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Home sweet home is an obvious place to give a good scrubbing once springtime in New York arrives. It's time to wipe the grime out of every nook and cranny, wash the carpets and curtains, and pack away the space heaters and down blankets.

Doing so can revitalize your business and put a new spring in the steps-no pun intended-of all your employees. Here are some tips:

• Declutter: Rid your business environment of all extraneous, unnecessary stuff: papers, broken supplies, ancient inventory that you can't seem to sell, etc. When doing so, remember to be earth conscious: recycle everything you can, dispose of all chemicals in the appropriate manner, and take used electronics to a facility that can repurpose or restore them, or make tax-deductible donations of still-useful items to your local Salvation Army or Goodwill.
• Liven Up the Landscaping: Consider planting some brightly colored flowers and lush plants around the exterior of your place of business. This may help to attract new customers, and is a natural mood-lifter. If you can't make these alterations to your business's outdoor environment, bring some potted plants and flowers inside. Let their fragrance and hues breathe new life into your business!
• Improve Functionality: Spring is a good time to upgrade and purchase tools, equipment, or technology for your business that is more functional and efficient. For example, consider replacing outdated cash registers or credit card machines with a multi-tasking computer system. Get rid of bulky file cabinets and scan all your documents into digital files that can be stored on a hard drive.
• Go Green: Spring is a time when we tend to appreciate the earth's beauty and bounty, so it makes sense to do what we can to preserve it. Consider making your place of business greener by installing a solar heating system, putting energy-efficient light bulbs in all fixtures, using recycled rainwater to hydrate your landscape, or designating special bins where employees can deposit their recyclable waste.
• Re-Evaluate Relationships: Relationships-between employees and between the business and its customers-are really what make a company thrive. This spring, re-evaluate the way your business approaches relationships. Do you have healthy relationships with your employees and do they get along well with each other? How do you maintain positive connections with your current clients? How to you attract new clients? Consider incorporating community-building activities into the workplace, such as potlucks, picnics, or sports events. Create a newsletter to stay in touch with your existing customer base, and try new forms of advertising to gain new customers.

For any of your insurance questions, Contact Northern Insuring Agency, Inc. today.

If you are a business owner in New York who pays for your employee's health coverage and sick leave, you have good reason to motivate these employees to stay healthy. Good employee health translates to good financial health for you and your business!

Promoting employee health can be tricky, though. After all, your employees are generally neither your family nor your friends, so it may not be appropriate for you to discourage Mabel in Accounting from eating those jelly doughnuts for breakfast, or to comment on Jack in Human Resources about his recent weight gain. How can you inspire your employees to take care of their health while remaining professional and providing alluring incentives? Here are some ideas:

• Make Money the Reward - Enlist the help of an incentive-based health engagement company-there are a few different ones out there-which will set up a program for your employees. In a typical set-up, employees receive points for engaging in different healthy behaviors, such as using the stairs instead of the elevator, and each point has a monetary value. Employees can earn a maximum amount of dollars per year through the accrual of their points.
• Create Company Sports Teams - If you employ enough people, you can create two or more teams and have a weekly game of basketball, soccer, softball, or any other sport after work hours. If you have a small number of employees, ask another local business to form a team to play against yours once a week. In addition to promoting fitness, this activity can create more camaraderie among coworkers-always a good thing!
• Make Small Changes to the Environment - Post a picture or sign near the door of the elevator that will inspire people to use the stairs. For example, a simple graphic showing a person walking up a stairway with the words "Stay Healthy" printed on it can be motivating without having the effect of a shaming lecture. If your business has a snack or drink machine, keep it filled with healthful options like whole grain crackers, fresh fruits, juices, and waters. Even better, have a well-equipped kitchen available for your employees so they can prepare their own healthful lunches and snacks each day rather than ordering less-healthful options from restaurants and fast food chains.
• Exercise to Benefit Your Community - Does your community ever have walks, races, triathlons, or other similar events to raise funds for non-profit organizations? If so, encourage your employees to participate. If not, consider creating an event-like a 5K walk to raise money for your local animal shelter. Doing so will have many benefits: it will be good for employee health; it will increase the visibility of your business; and it will benefit the organization for which the funds are being raised
• Host a Healthy Recipe Potluck Invite all your employees to participate in a company potluck. Make the theme of the potluck low-fat, low-calorie, healthful recipes. Use this as an opportunity for employees to share healthy eating tips and recipes. As an incentive for participating in the potluck, have the evening culminate in a "tastiest dish contest"; employees can sample each dish and vote on their favorite one, with the winner receiving a prize or cash reward.

For any questions about employee health coverage, Contact Northern Insuring Agency, Inc. today.

Red hearts, chocolate, lace, and roses: it's that time of year again. With February comes Valentine's Day, and with Valentine's Day comes thoughts of love. While Valentine's Day emphasizes romantic love, or eros-the kind of love that results when Cupid's arrow penetrates a heart and inspires swoony, smitten feelings of attraction and desire-it's also a time to celebrate other forms of love, like the love a parent has for a child, the love between friends, or the quiet, strong and steady love between long-married spouses. Indeed, Valentine's Day is a time to honor all kinds of love.

And there's another way to honor all kinds of love, one that has nothing to do with cards and flowers. It's called life insurance. While you may not associate life insurance with love, you should. Here's why: love can actually inspire you to obtain the right life insurance policy; and the life insurance policy can, in turn, protect and care for the ones you love in the unfortunate event that you are no longer present to do so. Life insurance can protect your loved ones in numerous ways-almost as many ways as there are long-stemmed red roses sold on February 14th. Here are the top five:

1. Enable Your Spouse to Enjoy a Good Quality of Life: Because it replaces the deceased person's annual income, pays for medical benefits, and can also be used to replace the savings that would have come from his or her retirement, life insurance enables the spouse who is left behind to get back on-and stay on-his or her feet right after losing a loved one. This means your beloved husband or wife can continue to enjoy a good quality of life after you are gone.
2. Help Make Their Childhood Easier: It's not surprising, especially in these economic times, that a family can take as many as five years to recover from the death of a primary breadwinner. Five years is a long time in a child's life; for example, it's the span from rather babyish age 8 to hormonal age 13 and early adolescence. A lot happens during those years, and it would be a shame for them to be blighted by financial struggle. Life insurance can make childhood-which is already rife with challenges-a bit easier for your kids should they lose you.
3. Eliminate Death-Related Debt: Dying is expensive. A death is often accompanied by all kinds of debt, including funeral costs, hospital bills, a cemetery plot, and estate taxes, to name a few. A good life insurance policy will take care of all these expenses so the family members you may leave behind don't have to.
4. Keep Their Dreams of the Future Alive: A parent's death and the financial hardship it may cause can throw a wrench into a child's plans for college, or even a wedding someday. By obtaining life insurance, you can ensure that your kids can still pursue their dreams to obtain an education, or celebrate finding a husband or wife to share their life with.
5. Maintain Their Health and Prevent Illness: As strange as it may sound, life insurance can function to promote health and prevent illness in family members who are left behind after a loved one dies. Think about it: it costs money to eat healthfully, to see the doctor when you're sick, and to pay for health insurance premiums. Your life insurance can make all of this possible for your loved ones after your death, so they have a good chance of living long, healthy lives.

For more information about life insurance, contact contact Northern Insuring Agency, Inc. today.