Category: Business News

The Health Savings Account in a Canada-U.S. Context

You work hard to earn your money. You live below your means and have extra funds to save for retirement or a rainy day. But with all the different types of savings and investment accounts available, which should you prioritize? Once you’ve stashed away three to six months of living expenses in a basic savings account to cover unexpected emergencies like insurance deductibles, out-of-pocket medical expenses, and auto repairs, it’s time to turn your attention to other savings or investment accounts that have tax advantages that provide a benefit from the investment, allowing more of your money to be invested and ultimately returned back to you. Below are the factors to consider:

HSA Canada
  • Are contributions to the account deductible?
  • Does the account provide tax deferral of investment income?
  • How are distributions taxed?

The best scenario for an investment account is one that allows deductible contributions, tax-free investment income, and tax-free distributions.

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Guide to Improving Restaurant Employee Communication

Restaurant owners know their businesses can’t thrive without great communication, and yet it’s not always easy to know what good employee communication in restaurants should look like.

And while a restaurant’s management team leads communication efforts, they may not always understand the importance of great communication as an employee training and development tool, even though 50% of restaurant employees specifically mentioned that more training would impact their satisfaction at work.

Effective restaurant employee communication is a big part of creating a great team culture and a thriving, successful restaurant business. So, let’s explore what you need to know to take it to the next level.

The importance of employee communication in restaurants

Whether you’re communicating pre-shift, post-shift, or in the middle of a meal-time rush, restaurant managers and leadership staff need to

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25 call center best practices for superior customer experiences

Call center best practices in 2020

Delivering exceptional customer service today is much more than answering customers’ questions and resolving their issues. Customer service can be a pivotal differentiator distinguishing your business from the competition when leveraged correctly. 

Customer service today comes in several forms – phone calls, live chats, emails, support tickets, etc. However, a virtual call center is the most common and efficient way to provide customer support at scale. 

By making customers feel heard and valued, good customer service can convert even the most casual customers into happy advocates and promoters. This, in turn, can significantly improve your Net Promoter Score (NPS), revenue goals, brand perception, and more. 

As per a recent PwC study, more than 75% of consumers worldwide want more human interaction at all stages of the brand experience. Though virtual call centers fulfill this criterion, incorporating call center best practices into your customer service strategy can help your business go

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Retail Payroll Software Compared + What to Look For

Do you find that manually running payroll for your small retail business is time-consuming and stressful? If you’re thinking yes, you’re in the same boat as 70% of small business owners who feel payroll and tax calculations add a significant burden to their workload. It might be time to turn to retail payroll software to eliminate some of that stress.

Because as your business grows, payroll’s poised to become a bigger burden. And without a human resources department to help you, sticking to your manual system may be a recipe for disgruntled employees, late paydays, time tracking errors, and wage miscalculations — not to mention tax mistakes that can come with heavy IRS penalties as high as 15% on top of what you owe that month.

A user-friendly retail payroll software that can run payroll instantly and provide you with automatic, error-free calculations is the best way to avoid

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What Is a Hosted Contact Center? Definition & Advantages

Hosted contact center featured image

What is a hosted contact center?

A hosted contact center is a communications solution hosted at your service provider’s physical location or on the cloud instead of on your premises.

The terms cloud services and hosted services are often used interchangeably. However, cloud services are a subset of hosted services. This is because hosted services include any infrastructure outside of the user’s physical location, which includes both the vendor’s location and the cloud.

A hosted contact center solution allows you to serve your prospects, customers, and partners across different channels in an efficient manner. 

It’s different from a call center as it covers many types of communication rather than just voice calls.

Call center vs. hosted contact center: Key differences

A call center is an office that handles inbound and outbound calls of a company. This includes potential and existing customers, partners, and internal staff. Businesses typically use call centers

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