3 Essential Ways Of Showing Your Employees You Care

Julie Starr • March 2, 2021



It’s become increasingly clear in recent years that for many Americans – and for people across the world – the question of work-life balance has tilted a long way towards the former. Long hours, long commutes, and short weekends, along with the intrusion of technology into more corners of our lives, mean that even the most benign of jobs can become stressful when you’re “on call”, and it can affect well-being and eventually work performance.

As an employer , it is tricky to get the balance right. You yourself have duties that you need to discharge, and it is essential that you can rely on those who you manage to discharge theirs. For many people, the only reasonable approach would be to “crack the whip” a little and become a disciplinarian – but this has a tendency to achieve the opposite result from that which you’d appreciate. Below, we look at a few ways you can do the opposite – gaining the commitment of your employees while showing you care about their well-being.

Be open to different ideas about working patterns

If you had no prior knowledge on the matter, and someone suggested to you that changing a five-day working week down to four days would be a good idea, you might reasonably smirk. Losing a whole day of productivity would surely be ruinous? Well, studies suggest that in some cases it can actually boost productivity to change to a four-day week. A more rested, less drained workforce with a more focused working plan can get more done, if it’s what they want. Be prepared to listen to and, if possible, accommodate different rota plans; they can work wonders for employee motivation.

In addition, you can also be more open-minded about daily operations by encouraging the use of technology. For example, utilizing workforce automation software will not only free up more time for your employees but also eliminate many unnecessary mistakes, ensuring everyone can get along with their work and be as productive as possible. This software is only the tip of the iceberg regarding how you can make life easier for your employees with technology, and it will greatly benefit your business as well!

Go for the carrot more than the stick

There is a widespread impression that the best rulers have all ruled by fear and that if you want results, you’d do well to model yourself on them. Other minds argue that while this approach may work when you’re trying to build a military empire that stretches from Greece to Asia , it is less clear how well-suited it is to managing a team of sales professionals. If you incentivize your employees with free food and gifted holidays from the likes of MTI Events , they’ll be inclined to work harder and be grateful. That’s much better than them being terrified of making a mistake. Also, consider incentivizing with sustainable work opportunities like a “ green team.” 

Don’t try to be their friend; be their coach

While the first two ideas here have been about being generous and kind to employees, the final point is important from a point of view of hierarchy. As a boss, your job is not to be the friend of your employees. Let’s be clear, this doesn’t mean you can’t be friend ly . You can talk about sports with them, or be a listening ear if they have problems at home. But you are paid to improve their work outcomes, not their life. If you do your part, you’ll make their life better in an important area anyway. Be a coach to them, find their motivations, and work on those. Friendship may arise as a side benefit of this, but it isn’t the priority.

If you care about your employees, the best way of showing this is by making it easier for them to do their jobs well. Interpersonal relationships can grow in time, but being a caring boss is more important than being a fun friend.

Smart Sensors, Smarter Supply Chains: Enhancing Traceability in Food & Beverage

By Julie Starr • June 20, 2025
In today’s competitive food and beverage (F&B) landscape, traceability is no longer a compliance checkbox—it’s a differentiator. The ability to track every step of a product’s journey, from origin to shelf, is vital for regulatory accuracy and to ensure brand integrity, supply chain agility, and consumer trust. Add smart sensors to the mix: the quiet, tireless observers revolutionizing supply chain intelligence. Traceability Has a Data Problem Despite digitization across many F&B operations, most traceability systems still rely on fragmented or manual data inputs. Batch numbers, barcodes, and handwritten logs often stand between a supplier and clarity when things go wrong. This approach struggles with latency and scale. When contamination or delays occur, root cause analysis is slow, costly, and damaging. Smart sensors shift this paradigm by embedding real-time, contextual intelligence into every stage of the supply chain . Whether monitoring humidity in transit or recording fill-level precision in bottling plants, they remove the guesswork by turning physical conditions into structured, time-stamped data. From Passive Monitoring to Active Optimization Sensors used to be reactive tools, alerting operators to anomalies. But smart sensors now play a proactive role in process control. They measure, and they interpret. For example, temperature sensors embedded in cold chain logistics can dynamically adjust cooling systems or flag threshold breaches before spoilage occurs. These advancements reduce waste and loss at a systemic level. In a production facility, smart sensors integrated with PLCs can enforce recipe compliance, verify clean-in-place processes, and detect micro-stoppages in real-time. This enables operations to pivot faster and isolate inefficiencies before they cascade downstream. Trust is Built on Transparency Consumers are paying more attention to what they eat and drink. They’re looking beyond labels, expecting visibility into how ingredients are sourced, processed, and handled. Smart sensors make this level of transparency achievable —without burdening manufacturers with excessive manual oversight. By capturing metadata throughout production and distribution, these sensors create a digital footprint that’s tamper-resistant and instantly accessible. When this data is integrated with a central platform, brands can respond confidently to audits, recalls, and quality assurance challenges with a level of precision that would be impossible through legacy systems. Intelligence Without Infrastructure Overhaul One common misconception is that adding smart sensors requires a top-down reinvention of supply chain infrastructure. In reality, companies can deploy edge sensors in a modular, scalable way. Many modern solutions offer plug-and-play functionality, allowing for fast integration with existing machinery and MES systems. This is where suppliers like alps-machine.com are reshaping expectations. Rather than pushing proprietary ecosystems, they design sensor-ready equipment with interoperability in mind. This future-proofs investment and keeps businesses nimble in the face of regulatory or market shifts. Designing for Data Longevity Sensors are only as powerful as the context they capture. A smart implementation ensures the data collected can be standardized, stored securely, and accessed meaningfully across departments. This means moving beyond local dashboards toward centralized, queryable datasets that inform everything from supplier contracts to marketing claims. As AI and predictive analytics become more accessible, these data-rich environments will unlock new capabilities—such as predicting demand spikes based on real-time freshness indicators or adjusting production schedules dynamically based on in-transit sensor feedback. Final Thoughts: Smarter Isn’t Optional Traceability isn’t solved by more paperwork—it’s solved by embedded intelligence. Smart sensors don’t just help businesses know what happened; they help prevent the wrong things from happening at all. For companies in the food and beverage sector, adopting smart sensors is less about chasing innovation and more about enabling resilience, speed, and confidence in every decision.

Eco-Friendly Garden Prep: Summer Tips for a Greener Business Space

By Julie Starr • June 5, 2025
If you're lucky enough to have a garden as part of your business, taking some time to set it up for summer is a great investment of your energy. Not only will it be ready for your customers to spend time in, but you can also incorporate some eco-friendly elements into it. Many people just think about the property and what eco-friendly updates they can make , but there are plenty that you can implement in your garden. This gives you the best of both worlds. You own a sacred and beautiful place for your customers to spend their summer, and at the same time, you can do your part for a better planet. If this is the route you want to take, then you also need to consider how to do this with the different seasons. To help you on your journey, here are some top tips for preparing your garden for summer. Plant trees and flowers Planting trees and flowers in your garden is a must. It will make a beautiful scene of nature for everyone to enjoy. Trees will provide people and animals with shade, as well as provide a habitat for wildlife. More trees are needed in the world because they purify the air that we breathe. Flowers, especially if you plant with pollinators in mind, can be an excellent way to attract bees and butterflies, which contribute largely to the earth. Use natural pest control When preparing your garden for summer, you can do this more sustainably and kindly by using natural pest control. Simply by planting trees and flowers, you are likely to attract lots of different wildlife, some of which may destroy your efforts. While all wildlife should be considered, you may need to take measures. Some better and more eco-friendly ways you can do this, as opposed to spraying toxic chemicals onto your plants and into the air, you can implement companion planting, using protective nets over your crops, choosing resilient plants, using natural repellents, and encouraging natural predators so nature can do its thing. Maintain your garden Maintaining your garden in itself can make it more eco-friendly. Composting your garden waste regularly, and kitchen waste can help you to reduce overall waste and create nutrient-rich soil. This is a great cycle of sustainability. You can also keep on top of things that need cleaning and replacing, so you can recycle the materials for other garden structures and projects, and repurpose things around your garden before they become waste. If you have features in your garden like a swimming pool, then a regular pool maintenance service is going to be vital in keeping your water consumption to a minimum, as when it is cleaned and maintained, it will need to be drained and refilled less as well as using less energy. You could also consider how you can use natural purification methods to reduce chemical usage and support biodiversity right in your backyard. Your garden is just an eco-friendly project waiting to be built. Use these top tips to help you get started.