More people than ever before are finding it difficult to maintain a happy medium in managing their work and personal lives. One answer to this problem has been a steady increase in employers allowing their workers to get tasks done outside of a traditional office space. Whether you know it as telecommuting, teleworking, or workshifting, this practice can have a tremendously positive impact on employee happiness… and your profits.

Profits? Yes, profits!

Among many business owners there is a stigma that working from home is really just code for slacking off, but the data proves otherwise. A workshifting study by Telework Research Network found:

• Workshifting increases productivity by 27 percent.
• Workshifters spend 60 percent of the commuting time they save working for the company.
• 85 percent of employers say workshifting has a moderate to high impact on employee retention.
• Companies with workshifting policies report a 25 percent reduction in employee attrition.
• 72 percent of workers say flexible work arrangements can be a deciding factor when choosing a job.
• The expected turnover rate for workers without flexibility is almost twice the rate of those who do.

Okay, workshifting sounds too good to be true. It must be a financial hassle for businesses, right?

• Workplace flexibility can save employers up to $10,000 per employee per year.
• Workshifters save between $2,000 and $6,800 per year in travel and work-related costs.
• Employee absenteeism is reduced 3.7 days a year at an average cost of $310 per absence.
• Half-time workshifting creates an 18 percent savings in overall company expenses.
• More than 33 percent of workers say they’d choose working from home over a pay raise.
• Half-time workshifting nationwide would be equivalent to removing 10 million cars from the road.

Implement a Workshift Program

Technologies like smartphones, remote desktop applications, and virtual phone systems make workshifting easier than ever. If your employees are among the 40 percent of Americans who could do their job from home at least part of the time, consider workshifting as an option. Done right, a workshifting policy can improve your employee happiness, health and productivity, and help the environment while saving your business some serious cash.

More Cool Workshifting Resources:
TeleworkResearchNetwork.com
The Dollars and Sense of Workshifting (Infographic)
A Recent History of Workshifting
How Workshifting is Changing the Way We Work
Workshifting.com

Here are a 5 ways you can work to improve your company culture by motivating your employees…

1. Define Your Core Values

You can’t build a brand on smoke and mirrors, and your employees can’t get behind your brand if they don’t know what it stands for. If the answer isn’t abundantly clear to you, take the time to sit down and really give it shape. What’s your mission? What does your business value the most? What policies can you hold to that will make your customers choose you over your competition? Don’t just deal in abstracts, boil down core values to things like reliable customer service, a strict commitment to quality, prompt shipping, or a forgiving refund policy. You may even find that you want to invite feedback from employees on this. What better way to get everybody onboard than to make it their idea?

Once you have something you can be proud of, make sure it is visible and understood. And then stick to it. Revisit these core values frequently to evaluate your own performance and see what you’ve done in line with your mission, to further your goals, and to stay true to what your business stands for.

2.  Hire the Right People

At first, this one sounds too obvious and idealistic – if you could just hire an amazing team of zealots that bleed your company colors, you would, wouldn’t you? While it’s not exactly that simple, you can make adjustments to how you evaluate potential hires and their compatibility with your core values and company culture. Work into your interview process questions that focus in on loyalty, passion for one’s work, and ability to communicate and work well with others. These traits can have a remarkable impact on the productivity and the cohesiveness of your workforce.

Feel free to get creative with how you hire. Online retailer Zappos, for example, offers new employees $2,000 to quit. The logic is that anyone willing to take the money and walk away from the position isn’t dedicated enough and would be poisonous to the Zappos company culture. On the other side, those who don’t take the money show an implied commitment and reinforce their own loyalty.

3. Build a System of Trust and Accountability

Your employees need to know that you respect them and trust in their abilities. Start by empowering qualified employees to make or share in decisions affecting the company. A small amount of additional responsibility shows your confidence and will hopefully encourage your employees to excel with the opportunity. If your employees make a mistake, keep them accountable – not by punishing their failure, but by analyzing the mistake. Clearly outline what went wrong, how to fix it, and how to make sure it never happens again.

Trust and accountability extend beyond employee interaction to your interaction with your customers. If your business is not honest with its customers, your employees will pick up on that and it can damage how they feel about working for you. Own up to your mistakes (gracefully, of course), and keep your promises.

4. Tear Down Office Walls

A big part of building a strong company culture is to remove the barriers that keep employees isolated. In the literal sense, this could mean removing actual walls and opting for a more open floor plan to encourage interaction. In the figurative sense, this means fostering interaction between employees in settings outside of work. No amount of on-the-job team-building exercises can match the lasting benefit of taking some or all of the team out to lunch once in a while or everyone going out for a drink after a long week.

FreedomVoice, as an example, treats all employees, along with our families, to a group dinner out on the town once every month in the name of celebrating birthdays for that month. One time, we even went to Hawaii. Events like this give everyone a chance to sit down, reconnect with coworkers, and share our lives outside the office. Put simply, it’s made us all friends, and we carry that back into the workplace in the respect and trust we show one another.

5. Reward Success

People typically respond well to deserved praise (it’s science) and are motivated by such reinforcement to continue doing the good work that upholds your company’s core values. The best way for you to leverage this fact is to create performance incentives that reward employees when they reach goals. The reward doesn’t have to be monetary – you can alternatively offer small, unique privileges such as a better parking space or an honorary title (e.g. the ubiquitous, “Employee of the Month”).

The strength and vitality of your company culture comes down to how pleased your employees are to be doing the work that furthers your core values. This positive attitude will spread to everything they touch – improving customer relations, gaining new business, and improving how your brand is perceived by people outside your company.

And 855 is an opportunity you don’t want to miss.

First, A Little History

Toll free numbers have been around for a long time in the United States – since 1967. Back then they were expensive, controlled exclusively by AT&T, and came in just one flavor – the well-known 800 number prefix. They were reserved for big nationwide businesses that could afford the hefty per-minute rates. But in the past two decades, competitive providers with affordable rates have caused these numbers to explode in popularity among small businesses. Rapid consumption led to the FCC releasing the 888 prefix in 1996, 877 in 1998, and 866 in 2000. After that, the available pool of recycled or unused toll free numbers was enough to keep up with demand – until now.

Why Is 855 So Special?

A new prefix means new vanity number possibilities. Phonewords that haven’t been available in over a decade are going to be up-for-grabs overnight when the new 855 prefix lands. You can be sure businesses that have been built on a toll free number, like 1-800-CONTACTS or 1-800-FLOWERS, are going to act quickly to snatch up their 855 counterpart to protect their brand. But countless other hyper-popular phonewords are going to be available for any takers, such as realtors looking for numbers ending in HOMES.

The value of these premium numbers is huge. A vanity number can immediately boost your return on direct response advertising by making the number easy to remember and by creating a strong, professional impression. The release of 855 is the perfect opportunity for your small business to seize an attractive toll free number that you can use as the cornerstone of your business communications.

What Should You Do?

With the wide range of possibilities for vanity toll free numbers, you’re bound to have a dozen or so phonewords that describe your brand or business the best. If you had your pick, what would it be? Brainstorm, even create a wishlist. Go beyond phonewords – think about special patterns like 1234 or 5555. Be sure to check the national database using our free vanity search tool to make sure the numbers aren’t available right now in 866, 877, or 888.

If you’re really devious, find numbers that your competition might like and grab them to use yourself. Just remember, unlike domain names, you can’t lock up toll free numbers and not use them just to stop other people from having them or to sell to someone that really wants them. That’s hoarding, and is prohibited by the FCC. You also can’t advertise a number with a competitor’s trademarked or copyrighted terms spelled out.

In the meantime, be sure to check back with us on the status of 855 – we’ll keep you updated on any developments and how you can get an 855 number of your own when they’re available.

Buyer Beware – 855 Number Scams

One important note about 855 numbers is the fact that nobody outside the FCC can say for sure when the prefix will be released, and no toll free number provider can place guaranteed reservations for certain numbers ahead of time. Any company that’s looking to charge you money now with some promise of getting you your desired 855 number in the future is nothing short of a scam.

We’d like to share our social media success story thus far.

After utilizing social media sparingly for 6 months, we’ve already seen admirable results on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube. We now have over 1,700 followers on Twitter, 3,200 video views on YouTube, and 230 fans on Facebook. Our social media efforts have increased brand awareness, lead generation, and conversions. And a lot of that success has come as a result of our blogs.

Both the FreedomIQ Hosted VoIP Blog and the FreedomVoice Toll Free Number Blog are growing in popularity each day. The blogs currently have hundreds of visitors each month, and we expect that to be in the thousands before long.

We know that fans do not come easy, and we’re very thankful to everyone who interacts with us through social media. It’s been a lot of fun creating content we are passionate about, and we look forward to making lots more in 2010.

Follow us on Twitter.
Become a fan on Facebook.
Visit us on YouTube.
Read the FreedomIQ Hosted VoIP Blog
Read the FreedomVoice Toll Free Number Blog

Quick Stats – # People Using Social Media Sites:

• On Sep 14, 2009 Mashable projected Twitter to have 18 million users by End of 2009
• According to the Facebook Blog they are 200 Million Strong
• Friday, October 9, 2009 YouTube reaches over one billion views per day
• LinkedIn: over 50 million

Here, Guardian Analytics, a provider of fraud prevention software for the financial services industry, advises businesses on the risks of Internet banking, and how they can protect their companies from becoming a victim of online banking fraud.

The need for businesses to examine their online business banking practices has never been more important. In August alone, the FDIC, NACHA – The Electronic Payments Association, and the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) all published alerts warning about rising Internet threats to businesses. Analyst firm Gartner issued a report on the issue in August, and last week the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held a special hearing to discuss cybercriminals targeting small- and medium- sized businesses, many of which, could be the same business owners browsing this site for toll free number information.

Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., and Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Me., have started drafting legislation to address this as well as other cyber security issues, and is working to bring public and private organizations together to spearhead the initiative.

“In the last several weeks, business banking fraud has become a dominant discussion point in the financial and security industries,” said Avivah Litan, VP and distinguished analyst at Gartner. “With cybercriminals circumventing strong authentication and using sophisticated reconnaissance on accounts during the attacks, increased fraud awareness has never been more important.”

Terry Austin, Guardian Analytics CEO, provides the following advice to entrepreneurs to protect their companies against online banking fraud:

1. Be aware of your financial rights: If your business becomes the victim of online business banking fraud, you have fewer rights than you do as an individual. Regulation E of the Federal Electronic Funds Transfer Act requires banks to reimburse consumer fraud victims within 10 days of a fraud report, but it does not protect businesses the same way it protects individual accounts. Ask your bank what their policies are on protecting business accounts.

2. Ask your bank to increase investment in protection technologies: Your bank’s online account platform is only as secure as the technology behind it. Ask your bank if they have a proactive online banking fraud monitoring system in place to detect suspicious account activity and how they are responding to the recent alerts. Despite increased regulations, many financial institutions still have not implemented the technologies beyond authentication that are necessary to fight today’s sophisticated threats.

3. Update your anti-malware software and firewalls: Not keeping your anti-malware and firewalls updated is a huge risk for anyone, and even more so when it could jeopardize your businesses’ entire financial health. Still, know that your business can fall victim even with updated computer security protection.

4. Monitor for irregularities and missing funds: It is imperative for any business to always be on the lookout for anything abnormal occurring in its account/s. Many banks offer transaction alerts so customers can be notified of important account activity, so ask your bank about this service.

5. Educate your financial managers on the threats: Forward the latest advisories on to whoever manages your online business banking accounts. If anyone needs to know about the threats, it is the person closest to your online banking account/s, whether that is the CEO, CFO, or accountant.

To find out more about online banking faud and how you can protect yourself visit Guardian Analytics website.

To see how the FreedomVoice Toll Free Number Service works visit www.freedomvoice.com/how-it-works.shtml

1. You Can’t Try the Service for Free

This is just a no-brainer. Any toll free number service provider worth considering has nothing to fear when it comes to letting you take a free trial test drive. If their service delivers on everything it promises, they’ve earned your business as a customer. If the service isn’t all it’s cracked up to be… well… you have your answer. Check out our free trial to see how it’s done.

2. You Don’t Get Any Minutes Included

Some toll free number service providers don’t include any toll free minutes in their pricing packages. Instead, the difference from one package to the next is which standard features are being held back. To get an affordable toll free number, these providers want you to sacrifice both quality of service AND your monthly minutes. Your business deserves better, and you can certainly find affordable toll free number service with a lot of included features and enough monthly toll free minutes to cover what you need.

3. You’re Overbuying on Minutes

On the other end of the spectrum from getting no minutes included is getting too many minutes included, or even unlimited minutes per month for a high monthly fee. Why is this a bad thing? Because service providers know that very few people use enough minutes to make these plans worthwhile. For the rest of their customers, they get away with charging what amounts to a ridiculous per-minute rate. Look for a service provider with an honest range of toll free number calling plans, and pick the one that fits.

4. You Have to Pay for Tech Support

Believe it or not, some service providers charge you a hefty monthly fee to be able to call their toll free number for tech support. If the service provider you’re considering isn’t prepared or sufficiently staffed to help their customers, this is a tell-tale sign of bad service to come. Also beware providers that try to disguise this fee, or pretty it up by making it sound like an exclusive right or privilege. (e.g. “Platinum Level Technical Support – only $45 / month!”)

5. You Can’t Change Your Calling Plan

Flexibility is your best friend in uncertain times. No matter what toll free number service provider you choose and how good of a deal you’re getting right now, if you aren’t free to increase or decrease your service or add and remove features – it’s a trap. Beware rigid fine print and hidden fees that can have you paying through the nose. If your toll free number service can’t keep up with your changing business needs, they don’t deserve your business.

There you have it, and the proverbial jig is up. If you’re ready to see what one of the last honest toll free number service providers can do for your business, get started by picking your own toll free number today.

1. Go Outside the Brand

Unless your company name is widely recognized or does a great job summing up your business in one or two very short words, you are better off starting your toll free number brainstorming session with words that have a very simple association with what you do (like “BIKE” in the bicycle shop example above).

2. Keep It Short

Considering how many toll free numbers are currently in use, you’re much less likely to find a match if searching for a 6- or 7-letter vanity phrase. You may need to be a little flexible and creative with how you get your message across if you’re to find an available match. Try starting with simpler 3-, 4-, or 5-letter vanity words.

3. Embrace 866, 877, and 888

You won’t get far in your vanity search if you limit yourself to only considering 800 numbers. The 8-0-0 prefix, like FreedomVOICE, has been around since 1996. After 13+ years of heavy use, availability today is limited. Broaden your search to include the 866, 877, and 888 toll free number prefixes to avoid unnecessary frustration.

4. It’s Easy As 1-2-3

Sometimes a vanity word isn’t the best choice for your toll free number. Many businesses find that they get higher responses and create a more lasting impression by advertising with toll free numbers that have attractive patterns like repeating or sequential digits (e.g. “8**-555-1234”).

5. Just Start Searching!

If you have some vanity words in mind check out our free vanity search tool to see if they’re available and reserve your new toll free number today. If you can’t find any matches, we’re happy to help you brainstorm – give us a call at 800-477-1477 ext. 1.

**Bonus Tip: Once you have your vanity number, be sure to spell out the digits of your vanity word on quick response advertisements like billboards. For example, “8**-555-BIKE  (2453)“. While you want your customers to remember the number later, you also want to make it as easy as possible for them to dial you right away.

With Facebook set to catch up with Google in terms of unique users and Twitter expected to attract its 25 millionth user by year-end, marketers may be missing out on more than they realize.

As a result, Emailvision has put together three top tips for integrating social media tactics into marketing campaigns. FreedomVoice is making these tips available to you so that you can improve your social media campaign.

1. Cross-channel consistency – getting the basics right and ensuring you have consistent messages across multiple channels is key to controlling the identity of your company brand. Linking email content to social media updates will drive interest in both channels.

2. Encourage engagement – offering prospects a discount or incentive for following your brand will encourage extra buzz in the social media sphere. As Dell recently proved by making $1 million advertising special offers on Twitter, it might just increase revenues too.

3. Test those tweets – measurement is vital for the success of any marketing campaign. Monitoring click-throughs from social media sites and reviewing the online chatter surrounding your brand, will help you to develop and improve its multi-channel approach.

Additional survey findings reveal that businesses favor traditional marketing channels. Almost half of respondents cited SEO and email as being among their leading tools. Yet in spite of the high level of companies employing these channels, the lack of uptake of newer social media tools indicates that many organizations are failing to use this method to supplement more their more traditional approach.

“It’s understandable that many brands are wary about investing limited resources in new and emerging marketing channels,” said Olivier Piscart, Regional Manager, North America at Emailvision. “Getting the basics right with existing channels can free up time and money, offering a solution to these brands,” he added. “This time and money can be used to integrate social media into established approaches; allowing businesses to develop new strategies, while refreshing existing techniques at the same time.

Know of more tips for getting the most out of your social media? Comment below!

Working with law firms to help them dig out of this smoking crater, Moire Marketing Partners, a strategic branding and communications agency, is offering some tips on how firms can position themselves for growth in the post-recession economy.

In an effort to help business owners make smart decisions, FreedomVoice is making these tips available on the new FreedomVoice Blog.

Incorporate social media into your business development efforts. Your clients, prospects and their suppliers are using it; you should strategically use it too. Leverage tools including LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to connect with prospective clients and other professionals to build your network and demonstrate your expertise.

Be a brand ambassador. Remember, you are the face of your company’s brand. Use your interactions to communicate your firm’s brand promise and support that continuously in your efforts.

Network. Relationships matter. Social media is a great way to start a conversation with a client or prospect – but don’t let it stop there. Offer to meet new and old colleagues at an upcoming industry or bar association meeting, civic event, non-profit activity or social mixer -or host your own hospitality function at your firm.

Seize the podium. Apply to be a speaker at upcoming events.  If you aren’t accepted, attend anyway to get a better handle on what topics are creating buzz.

Learn from other professionals. Invest in consultants to sharpen your brand.  An outside perspective can help you assess the effectiveness of your business development efforts and offer insight into what strategies would work best for your personality type.

Be active in your home and business communities. Dust off those memberships in the local chamber of commerce and non-profit organization.  Get involved in industry related activities and slowly increase your profile.

Know of a marketing tip that didn’t make the list? Post about it below!