A worker shortage might be excellent news for the economy! Maybe, just maybe, firms will awake and see workers’ substantial contribution to their success. Some CEOs take unconscionable sums and destroy their firm’s value, unlike many frontline workers who create value. During the pandemic, CEOs took vast sums as they laid-off workers. Some firms sought bankruptcy protection, but hat didn’t stop their greedy CEOs from snatching hefty bonuses.

We have a worker shortage and firms are scrambling to hire whomever is willing. Some firms, like McDonalds have paid signing bonuses. Canada’s Loblaw and its competitors paid a bonus to frontline workers when the pandemic began. They stopped it after three months in unison with their competitors. When government confronted them about this collusion, they claimed it happened independently. Go figure! It’s like you caught your three-year-old with her hand in the cookie jar and she said, Mom, “Cookie Monster did it!”

Worker Shortage Inevitable With Shoddy Treatment

Loblaw’s behavior disturbs me. During the bonus period, profits soared. Per se, that’s no problem. I favor firms making profits. To be sure, I am against government taxing profits. But paying workers the bonus during the pandemic shouldn’t hinge on profits. It was just right. Meanwhile, my wife and I shopped at a Loblaw store and workers continued their excellent service despite Loblaw’s slight.

Leaders must realize frontline workers are the firm’s foundation and treat them well, not as cogs turning out CEOs bonuses! When employers treat workers like machines, they disengage. Gallup said, over several decades, they and other researchers found a strong link between employees’ workplace engagement and the company’s overall performance. Yet employers refuse to accept this. But there is good news: surveys show some firms break the mold and treat workers with respect: Cisco, Apple, Accenture, IBM, FedEx are a few.

Next Quarter’s Earnings Drives Businesses

Companies see next quarter as the prize, so they exploit workers and fudge next quarter’s numbers. I repeat: I am against government taxing business. However, I favor the Biden Build Back Better provision to tax share buybacks that the House passed, and it is before the Senate, even if it might have only a modest effect on share buybacks. Companies shouldn’t be spending billions buying back shares while exploiting workers.

Firms should present to shareholder meetings options to use buyback funds. Choices might include effects of paying bonuses to frontline workers with buyback funds. Shareholders should hear about potential strategic investments, too. Another option is stopping buy-backs for five years after layoffs. Executives, too, shouldn’t get bonuses within five years of layoffs. We must get rid of worker exploitation that enhances CEO bonuses.

I learned most of what I know about branding from really big companies. Working in a corporate environment with Fortune 100 companies gave me and advantage in my industry. As a graphic designer I was an integral team member when they were recreating, merging or introducing new services to the brand. As a result I was “on the cutting room floor” for many of the decisions effecting the company globally. Even many upper level executives didn’t have this privilege (I guess they were too busy, or thought it was better left to the pros). I knew it was an honor, and I paid attention.With each new brand the most critical implementation component was the brand style guide. It’s a document that guides each and every employee, and all service providers, through the proper use of the brand’s logo, color scheme, partnerships and communication. In every case, before the brand was introduced to the public, each manager had a copy of the brand guidelines which they then distributed to their staff.Without brand guidelines, your brand appears messy and disjointed in the marketplace. I’ve seen many companies stunt their growth by not putting time into this very important asset. It is a staple business tool if you do any marketing or advertising, whether online, in print or in person. Here’s what should be included and why (write this down or print it out, it will become your Table of Contents):1) Your Core Values. Brand values are adjectives that we use to describe what we believe in and how we think our business should be run. In developing your brand values you differentiate yourself from competitors in the minds of your clients and staff. These values will set the tone for who you serve, why they choose you and why you retain them. As a small business many of your clients will choose you based on these values and not because you’re the best in the business (that ranking is based on opinion). As an example, Brand Excitement’s core values are support, integrity, leadership, and excellence.2) Color Palette and Usage. Your colors are a form of non-verbal communication with symbolism and meanings that go beyond ink and screen. It is best to choose 2-3, although I have seen some brands do well with four. You’ll want to include the color definitions for each color you choose: RGB, CMYK, Pantone and Hex. Your designer will know exactly what those are. This allows you to have your materials look consistent no matter where you get them printed, and no matter the size.3) Typography. This may be represented in two ways – your logo and/or the text of your documents. If you choose a font which is not a common library item, you can’t control how that font will be displayed on the web but you can control how your font is displayed in most print and electronic documents. Having one consistent treatment to your documents provides a cohesive experience.4) Logo. Most people think the logo is the brand, but as you know, it’s only one of the components. You need extensive usage guidelines for you logo, such as how it should be used in a joint venture or co-branded document or presentation, how it should be displayed when photos are used, how to adjust it with a colored background, and the white space around it, to name a few. As your brand grows, the definitions become more and more important for communicating consistently across many media.5) Unapproved Formats. As important as it is to define how the logo should be used, this section is critical to outline how the logo should NOT be used. You may elect to put treatments such as drop shadows, rotations, scale and tracking in this section.6) Brand Review Process. Make it easy for your staff (or interns or assistants or partners or friends) to execute your brand by putting in place a process for all outgoing materials. Any use of your brand components needs to be reviewed and approved by yourself or a designated brand manager. Any requests for exceptions to the brand rules will be considered on a case by case basis by this person. This ensures that communication remains seamless.As your brand grows, your guidelines will expand. Over time your guidelines may come to include signage usage, trademark and service mark details, tagline principles, PowerPoint usage and more. As you develop new materials over time, be sure to outline the process in your guidelines so that the next project runs smoothly.

With the passage of time, there has been continuous development in the world of solar energy, nuclear power, smart grid, electric vehicles, rail transportation, aerospace, aviation, and navigation. Therefore, this trend has increased requirements for power equipment performance. These days, the first generation of silicon materials is about to hit the theoretical limit that was originally determined. The third generation features a wider bandwidth, electron saturation, and thermal conductivity. In this article, we are going to talk about a new type of material called silicon carbide ceramics. And we will specifically discuss the applications of silicon carbide ceramics in different industries. Read on to find out more.

As far as potential is concerned, silicon carbide ceramic is the most mature choice. As a matter of fact, many of its indicators are much better than silicon. For example, it has a 300% higher bandwidth. Apart from this, the theoretical operational temperature of this material is 600 Celsius. Now, let’s talk about the different uses of this material.

Electric Vehicles

Since these modules can have a sustainable, intelligent, low carbon, and green development, we can say that the advantages of this material are primarily reflected in the following three aspects.

1. Simplification of the power supply Network and boosting the frequency

2. Increasing the temperature and reducing losses

3. Improving efficiency and reducing the volume

As far as power conversion is concerned, components made of silicon carbide cal can help improve performance. In electric models, the active load-bearing component is the electric motor. These motors have different rotational speeds. Therefore, these motors require repeated acceleration and acceleration during the process of driving. Therefore, the working condition is more complex compared to the speed regulating system.

Transmission Systems

If you have a silicon-based device, your best choice is are switch made from silicon carbide. This is because this material has an extremely low resistance. Therefore, it is an ideal choice for applications where high frequency and temperature are involved.

The thing is that this material can reduce the loss of power by up to five hundred percent. Moreover, it is possible to reduce weight and size by over 40%. Therefore, it can help have a positive impact on the grid configuration and adjustment of energy strategy.

Solar Energy Field

If you are looking for advice that can be used in solar inverters, silicon carbide is an ideal choice. It comes with a small size, reduced costs, and much higher efficiency. Typically, the conversion efficiency of these inverters is around 96%. But if silicon carbide is used, it is possible to increase the efficiency to 97.5%. In other words, these devices can help produce power losses by 25%. Apart from this, these inverters can help boost conversion efficiency significantly.

LED Lighting

These days, the popularity of LED devices that use silicon carbide is on the rise. The thing is that these LEDs are much brighter and can reduce the cost by up to 50%. They are 200% brighter than other types of lights.

Similarly, they have 10 times more thermal conductivity. In routine life, you can apply this type of lighting for different types of environments, such as color display devices, information screens, indoor lighting, and signal lights. The thing is that they can help reduce pollution and cost.