How can you bring in the festivities that surround the winter holidays into the office without excluding anyone or making anyone feel uncomfortable or worse, offended or discriminated against? After all, the holidays are about all things good! Giving, gathering, fun, food, family and friends aren’t usually topics that spur feelings of discrimination or offense. So, how can you keep things light and celebratory while still acknowledging the meaning behind this season?
TweetHappy Thanksgiving week! If you haven’t left your office yet, many of you will soon be venturing through the woods to grandmother’s house or relaxing away from it all with a quiet staycation at home. And whether you watch it or play it, most likely your thankful Thursday will involve some sort of football. Around here, Thanksgiving football kicked off already with our Annual ABG Capital Turkey Bowl last Friday!
You probably think we’re going to tell you all about how you should get away from your desk at mealtimes to break up the monotony of your day, or to relieve stress, or to get more activity by taking a walk… WELL, YOU’RE WRONG! This post is about how you are eating your food at one of the dirtiest, most germ-ridden areas of the office. That’s right – we’re going to tell you why eating lunch at your desk is making you sick!
Image: Courtesy of Dettol
Offices are becoming increasingly unhygienic as more and more of us are eating lunches at our desks. You can find dozens of studies and test results with a simple Google search showing just how dirty our desks can be. Your mouse and keyboard alone contain more than 3 times the levels of bacteria-related contamination than the average toilet seat. This is because of the crumbs and food residue (think greasy French fries, mayo and condiments from your fingers and that yogurt you spilled last week) that is all over your workstation making for the ideal environment for bacteria and other micro-organisms to live. Additionally, because these are electronic devices, they’re not being cleaned as regularly or as thoroughly as other parts of the office.
Don’t believe me? Take your keyboard, right now, and turn it upside down. Give it a little shake. What fell out? The crumbs are just what you can SEE. If they’re there, so is bacteria.
Our suggestion: A granola bar, a piece of fruit or other small snack is probably okay to consume whilst sitting at your desk, as long as you’ve washed your hands and taken care to clean up any spills. We recommend eating your meals like breakfasts and lunches AWAY from your desk. Not only will you reap the benefits that you THOUGHT we were going to impart at the beginning of this article, you’ll also keep your desk much cleaner, and you won’t expose yourself to the bacteria and germs that are surely lurking at your workstation.
So be honest–how often do you eat at your desk? Does your workplace have a community lunch room?
TweetMen all around you will stop shaving, we will stuff our bellies until we have no choice but to take a nap, aspiring writers will be crafting their novels, and a shopping frenzy will commence in the wee hours of the early morning on a Friday—that’s right folks, it must be November! As we turned the page on the calendar yesterday, so began the penultimate month of the year. One amazing part of November, aside from bearded men, never-ending turkey, new reading material, and scoring a great deal on the year’s hottest gift, is stopping to give thanks. Continue reading
TweetThink about your typical day at the office. You sit down at your desk to get immersed in writing that grant proposal, balancing your monthly budget, or typing that staff memo, and then your phone rings. You begin working again only to become stopped by the third coworker who has knocked at your door in the span of 15 minutes. Just when you start getting back down to business, an instant message pops up from another coworker, your phone rings again, and your calendar alarm signals that it’s time for your 9:30 am meeting to commence. Does this sound familiar?
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When Boss’s Day is mentioned to someone, there are three common reactions: Oh, cool—that’s nice. OMG, I can’t stand my boss. Did you make that up? That last one leads into the retort, “Hallmark made that up just to sell greeting cards.” Actually, Hallmark didn’t even begin selling Boss’s Day cards until 1979, but the holiday has been around long before that. Continue reading
TweetChances are, you could think up a few dozen reasons to celebrate as a business or a team. Revenue milestones, the completion of a large project, or the closing of a big deal are all really fantastic reasons to throw a party and, you might agree, a party is a really fantastic way to boost company morale.
TweetAt ABG Capital, there is a short list of what we take very seriously amidst our ping pong, arcade machine, and scotch cart breaks. Near the top of that list is the Health and Wellness of our team. We are always looking for new ways to increase our staff members’ access to healthy choices around the office. We play quarterly sporting events, serve healthy lunches, publish a Weekly Wellness E-blast and encourage the whole office to take a daily break at 2:00 p.m. to get outside and get some fresh air. Continue reading
TweetWelcome to another Motivational Monday! As we mentioned last week, this is our final feature in the series. We hope you’ve enjoyed these posts that showcased the journeys of Tim, Justin, Erica, Jeff, and Jerry, and have taken away some great tips and ideas to share at your office or in your own life!
Today, we’re introducing you to our Communications Specialist Cherie Steffen. Yes, it’s me! I’ve been with ABG Capital for seven months now and couldn’t be happier to have found such an amazing company and group of people who value health and wellness. They don’t just talk about it; they are about it. Like you, some of them don’t know my story, so let’s get into the whys and hows of my health and wellness transformation.
Welcome to another Motivational Monday! We truly hope you’ve been enjoying these wellness transformation stories we featured this month–we only have a couple left!
Many of us know it can be difficult to make healthy food choices or lace up those sneakers and get out the door. Our hope in featuring our fellow employees who have gone on successful journeys is to show you that it CAN be done–bite by bite and step by step, making little changes and committing to living a healthy life.
But a “healthy” life is not always centered on weight loss. Sure, our last couple of transformation stories like that of Tim, Justin, Erica, and Jeff, focused on dropping body weight. But the story of our Director of Development Jerry Eddy, is a little bit different. Jerry’s journey is that of traveling down the road of wellness. Keep reading as we introduce you to the health and wellness transformation of Jerry Eddy.
