Tis the season to avoid litigation making sure your office christmas party is safe

According to recent statistics, a third of companies aren’t planning on hosting the traditional office Christmas Party this year, amidst concerns about legal action due to drunken antics and so forth. While I can safely say there are many more office safety risks during a party than the rest of the year (most offices just aren’t built for that level of snacks, alcohol and cheesy music), with a little thinking ahead the office Christmas party can become the celebrated institution it once was – without the dark cloud of litigation hanging overhead. It’s important to keep the office health and safety precautions in the background however – no one likes the idea of constant red tape when they’re trying to unwind. Already over half of managers recently surveyed felt the celebratory atmosphere felt very ‘forced’.

Here are 5 workplace health and safety steps you can take to minimise the risk of a litigious post party hangover.

1) Take it out of the office

The easiest way of avoiding the legal minefield of workplace health and safety laws is to take it out of the office! As I mentioned earlier, the typical office with its computers, water cooler and cubicles is just not built for the antics and tomfoolery of the stereotypical office Christmas party. Booking a restaurant or a hotel may seem like an unnecessary expense in the short term, but the different environment will help people unwind and enjoy themselves, and your precious photocopier will not be damaged by the exhibitionist office clown!

2) Leave off the Mistletoe

This one is less ‘health and safety’ and more to do with employment law, but one of the biggest concerns for legal action is the fear of sexual harassment in the workplace. And while the Mistletoe is a firm favourite, in some cases it really can be asking for trouble. By taking it off the list of decorations, you will limit your responsibility if someone does feel harassed or intimidated – remember that if you are funding the party, then the party will still come under the office rules, including those pertaining to sexual harassment. As a warning about office conduct in general, a worker from Merill Lynch was paid a Ј1,000,000 out of court settlement over comments about her sex life and breasts at the office Christmas party, so keep an eye out for inappropriate conduct.

3) Look out for hazards

Here’s a bizarre statistic for you: in 2002, 1,000 people were injured by falling Christmas trees. It just goes to show that hazards are everywhere, especially with the alcohol free flowing. If you can’t budget to have the office elsewhere, make sure you’re not creating trouble where there were no occupational health and safety hazards before. Typical Christmas office safety pitfalls can be easily avoided: Don’t allow people to stand on office chairs or desks to put up decorations and don’t allow fire hazards like Christmas lights to be hung on computers or air vents. Also, ensure that all the usual emergency information is not obscured by crass decorations – even if it means there’s no room for that last life-size reindeer model – the office health and safety laws must come first!

4) Watch out for the alcohol

It’s unsurprising that many managers are terrified at the workplace health and safety inspector’s nightmare: combining alcohol with expensive office equipment. Fortunately, there are steps you can take towards limiting the potential for damage and aiding office safety. It’s a well known fact that alcohol is most potent on an empty stomach, so put on some catering. Salty snacks are less recommended because they create a thirst which can be counter-intuitive for the alcohol-wary manager. A good way of being able to control the alcohol a little more is by making your own punch – the alcohol content is then up to you, and the fruit juice in them will cause the alcohol to be absorbed into the bloodstream that little bit slower.

5) Put on transportation

Booking some taxis or providing rooms for party goers to sleep may sound like an unnecessary expense at the end of the night, but the cost is far less than the risk they would cause to themselves by drink driving, or the damage to the company if they sue due to an accident as they stagger back to their homes. And the extra cost involved is all in the spirit of Christmas, and will ensure that for just one day, you aren’t compared to Ebenezer Scrooge!

One final word of advice: According to a recent survey, Bing Crosby’s White Christmas and The Pogues’ Fairytale of New York are our favourite Christmas songs, while Cliff Richard’s Mistletoe and Wine, and Wham’s Last Christmas are best avoided if you want to keep the moaning to a minimum! Some would call a Christmas over indulgence in Cliff a far more concerning breach of health and safety laws, than a little alcohol abuse!

Are you losing body fat or water

“I tried that diet and lost 8 pounds in the first week!”

“I’ve gained three pounds in one day! It must have been the cookie I ate or maybe the mashed potatoes!”

Stepping on the scale can become an anxiety filled event that leaves people wondering where they went wrong when the numbers don’t go in the right direction. This leads to panic and usually ends with blaming a particular food item that really wasn’t the culprit. Everyone who has been on a journey to lose weight has been there before. Even though you are following your plan and exercising regularly the number may go up 1-2 pounds or even up to 3-4 pounds creating unnecessary guilt that we have failed somehow. If it’s not always food that makes our weight creep up then what is it that causes these fluctuations on the scale?

When trying to lose weight the scale often becomes the only measurement of success and this makes it difficult to remember that every time we step on a scale it is measuring every part of our physical being at that moment in time, which means it measures our fat, muscles, organs, tissue and water weight. Body fat is not the only thing being measured. While organs and tissue don’t change much; fat, muscle, and water do change which can result in fluctuating numbers on the scale.

Water weight can affect your total weight anywhere from 1-10 pounds and sometimes even more. It is important to understand what kinds of dietary factors can make these fluid shifts happen. To start, many of the high protein, low carbohydrate diets can cause a dramatic shift in your water weight. This is because as you cut back carbohydrate intake your body starts breaking down the stored carbohydrates (glycogen) to use as energy, and this breakdown causes the body to excrete large amounts of water. Once the body begins to use stored fat for energy, weight loss slows. This is the reason why most people lose a significant amount of weight right away on a low carb, high protein diet. Extreme low carb, high protein diets can potentially lead to dehydration because of this significant fluid loss.

When a person following a low carb plan eats a carbohydrate-rich food they can easily gain 1-3 pounds. However, this weight gain can be misleading because it is usually your body replenishing the fluid it lost and not gained fat. This 3 pound fluctuation becomes frustrating for many people and they end up yo-yoing back and forth with fluid weight thinking that it must be the half cup of rice they had the night before that caused them to gain that 3 pounds when in fact eating the rice just allowed them to regain some of the fluid they had lost from following a strict low carb plan. The fact is carbohydrates do not affect your weight quite that simply. Excess carbohydrates can strongly stimulate insulin production, which promotes fat deposition and increases appetite. This kind of weight gain will happen gradually, not dramatically overnight.

Sodium is another dietary component that can lead to fluid gain. Sodium can cause the body to retain fluid, leading to these frustrating daily weight fluctuations. Some people are more sensitive to sodium than others. Watch your diet and see if your weight gain corresponds with a high sodium meal the day before. For example, eating out in restaurants can often increase your sodium intake significantly.

The best way to tell if you are retaining fluid is to pay attention to your body. If you get indentations on your ankles and lower legs from your socks then you are retaining fluid. If you wear rings and they become tight and leave an imprint in your fingers when you take them off then you also retaining fluid. Any kind of puffiness in your skin is a good indication of water weight.

The bottom line is that it takes 3500 calories to gain or lose 1 pound of body fat. This equates to an extra 500 calories a day over 7 days to gain a pound. This means if you gained 3 pounds in one day you can chalk it up to fluid weight otherwise you would have had to consume 10,500 extra calories that day which is not likely! True weight gain happens gradually and likewise we lose it gradually. Check your weight weekly instead of daily and look for overall trends. If you are seeing dramatic daily changes in your weight, it is likely the ever-changing shifts of our body’s water weight.

© Meri Raffetto, 2005

The top home owner insurance company

When you make an important purchase, such as a home owner insurance policy, you want to make sure you’re buying the best, from the best, right? If a family member contracted a potentially fatal disease, you’d want him to see the best doctor trained in that field, right? If one of your children were kidnapped, you’d want the best trained police officers and investigation specialists to handle the case, right?

The same is true for purchasing a home owner insurance policy. Home owner insurance policies protect some of the things that mean the most to you – you and your family, your home, your possessions, and even your bank account should a salesperson or even a neighbor come knocking at the door. Therefore, you want to purchase your home owner insurance policy from the top home owner insurance company around.

How do you shuffle through the good, the not-so-good, the average, and the excellent home owner insurance companies to find the top home owner insurance company? The one you immediately know you must do business with?

Well, you won’t immediately know which home owner insurance company with which to do business, because finding the top home owner insurance company is a process. It is a process; however, that helps you shuffle through the rubble.

The process is simple, actually. Figure out the kind of coverage you need and want, search the highest rated home owner insurance companies, and call for more information. See? Simple. But during this process, make sure you obtain printed information about the home owner insurance company and its policies, as well as speak with several representatives to assess the customer service quality, too.

There many not be one particular top home owner insurance company, but if you find a reputable one that meets your needs – financially and coverage-wise – as well as offers great customer service, it may just be the top home owner insurance company for you.

Selecting a credit card

How many "pre-approved" credit card offers do you get in the mail in the average month that seem to shout at you to accept the offer before it expires? If you're in the market for a credit card, take some time to shop all the offers to get the best credit card available to you.

First, look into the credit card terms and conditions. These are the fees associated with making purchases on the card, transferring balances to the card, taking cash withdrawals, and late fees. You can easily compare the annual percentage rate between credit card offers. The annual percentage rate is a way to measure what the credit actually costs you. Beware of variable annual percentage rates - and if you are considering credit card offers with variable APR's, find out how often the rate can be changed, how it effects the finance charges you are billed each month, and what the rate is based on.

Secondly, find out whether or not the cards in question charge an annual membership fee. Annual fees can be anything from $25 to $100 a year, with some platinum credit cards charging several hundred dollars. This is a fee that you are required to pay each year just for having the card in your wallet - even if you never make a purchase or transfer a balance to the account. If you're going to pay an annual fee on a credit card, there should be rewards or low rates that make the fee worth paying.

Look into the grace period of the credit card. Many cards will give you about 56 days to make payments interest free, without finance charges, just by paying your entire balance on time. Cards that do not have this free period can charge you a finance charge from the date you make a purchase on your card, or from the date each charge is posted to the account. Also consider transaction fees, and another fees associated with having the credit card. Just about every credit card will issue a fee if you take a cash advance or make your payment past the due date. Find out whether or not there is a monthly fee charged to the account when you don't make any purchases - there are some credit cards that will charge you monthly even if you haven't taken the card out of your wallet, and those are fees you can easily avoid just by selecting a credit card that doesn't have these additional fees.

You'll also want to consider the reward programs offered from each credit card you are considering applying for. If you are a frequent traveler, it makes sense to look at rewards programs that earn you discounted flights, hotels, and car rentals when you purchase your travel expenses and tickets using the credit card. Over time, your purchases will result in free travel, making the credit card with the travel rewards program a great choice for the frequent traveler. A very popular form of credit card rewards program is the cash back offer. These credit cards will reward spenders with 1% to 5% cash back for all of their purchases - either credited back to the credit card or sent as a check to the card holder. This may be a good card for you if you pay your balances off each month in full - because typically a cash back card will have a higher percentage rate than cards without cash back programs.

The bottom line in selecting a credit card is not to jump on the first offer that comes through the mail. You really need to spend a little time doing your homework and learning about the different credit cards available to you in order to get the best rates and best deals for your credit purchases.

The biggest rivalries in sports

From college football to Major League Baseball, rivalries between teams have always added excitement to fan experience. Many teams are old rivals, while others have developed a competitive intensity more recently. What teams have been fighting it out for some time? Rivalries are at the center of many fan’s lives. Here’s a quick look at some classic ones.

College football has some of the most talked about rivalries in all of sports. To begin with, you have the heated battles between the Texas Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners. Being in neighboring states, they compete for regional bragging rights and often the same recruits. Over the years, there have been many classic match-ups between the two teams.

One of the biggest rivalries in college football history is between Big 10 powerhouses Ohio State and Michigan. These teams, that are usually nationally ranked, are so well matched and competitive that the winner is often determined in the final minutes and sometimes the final seconds of the contest. Consequently, when these two teams play, the game often determines which remains in the National Championship picture and which is out.

The South features the tough competition between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Auburn Tigers. From the days of Alabama’s legendary coach Bear Bryant this has been one of the most talked about match-ups on the gridiron. Both schools are in the same state and are highly competitive with each other year in and year out. There have been many close, tight-knit games over the past century to prove it. The Tennessee Volunteers also have an active rivalry with these two teams but nothing compares to the legendary hard fought battles between the Tigers and the Crimson Tide.

On the west coast, there is the University of Southern California (USC) and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) rivalry. This competition has been dominated recently by the success of Southern California and the strong teams they have produced over the last couple of years. Recently USC has taken to the field with Heisman Trophy winners Matt Leinhart and Reggie Bush, giving the Trojans the edge. This next year we may see a shift in power with UCLA coming to the forefront.

The National Basketball Association has had the classic battles of the Lakers and the Celtics. For decades these two teams fought back and forth to determine who would take home the NBA crown. There were the great match-ups in the 60’s and 70’s of Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell, which are legendary in the history of the NBA.

The 80’s hosted memorable post-season contests between the Lakers’ Magic Johnson and the Celtics’ Larry Bird. Their respective teams, with Bird running the court and dishing off to Robert Parrish for a slam dunk or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar working the ball inside only to pass back to Johnson for three, produced some of the greatest moments in NBA history and will be talked about for decades to come.

The meetings between the Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks produced another fine rivalry. Michael Jordon with his extreme athletic ability was the catalyst for tough contests in which the Knicks sometimes surprised the team from the Windy City; although the majority of the time Jordan and company were on the plus side in these contests.

Every season a tandem of college basketball teams always stand out as among two of the best in the nation. In North Carolina both on and off the court, one college basketball rivalry dominates the region. The University of North Carolina and Duke, both members of the highly competitive Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), are located only 8 miles apart. Both schools possess myriads of faithful fans that have traveled Tobacco Road year after year to see their teams fight for victory.

Since 1990, the two clubs have a combined for a total of eleven Final Four appearances. Those who follow the ACC certainly recognize the high profile contests that have defined their rivalry. The Duke Blue Devils and North Carolina Tar Heels are synonymous with big name games, some of which they have won and others they’ve lost.

Off the court, these two teams also battle it out by attempting to recruit some of the most talented players in the nation. The Tar Heels and Blue Devils often court the same players, with coaching staffs jousting with each other for the finest players available. NCAA National Championships are the hallmark of both these schools. If you enjoy excitement and hardcore college basketball at its best, Duke and UNC are your ticket.

In Major League Baseball, there is perhaps the greatest rivalry of all sports. The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox have battled each other on the diamond since the early twentieth century. The rivalry became heated in 1920 when the Red Sox sold the game’s greatest player, Babe Ruth, to the New York Yankees. From that point on, the Yankees dominated the rest of Major League Baseball, going on to win 26 World Series; while Boston, after Ruth departed, was unable to capture a single crown.

Some people began to call Boston’s championship drought the "curse of the Bambino." The trade of Babe Ruth, who was also known as the "Bambino," was supposedly the reason why Boston couldn’t win a championship. But that all changed in 2004 when the Boston Red Sox were able to come back from three games down in the American League Championship Series and defeat the New York Yankees, and then go on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series.

This was what Red Sox fans had been waiting for, and now they’re hopeful that they will never have to hear about "the curse" again. This has been one heck of a rivalry over the years and odds are that it will continue to be one of the best in sports.

When there’s an intense rivalry between two teams it’s always magnified by fan enthusiasm. The fans are what make two teams want to compete harder against each other, but it takes exciting, hard-fought games to get the fans interested. Most great rivalries are not built on one or two good contests, but over decades of excellent games.

There is no set number of games that teams must play in order to generate a rivalry. The fans and players together are the ones who decide what makes an ongoing, classic rivalry. But one thing is for certain, there is nothing better than watching two, evenly matched rivals battle it out until only one is left standing.

How a mortgage can consolidate your debts

Many homeowners consider the possibility of using a mortgage to consolidate existing debt.

If you have already repaid your mortgage, you can take out another primary mortgage.

Taking out a second mortgage is an additional option to consolidate debts for those homeowners who still have a primary mortgage.

How sound of an idea is it to use a mortgage to consolidate your debts?

You should never use a mortgage to consolidate your debts if the interest rate for your debt is lower than the interest rate you would have on a mortgage.

This would mean that you are paying a higher cost for the mortgage than you were paying on your debts. This is not a sound financial decision.

There is a slight exception to this rule.

If you your current debt has some kind of introductory rate that will expire and leave you with an interest rate that will be higher than that of the mortgage, then a mortgage to consolidate debt is worth considering.

There are other factors, in addition to interest rate, that you should take into account when you consider using a mortgage to consolidate your debt.

When you have less than 20% equity in your home, you are required to pay private mortgage insurance.

If these premiums plus the amount of your mortgage without consolidating your debts is the same as or less than the amount of your mortgage with consolidating your debt, then you do not incur extra costs by consolidating.

However, if the private mortgage insurance causes your monthly payment to increase, then consolidation is costing you.

A lot of homeowners make the mistake of thinking only about the monthly payment of their mortgage in addition to what they are paying on their debts without consolidating in comparison to the mortgage with debt consolidating.

Take into account that when you consolidate debt with a mortgage, you are paying it over a longer period of time, which accounts for the lower monthly payment.

Before you apply for a mortgage, you should find out your credit score.

Chances are if you are having trouble with credit, then you have a less than perfect credit score.

Remember that your credit score will affect the interest rate and terms you receive on a mortgage.

If your credit score is below 600, the likelihood of you receiving favorable loan terms is low; not impossible, just low.

Keep in mind that when you use a mortgage to consolidate your debt, that the debt is not eliminated. Instead, you are transferring your debt from one form to another.

The best way to determine what it will cost you to consolidate your debts using a mortgage or pay them straight out is to use a mortgage calculator as well as a debt repayment calculator. Logic can be flawed, but numbers never lie.

Bankrate. com has calculators that will assist you in both of these calculations. Use the calculator to test out different loan amounts and mortgage rates to get a good picture of how much consolidating will cost you.

The increasing power of publicity media exposure -- and how it can benefit your business

The call came into my office and the voice on the other end was very energetic, almost giddy: “I have finalized my marketing budget and need your help launching an advertising campaign for my new product,” he breathed. “Congratulations,” I replied, “but before we implement an ad campaign, I want to make sure you have explored potential PUBLICITY opportunities that could generate some cost-efficient media exposure first.” Then, silence. “I never thought about that,” he sighed. “Frankly, I don’t know much about it.”

He is not alone. It’s a common conversation. Although many entrepreneurs or business people know a bit about publicity or media exposure, the majority of them simply don’t understand the full benefits of “publicity placements” or how to go about generating them successfully. Publicity placements have always been a cost-efficient way to market a product/business and generate clients or customers, but because of lack of knowledge or a misunderstanding of what publicity is and does, many entrepreneurs don’t take full advantage of publicity opportunities -- and that can lead to missed marketing chances.

I recently surveyed a few dozen business owners and entrepreneurs in some newsgroups and business chat rooms about their knowledge of “publicity placements” in the media. I found out that only 37% knew that a simple “product profile” in a magazine was generated as a result of publicity efforts. Most thought the company had paid the media outlet to run the feature, much like an ad. And of that 37%, less than half of them knew HOW to generate a similar placement.

Another interesting fact, because of the recent slowdown in the economy, expensive advertising budgets have been slashed. As a result, many businesses, like your competitors, are turning to publicity/PR campaigns as a more affordable means of marketing to compete with other companies. Here are some ways to use publicity placements to help your business:

Editorial Placements/Media Notification:

What some entrepreneurs might not realize is that we see editorial placements from publicity efforts everyday in the media: product profiles, feature articles and contributed by-lined articles in magazines, newspapers, trade industry newsletters or on TV/radio/cable newscasts & shows. This is not advertising, this is “EDITORIAL Placement” or “Media Notification” of a product, business or industry expert. Notify the appropriate media that your newsworthy product is on the market or your business is offering a unique new service and let them run a feature placement that will spread that message to your consumer market. These placements can detail your product or business very effectively, giving consumers some objective, pertinent information that may well entice them to become future customers.

These editorial placements are looked upon much more credibly than ad placements. That is not a slam on advertising. Paying for advertising placements is indeed an effective way to market your product. But the fact is, a positive editorial placement such as a product profile in a magazine or a newspaper can be much more persuasive than a glossy, over-hyped advertisement – and a fraction of the cost. My point is that editorial placements are an often time overlooked marketing vehicle for a business, and that entrepreneurs should understand the full benefits of these placements to make the most of their marketing efforts.

Editorial placements are a wonderfully reciprocal way for you and the media to work together for the betterment of your business. The media needs to fill its pages and airtime with interesting information -- and you need to get the word out to your market. Research the media market to find those media outlets and editorial contacts with which you can forge that mutually beneficial relationship. But you have to do your part and do it right - or the media will forge that relationship with your competitor. Make sure your media message is solid, contains newsworthy angles and isn’t disguised as overly commercialized ad copy. Have high-quality photos and media samples available and do all you can to make the media’s job of featuring your product as simple as possible. It also helps to have some sort of clipping service in place to track your placements and get you copies so you can use them in your secondary marketing programs.

Expert Branding:

This type of publicity placement generating takes advantage of the expert knowledge within a particular business. It is an effective tool for entrepreneurs whose businesses are more service related, like consultants or specialists. Expert branding basically treats the expert like a product. Alert the media as to your expertise on a specific topic and avail yourself to serve as an expert interview resource for future articles or news feature segments. Additionally, the expert should write a few brief articles on a specialized topic and make them available to editors for review and possible publication. The challenge of this type of publicity placement is the tedious task of finding out which outlets accept “expert editorial contributions” or contributed by-lined articles in their publications. Again, it comes down to meticulously researching your media market to find those media outlets that may be in need of the editorial content that you can provide them.

With some creativity, expert branding can be effective for product-based businesses as well. One client of mine runs a fresh wild salmon distribution business in the Pacific Northwest and was looking to increase consumer awareness of his products. Based on his more than 20 years of experience in the wild salmon harvesting business, we are expert branding him as a viable interview resource to health/food editors for features detailing the differences and benefits of wild salmon over farm-raised fish, as well as other related topics. In this case, my client (the expert) is identified and quoted in features and the name of the business and even a link to a website are often included for consumers to check out. This is great credibility building exposure at little or no cost.

Overall, when using the media to help market your product or business, take advantage of as many FREE media opportunities as you can. If you lack the expertise or time, a PR agency or publicist can generate the editorial placements for you. But the fee you pay them is a FRACTION of what it would cost you to buy similar sized ad placements. And those publicity placements typically lead to a much better consumer response right out of the gate – which is just what you need to boost your business to the next level.