Have you ever been one of the first to turn up for a party where you don’t know many other people apart from the hosts? Once a drink has been thrust into your hand, you’re left to try and make stilted conversation as no-one ever knows quite when to speak or what to say – well conference calling can be a lot like that.
Author: <span>Les Roberts</span>
As of July 19, many of us will be returning to the workplace as work from home restrictions are lifted.
On the plus side, it means we can spend a little less time in the spare bedroom/office. On the down side, it’ll mean a return to the daily commute, office politics and an unnecessary amount of meetings.
As a preemptive measure, here’s how to stop wasting time in meetings.
So, you’ve set up your conference call, set the agenda and invited all the relevant people who have subsequently entered the details into the diaries so there’s no chance of anyone getting caught cold by the call.
Let’s not kid ourselves, Apple phone chargers are flimsy and expensive – I’ve not had one iPhone that doesn’t need a new charger after six months – but buying a fake to save a few pounds could prove costly.
More of us are working from home than ever before. But as we slowly start getting back to normal after the pandemic, many of us will be returning to offices up and down the country, even if only on a part-time basis.
The pandemic has also seen a lot of job losses. This has, in turn, seen a growing number of people starting their own business.If you’ve started up on your own, you’ll be conscious of the need to keep overheads low – and working from home can work out a lot cheaper than renting out office space.
And having employees is no reason to rent out separate office space, you can simply kit them out with a laptop and a smartphone and some other essential tools for remote working and they’ll be able to do their job just as well wherever they are.
If you need to collaborate on anything you could arrange to meet up at your home office, a coffee shop or conduct a meeting via conference call.
There comes a point, however, when you outgrow your home office – the trouble is though, you may not be aware or willing to accept you have.
So here are five telltale signs you’ve outgrown your home office…
The benefits of flexible working are well documented – not least in these pages – it gives employees more control over their working lives, allowing for a better work/life balance, something that is becoming increasingly important in the UK where almost two thirds of families rely on dual incomes.
It also helps to engender a reciprocated sense of trust between employers and employees and there’s also the beneficial effect on the working environment that shouldn’t be overlooked – a culture of flexible working culture is gaining traction with many UK employers.
This makes the decisions companies such as Yahoo and HP have made to restrict or even cut out flexible working completely seem regressive a possibly detrimental to staff morale and productivity.
So if the benefits are well documented, why is it that some companies – including big ones such as Yahoo and HP – don’t offer employees the option to work from home?
The world of business is changing – rapid advances in technology mean the global community is ever-expanding and the days of working the nine-to-five are a fading memory – especially now it looks like more people than ever will need to work from home for at least part of the working week.
So why is it some conference call providers only offer customer support during traditional business hours?
One of the most stable countries in Latin America, Costa Rica has an open economy based upon agriculture, industrial production, services, and tourism. It’s main industrial products are:
- microprocessors and electronic components
- medical equipment
- food and coffee
Costa Rica has a population of around 5 million and now could be a good time to start doing business out there as the country is currrently benefiting from $650 million for major improvements to airports, roads and seaports.
If you’re thinking of doing business in Costa Rica you’ll need an easy-to-use and reliable international conference call provider – especially as current Covid-19 restrictions mean that travel is not permitted between the UK and Costa Rica.
Internet trolls are everywhere – just as some people turn into psychopaths the second they get behind the wheel of car, others lose all sense of perspective the second they get online.
This strange breed get a bang out of causing arguments or, even worse, causing others personal anguish, safe in the knowledge they’ll likely never be found, such is the level on anonymity you can have online.
It’s a phenomenon that isn’t a million miles from the world of disinformation, and the two can often go hand-in-hand if there’s a conspiracy or half-truth to spread. The last 12 months has given trolls a lot of ammunition.
If you or your business is being plagued by these online idiots, here’s how to handle internet trolls.
A conference call is a telephone call in which three or more callers can talk to each other at the same time. Also known as a teleconference, this type of call can be made on a landline, mobile, or via an internet connection, and is usually held to enable a meeting to take place when it’s not possible to get all participants in the same room.
Utilising a conference call means people in different locations to run meetings over the phone, to help get job done faster and without relying on everyone to be able to get to the same place at the same time. And utilising ConferenceCall.co.uk means people can join the call from anywhere in the world..
Conference calls are a useful resource for people who work at home or work remotely from another location, and calls can easily be made between participants in different countries.