No finance background? No problem. We created this 34-part series of short (1-5 minutes) videos to summarize business finance and accounting for any layperson. We take you through relevant finance topics like income statements, budgeting and even common accounting terms, just to name a few. More importantly, we do it in a fun way that doesn’t talk over your head, confuse you or put you to sleep.   Press play to preview the series now!     Once you’ve finished watching, why not check out a full episode? Sign up now for a free 15-day trial of Thinkzoom to watch the course, Common Accounting Terms, in its entirety. The post New eLearning Series: Finance for Non-Financial Employees appeared first on .

If big data can influence eLearning platforms by deciding optimal times for employees to learn, what’s the real payoff if they’re still learning under an umbrella of hour-long courses?   Our big data response is simple: See why time is on your side with ej4’s courses that begin and end in 10 minutes or less. Watch our latest video below for more!     See what short, targeted content can do for your learners today with a .

June is Effective Communications Month. One skill we can all improve is our ability to effectively communicate. Whether it’s at work or away from it, how we communicate is key for obvious reasons. It forges relationships, diffuses conflict and puts both parties on an even keel. But when done poorly, it does the opposite. It can upend relationships, create conflict where there wasn’t one to begin with, and create uncertainty.   At work, we communicate everything from how a project needs to be done to company goals to sales objectives and so forth. It might be an email requesting status updates, or a conference call for a department meeting, or a face-to-face discussion with a new employee on how well they’re settling in with the company.     With that said, how well do you communicate at work? Do co-workers or your boss receive every message clearly? Can you pinpoint one example of a time when you communicated something poorly? If the answer’s "Yes" to the latter, here’s a quick rundown on ways to improve communication:   Write emails the way you want to receive them: If you’re prone to using all caps to make a point, know that there’s a good chance that email will be received poorly. Make emails short, include a warm salutation and closing and get to your point quickly. And if the email is 3 sentences or more, maybe you need a better mode of communication.   Don’t let a simple misunderstanding linger: If you or your co-worker feel there’s some disconnect, resolve it quickly, and don’t be afraid to ask why the message went south. The more you know, the easier you can prevent future communication disasters.   Understand your schedule isn’t the same as theirs: If you’re trying to complete your end of a project and need a second pair of eyes, make sure your request is understanding of their time. Don’t be short and say, "I need this approved now," and hit "Send." Every employee has their own schedule. They’re working on multiple tasks or requests and when they’re busy, they are busy. Don’t constantly engulf their time with your agenda. Trust your co-worker to get to your task on time.   Stop the gossip: Internal office gossip is not good communication (or productive, for that matter). Does it form a certain bond between co-workers? Maybe, but is that really a healthy bond? Because if the gossip is aimed at others in the company, it’s creating a division whether you know it or not. It’s understandable that not every employee will get along with one another, but airing your grievances with others just builds negativity. And color me shocked the day negative communications ever boost productivity.   That’s just a start. Learn how you can communicate better with your employees with our Communication Styles courseware. Everything from D.I.S.C. (know what type of communicator you are) to Emotional Intelligence (understand your emotions to communicate effectively) will help you avoid communication pitfalls and forge better bonds between yourself and your co-workers. Try our learning platform, Thinkzoom, today to learn more.   The post June is Effective Communications Month appeared first on .

A new study of 1,000 employees who quit their job after just 6 months revealed plenty. Everything from how perks don’t mean as much as some companies think they do to how they new hires appreciate feedback early, but not to the point it feels like management is hovering over them.   Yet the statistic that stands out the most is how 76% of respondents screamed for a competent onboarding program. Now compare that to a familiar stat line we’ve talked about before: 58% of new hires are more likely to stay with a company if there’s a successful onboarding system.     The demand for onboarding is clear: Train me to fit in and do my job properly or I’m going to have  my resume ready. close by. And it’s not like there isn’t competition out there waiting to scoop up your deserters. If their skillset is there, companies will overlook the preconceived notion that they’re a job hopper. They aren’t job hopping, they are marketable and in demand.   Because like it or not, if you don’t have a legitimate way to express your company’s strengths to new hires, or an easy method to bring them up to speed on their role and look in on them to make sure they’re doing what you want them to properly, it could spell doom sooner rather than later.   So first things first: Review your current onboarding program and ask yourself a few questions:   ● Can you say for certain how many new employees leave the company within the first year? ● Does your onboarding program monitor new hires from the first day through the next 90 and beyond that? ● What is the single most valuable part of your onboarding program? ● If onboarding includes eLearning courses, how much time do new hires invest watching and applying? ● Are supervisors being supportive enough to know when the new hire is comfortable and happy, and not still feeling a tad alienated?   If the answers are less than stellar, how can you fix it?   Let us help. Contact us today to learn more about why our New Hire Curriculum has helped thousands of new hires feel welcomed and more productive with their company. The post 76% of New Hires Demand Competent Onboarding appeared first on .

Your palms start to sweat. You blink rapidly. Your breathing becomes tense and heavy. The audience seems like a hundred Jack Nicholsons judging your every move.     Then the lights in the conference room start to play mind tricks on you. For a moment you’re stuck in presentation limbo, and all of the important characters are there to see you either fail or succeed spectacularly.   Because let’s face it: Whether it’s internal presentations on quarterly targets or product demos for prospects, every presentation counts. And as the presenter, you need the confidence and clarity to deliver perfection every time. Here are a few reminders to help avoid presentation jitters.   Manage Your Stress - Stressful environments or situations will bring a confident person to their knees. You could try and fake your way through a presentation if you’ve just gone through a stressful period - or still are - but that’s not healthy in the long run. Managing your stress doesn’t just get you through the presentation; it helps you plan your presentation better, allows you to practice your speech with a clear head, and just helps you be you better.   No Matter What, Speak Slowly - When you’re nervous or excited, your speech patterns rise. The faster they rise, the more you start to think about it . The more you think about it, the less you’re focusing on the presentation. The less you think about the presentation, well… you get the idea.   Always. Speak. Slowly. The slower your speech, the more you enunciate every syllable and avoid confusing the audience. And speaking of articulation…   Keep Up With Articulation Exercises - When you speak more clearly, you gain tiny amounts of confidence. Now, I’ve always struggled at some point to not cross my words when talking to friends, family, co-workers, etc. It was because I naturally tense up for no other reason than just because I tense up when it’s my turn to talk. And while my speech patterns aren’t exactly crystal clear, they’re leaps and bounds better than they were because I went back to speech exercises.   Here are six phrases I’ve always returned to that help hit  vowels and consonants of every word that comes out.   Elmo eats eggplant with Eleanor the elephant Green tea ice cream is a treat to eat Cedar shingles should be shaved and saved Irish wristwatch Around the rugged rocks the ragged rascal ran Six short slow shepherds   And obviously understanding your product or whatever you’re pitching, how to outline your presentation and other major presentation talking points are key. For that, we point you to our newly updated series, Presentation Skills.     But when the jitters come up, when your emotions start to play tricks on you, and you feel you’re about to unleash jumbled sentence after jumbled sentence, take these reminders with you and build clear communication from start to finish.   The post How to Avoid Stage Fright During a Big Presentation appeared first on .

Companies spend close to $2 billion dollars a year on wellness programs, and you want to make sure that money is invested wisely and employees are actively participating. With June being National Employee Wellness Month, here are some tips to creating a great company wellness plan that your employees would happily get behind.     Diversify Wellness Goals - As I’ve mentioned already, wellness doesn’t just focus on being healthy from a physical standpoint; it should branch out. If you’re creating a year-long wellness program, don’t have every month, or activity, center on exercising. Throw in different milestones such as giving back to the community, starting and maintaining a company fundraiser, and other achievements that aren’t suggesting employees run half-marathons every month.   Offer Incentives That Employees Would Want to Win - If employees are competing for monthly or weekly challenges, and the grand prize is a set of steak knives, you’ll likely turn away a good chunk of participation. There’s even a bell curve on cash prizes: a Lockton Benefit Group poll found incentives with a dollar amount starting at $100 are likely to get 75% employee approval/participation. Any amount south of that was lucky to get between 30-50% participation.   Clearly Communicate the Program - If employees don’t know the program exists, they won’t participate. Using Thinkzoom, the head of your wellness program could create and record content around wellness achievements from the previous month, what this month’s goals are, and talk about how well the company is participating. Add a leaderboard of who’s gaining the most ground. At ej4, we’ve obviously had our wellness program live and breathe within Thinkzoom, and the ways tips/achievements are presented continue to improve month over month. Employees have taken the social aspect of Thinkzoom to comment on videos, share links to other wellness tips, and so forth.   The point is, clear communication lines and a platform for employees to go and view/interact with your wellness program is a brilliant way to get consistently higher utilization rates, which helps create a healthier workforce, which helps your company in more ways than just better health premiums down the road.   See how easy it is to create and communicate your company’s wellness plan for this month and beyond with a free 15-day trial of Thinkzoom. The post How to Craft a Great Employee Wellness Program appeared first on .

Breathe in. Breathe out. Focus on cute puppies or kittens.   Quick! Look at this picture:     Still angry?     How about now?   If so, learn how to control your anger when things heat up, know why you get angry and how you can keep a level head and be more productive and happier at work in our new 5-part series, Keep Your Cool.   Here’s a preview:     Check out the first episode in its entirety right now with a free trial of Thinkzoom. The post New eLearning Series: Keep Your Cool appeared first on .

Being nice doesn’t mean you’re passive, it means you’re nice.  Here’s what I mean:   Another lane opens up at the grocery store. It’s clearly your turn, but someone jumps in front of you. You shrug it off.   Friends ask you to carpool them to a party for the 5th time in a row because your car has "more room." You oblige.   You want to add your two cents to something at work, but don’t want to come off as being too critical, so you say nothing.   You’re out to dinner and the steak you ordered is well done, not medium rare. You contemplate the wait time, the inconvenience and other scenarios instead of just ask for the correct steak.   There are so many "passive" scenarios out there. Some of us are comfortable with them because we don’t want to disrupt the balance. But being assertive doesn’t mean you need to be angry or aggressive. You don’t have to raise your voice or threaten to get what you want. And you don’t have to over explain why you want what you want - just get to the point quickly.     Our updated, 3-part series Assertive Verbal Skills shows you how to be more direct and get what you want at work, and away from it. Contact us today to learn more about this series! The post Be More Assertive at Work appeared first on .

Not sure about you, but around the ej4 West and East offices, the weather has been pretty reasonable for the most part. Although like many cities across the country, summer is just starting to heat up. July and August typically show the hottest temperatures, and whether you’re working outdoors or indoors, you need to take steps to make sure you avoid potential dangers such as heat stroke, or worse.   Check out our Course of the Month for July, Working in Hot Weather now! Click the image below to go directly to our eLearning Videos page to watch the course from start to finish.     The post ej4’s Course of the Month for July is… appeared first on .

See why Hillyard continues to use ej4 for their training needs and points to our short, targeted courses as a reason their employees embrace training now more than ever.     How can we help you with your training needs? Contact us today for more details or go ahead and take a trial of ej4’s content right now. The post Why Hillyard Chooses ej4 appeared first on .