wage to $15, making it the highest in the US at the time. Small business owners were fighting it, claiming they would go out of business.

The right-wing radio pundit, Rush Limbaugh, whom Price had listened to every day in his childhood, called him a communist.

“I hope this company is a case study in MBA programs on how socialism does not work because it’s going to fail,” he said.

Two senior Gravity employees also resigned in protest. They weren’t happy that the salaries of junior staff had jumped overnight and argued that it would make them lazy, and the company uncompetitive.

This hasn’t happened.

Rosita Barlow, director of sales at Gravity, says that since salaries were raised junior colleagues have been pulling more weight.

“When money is not at the forefront of your mind when you’re doing your job, it allows you to be more passionate about what motivates you,” she says.

Senior staffs have found their workload reduced. They’re under less pressure and can do things like taking all of the holiday leave to which they are entitled.

Price tells the story about one staff member who works in Gravity’s call centre.

“He was commuting over an hour and a half a day,” he says. “He was worried that during his commute he was going to blow out a tyre and not have enough money to fix that tyre. He was stressing about it every day.”

When his salary was raised to $70,000 this man moved closer to the office, now he spends more money on his health, he exercises every day and eats more healthily.

“We had another gentleman on a similar team and he literally lost more than 50lb (22kg),” he says. Others report spending more time with their families or helping their parents pay off debt.

“We saw, every day, the effects of giving somebody freedom,” Price says.

He thinks it is why Gravity is making more money than ever.

Raising salaries didn’t change people’s motivation – he says staff was already motivated to work hard – but it increased what he calls their capability.

“You’re not thinking I have to go to work because I have to make money,” Rosita Barlow agrees. “Now it’s become focused on ‘How do I do good work?'”

Barlow has been with Gravity since the early days and knows that Price wasn’t always so generous.

He acknowledges himself that there was a time in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis when he was obsessed with saving money.

The downturn in the US economy decimated Gravity’s customer base and its income fell by 20%. Business logic would have dictated letting go about 12 of the company’s 35 staff, but instead Price focused on cutting costs.

After five tense months, the company started turning a profit again, but Price was profoundly spooked, and kept salaries low.

At this time Rosita Barlow was experiencing her own financial problems, and secretly working at McDonald’s outside work hours. When McDonald’s offered her a promotion, she accidentally left a training manual on her desk at Gravity, and someone spotted it.

Her bosses called her in for a meeting.

“They sat me down and my immediate reaction was to cry,” Barlow says. She thought she was being fired.

Instead, they told her to figure out how much money she’d need to stay on at the company and they raised her salary to $40,000.

“I was very impressed and proud of her and mad at myself,” Price says.

It took him a few more years to grasp the scale of the problem among his staff.

“Most were too intimidated to come to me and tell me how a lack of pay was hurting them,” he says.

Before 2015, he had already begun giving employees 20% annual pay rises. But it was his conversation with Valerie that convinced him to go further.

Price had hoped that Gravity’s example would lead to far-reaching changes in US business. He’s deeply disappointed and sad that this hasn’t happened.

Some did follow suit, PharmaLogics in Boston raised their minimum salary to $50,000, and Rented.com in Atlanta raised theirs too. He believes that, by means of online lobbying, he also influenced Amazon’s decisions to raise their minimum wage.

But he had hoped for widespread, structural change.

“Boy, was I wrong,” he says. “I’ve really failed in that regard. And it’s changed my perspective on things because I really believed that through the actions that I did and that other people could do, that we could turn the tide on runaway income inequality.”

The change has had a profound effect on Price and his lifestyle.

Before taking a pay cut, Price was the cliché of a young white tech millionaire. He lived in a beautiful house overlooking Seattle’s Puget Sound, he drank champagne inexpensive restaurants.

Afterward, he rented his house out on Airbnb to help stay afloat.

A group of employees became sick of watching him turn up at work in a 12-year-old Audi and secretly clubbed together to buy him a Tesla.

The film the company posted on YouTube follows one of the groups, Alyssa O’Neal, as she schemes with her colleagues to surprise him with the car.

“I feel like this is the ultimate way to say thank you for all the sacrifices he’s made and any of the negative stuff he’s had to deal with,” she says.

Price then walks out of the office into the car park, sees the car, and starts crying.

Five years later, Price is still on Gravity’s minimum salary. He says he’s more fulfilled than he ever was when he was earning millions though it’s not all easy.

“There are tests every day,” he says.

“I’m the same age as Mark Zuckerberg and I have dark moments where I think, ‘I want to be just as rich as Mark Zuckerberg and I want to compete with him to be on the Forbes list. And I want to be on the cover of Time magazine, making lots of money.’ All these greedy things are tempting.”

“It’s not like it’s easy to just turn down. But my life is so much better.”

Home Staging for Success

Inforgraphic - Staged for Success

For the uninitiated, Home Staging is the act of preparing a private residence for sale in the real estate marketplace. The goal of staging is to make a home appealing to the highest number of potential buyers, thereby selling a property more swiftly and for more money.

Highlights

  • Seventy-seven percent of buyers’ agents said staging a home made it easier for a buyer to visualize the property as a future home.
  • Staging the living room for buyers was found to be most important (55 percent), followed by staging the master bedroom (51 percent), and staging the kitchen (41 percent).
  • Thirty-eight percent of sellers’ agents said they stage all sellers’ homes prior to listing them for sale.
  • The most common rooms that are staged include the living room (83 percent), kitchen (76 percent), master bedroom (69 percent), and the dining room (66 percent).

Home Staging

Home staging includes beautifying the house like adding a small vase of pretty faux flowers in the living room or side tables of all the bedrooms to liven up the ambience. This will attract the cash-rich buyer’s attention and cause him or her to make a purchase on the spot before anyone else gets hold of the unit.

Executive Summary

Profile of Home Staging

Buyers’ Agent Perspective:

  • Forty-nine percent of buyers’ agents cited that homes staging had an effect on most buyer’s view of the home.
  • Seventy-seven percent of buyers’ agents said staging a home made it easier for a buyer to visualize the property as a future home.
  • Staging the living room for buyers was found to be most important (55 percent), followed by staging the master bedroom (51 percent), and staging the kitchen (41 percent).
  • About one-third of buyer’s agents said that staging a home increased the dollar value offered between one and five percent compared to other similar homes on the market that are not staged.