Telecommuting Essays - Working Time, Employment, Technology

Telecommuting Telecommuting is an electronic mode of doing work outside the office that traditionally has been done in the office. This is done with a computer terminal in the employee's home. It is working at home utilizing current technology, such as computers, modems, and fax machines. Traditionally, people have commuted by cars, buses, trains, and subways, to work and back. Through the innovation of telecommuting, the actual necessity to change location in order to accomplish this task has been challenged on the basis of concerns for energy conservation, loss of productivity, and other issues. One advantage of telecommuting is energy conservation. A tremendous amount of energy is required to produce transportation equipment such as automobiles, buses trains, and subways. If telecommuting is promoted, there will be less use of this equipment and less energy will be required for production, maintenance, and repair of this equipment. Fuel resources needed to operate this equipment will be reduced. The building and repair of highways and maintenance require a large consumption of energy, not only in the operation of equipment, but also in the manufacture and transportation of the required materials. An increase in the percentage of people telecommuting to work will decrease the need for expanded highways and associated road maintenance. Once a person arrives at a central office working location, he or she represents another energy consumer, often times magnified over what would be required at home. The office building has heating, cooling, and lighting needs, and the materials to build it and maintain it require energy in their production and transportation. Working from home requires only modest incremental demands on energy for heating, cooling, and lighting needs, and makes effective use of existing building space and facilities. Telecommuting also improves productivity. With telecommuting, one no longer needs to be always preparing for the commute and for being presentable. One can go to work simply by tossing on a robe and slippers, grabbing a cup of coffee and sitting down at the terminal. Employees are no longer interrupted by the idle chatter that inevitably takes place at the central work place - some of it useful for work, but a lot of it is a waste of time and a perpetual interruption. Additionally, telecommuting reduces family related stress by allowing involvement with family and flexibility in location work site. Working in the home offers people a greater opportunity to share quality time with family members, to promote family values and develop stronger family ties and unity. Also, time saved through telecommuting could be spent with family members constructively in ways that promote and foster resolution of family problems. Since the actual location a telecommuter works from isn't relevant, the person could move to another town. This would alleviate the stress caused when a spouse has an opportunity to pursue his or her career in another town and must choose between a new opportunity or no opportunity, because their spouse does not want to or cannot change employment. If either person could telecommute, the decision would be much easier. Telecommuting does have its disadvantages. The most obvious disadvantage is the overwhelming cost of starting a telecommuting program. A study by Forrester Research, Inc. reveals that it costs $30,000 to $45,000 a head to train prospective telecommuters. After the first year, however, per-user spending is cut to about $4,000. Employees are starting to see telecommuting policies as a benefit, and companies offering it will be more competitive. Another disadvantage is the psychological impact it may have on employees. Executives who have labored for years to win such corporate status symbols as secretaries and luxurious corner offices are reluctant to shed their hard-won perks. Some employees also complain that their creativity has been dampened by lack of interaction with their co-workers. A telecommuting program can be put in place by following a few tips from Lower costs spur move to more telecommuting, an article by Mindy Blodgett: 1) Form a telecommuting team that includes technical experts, upper managers and human resources staff, and assign a telework coordinator. 2) Contact other companies to learn from their experiences. 3) Train participants and supervisors. 4) Monitor the program through surveys before and after a pilot Technology Essays

Government Funded Health Care in United States Essays

Government Funded Health Care in United States Essays Government Funded Health Care in United States Paper Government Funded Health Care in United States Paper Government Funded Health Care is an idea that has been around the United States for some time. The question as to whether or not the United States should adopt this idea as other countries have chosen to do has still yet to be decided. What is Government Funded Health Care? Why should the United States have a National Health Care Plan? Why do people that live in the United States have to make sure to have health insurance when it could be automatic upon United States citizenship? Other countries have succeeded in providing this type of service, why should the United States be any different? These are numerous questions that will be answered through the rest of this research. As citizens of the United States of America the government’s responsibility is to take care of the people of which can be done by a Government Funded Health Care Plan. What is Government Funded Health Care or National Insurance? Government Funded Health Care is a health insurance plan provided by the government at a Federal or State level that would give health insurance coverage to all people no matter how old, what race, or what gender; provided they are a United States Citizen. : This is an idea that may be appealing to some, and not so appealing to others, however it should be in effect. The United States should have a National Health Insurance Plan for one specific reason. Having such a plan would prevent those that do not have enough money to provide health insurance for themselves from not getting the care that they need and deserve. Numerous individuals within the United States have to do without proper health care because of either lack of money or not having a job that provides health insurance for them. As a man stated in Neil Rolde’s book, Your Money or Your Health, â€Å"In Canada, yes, we have to pay more for gas to put in our cars, but we don’t mind because we know that’s going to health care and to the security we have of knowing we won’t get wiped out if we happen to have an illness. † Why do people that live in the United States have to make sure to have health insurance when it could be automatic upon United States citizenship? The answer to this question is very simple; a person only has three choices. Either a person can choose to have a job that has health insurance provided, spend money out of pocket for health insurance (i. e. Sole-Proprietors), or do with out health insurance coverage. Most likely the first option would appeal to everyone that lives, works, and becomes ill from time to time, but National Health Care would be the better alternative. If an employer did not have to worry about spending money to provide health care insurance for the employees, then this would could lead to more wage increases, better wage increases, and an increase in bonuses and commissions. It is true; other countries have succeeded in providing this type of health coverage to their citizens. Two perfect examples of these countries are Canada, and Japan. Canada has succeeded in providing health care to the citizens that live within the country in a two-fold manner. As found on Health Canada, the federal government is responsible for: â€Å"setting and administering national principles or standards for the health care system (for example, through the Canada Health Act),† â€Å"assisting in the financing of provincial health care services through fiscal transfers,† â€Å"delivering direct health services to specific groups including veterans, native Canadians living on reserves, military personnel, inmates of federal penitentiaries and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police,† and â€Å"fulfilling other health-related functions such as health protection, disease prevention, and health promotion. † The provincial and territorial governments are responsible for: â€Å"managing and delivering health services,† â€Å"planning, financing, and evaluating the provision of hospital care, physician and allied health care services,† and â€Å"managing some aspects of prescription care and public health. † Japan is another country that has succeeded in providing their citizens with a Government Funded National Health Care Plan. A web page titled Tips on National Health Insurance points out several key points with regards to Japan’s National Health Insurance Plan. Japan has two types of medical insurance. Worker’s Health Insurance and National Health Insurance. This web article states that â€Å"Anyone not enrolled in the Worker’s Health Insurance Plan is required to enroll in the National Health Insurance Plan. † It also states the following: â€Å"The personal expenses for medical fees is 30%. † â€Å"The head of the household is the person responsible for paying insurance premiums based on the number of people in the family enrolled in National Health Insurance and the yearly income of the family. † â€Å"When a member of the National Health Insurance Plan dies, the person in charge of the funeral arrangements will be paid a fixed funeral allowance. † These are just a few examples of how Japan’s Health Insurance Plan is set up.

Ethics of Neuro-Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Ethics of Neuro-Marketing - Essay Example Due to the historical challenges the advertising industry has experienced in trying to prove the return on adverting spending, neuro-marketing has been given somewhat fast adoption in the previous five years (Micu &Plummer, 1). Despite the fact that the prospect of enhanced advertising has created excitement within the business community in general, serious ethical matters have been raised as well by scientists, scholars, and consumer groups (Murphy, Illes, & Reiner, 1). However, the industry pays no attention to these concerns (Christophe, 1). The State of Advertising Ethics Ethical advertising could be described as the production and broadcasting of commercial messages which promote goods or services without lying to the public (Bishop, 2). Shockingly, both the advertising and the marketing industries have a not so good reputation concerning the application of ethical standards. A survey carried out by Gallup in 2011 positioned the advertising occupation at the bottom of the honest y scale with no more than eleven percent partakers ranking advertising practitioners with high or very high scores, placing them just four points above lobbyists and car salespeople (Christophe, 2). The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), formed during 1914, is in charge of keeping consumers protected from advertisers who are unethical or unscrupulous. In the long run, the Federal Trade Commission has identified universal conditions upon which a message is considered to breach the standard of â€Å"truth-in-advertising† (FTC, 2011).