Apple has set out a plan to become carbon neutral across its entire business, manufacturing supply chain, and product life cycle, over the next ten years.

The technology giant said it had also secured commitments from over 70 suppliers to use 100%  renewable energy for Apple production — equivalent to nearly 8 gigawatts in commitments to power the manufacturing of its products. Once completed, it said, these commitments will avoid over 14.3 million metric tons of CO2e annually — the equivalent of taking more than 3 million cars off the road each year.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook said: “Businesses have a profound opportunity to help build a more sustainable future, one born of our common concern for the planet we share.

“The innovations powering our environmental journey are not only good for the planet — they’ve helped us make our products more energy efficient and bring new sources of clean energy online around the world.”

In its 2020 Environmental Progress Report, Apple detailed its plans to reduce emissions by 75% by 2030 while developing innovative carbon removal solutions for the remaining 25% of its comprehensive footprint.

Part of its plan, will include several initiatives, including; a ‘low carbon’ product design; using energy more efficiently; utilising renewable energy; innovations on the sorts of materials used; and carbon removal.

It will also use a recycling robot called “Dave” — which disassembles the iPhone to recover key materials such as rare earth magnets and tungsten while also enabling recovery of steel.

Lisa Jackson, vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives at Apple said: “We have a generational opportunity to help build a greener and more just economy, one where we develop whole new industries in the pursuit of giving the next generation a planet worth calling home.”

Source: https://www.logisticsmanager.com/apple-commits-to-100-carbon-zero-supply-chain-by-2030/

Around 88% of employees reported overall satisfaction with their current job in 2019.

This number is the highest level of satisfaction in 10 years. The purpose of the survey was to identify those factors that contribute to employee satisfaction in the workplace.

Employees who are satisfied with their jobs are more committed, productive and more likely to stay with an organization. And, when employees are dissatisfied, there is higher turnover and a higher instance of employee absenteeism.

This report for 2019 shows that respectful treatment of employees at all levels was the most important aspect to job satisfaction.

Employees know a strong economy results in competitive pay, and with a booming economy, pay and benefits now also hits the top of the list.

In order of importance, the top five aspects of job satisfaction rated as “very important” were:

1. Respectful Treatment of Employees at All Levels
2. Pay and Compensation
3. Overall Benefits
4. Job Security
5. Trust Between Employees and Senior Management

10 Tips For Improving Job Satisfaction

1. Work on The Culture. The culture of an organization is influenced by the behaviors of its leadership. Employees empathize with each other and demand respectful treatment of all employees.

Senior leaders should set the example for these behaviors by demonstrating respect toward others while holding people accountable for doing the same.

Respect for others can be demonstrated through professional communication and internal policies that are honoring to employees.

For example, if the organization is forced to make some difficult changes that impact an employee’s job, those changes should be communicated in a sensitive way to honor the employees who may be impacted by the change.

 

2. Establish Trust with Senior Management. Senor management needs to establish trust with employees at all levels. Employees need to be able to trust those who have been placed in a position of authority.

Leaders can establish this trust by demonstrating credibility and integrity in everything they do. This means doing what you say and saying what you do.

Communication is often a key factor in trust. Employees can handle bad news when it is shared. What they don’t like is the perception that there are secrets.

Communicating clearly and often while striving to explain the why behind decisions can help to minimize issues of trust.

 

3. Expand job benefits.  Explore benefits that employees appreciate and value. Benchmark your total benefit package to ensure your package is competitive.

Focus on health and medical, paid time off, defined contribution plans, defined benefit pension plans, work-life balance, and family friendly benefits.

Often the low cost or no cost benefits get the greatest impact on satisfaction.

 

4. Offer competitive compensation.  Look at all aspects of your compensation strategy. Evaluate employee pay grades, health benefits and retirement contributions to ensure your compensation package is competitive.

Benchmark like jobs and work to keep salary ranges in line with similar jobs.

If the recent regulation cuts have helped your business, share the benefit with employees by increasing their pay.

 

5. Foster job security. Employees are just now feeling relief from the recent recession that caused workers everywhere to feel job insecurity.

Employers can help ease this by communicating with employees about the financial state of the organization, strategic goals and objectives and overall performance. When employees know their employer is doing well, they feel more job security.

It is also important to include employees in global problem solving to ensure they feel like they are part of the process and solution to organizational growth and success.

 

6. Strengthen employee relationships. Job satisfaction is also connected to relationships that the employee has with coworkers.

Use teams of employees to problem solve and use team building exercises to help develop and strengthen coworker relationships.

 

7. Focus on employee engagement.  Invest the time and resources in creating an environment where employees thrive and love to work.

Monitor employee engagement and strengthen areas that foster it.

 

8. Provide opportunities for career advancement. Employees want to know that there are opportunities within the organization to grow and advance their careers.

Develop employees through coaching and mentoring programs, leadership skill development and succession planning to help ensure that employees are prepared when higher level job openings become available.

 

9. Train on job skills.  Employees value the investment organizations make into ongoing job skill training.

This results in employees being more engaged in their roles, improved internal processes and increased worker productivity.

 

10. Provide professional development opportunities. Investing in the career development of an organization’s workforce results in employees who feel valued and grow professionally.

This includes training that results in certifications or degrees that enhance employee skills and professional knowledge.

 

Successful people tend to have at least one thing in common. Confidence.

And confidence is more important than we might think, especially in the workplace!

Being confident can be more important for getting the job done than competence. Research shows that people prefer confidence to actual expertise. Decision-makers often put more stock in confidence than competence when they’re making picks for a promotion or completing a performance review.

The reality is that the business world is very competitive and without a healthy dose of confidence, it’s impossible for one to thrive. The business world requires a certain amount of self-promotion and self-initiative, which are impossible without confidence. In the business world we can’t count on our work to speak for itself. In short, we have to get ourselves noticed.

In fact, studies have shown that you’re actually better off being moderately overconfident, and that overconfidence is performance-enhancing andincreases productivity.

Throughout my HR career I’ve had the opportunity to speak with so many professionals across a variety of industries. One thing that I’ve learned from my years of working closely with people is that confidence is one of the most important assets in your career — and developing confidence in the workplace is not easy. After all, your product is you as a whole person, not merely a professional.

What I’ve come to realize is that you can actually cultivate confidence.

Sometimes the people you work with will say things that make you feel more confident, but there are times when you can build that confidence all by yourself. Even if you don’t have a ton of experience, you have value —you just need to uncover it.

Whether a bad day’s got you down, you don’t love speaking up, or you’re constantly playing the comparison game, chances are good that you could use an added dose of confidence at work.

Where do people find this magical elixir that lets people crush it, and lets others know they’re crushing it? Sadly, there’s no magic involved in building confidence at work. But here’s the good news:

there are plenty of strategies you can employ to boost your confidence at work.

This purpose of this post is to provide you with actionable tips about using your voice, words, body language, and appearance in ways that reflect confidence. You’ll also learn the importance of having a strong work ethic and using honesty and tact with others.

Finally, paying attention and identifying what you believe about yourself, and designing who you want to be, complete the picture of how you can successfully display your confidence and crush it in the workplace.

Let’s go…

Your Voice, Speech, And Words Matter

Everything about how you communicate with others illustrates who you are and your feelings about them and even yourself. When it comes to your work arena, your voice, speech, and words demonstrate how well you get along with others. Learn to take advantage of these aspects to showcase your level of confidence.

Keep these points in mind when communicating at the office:

Use your voice to show self-assurance.

Having a pleasant tone of voice, even in stressful situations, shows that you can stay calm. A friendly tone will make you appear much more approachable to others, which is an important element of confidence.

 

Voice volume is also important.

Although it’s helpful to speak at a level that others can hear, projecting too loudly is rarely the best plan at work. Actually, it can be wise to lower your voice when saying something important, as it tends to obtain and hold others’ attention. You’ll notice others leaning in toward you when you drop your voice volume.

 

Your speech, especially word choice, has an impact.

Confident people choose words that indicate they have at least a basic understanding of grammar and know the best way to get their ideas across.

 

Speak in concise, complete sentences.

Although you may be thinking, “Of course, I talk in whole sentences,” you may be surprised when you really listen to bits of your own conversation. Focus on expressing a complete, yet concise, idea to co-workers when providing your ideas or instructions.

 

Avoid using slang or “colorful” language.

Although you may be tempted to occasionally use slang or curse words when frustrated, you’ll come across as if you’re in relaxed control if you keep your responses at work at a more tactful, dignified level. Decide to be straightforward without using unsavory language.

 

If you find yourself feeling frustrated or angry, take heed.

Stay in touch with your feelings, especially at the office or when interacting with co-workers. Avoid allowing negative feelings to overflow onto others at work.

The safest way to express such feelings is to say something like, “I find myself feeling frustrated about this project. I need some time to get my thoughts together about this and then I’ll get back to you. Is this afternoon okay for you?”

Showing you can handle your feelings in appropriate ways indicates confidence.

 

Thinking before speaking is always your best option.

You’ll find that your ability to access relevant thoughts and suggestions increases vastly when you give yourself some time to thoroughly consider the options involved in a work project or situation.

Your communication skills can help you rise above any type of challenging event at the office. How you speak to others also demonstrates that you believe in yourself and know how to best deal with stressful situations and your co-workers.