Customer service in Halifax Essay Example for Free

Customer service in Halifax Essay Customer service Customer service is any part of the service that customers receive from the staff of the business. It is also a way in which the organisation deals with its customers. Businesses need their customers to buy their products or use their services in order to survive and make a profit. The way that they treat their customers is therefore very important. Many businesses have a policy of customer service, which involves putting the customer first in all situations. Customer service involves: * Making sure the product range is available to the customer * Making sure the product is safe and reliable * Providing information about products and being able to give advice * Making sure the product range can be delivered if necessary * Providing credit facilities where appropriate * Providing after sales service guarantees It should be the aim of every business to provide the highest level of customer service. There are laws, which provide protection to customers buying products. Businesses should know what their obligations are under these laws.it will help them maintain a high level of customer service. Why customer service is important in Halifax Customer service is important to Halifax because it brings in profit (the more customers the more the profit). The customers provide income to Halifax. Halifax does so much advertising and looses money but because it provides good customer service, the money lost is replaced. Customers are also a source of market research information Customers ensure the survival of the business Because of good customer service, Halifax spends less effort dealing with customer complaints. Customers are relined and refrained in Halifax because they are treated well and are made to feel good and safe with their money and properties. Halifaxs image is improved This is because everyone knows that it provides good customer service. My friend told me how good Halifax is and I was attracted to go and open up an account with them the next day. I also told my boyfriend about it that also went and opened up an account with them. To build customer loyalty All Halifaxs customers are loyal to it and they keep on using more of its services. They enjoy them. Increase competition It is only natural that where there is an attractive market, competitors will seek to obtain profitable businesses. The newcomer may sometimes even have an advantage due to the fact that he may have benefited from the experience of the long established supplier. As the newcomers start from scratch, they can use the latest equipment, techniques and systems and can select staff to fit the image they wish to create. Good customer service also gives Halifax a competitive advantage over other banks or building societies. Better informed customers Customers know a great deal more about Halifaxs services than they used to, partly because of the competition and partly due to the extensive studies conducted by consumer groups, and Halifax staff. A great deal of information is also available over the Internet. The emphasis put into competitive advertisements also makes customers more aware of the aspects they should examine. Halifax is a very good example where public pressure has forced regulations ensuring fuller disclosure of costs and more realistic estimates of benefits. Product similarity From the customers point of view, who I interviewed, it is difficult to distinguish many of Halifaxs services from those of their competitors. They often use the same services perform the same tasks in a very similar way. As an example, I could look at the personal computer industry, where a large number of computers can utilise the same software programs. One of the few ways Halifax can differentiate thereselfs from there competitors is by means the image for customer care that they build up and the reputation for customer support that they have earned over time. Rinsing demand for improved support With the choice of supply sources now available to Halifax customers they know that they are in a buyers market and they are therefore demanding improved support from the Halifax they have selected. In general it has been shown that with a higher living standard, customers are willing to pay for improved support. For instance customers in the past may have been willing to wait for a week or two for a telephone to be installed whereas now they expect it to be done in as many days. Life cycle costs As many products are technically more soficicated, customers have become more dependent on the continuing support from Halifax to keep their services in operation. They are increasingly looking at the life time costs and Halifaxs ability to support their services efficiently throughout the life of that service. When a customer buys a car for instance, he will want to know how good the maintenance service is what the costs are likely to be the fuel consumption and the resale value after a certain number of years. Training the frontline This is important because it means good customer service in Halifax in a way that when all staff are trained, there will be good communication between the staff hence providing good customer service. Training helps Halifax maintain good service in different departments. For example technology, promotional, health and safety, money wise. Managers in Halifax identify training needs for internal customers and provide suitable training events. Halifax is aware that well trained internal customer service provides good external customer service. Identification of the situations that require staff to have contact with customers A customer is a person who requires a product in exchange for money or who uses a service. Staff can have contact with customers through so many ways these are: By phone This is normally used when one of them (customer/staff) needs to ask a question and get a quick response.because both the staff and customers cannot see each other, it is unable to observe the other persons body language. Though this happens, customers are not left waiting. The member of staff says what he is doing and how long he will be. The customer is always being informed of the actions taken. Music is often played to customers kept waiting in order to give them something to do, i.e. listen to music. The staff make sure they do everything they can to make the customer feel valued. Through letters This is used when a permanent record is needed. Eg.where a letter head showing the Halifax logo adds credibility to the company. Sentences are always kept short in the letters. The subject is always introduced at the beginning of the letter so that the customers know what the letter is about. Through Internet This is used when you can not get someone on the phone. The email is given an effective tittle, which makes the reader want to open it. They are not typed in capitals because the reader may think that the member of staff is shouting. Face to face This is done when the customer is on the premises. Usually when delivering bad or good news. Also when a permanent record is not required. Or when documents have to be handed in for opening new accounts. Through fax This is used when speed is required and the information is not confidential. This applies to letters. Staff always contact customers about: * Details about the new extra services introduced * Their bank accounts * Their mortgages * Their complaints * Opening bank accounts * Overdrafts * Foreign exchange purchase transfer * Withdrawal or payment * New service products etc Ways in which Halifax meets the needs of its customers Halifax is a successful firm because it identifies who its customers are and what their needs are quickly. Needs of internal customers Needs of external customers Sick pay To make a purchase Holidays Need to obtain information about a product Pension Company cars To make a complaint Staffs discount To maintain ethical standards Working conditions e.g. Safe environment Specials needs like the deaf, blind, old, physically handicapped, or with children. Job security Food Decent wages or salary. Christmas presents and bonus/ end year party Staff facilities e.g. room, gyms, toilets. Training. Training of internal customers in all aspects of their jobs ensures that external customer needs are catered for, whereas good staff relations or industrial relations, effective communication and good company policies ensures the satisfaction of internal customer needs. Internal customers These are members of staff who rely on other members of staff to help them do their jobs properly. In Halifax, internal customers feedback is included in performance reviews. Halifax is now making input a formal part of a 360-degree feedback process, in which employees, peers and the manager all evaluate the performance of managers. In addition. Halifax talks to its internal customers during meetings and asks them about their needs and finds out how it can serve them better. Always giving you extra as long as the employees do it for their customers, theyll do it for the employees. Theyre looking to develop the best motivated and best rewarded team in the business, so the employees should expect plenty. Training, sales support, personal development, opportunity, great incentives you name it, Halifax goes that extra mile to make sure the employees have everything they need for a rewarding career. And that, of course, includes a benefits package they find hard to beat by anyone, anywhere. It covers everything theyd expect (good salary, generous holidays) and plenty that they wouldnt, such as bonuses and incentives, share schemes, discounted mortgages and plenty more all adding up to a total rewards package to match their total commitment. The following are part of Halifaxs human resource policies: Pay (plus bonuses) Generous Holiday Entitlement Shares Colleague Products Money Purchase Pension Life Assurance Flexible Working Flexible Benefits Recognition Our commitment Support when it counts Academy Pay (plus bonuses) Halifax starts by giving employees a highly attractive basic salary. They have bands, but theres a lot of flexibility. So theyll take into account the nature of the role, as well as the employees skills and experience. On top of this, everyone has the chance to earn more by putting in extra. So employees can earn a bonus for individual, team and company performance. Reach or exceed the employees targets for example, and the employees can expect to receive between 10% and 30% of salary extra! Nice. Generous Holiday Entitlement The employees receive between 22 and 30 days paid holiday a year, depending on their role and length of service. Shares Halifax group wants employees to share in their success (they like smiling people). They wont go into detail here, but there are various schemes where employees receive either shares or share options. Its hugely popular. Largely because it can be hugely profitable for Halifaxs colleagues. Colleague Products Halifax is the UKs number one for savings and mortgages, and have plenty of other products too, such as insurance and healthcare. All of which are available to employees at attractive, discounted rates. External customers These are individuals and business customers who buy or use the goods and services provided by an organisation. With staff who can speak a wider range of languages, Halifax and customer service has improved. They monitor holiday costs constantly to give customers a better deal. Plus, they can give customers a guaranteed minimum 5% discount on a wide range of brochure-priced holidays and charter flights! Halifax also meets its customers needs by giving eye contact, explaining transferred telephone calls to customers and colleagues, being genuine and sincere, knowing about their products or services, knowing about its policies, treating customers as individuals, and minimising queuing times. Home delivery For home delivery, orders placed in a branch or over the phone before 2.30pm Monday to Friday are usually delivered to the customers home address by 12 noon the next bank working day (excluding Saturdays). Orders placed on Saturday or Sunday are usually delivered by 12 noon the following Tuesday. All home deliveries are by Royal Mail Special Delivery. There is a charge of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½5 for all home deliveries. Home delivery is not available for orders placed online. Always giving extra to customers with particular needs Halifax group is committed to providing all their customers with excellent service, whatever type of relationship they have with them. They do their outmost to help all customers with special needs. Their cash machines are generally installed at a lower level to make them easier to reach, and the newer machines have been adapted for the visually impaired to use. Halifax has around 800 branches in the UK, most, of which are open plan to make it easier for customers to find their way around. The majority have a reception desk, with seating provided. And their staff are always on hand to discuss specific needs or answer queries. Wheelchair users Getting in and out of Halifaxs branches is usually easy, with level or ramped access from pavements. And, wherever possible, doors are automatic. Call Assistance At some branches steps are unavoidable, so a Call Assistance bell system was installed, so that a member of staff can be called. Servicecall Some branches are fitted with the Servicecall system, so that customers with a Servicecall transmitter can alert staff of their arrival. Lifts Where branches have split-level banking halls, Halifax provides internal ramps or wheelchair lifts. Low-level counters and counter queuing rails Lower level writing surfaces are increasingly being provided at the counter. All branches have counter queuing rails, often with lower level writing surfaces. Other banking options To help make it easier for all their customers to manage their finances at their convenience, they offer a number ways to access Halifax as well as via other large network of branches across the country: Online Customers can apply for a Halifax Current Account online. Then once it is registered for telephone banking they can do their banking online via Halifaxs website 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Click www.halifax.co.uk for more details. They also offer a Share Dealing service online, and applications for other products such as Personal Loans, Credit Cards and Travel Insurance can be made via the web site. Telephone Halifax Direct is a 24-hour telephone Current Account service. Customers can use it for everything from checking their balance and ordering a statement to arranging an overdraft. Arrangements can also be made for customers to pay bills and transfer money to other Halifax accounts. All Halifax customers can telephone Halifax direct for other services, for example a Personal Loan or travel money. Customers who are hearing impaired, can contact Halifax Direct using textphone on 0845 732 3436 Contact Halifax They have undertaken an extensive disability awareness programme to help staff overcome the barriers which people who have a disability face. To help them continually improve their services, if you would like to make any comments about their site or the services they offer customers with disabilities, they request the customers to use this form. Philomena Gray, Disability Manager by e-mail: JayneO[emailprotected] or at:Halifax plc Trinity Road HALIFAX West Yorkshire HX1 2RG How Halifax deals with customers complaints Once Halifax is prepared for any potential problem a customer may have brought to them, their next step is to use the companys complaint system the company has in place for dealing with complaints. Halifax deals with complaints in many different ways. This can be done through: 1. The telephone 2. Face to face 3. In writing: typical written communications involve providing information on the services provided, prices of mortgages, statements of accounts and safety procedures. Because Halifax actively seeks and encourages complaints, they are able to understand and meet the needs of their customers. If a customer is dissatisfied and is unable to express that dissatisfaction, Halifax will never see that customer return. What is worse, the customer may also persuade potential customers not to stop within Halifax too. Customers with bad experiences were twice as likely to tell others about it as those with a positive story to recount. Customer complaints are viewed as opportunities to improve a service offered rather than problems ignored. The causes of the complaints are dealt with the and lessons learnt. Customers making complaints are seen as contributors to the process of improving customer services rather than awkward individuals who enjoy making life difficult for staff. By respecting customers and treating them accordingly Halifax is able to monitor and improve the quality of service offered. Many products arise because the law has been broken. There is a large number of laws that try to protect the customers. Halifax tries not to break the laws. The major consumers laws include; The descriptions Act 1978, which makes it illegal for Halifax as a business to give misleading descriptions of their services and products. The consumer safety Act 1978, which make sit illegal to sell goods, which may be harmful to customers. The consumer protection Act 1987, which makes it illegal, amongst other things, for a business to claim that its prices have been reduced when they have not. It also makes suppliers responsible for any injury that results from defective goods. The consumer credit Act 1974, which requires Halifax to have a specific licence because it offers credit otherwise they will be committing an offence. If the law has been broken, customers can take Halifax to court. This may cause the business money and give it a bad reputation. That is why they make sure that they do not break the law. Halifax also makes it certain that customers are happy with the services they provide. Details of all customers complaints are recorded. This is done so that there is a record of what action was taken in case the customer wishes to take the complaint further. Recording the data also allows staff and management to use it for capturing customer details. The nature of complaint and the service involved is recorded and quite often the name and address of the person complaining is recorded. Halifax has a special service desk for dealing with customer complaints, and also specially trained staff. When customers approach with a complaint Halifax staff make sure they: * Listen to them carefully * Reassure them that their complaint is being taken seriously * Decide on an appropriate action * Apologise if the business is responsible * Record the details of the complaint * Record the action taken Checking that customers complaint is valid Halifax wont take customers complaint seriously if its something, which is not their fault. For example, if your current account has no overdraft facility but you regularly overdraw the account, you cant really complain if Halifax charges you for doing so. If, however, charges on your account push the balance into the red, it should not charge you for being overdrawn. Halifax deals with complaints about something in relation to: * Customer expectations not met * Late delivery * Incorrect information * Waiting/queuing times * Attitude of staff * Faulty service products * Statement errors What happens next? If a customer complaint is something Halifax has the power to deal with, they will usually start by seeing if they can help the customer to resolve matters in an informal way. One of their staff (usually called a caseworker) will take a fresh look at the facts and let the customer know how they think the customer could reach the agreement. This approach is often called mediation. If a customer has a problem, Halifax can always help They aim to offer customers the best possible service, but there may be occasions when customers feel they have cause for complaint. If so, Halifax will always try to resolve the problem quickly and to your satisfaction. If the customer is unhappy with their response, he/she can take his complaint further through their complaints procedure outlined below. Following Halifaxs complaints procedure does not affect a customers legal rights. 1. Where the customer first makes his complaint Halifax aims to resolve customers concerns within 24 hours. Sometimes it may take longer to look into the matter fully. If this happens, they will let the customer know within five working days who will reply. The people a customer first raise the matter with are often able to help, but there may be occasions when a specialist area needs to be involved. If the customer doesnt know who to contact, they can: * Call Customer Relations on 08457 25 35 19 * Textphone Customer Relations on 08456 00 17 50 (if you have a hearing impairment) * Write to them at: Halifax plc Halifax Customer Relations Trinity Road Halifax HX1 2RG They will then arrange for the right person to look into and respond to the customers concerns. 2. Customer Relations In the unlikely event that the customer remains unhappy, he /she can ask for his complaint to be referred to a Customer Relations manager for further review. If the customer is still not satisfied he can, at this stage, ask the Financial Ombudsman Service to help, or for service-related complaints about Halifax Estate Agencies Limited, the Ombudsman for Estate Agents The Halifax supports fully and is a member of both the Ombudsmen Schemes. These are impartial and conduct independent investigations. Ombudsmen addresses For most complaints about Halifax products and services customers can contact: The Financial Ombudsman Service South Quay Plaza 183 Marsh Wall London E14 9SR Phone: 08450 80 18 00 email: [emailprotected] Website: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk For complaints about Halifax Estate Agencies Limited: The Ombudsman for Estate Agents Beckett House 4 Bridge Street SALISBURY SP1 2LX Phone: 01722 33 33 06 email: [emailprotected] Website: www.oea.co.uk Types of customer records Halifax uses Market research The final method of monitoring customer service satisfaction is through market research. Market research is a formalised method of obtained feedback and information from customers or potential customers about services that are available or soon to be made available. In Halifax, obtaining feedback from customers is essential in learning how to improve the service offered. The process helps Halifax to understand: * The nature of the service from the point of view of the customer. * What the customers are wanting. * What the customer thinks of the organisation. * What will make the customer feel valued? * What sort of initiatives the customers would appreciate. Halifax is able to show that business decisions are supported by information and evidence gained through research. Therefore through market research, Halifax is able to identify customers opinions about: * Interest rates charged. * New and existing services. * After sales service. * The quality of customer care provided by Halifax. Business decisions about these issues can then be made based upon the results of the research. Halifax sends out customer service questioners to 200,000 customers every six months, asking for their opinions on their branch. In addition, mystery shoppers posing as potential customers visit and phone the branches to ask for advice. Each quarter, every branch in Halifax network receives two visits and two phone calls from the mystery shopper, who then fills in the research form and marks the branch on factors such as courtesy, speed, and phone handling techniques. All the results are included into a customer service index for each Branch. The findings are also published internally or all to see, with awards for those branches with the best achievements. The market research I undertook about Halifax provided some interesting results. I decided to measure how much customer satisfaction dictated future buying intentions. The research divided the customers into one of three groups: * Those with problem that had been resolved * Those with a problem that had been recently dealt with * Those whose experience of the bank had only been positive As was predictable, the customers who remained dissatisfied were the ones least likely to buy any more of the building societys services. However, surprisingly, those customers whose problem had been dealt with quickly and efficiently were more likely to use Halifaxs services again in the future than customers who had never experienced a problem. 80% of the customers were happy and 20% were not happy. Among the unhappy customers some of them did not visit the branches often nor use Halifaxs machines. Customers responded positively to open, polite and helpful advice provided by Halifax, even if the outcome was not what the customer was seeking, e.g. applying bank charges. Findings similar to Halifax have emerged from other customer attitude surveys undertaken across a range of businesses. The results of my surveys indicate that by keeping the customers happy, the organisations will retain existing business and will increase future revenue from existing customers. It is essential that a manager act upon any feedback gained through market research. Customers who provide feedback through market research are usually given recognition by Halifax. I also found out that when Halifax do their market research through the surveys, they thank their customers for their time and effort. This is in the form of a card, letter, or telephone call. A number of methods are used by Halifax to find out what the customer thinks of and wants from the service. These include: * Postal questioners. * Personal interviews. * Telephone interviews. * Consumer panels. * Customer feedback forms. Complaints records In Halifax, recording customer complaints and implementing changes to ensure that the customer is not dissatisfied for the same reason again are ways to monitor customer satisfaction. Customers are provided with a system where they feel comfortable about recording a complaint. Only by doing so can Halifax ensure that they are fully meeting the needs of all their customers. When Halifax is dealing with customer complaints, they normally take the customers details. This normally helps them to be able to contact the customer when necessary and to know who they are dealing with. Customer Surveys Customer surveys are used to get inside the customers mind and learn what they are thinking about Halifax. Surveys can determine customer satisfaction, complaints, compliments and questions. Halifax likes to know what their customers are thinking because it helps them improve or tailor their services. Feedback can be a great source of information. Customer surveys can sometimes be a core competency of Halifax. Surveys can be administered online, in person or even via phone. Surveys should be constructed to pull the most valuable data from employees so that Halifax can later use that data for the betterment of the company. Savings and Debit cards When opening up savings or bank accounts, the staff records your personal details and keep them for further reference. At times this is used to contact customers to participate in surveys, to take advantage of new offers, etc. Internal Complaints When the employees make a complaint, Halifax also takes down their comments and again their details. Personnel records The personnel department keeps records of all employees on the payroll. This includes personal information (name, date of birth, address) as well as details of rates of pay, tax, and national insurance number. The records are confidential and should not be accessible to unauthorised personnel. These records are taken during recruitment. Recruiting When recruiting, managers take employees details for further reference. This helps them to know how much they deserve to be paid to know their retirement age, etc, which can be utilised by the firm to provide good internal customer service. The customer service provided in Halifax and improvements In Halifax, The desire to improve and be the best helps motivate staff by providing them with a challenge. It gives employees the opportunity to suggest ideas, use their initiative and participate in the development of the organisation. Excellent customer service provides a focus for all staff to work towards and results in increased job satisfaction for the employees, as well as increased customer satisfaction. Excellent standards in Halifaxs customer service can only be achieved by having a system that enables them to constantly review and improve the service offered. What is an acceptable standard for a customer today will not necessarily be an acceptable standard tomorrow. Constant improvement is essential. Because Halifax is an organisation seeking to improve the quality of customer service offered, it set quality service standards, which are: * Clearly explained * Realistic for employees * Easily measured Having clearly defined standards and a process to monitor those standards gives employees a goal to work towards. 1. Providing information Staff in Halifax provides customers with information, by letting them know what the business has to offer. The information provided is mostly through leaflets and focuses on: *Lost or stolen cards. * Mortgages * Bank Accounts *Loans * Savings and investments *Insurance * Share dealing. The problem to some members of staff is that they provide wrong information to customers. This happens when they are not sure of the answers to the questions being asked by the customers. Halifax improves this by re-training the staff who have the duty of dealing with customer enquiries. They also provide leaflets containing information of the services they offer. 2. Giving advice Customers often expect advice about the services they know little about Halifax. This is likely to happen with mortgages. When people want to open up accounts from Halifax they expect to receive clear instructions and advice on how to use and maintain them. When a business or an individual goes to the bank, they expect that the staff will know a great deal about banking and that sound advice will be given. But in some cases it does not happen. This is because the member of staff gives wrong advice about the service provided and sometimes it leads to the customer changing him/her mind about opening up an account with Halifax. For example when I wanted to open up an account with Halifax, I was told to bring both my parents passports back with me. I was really shocked by that and was wondering why every Bank does not ask for that. Anyway I suddenly gave up because the passports where with the home office. After three months, I called Halifaxs head office to ask them why I needed my parents passports to open up an account yet I had my own passport. The lady on the phone said that it is not right and I should go back to them and tell them that. I spoke to the manager and she said that it is all right for me to use my own passport since I am seventeen. This is why Halifax should train the members of staff going to give customers advice and ensure that they have good knowledge of the service product and procedures. Halifax gives advice on What is the suitable account, loan or action? What is the best mortgage? What is the cheapest way to pay for mortgage? How to use the accounts and cards. How to store and look after the cards. 3. Tailoring the service to what the customer wants Halifaxs staff ensure that customers get what they really want and are satisfied with the services. They know that is what will make them come back again. So staff work out very carefully what customers want and need. They know that customers want to be served quickly and efficiently but sometimes the queue is too long because some tills are not utilised. This really annoys the customers and makes them to leave and maybe pay the money to another account they have in a different bank. Halifax should improve this by letting another member of staff cover for the other if they have gone for their breaks and by making sure that any member of staff who is off sick is covered by using staff who do shift work. 4. Providing credit facilities Halifax accepts payment in a variety of ways for example cheques, cash, account transfers. This makes payment more convenient for customers. In the 1990s, Halifax has been facing a great deal of competition and one way of attracting customers is to offer better credit packages than competitors. Actual details of credit terms have therefore become highly variable and now Halifax is trying so hard to provide the best deal. Halifax is required by law to publish the APR and this does allow some basis for comparison. APR (Annual percentage rate of interest). This shows the actual rate of interest that borrowers must pay on average over the full period of the loan. But in some cases, some customers do not receive their interests which cause complaints and this results to the business loosing customers if the others hear about ones complaint. This is normally caused by errors on the computers, which they use to automatically offer interest to an account according to its type. So to improve this problem, Halifax management and staff should make sure that the machines are checked regularly to prevent unnecessary errors like that. 5. Credit They also offer credit cards to allow customers to buy goods and services and pay for them when they receive their statements from them, usually at the end of the month. When a customer uses a credit card to pay for an item the shop demands its claim for payment back to the Halifax that then pays the shop. Because Halifax must wait for payment from the customer, they usually charge the shop for the right to let customers use the credit card. This explains why the major supermarkets and a growing number of major stores are now offering their own credit cards. For some credit cards, a high rate is charged which makes Halifax lose its customers. They have improved this by putting the rates at a lower charge in order to attract more customers. 6. Administration This is the management of services that help to support the smooth running of department. Every department in Halifax carries it out. These general administration functions might include; 7. Reception This includes greeting people visiting a specific branch, dealing with their enquiries, and taking outside phone calls and connecting customers to right departments. It is also known as the customer service department. When customers come in the branch to make enquiries, in most circumstances there is a long queue. This really annoys customers in that they will complain and give pressure to the member of staff attending to them which will lead to her making mistakes and giving wrong or incomplete information to the customer she is serving. This can be improved by letting the members of staff who are available (not doing any work at that moment) to help out on the reception. This helps Halifax to deal with customers courteously and promptly. 8. Security Ensuring the security of the building property and staff. If there is no security in Halifax, peoples money will not be safe hence loosing customers because all they want is security and trust from the building society. To improve this, CCTVs are installed in the building to keep track of all that is going on in the premises. Most people who come into the Halifax and find it untidy and dirty get the wrong impression and neglect opening up accounts with them. This has been improved by arranging for outside contractors to clean the building, and cater for staff. The clerical work of making records managing records, filling, photocopying. Organising meetings, keeping minutes. Ensuring that internal communications (within the department) operate smoothing. Ensuring the department staffs arrive on time, have the facilities they need and have been paid. Each department will operate in a slightly different way, so it is highly that different departments will have some administrative tasks that are unique to that department, e.g. The human resources department will have to ensure that it has a complete and accurate database of all employees, with contact addresses and telephone numbers. 9. Providing an efficient service This is done when keeping appointments, Replying to enquiries within the shortest time possible, Fast, efficient and friendly service, helping and assisting the customer, answering all telephone calls within five seconds and following the basic principles when communicating with customers on the telephone. Sometimes all this is not done by the employees. They become rude to the customers and act like they have been forced to do their work. They do this by being very slow when serving on the checkouts and not speaking loudly and clearly on the phone. 10. Ensuring that replies to requests for information are with the customer within a reasonable period of time e.g. three days. Documentation is always up to date and accurate. Letters are addressed personally, well typed and without spelling errors. 11. Dealing with customer complaints Sometimes customers complaints are ignored or forgotten about because the member of staff has too much work to do which makes the customers loose interest in Halifax. This can be improved by setting up a Procedure for dealing with customer complaints and problems and since sometimes the procedure is not followed, they should improve this more by establishing a customer service department in each store, appointing a member of staff to be in charge of customer services, Communicating effectively with customers and ensuring that customer complaints are dealt with to the satisfaction of the customer. 12. Reliable systems, facilities and procedures Sometimes when customers come into a Halifax branch to open up an account, they find that the phone or computer does not work. This annoys them and either walk out or complain to the staff, which will disorganise the other services. That is if the customer makes a scene. This is improved up setting up quick and efficient technology with good backup, making sure that customer facilities are kept in good working order, by understanding of procedures by all employees The financial sector is a fast moving and rapidly changing environment. Many of these organisations rely on call centres to handle the huge numbers of enquiries received. Unfortunately high staff turnover is a major problem within many branches, so recruitment of the right candidates as quickly as possible is essential. Recognising the need to make quick recruitment decisions, that are valid, objective and more cost effective, Halifax Plc developed a new recruitment process, which met their criteria. Some years ago the Halifax implemented a competency-based application form, using job relevant competencies that are scored through a standardised procedure, and found they could make initial selection decisions quickly, confidently and objectively. For this project the Halifax saw the need to review their competencies in the light of organisational changes. They reviewed their initial selection process, to ensure that the competencies to be used were still appropriate given organisational changes, and the increased organisational emphasis was on business related competencies. The first stage involved reviewing a number of job roles to identify the key job tasks. The results from this early stage were used to develop a telephone checklist. The checklist is used as an initial sifting mechanism, aimed at ensuring that applicants are aware of job demands before they are sent the application form, thus reducing the administrative burden. Before the final structured application form was written a concurrent validation was conducted on a trial group of current job incumbents to identify the key competencies. It was found that specific competencies from the application form correlated highly with managers ratings of performance, additionally these competencies also correlated highly with the Customer Contact ability test scores of job incumbents. This suggested that people with higher scores on the competency based questionnaire and the ability tests are far more likely to perform better in the job than those applicants who perform poorly on the competency based application form. The Halifax is just one example of where Structured Application Forms have been used successfully. 12. Employee feedback system An employee feedback system is a structured approach to recording employees views and suggestions about the service provided and ways in which to improve that service. In Halifax, employees deal with the customers daily and therefore are able to provide useful advice and information to the employer about the views of customers and whether the service provided meets the needs of the customers. Very often, the employees can make valuable suggestions about how to improve the quality of service offered. 14. Quality review system This is a structured system in Halifax that enables an employer to determine the quality of service being offered to customers and the response of customers to that service. A check sheet or rating form can be used to identify the key areas to be audited. The manager will use the form to review at regular intervals the standard of service provided and customers responses against the criteria. An employer quality review system involves the manager being out where the customers are and seeing the activities taking place. The system involves the manager observing, examining and evaluating the quality of service offered by different employees in different sections or departments. The manager also listens carefully to customers questions, because the issues raised forms part of the evaluation of customer service. A description of any legal constraints affecting the customer service situation There are five main Acts of parliament Halifax knows and they understand the rights they should give to buyers. Most of these Acts are joined towards firms that sell products rather than service products. The sale of goods Act 1979 and 1995 One of the most important Acts today is the sale of goods Act 1979. It covers the fundamental requirements of purchasers, i.e. that goods must be: * As described which means that they should conform their description for example water proof must mean that the items do not leak. * Of satisfactory quality in relation to the price paid, the description, age of the item. * Fit for the purpose for which they are intended which means that goods must carry out the purpose they are made for, i.e. a pen must make a clear legible mark. * The goods must be for a specific purpose the buyer has made clear to the seller at the time of the sale. The supply of goods and services Act 1982 The service standards are affected by this Act. It states that all services should be carried out: * For a reasonable charge * Within a reasonable time * With reasonable care and skill * Using satisfactory materials The consumer protection Act 1987 This Act relates to price and safety. The consumer protection Act is enforced by Trading Standards Officers. It is also an offence not to cooperate with Trading Standards Officers during any investigation. Under the Act it is an offence: * To mislead consumers as to the price of goods, services, accommodation or facilities (e.g. by missing out the VAT when quoting the price) * To mislead consumers over sale prices and claim exaggerated price reductions * To supply goods which are not reasonably safe. The trade description Act 1968 This Act is designed to prevent the false or misleading description of goods, e.g.: * Selling goods, which are wrongly described by the manufacturer. * Implied descriptions, e.g. a picture on a box, which gives a false impression. * Other aspects of the goods, including quantity, size, composition, method of manufacture etc. Usually the spoken word of the seller overrides the written description of the goods as the buyer can rely on the expertise of the salesperson. However, this is obviously harder to prove if there is dispute. The consumer credit Act 1974 This is more applicable to Halifax and requires all businesses, which offer credit to have a specific licence otherwise they will be committing an offence. The Act provides for: * Customers who sign credit agreement in their own home to be allowed a cooling off period of five days. During this period the customer can change her mind or cancel the agreement without any penalties. * Customers to demand within 28 days that retailers provide details of the name and address of any credit reference agencies, which have been used to ascertain their credit worthiness. It is an offence for a retailer not to do this. * The credit reference agency to provide full details to the customer if the request is made in writing, and small administration fee is paid. Any incorrect information must be corrected if further information is provided by the customer. * Advertisements offering credit must include the title charge for credit and the APR (annual percentage rate of charge). The Act also restricts the way in which advertisements are worded and the prominence of financial information relating to charges. * Sellers must provide written details of credit terms if requested by the customer in writing or orally, either in person or on the telephone, unless such a quotation has already been provided. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1978 Not only do employees have a right to expect employers to provide a safe, working environment, they also have a responsibility to ensure the Health and Safety for existing and potential customers. The Health and Safety at Work Act requires employees to: * Take reasonable care for the Health and Safety of themselves and others who may be affected by what they do and what they fail to do. * Cooperate with employers in fulfilling their duties for Health and Safety. Employees who fail to comply with health and safety regulations may be prosecuted. The requirements basically mean that employees must not act recklessly at work. They must follow safety procedures. They must take reasonable care in carrying out their duties and employers should fulfil their obligation as prescribed in the Health and Safety at Work Act. The sex discrimination Act 1975 This Act makes it illegal for anyone to be discriminated against on grounds of gender either directly or indirectly. Even if this is done unintentionally, the organisation is still guilty. So Halifax has to comply with the provisions of this Act. Race relations Act The race relation Act is very similar to the sex discrimination Act. It makes it illegal to discriminate in the work place on the grounds of race, colour, nationality or ethnic origin. Disability discrimination Act Under this Act it is illegal to discriminate against a disabled person in the recruitment and selection process, the contract of employment and the conditions of pay, provisions of training and promotion opportunities, treatment with the workplace. Halifax is expected by law to comply with the provisions of the various Acts. The Health and safety Act 1978 affects both the internal and external customers. Implications of not complying with the provisions of the consumer laws or legal requirement are: * Costs: legal costs of going to court and compensation. * Bad reputation: Negative / Bad publicity hence loss of customers leading to the company collapsing. The roles of the employees in providing good customer service Internal customers Halifax has so many different branches throughout the UK. All of these are internal customers to the regional or head office. Staff working for Halifax are the internal customers. Managers in Halifax want to get the most out of your employees. Generally, the better their employees perform the better their department or company will do. Recruiting the right people Recruiting the right staff is a crucial component of creating the workforce profile Halifax needs to achieve its organisational objectives and they take careful planning and consideration to recruit successfully. While Halifax wants staff who can do the job theyre offering and who are interested in it, the crucial factor in choosing the right team is personality. The managers can teach them the job, but they cant teach them how to be the right person! Because managers are responsible for recruitment and selection decisions in Halifax, they are aware that hiring or losing staff can be costly, especially if they get it wrong. Smart appearance of all staff Customers will often assess the quality of Halifax by the appearance of the staff. This has been improved by providing them with uniforms which all of them have to wear and this helps the customers to recognise the members of staff easily. Politeness When employees understand and feel a part of the larger picture they provide better customer service because they feel better about their roles and understand the critical nature of their jobs to the overall success of Halifax. A positive and helpful attitude goes a long way toward having satisfied customers, and is important for a positive environment with co-workers. Employees in Halifax know that they should always be polite to customers and be very helpful. Arriving at work on time Employees make sure that they arrive at work on time because they know that if this is not done, they will lose customers hence loosing profits for they company. When they arrive on time, the branch is also opened on time. Teamwork Teamwork is an important part of building a quality Halifax. Having Halifax work like a team involves getting all of the team members to work together towards one common goal. Teamwork through employee training programs can help Halifax team achieve that goal. Teamwork helps the staff first identify the goal it is working towards, whether thats increasing sales or improving customer service. Once the goals are identified, then they can work on whatever issues may be currently preventing them from achieving those goals. After those issues are addressed, the employees can more effectively work together as a team. Team works can build communication skills and employee motivation. Both of these items contribute to a more successful team and organisation. A successful organisation means more profits, happier employees, and fewer turnovers. The results from a team building exercise can actually help Halifax perform better as a whole. Halifax can benefit by taking time and resources to help their employees achieve their goals by putting them in training program and giving them skills they didnt know they needed. Teamwork is part of an employee development program that can really benefit Halifax. Health and Safety Health and Safety policies are integral in Halifax business operation. They ensure that the law making employers responsible for the health, safety and welfare of all employees at work is followed. They also help employees to understand and accept their responsibility for their personal behaviour at work as it affects their own, and others health and safety. Good Health and Safety procedures ultimately save money and prevent lost time through injury and illness. Because Halifax has more than five employees, they have a written Health and Safety Policy and bring a published Statement to all employees attention. Employees are informed that behaviour against the Health and Safety policy is a disciplinary offence. Part of the Health and Safety procedure is to notify the appropriate enforcing authority for registration, at least one month before servicing starts. Authorities are: * Health and Safety Executive This body, besides providing information for businesses, ensure that Halifax meets the regulated standards for: * Escape routes * Storage of materials * Ventilation * Lighting * Hygiene Carrying out their duties All employees make sure that they carry out their specific duties. Managers should be able to carry out their duties by making sure that employees are happy. They can do this by: Motivation Halifax cannot succeed if their employees are motivated to do a good job. You can motivate employees in any type of work environment. Employee motivation is one of the many keys to Halifaxs success. Employee motivation can be achieved through a variety of ways. Employee training programs can be administered on a regular basis. Making an employee feel like they are an important part of Halifax also increases motivation. Appraisals In Halifax, members of staff are interviewed on a regular basis by their line manager and assessed on their performance. It is also an opportunity to discuss any problems and to determine any training and/ or training needs. Performance may be related to pay or bonuses. Care should be taken not present staff appraisal as a hostile or intimidating ordeal. Praise Managers make sure that they praise their staff when they have done well. This makes them happy and also do their job better because they know that their bosses appreciate. Training Managers in Halifax want to get the most out of your employees. Generally, the better their employees perform the better their department or company will do. In Halifax, it is not always possible to find someone who is perfectly suited to a job, with all the necessary skills and experience. They are likely to need some training. This is made even more likely by the fact that as working conditions change, due to new technology, reorganisation, expansion and so on, staff will need training to be able to meet the new challenges. Managers may also provide staff development to enable them to broaden their existing abilities and experiences and to help them achieve their potential for Halifax building society. Finally, motivated staff, teamwork, etc, ensures that employees are committed to their work. Commitment from and carrying out duties and responsibilities by all employees are the prerequisite for good customer service. Good customer service requires input from all employees, and not to be the duty of frontline staff alone.

Effect of the Inorganic Filler Contents on Polymer

Effect of the Inorganic Filler Contents on Polymer ANALYSIS OF ZIF 8/PAI AND CMS/PAI MEMBRANES FOR CO2/CH4 GAS SEPARATION Yohannan Subin Sabilon Department of Chemical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli, India Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks 8 (ZIF 8) nanocrystals and Carbon Molecular Sieves (CMS) particles were prepared by using standard procedures. UV visible spectroscopy and XRD tests were done for the confirmation of the particles prepared and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) analysis were done to study the morphology of the particles prepared. ZIF 8/PAI and CMS/PAI MMMs were successfully synthesized by using ZIF 8 and CMS inorganic fillers and Polyamideimide (PAI) polymer using phase inversion technique. Various weight contents (1%, 2% and 3%) of the inorganic fillers were incorporated in the polymer matrix. Reinforcing of the polymer matrix with inorganic fillers was done in the form of nano and micro particles respectively. The effect of the inorganic filler contents on the mechanical properties of the polymer was investigated. Hydrophilic nature and porosity determination test, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (F TIR) and SEM were done to study the hydrophilicity and morphology of the composite system. Keywords: Carbon dioxide, Methane, Mixed Matrix Membranes, Carbon Molecular Sieves,Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks INTRODUCTION Carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of the components of landfill gas, natural gas and biogas. It is also the main combustion product of fossil fuels and a leading contributor to global warming as its a greenhouse gas. In order to obtain fuel with enhanced energy content, to prevent corrosion problems in the gas transportation system and to reduce the climatic impact of CO2 gas it is quite essential to remove CO2 from those gas streams. This has driven the development of different technologies for CO2 gas separation. Among the different types of technologies being used membrane technology has experienced substantial growth, breakthroughs and advances during past decades [10]. Membrane technology offers high energy efficiency, simplicity in design and construction of membrane modules and environment compatibility. Although there are different types of membranes being used the combination of the superior performance of inorganic materials with the handling properties of the polymers is offered by Mixed Matrix Membranes (MMMs). Therefore in our study we will be using MMMs for CO2/CH4 gas separation. In the MMMs the inorganic fillers are added to the polymer matrix. Over the years different inorganic fillers have been used for preparing MMMs for CO2/CH4 gas separation out of which Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework 8 (ZIF 8) is known to show maximum selectivity while Carbon Molecular Sieves (CMS) is known to show maximum permeability [19]. In this study the preparation and characterization of these inorganic fillers is shown. These inorganic fillers were successfully incorporated in the Polyamideimide (PAI) polymer matrix and MMMs were prepared. The characterization and analysis of the ZIF 8/PAI and CMS/PAI MMMs have been done with different loading of inorganic fillers in order to choose the best possible membrane combination for CO2/CH4 gas separation. EXPERIMENTAL SECTION Materials Zinc hydrate crystals and N-methyl 2-pyrrolidone (NMP) required in the preparation of ZIF 8 nanocrystals were purchased from Merck Life Science Private Limited, Mumbai, India. Methanol used for washing during centrifugation was also bought from Titan Biotech Limited, Rajasthan, India. 2-methylimidazole and n-butylamine also required for the preparation of ZIF 8 nanocrystals were bought from Otto Group Hamburg, Germany, Polyamidieimide polymer was also purchased from UTM, Malaysia. Acetone was purchased from Merck Specialities Private Limited, Mumbai, India. All reagents were used without any further purification. Synthesis of ZIF 8 nanocrystals ZIF 8 nanoparticles were synthesized based on the procedure reported by Cravillon et al[3]. The ZIF-8 nanocrystals so formed was sent for UV spectroscopy, XRD, HRTEM and SEM analysis. Synthesis of CMS particles CMS particles were synthesized based on the procedure reported by De. Q. Vu et al[8] The CMS particles were then sent for XRD analysis. Synthesis of ZIF 8/PAI membranes Membranes of 3 different concentrations i.e., 1%, 2% and 3% of ZIF 8 nanocrystals were prepared by solution casting method. 17wt% of polyamideimide polymer solution was prepared by dissolving exactly 5.274g mixture of polyamideimide polymer i.e., Torlon and ZIF 8 nanocrystals in 25ml of NMP solvent in a beaker. A magnetic bead was cleaned and dried using acetone and was placed in the beaker. The 3 beakers containing the 3 different concentration solutions were kept on 3 different magnetic stirrer for complete dissolution. The exact amount of polymer and inorganic filler taken for respective concentrations is given in the table below: Table 1 Composition of ZIF 8/PAI membranes Concentration of ZIF 8/PAI Amount of PAI (g) Amount of ZIF 8 membranes (wt %) nanocrystals (g) 1 5.116 0.158 2 5.169 0.105 3 5.221 0.053 Now 3 glass plates and casting rods were washed and kept for drying. After drying the glass plates and the casting rods were cleaned and dried by using acetone. After complete dissolution the polymer solution in the 3 beakers were casted on 3 different glass plates using casting rods of 750 ÂÂ µm thickness. The glass plates after casting were allowed to dry at room temperature overnight for all the NMP solvent to evaporate. After drying the polymer membrane so formed was peeled off the glass plate. The membrane samples were sent for SEM analysis. Synthesis of CMS/PAI membranes Membranes of 3 different concentrations i.e., 1%, 2% and 3% of CMS particles were prepared by solution casting method. 17wt% of polyamideimide polymer solution was prepared by dissolving exactly 5.274g mixture of polyamideimide polymer i.e., Torlon and CMS particles in 25ml of NMP solvent in a beaker. The exact amount of polymer and inorganic filler taken for respective concentrations is given in the table below: Table 2 Composition of CMS/PAI membranes Concentration of ZIF 8/PAI Amount of PAI (g) Amount of CMS particles membranes (wt %) (g) 1 5.116 0.158 2 5.169 0.105 3 5.221 0.053 A magnetic bead was cleaned and dried using acetone and was placed in the beaker. The 3 beakers containing the 3 different concentration solutions were kept on 3 different magnetic stirrer for complete dissolution. Now 3 glass plates and casting rods were washed and kept for drying. After drying the glass plates and the casting rods were cleaned and dried by using acetone. After complete dissolution the polymer solution in the 3 beakers were casted on 3 different glass plates using casting rods of 750 ÂÂ µm thickness. The glass plates after casting were allowed to dry at room temperature overnight for all the NMP solvent to evaporate. After drying the polymer membrane so formed was peeled off the glass plate. The membrane samples were sent for SEM analysis. TESTING AND CHARACTERIZATION Confirmation tests for inorganic filers UV visible spectroscopy analysis. The ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis)utilizes light to determine the absorbance or transmission of a chemical species in either solid or aqueous state. The UV Visible Spectroscopy analysis was done for the confirmation of ZIF 8 nanocrystals. XRD analysis. XRD can be done on a number of different kinds of samples. Smallvolume of sample was tapped on microscope slide glass. The intensity of the beam used was 40 kV and 40 mA. The XRD analysis was done for the confirmation of ZIF 8 nanocrystals and CMS particles. Morphological studies of Inorganic fillers and MMMs SEM with EDX analysis. The surface morphology of PAI polymer was observed usingthe JSM-6701F with high resolution field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) with the magnification of 5000ÃÆ'-. For EDX analysis the acceleration voltage was set to 20kV and the working distance was set to 14mm. The detector was moved down to 45mm. The sample was scanned by X-rays for a time of 200s. The elemental analysis of film in order to confirm the presence of carbon was done using an energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX) with magnification of 3000ÃÆ'- and acceleration voltage of 15 kV. After the scan was completed the spectrum was plotted using the data obtained from the scan. SEM with EDX was done for the confirmation of the CMS polymer film. TEM analysis. The sample preparation was done by sputtering the same with gold.Then the chamber door was opened and the sample was placed in the sample holder. The chamber door was closed and the required input like voltage, acceleration and time for scan were given to the system connected to the TEM analyzer. The scan was started and the results were recorded. TEM analysis was done for the size determination of the ZIF 8 nanocrsytals. FTIR analysis. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) is a technique whichis used to obtain an infrared spectrum of absorption or emission of a solid, liquid or gas. An FTIR spectrometer simultaneously collects high spectral resolution data over a wide spectral range. Sulfonic acid group functionality of membrane was studied using attenuated -total-reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy (Thermo scientific Nicolet iS5 FTIR spectrometer). The spectra for all dried membranes were observed from the range from 4000 to 400 cm-1 wavelength. Mechanical strength test The material strength of the membranes prepared were studied by the performing Stress-Strain tests. The Universal Testing Machine was used to perform the tests. The samples of the membranes were cut into dimensions of height 30mm, width 10mm and thickness 0.45mm. The initial gauge length was set at 20mm. The samples were placed in a sample holder one at a time and the tests were performed. The data was recorded and the graphs were plotted for respective samples. Hydrophilic nature and Porosity determination test The hydrophilic or hydrophobic nature of the membranes were studied by immersing a 1cmx1cm membrane samples in different beakers each containing 20ml water. The beakers were kept on a rotary shaker for continuous mixing overnight. After 24 hours the membrane samples were taken out and the weight of the wet membranes were measured using a digital weighing balance. After that the membranes samples were dried in a vacuum oven at 60oC for 6 hours and then the weight of the dry membranes were measured similarly. The amount of water absorbed and the average porosity of the membranes were determined and the results were tabulated. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Confirmation of ZIF 8 Nanocrystals The UV Visible Spectroscopy analysis was done for the primary confirmation of ZIF 8 nanocrystals. UV of ZIF 8 nanocrystals 12 10 Absorbance 8 6 4 2 0 200 212 224 236 248 260 272 284 296 308 320 332 344 356 368 380 392 404 416 428 440 452 464 476 488 500 512 524 536 548 560 572 584 596 Wavelength Series1 Figure 1 UV visible spectroscopy result of ZIF 8 nanocrystals The penetration depth was found to be directly proportional to the exciting wavelength i.e., 325nm because of decreased absorbance which is in accordance with the reference paper, Liu et aL, (2013)[1]. Therefore we can confirm that its ZIF 8 nanocrystals. The XRD analysis was done for the secondary confirmation of ZIF 8 nanocrystals. Figure 2 XRD result of ZIF 8 nanocrystals When n-butylamine is added as the modulating ligand, nearly instantaneous formation of a solid is observed upon combining the component solutions, and pure-phase ZIF-8 nanocrystals are recovered after 24 h (see XRD pattern in Figure 2). An average size of 18 nm is estimated from the broadening of the Bragg reflections. The XRD results were also in accordance with the reference paper Cravillon et aL, (2011). Hence we can confirm that the particles synthesized were ZIF 8 nanocrystals. Morphology of ZIF 8 Nanocrystals ZIF materials constitute a new distinctive, rapidly developing subclass of crystalline porous coordination polymers (PCPs) or metal organic frameworks (MOFs). The tetrahedral framework structures of ZIFs are constructed from bivalent metal cations and bridging substituted imidazolate anions and frequently possess a zeolite topology. Numerous ZIFs combine the attractive features of MOFs (diversity of framework structures and pore systems, large surface areas, post-synthetically modifiable organic bridging ligands) with high thermal and chemical stability. Figure 3 SEM image of ZIF 8 nanocrystals It is this combination of properties which makes ZIFs very promising candidate materials for many technological applications. Properties and performance of porous materials rely much on their supply as nano and microcrystals of well-defined size and shape, as is well-known for zeolites. SEM images (Figure 3) reveal that the well-defined nanocrystals have a rhombic dodecahedral shape crystal structure. Figure 4 TEM image of ZIF 8 nanocrystals TEM images (Figure 4) show roughly spherical particles being Confirmation of CMS Particles It is not possible to directly measure permeation properties of CMS particles as with CMS films, replicate mixed matrix films prepared with the two different sieves give very similar effective mixed matrix film permeation properties using powder-pyrolyzed sieves versus the film-pyrolyzed sieves. XRD was performed on the CMS films and powder, as shown in Fig. 5. The XRD diffractograms show very similar peaks and d-spacings, suggesting similar planar dimensions between the film-pyrolyzed CMS and the powder-pyrolyzed CMS, thereby confirming that the particles produced were CMS particles. CMS particles Polymer film Figure 5 XRD results of CMS particles and CMS polymer film Surface Morphology of CMS Polymer Film The CMS membrane films have an intrinsic CO2/CH4 selectivity of 200 with a CO2 permeability of 44 Barrers at 35oC. For UltemÂÂ ®-CMS mixed matrix membrane films, pure gas permeation tests show enhancements by as much as 40% in CO2/CH4 selectivity over the intrinsic CO2/CH4 selectivity of the pure UltemÂÂ ® polymer matrix. Likewise, for MatrimidÂÂ ®- CMS mixed matrix films, enhancements by as much as 45% in CO2/CH4 selectivity were observed. Effective permeabilities of the fast-gas penetrants (O2 and CO2) through the mixed matrix membranes were also significantly enhanced over the intrinsic permeabilities of the UltemÂÂ ® and MatrimidÂÂ ® polymer matrices. These encouraging selectivity and permeability enhancements confirm that mixed matrix membrane behaviour is achievable with CMS particles. Figure 6 SEM image of CMS polymer film Fig. 6 shows top surface SEM micrographs of a CMS polymer film. These micrographs show a smooth surface without any defects. Figure 7 EDX result of CMS polymer film The table below shows the EDX analysis of the CMS polymer film. The sharp Silicon peak is present due to the Silicon detector used during the EDX analysis. Table 3 EDX result of CMS polymer film Element Series unn. C norm. C Atom. C Error (3 [wt.%] [wt.%] [at.%] Sigma) [wt.%] Carbon K-series 8.50 23.61 36.45 4.40 Oxygen K-series 9.89 27.46 31.82 4.26 Sodium K-series 1.16 3.22 2.60 0.31 Aluminium K-series 4.56 12.67 8.70 0.74 Silicon K-series 9.37 26.03 17.19 1.28 Calcium K-series 2.52 7.01 3.24 0.31 Total: 36.01 100.00 100.00 The Oxygen peak is due to the oxygen present in the atmosphere during EDX analysis. The Carbon peak denotes the confirmation of the CMS polymer film prepared. As expected it shows a maximum wt % of 23.61. Cross Sectional Morphology of CMS/PAI Membranes Scanning electron micrographs of the CMS fibers are shown in figures 8, 9 and 10 Figure 4.8 SEM image of 1% CMS/PAI membrane Although asymmetry appeared to be present in the CMS fiber morphology, the thicknesses of the layers were markedly different from each other and from those of the precursor fibers (compare with those of the precursor fibers in Figure 6). The original polymeric precursor fibers consisted of a very thin dense skin (1000-2000 Ã…) on a porous core. This skin layer in polymeric fibers has been observed at very high resolution under SEM. In figure 8, high magnification of the wall in the cross section of the PAI CMS fiber reveals a gradual transition from the porous inner core to the denser outer micropore structure. In contrast, high magnification of the PAI CMS fiber shows a uniform dense micropore structure in figure 9. Figure 9 SEM image of 2% CMS/PAI membrane Figures 8, 9 and 10 show SEM micrographs of a mixed matrix film after these modifications. These micrographs demonstrate smaller CMS particles (mostly Figure 10 SEM image of 3% CMS/PAI membrane Cross Sectional Morphology of ZIF 8/PAI Membranes Figures 11, 12 and 13 shows SEM images of ZIF-8/PAI mixed matrix dense films, which indicates good contact of bare ZIF-8 to the PAI matrix without sieve-in-a-cage morphology at each loading. It is noteworthy that the good contact was achieved without any surface treatment of the sieve. This should be due to the hydrophobic nature of ZIF-8, proved by TGA measurements in reference paper Zhang et. al. (2012). Interestingly, in the SEM images of ZIF-8/PAI mixed matrix dense films, as shown in figures 11, 12 and 13, we observe a morphology that has not been previously reported in mixed matrix membranes prepared with other molecular sieves. Other than well-dispersed 10 nm ZIF-8 particles, there also exist many non-ideal large clusters of ZIF-8 with size ranging from 50 nm to several microns, which is more than an order of magnitude larger than single ZIF-8 particles. Also, volume fraction of large ZIF-8 clusters in the matrix increases with increasing ZIF-8 loading. Figure 11 SEM image of 1% ZIF 8/PAI membrane Unlike agglomerations of molecular sieve particles that have been previously reported in mixed matrix membranes prepared with other molecular sieves, the surface of these large ZIF-8 clusters as revealed in figures 11, 12 and 13 looks fairly smooth. Also, almost no defects were observed for these clusters among all the ZIF-8/PAI dense film samples. Since film samples were randomly fractured for SEM analysis, we believe that the mostly non-defective feature of these large ZIF-8 clusters shown in figures 11, 12 and 13 is representative of their interior structures. It is important to understand the formation mechanism of these large ZIF-8 clusters and their impacts on gas transport properties of the mixed matrix membrane to allow extension to practical asymmetric structures. By achieving the desired uniform distribution of individual ZIF-8 particles with the PAI matrix we can achieve outstanding gas separation results. Figure 12 SEM image of 2% ZIF 8/PAI membrane Figure 13 SEM image of 3% ZIF 8/PAI membrane The cross sectional view of the ZIF 8/PAI membranes shows good adhesion between the inorganic filler ZIF 8 and the polymeric membrane PAI. The figures show the SEM images of 1%, 2% and 3% ZIF 8/PAI membranes prepared respectively. FTIR Analysis of ZIF 8/PAI membranes The FTIR results shows that the aluminosilicates are present in the ZIF 8/PAI membranes prepared. The aluminosilicates are present due to the presence of ZIF 8 nanocrystals. FTIR Results Conjugated cyclic Aluminosilicates 120 100 %T 80 Unsaturated aromatic 60 40 20 ketoaldehydes or enols dimer esters and lactones 0 3691 2970 4000 3897 3794 3588 3485 3382 3279 3176 3073 2867 2764 2661 2558 2455 2352 2249 2146 2043 1940 1837 1734 1631 1528 1425 1322 1219 1116 1013 910 807 704 601 498 cm-1 Series1 Series2 Series3 FTIR Analysis of CMS/PAI membranes The FTIR results shows that the carbon bonds are present in the CMS/PAI membranes prepared. The carbon bonds are present due to the presence of CMS particles. FTIR Results Carbon bonds 120 100 %T 80 60 unsaturated aromatic 40 dimer ketoaldehydes or enols 20 0 Conjugated cyclic esters and lactones 3691 2970 4000 3897 3794 3588 3485 3382 3279 3176 3073 2867 2764 2661 2558 2455 2352 2249 2146 2043 1940 1837 1734 1631 1528 1425 1322 1219 1116

Shampoo Planets - Book Report :: essays research papers

Shampoo Planets - book Report The book I chose is Shampoo Planet, writen by Douglas Coupland. I chose to read this particular book because it was written by an author of my generation; generation X. Most books that were on the list were book written by people that were either dead or very old. They wrote about topics or themes that I could not personally relate to, so I chose Douglas Coupland because I wanted to support a young author like himself, and because I wanted to read something out of the ordinary.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Douglas Coupland was born on December 30, 1961. Helived his first four years of his life in Baden-Solling, Germany on a Canadian N.A.T.O. base. The names of his parents are Dr. Douglas Charles Thomas and Janet Coupland. He is the third son out of four in the Family.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Douglas moved to Vancouver, Canada, when he was four years old and he attended school here until he graduated at Sentinel Secondary School in 1979. After high school he attended Emily Carr College of Art and Design in 1984. He was quite a good artist, for he earned a solo art show at the Vancouver Art Gallery. In Japan, in completed a two year course in Japanese buisness science in 1986. He has won many awards through out his life, but the two Canadian National Awards for Excellence in Industrial Design stand out from the rest.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mr. Coupland has written five novels. He started out with Generation X, and then came Life After God and then came Microserfs. His last book was Poaroids From the Dead, but before that was Shampoo Planet. Life After God and Polaroid From the Dead are not really novels but just compilations of short stories and anecdotes, some from his own life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I think that this book, about a guys life. The cover has a picture of the top part of a person's head, forehead and up, with messy hair. By looking at the cover, I feel that this book will look into the mind of a person.

Personal Narrative- High School and Church Youth Group Essay -- Person

Personal Narrative- High School and Church Youth Group The most distinguishing and memorable moment of my life was entering high school for the first time. I feel that the event of starting high school was the starting point of what kind of person I was going to become. Not only did I start going to a new kind of school, but I started attending the high school youth group at my church. I also had the privilege to start working on my first car. Without this experience, I feel that I would not be where I am right now. This memorable moment started with my transition to the high school youth group at church. Moving up to the high school group at my church was exciting yet frightening. Fortunately, I was welcomed with great joy and fellowship. I got involved in the activities very quickly. I made many friends, which gave me an incentive to actually go to church. I went on two mission trips before starting school. This helped me to see God work through me and through my youth group. Within our youth group, we had a youth choir called Deliverance. Because of my involvement in that ...

Appearance versus Reality in Shakespeares Othello Essay -- essays res

The play 'Othello' is an epiphany of the ultimate battle between appearance versus reality in the respect that Iago is the complete opposite from what he appears to be. Everyone involved with him separately thinks that he is doing them favors, when actually he is a backstabbing, conniving person who is the essence of evil and is often referred to as half-man, half-devil. Contrary to Iago, Othello is often referred to as a God-like figure, innocent in every way: trusting and naà ¯ve. Unfortunately for Othello, this serves as his eventual downfall helping Iago play Othello like a harp, which results in Desdemona's death. Iago's two-sided face and the other characters' readiness to believe him before thinking twice is the driving force of the play and its plot. Everyone involved with Iago separately thinks that he is doing them favors, when actually he is a backstabbing, conniving person who is the essence of evil and is often referred to as half-man, half-devil. 'I am not what I am.' This is a quote that should not be taken for granted. In this quote, Iago describes himself as a demonic Satan-like person contradicting God's quote 'I am that I am.' Indeed, Iago represents the very essence of the play's theme: appearance versus reality. In reality he is the cunning, untrustworthy, selfish, and plotting evil that the audience gets to know through his soliloquies, but in his appearance he is that same old, trustworthy, run of the mill Iago that they think they know so well. In fact, Othello, after he murders his own wife, accredits Iago as, 'An honest man he is, and hates the slime/ That sticks on filthy deeds.' Inopportunely for Othello, who seems to trust Iago so, Iago is the exact opposite of what Othello takes him to be. Iag... ...by Othello, and yet denied it every bit, preserving her honor as, in her eyes, a sacred and tangible reality. The play ?Othello? is an epiphany of the ultimate battle between appearance versus reality in the respect that Iago is the complete opposite from what he appears to be. Everyone involved with him separately thinks that he is doing them favors, when actually he is a backstabbing, conniving person who is the essence of evil and is often referred to as half-man, half-devil. Contrary to Iago, Othello is often referred to as a God-like figure, innocent in every way: trusting and naà ¯ve. Unfortunately for Othello, this serves as his eventual downfall helping Iago play Othello like a harp, which results in Desdemona?s death. Iago?s two-sided face and the other characters? readiness to believe him before thinking twice is the driving force of the play and its plot. Appearance versus Reality in Shakespeare's Othello Essay -- essays res The play 'Othello' is an epiphany of the ultimate battle between appearance versus reality in the respect that Iago is the complete opposite from what he appears to be. Everyone involved with him separately thinks that he is doing them favors, when actually he is a backstabbing, conniving person who is the essence of evil and is often referred to as half-man, half-devil. Contrary to Iago, Othello is often referred to as a God-like figure, innocent in every way: trusting and naà ¯ve. Unfortunately for Othello, this serves as his eventual downfall helping Iago play Othello like a harp, which results in Desdemona's death. Iago's two-sided face and the other characters' readiness to believe him before thinking twice is the driving force of the play and its plot. Everyone involved with Iago separately thinks that he is doing them favors, when actually he is a backstabbing, conniving person who is the essence of evil and is often referred to as half-man, half-devil. 'I am not what I am.' This is a quote that should not be taken for granted. In this quote, Iago describes himself as a demonic Satan-like person contradicting God's quote 'I am that I am.' Indeed, Iago represents the very essence of the play's theme: appearance versus reality. In reality he is the cunning, untrustworthy, selfish, and plotting evil that the audience gets to know through his soliloquies, but in his appearance he is that same old, trustworthy, run of the mill Iago that they think they know so well. In fact, Othello, after he murders his own wife, accredits Iago as, 'An honest man he is, and hates the slime/ That sticks on filthy deeds.' Inopportunely for Othello, who seems to trust Iago so, Iago is the exact opposite of what Othello takes him to be. Iag... ...by Othello, and yet denied it every bit, preserving her honor as, in her eyes, a sacred and tangible reality. The play ?Othello? is an epiphany of the ultimate battle between appearance versus reality in the respect that Iago is the complete opposite from what he appears to be. Everyone involved with him separately thinks that he is doing them favors, when actually he is a backstabbing, conniving person who is the essence of evil and is often referred to as half-man, half-devil. Contrary to Iago, Othello is often referred to as a God-like figure, innocent in every way: trusting and naà ¯ve. Unfortunately for Othello, this serves as his eventual downfall helping Iago play Othello like a harp, which results in Desdemona?s death. Iago?s two-sided face and the other characters? readiness to believe him before thinking twice is the driving force of the play and its plot.

Family Restaurant Business Plan Essay

Executive Summary Castle’s Family restaurant has eight locations spread out in northern California. Jay Morgan acts as the human resource manager and operations manager. Jay Morgan is also responsible of doing the payroll and making the schedule. He travels to different locations to take care of all of that. Jay Morgan would like to not have to travel to different location and save  money, while also focusing more on the operations of the business. Since gas prices are going up really fast, spending less time and money on traveling will give Jay Morgan more time to focus on promoting the business. Jay Morgan has to come up with ways to promote the business because all the competitors are coming up with different ideas to bring customers into the restaurant. Since most of the employees are part-time, Jay Morgan has to go to every location to take care of the payroll and scheduling. The plan is to show Jay Morgan how he can save time and money by using the Human Resources Information System (HRIS). HRIS will have fewer errors than manual entry. Once HRIS in loaded, making a fiscal plan will show how much money is being saved and how effective it is. It will help Jay Morgan compete with competitors and be better then some competitors. Introduction Castle’s family owned business is a small business that is spread out in northern California area with eight different locations. Jay Morgan is the only manager and he acts as an operations and HR manager at the same time. Castle’s restaurants currently employ over 300 employees including full-time and part-time. Jay Morgan spends most of his time going around to different locations. He would like to stay at one place and take care of everything form his office. Jay Morgan feels like he could use some help from HRIS. HRIS will help Jay Morgan get everything done from his office. Which will save the company a lot of money and will reduce most of the human errors. Jay Morgan will also be able to better manage his time and put his time towards more important things. Company Review The family owned business currently has eight locations spread out in northern California. Castle’s family owned business is planning on opening a few newer locations to expand their customer base. The restaurant industry has been growing day-by-day with more then 990,000 restaurants in the United States and still growing. Estimated sales for 2014 for the restaurant industry is approximately around $683.3 billion. Castle’s family restaurant currently employs over 300 employees, Most of the employees are part-time and around 40% of the employees are full-time. Most of the stuff data entry, payroll and many other things are still done manually. When the company starts to expand, the company will have to hire more employees. This will make Jay Morgan’s job even harder and more stressful. As of now, everything is done manually that includes, payroll, scheduling, benefits, and many other things. Jay Morgan has to travel to every location to get most of the work done which includes scheduling, payroll and answering any questions. Jay Morgan uses Excel to take care of the payroll and has a different application to print them. He hands out paychecks to employees when he’s at the location. Employees have no way of getting their questions answer until Jay Morgan comes to the restaurant to visit. All of the things could be made easier by using HRIS software, which will also reduce in human errors and make the process much faster for everything. Business Analysis Castle’s family restaurant has eight different locations spared out in Northern California. Everything is still done the old way by entering everything manually that includes payroll, scheduling, benefits and many more things. In order for the company to meet human resource (HR) needs the HRM system has to improve or use a new and efficient way to do things. Changing the HRM system will help the company manage many things differently and faster. In order for Jay Morgan to do things now including employee scheduling, Jay Morgan has to go to the location. Sometime some things might not get done because of not having the right tools to get the job done. Going to every location to take care of things is a bit hectic and stressful. Where it s stressful for Jay Morgan the company is wasting a lot of money and time as well. Castle’s restaurant business could take advantage of the HRIS. By taking advantage of HRIS software and technology, things could be made much simpler, easier, and could help the company grow. Also, in order for the company to stay competitive with other same line companies, Castle’s restaurant need to take advantage of HRIS software. HRIS software is the best way to find solution to most of the HR problems. HRIS helps you do many different things form your office or while your on the go. HRIS has made things like payroll, scheduling, befits and employee  performance measurement made easier without going anywhere. There are a few risks to entering everything manually compared to using HRIS software. Amount of data that’s being entered every day by clerks it’s easy to make a mistake. When there are mistakes someone will have to go back and fix them, that will cost the company a lot of money and it will be waste of time. This could lead for the company to lose the trust of employees. Since there is a lot of people that are living paycheck to paycheck. If they can’t get their paycheck as the right time they won’t be able to pay their bills on time. As of now all the tasks are done manually, they have to rely on manual data entry for everything. Jay Morgan does the payroll manually as well and hands the checks out manually as well. There are no direct ways for the employees to get a hold of an HR manger to discuss any issues. Issues are only discussed when the HR manager visits the store. Also, it’s hard to observe an employee. Observing an employee could take a lot of time. In order to observe the employees correctly, you have to spend some time working with the employee. In this case, Jay Morgan doesn’t have enough time to go to every location and observe every single employee. Since the employees don’t get observed they don’t get to know about the things they are doing wrong and how to fix them. By not observing the employees and not letting them know what things they need to fix could cost the company a lot of money. HRIS software provides solution to all of the problems that Jay Morgan is currently facing. In summary Jay Morgan does everything as of now manually, which is not stable for a growing business or a business that is looking to expand. By using the HRIS system will make the company more stable. Also it will be easier for the castle’s family restaurant to serve their customer better and also take care of the employees. HRIS Type/Comparison HRIS software can help Castle restaurant business a lot and can also take a lot of stress of Jay Morgan’s shoulders. There are a lot of different types of HRIS software that could help Jay Morgan in different ways. By using any of the HRIS software, Jay Morgan will be able to work from one place without going anywhere. Most of the HRIS software will let him work from home or  anywhere. The result of this will help the company save up a lot of money and will help Jay Morgan save a lot of time as well. Overall, using HRIS software will help Jay Morgan and make things go much smoother. There are a lot of types of HRIS software out there. Choosing the right HRIS software is always important for the business. Lewin’s three-step change model is a good example that can be fallowed. It explains how technology can bring efficiency for a company. It would be a good guide to fallow. It also states how technology can help make tasks stress free. This is an important reason why an HRIS is critical. Ultipro is one the HRIS software that has been out in the business for over 20 years providing excellent solution to their customers. Ultipro has many different built in functions like time and attendance, payroll, scheduling and many more that could help Jay Morgan take a lot of stress of his shoulders. Ultipro lets employee’s request days off straight from Ultipro and it also lets them upload their availability to Ultipro. Ultipro makes employee schedules according to the availability. Scheduling is one of the main problems Jay Morgan is running into all the time. In order for Jay Morgan to make employee schedule he has to go out to every location. It also gets hard for the employees to request days off and work according to their availability. In order to solve this problem and make everything run smooth, Jay Morgan needs to take advantage of the HRIS software. HRIS software will let him make the schedule at his office and send it out to the employees really fast. Using HRIS also works in favor of the employees. HRIS scheduling software lets employees request days off straight from that software and lets them upload their availability. This will let Jay Morgan schedule according the employees availability. This also lets the employees have access to the schedule much faster. Which is good, because if they are not happy with the schedule they got they can email Jay Morgan to change their schedule in advance before it too late. Using the HRIS scheduling software also saves the company a lot of money by letting Jay Morgan sit in his office and get things done instead of traveling to every location to make the schedule. Intuit is one of the vendors that offer different types of HRIS software. Intuit offers QuickBooks, which is used for payroll and print checks. QuickBooks also works with third party software. This will let the Castle’s  family business use third party software for scheduling and recruiting and other things. Intuit also offers time keeping software for little extra cost. It lets the employees log in and lets them clock-in and clock-out. Time and attendance works with payroll, which lets payroll pull the information from time and attendance. Also, it reduces errors while putting in the numbers into payroll. Payroll also lets you print paychecks straight form payroll and keeps track of printed checks. It also lets you pick the style of the paychecks of your choice. It has also made easier to set up direct deposit for the employees, which could save the company a lot of money. It also has the option where you can print out your W-2 from QuickBooks payroll. Payroll automatically calculates state and federal taxes and also could paid with just a click. PDS is another vendor that brings different types of software to HR to help them make things simple and easy. PDS offers different software for training, recruiting, attendance, benefits and many more. PDS benefit plan lets the employees enroll in plan of their choice in a few minutes. If employees don’t like the plan they are currently enrolled in they are able to change their plain with few steps at any time without any hassle. Employees don’t have to fill out any paper work. They are able to enroll in the benefits online and have all their benefits information at their fingertips. Payroll function lets you create checks and print them. It also lets you customize checks with you company logo. Payroll software work with the time and attendance function, it pulls information from time and attendance to create checks for the right amount. It reduces errors compared to entering data manually. Employees are also able to set up direct deposit and are able to view paystubs o nline. Recruiting is also made easy using the PDS recruiting software. It provides the company with the tools that will allow them to gather applicant data by a corporate website. Once the data is collected, it’s put in a stand-alone database where it’s easier for the recruiter to monitor and control contact. It also lets you put a link on corporate’s website to provide access to this tool where jobs can be posted with descriptions and with the required qualifications. Training is very important for the company to succeed and expand. It give corporate the ability to put up the training on the website for the employees to take in  order for them to succeed. Corporate has total control of the training. They are able to choose what type of training they need to put up and when they want to make them due. This HRIS software can help Jay Morgan is many different ways. HRIS Vendor Recommendation Looking at the things Jay Morgan has to face and understanding the Castleâ€⠄¢s Family restaurant is looking to expand, PDS is the best option for them. PDS will also give Jay Morgan the ability to sit in his office and work from there with traveling to every location. It will also save him time that he put toward focusing in the other things to make the business more stable and better then the competitors. Providing a solution to the current problems Jay Morgan is facing and a solution that will help the company succeed when they expand their business. It is recommended that Castle’s Family Restaurant use PDS to make things smoother. Kottler’s eight- stage model was a theory that was developed after observing. Observations are a good way to study change. This theory helps managers avoid any downfalls in their change. Implementing an HRIS system is a huge change for organizations. I suggest Castle’s Family Restaurant to use PDS because they are a trusted vendor. They can be counted on during the change at the restaurant. PDS has been serving different types of industries including retail, restaurants, education, government and many more. PDS software will also offer phone support. If they come across any problems they will be able to call them and get it figured out. This PDS software will provide solutions to all the problems that have been pointed out by Jay Morgan. Also, it is going to help the Castle’s Family Restaurant make better decisions in the future. PDS software’s scheduling function will let Jay Morgan make the schedule at his office. He wouldn’t have to travel to every location to make the employees’ schedules. Which will save the company money from traveling expenses. This will let the employees access their schedule from any workstation at work by logging in and they will be able put in their work availability. This makes it much easier for Jay Morgan to make schedules according to the employee’s availability. Employees are able to put in requests for the days they want off and it will notify the manager when he/she is making the schedule. Time and attendance function lets employees clock-in from any workstatio n that has the PDS time and attendance software installed on. This function will also show the  employees their schedule as well and it will show them what time they clocked-in and what time they clocked-out. When employees request a day off through the time and attendance function the manager gets an email letting them know that a certain employee has requested a day off. If the manager approves the request, the employee will get message on time and attendance function letting them know that the request has been approved. As of now, Jay Morgan is using an Excel spreadsheet for payroll and has a computer application to print checks. The payroll function of PDS works with the time and attendance function. Payroll automatically pulls information from the time and attendance function to make the checks. PDS payroll also calculates overtime pay if employee has worked any overtime during that pay period. Since it automatically pulls information from time and attendance it will reduce errors while entering numbers. Employees have to option to set up a direct deposit or have their check sent to them. It gives employees the ability to view their paystub using any work workstation. It also gives the HR manager the ability to choose what they want to print on a paycheck. By using the PDS software it will save the company a lot of money and will take a lot of stress off of Jay Morgan’s shoulders. It will also be easier for the employees get access to things. Since Castle’s family restaurant is trying to expand it will help them in the future. PDS software will give the company the ability to compete with other businesses in the same industry. Conclusion I have presented different solution that will help Jay Morgan take a load of his shoulders. Also I have suggested a one software out of two that will be the best fit for Jay Morgan’s situation, also explained why that software will be the best fit and how it will help jay Morgan compete against the competitors in the same industr y. The solution is also going to help Jay Morgan when Castle’s Family Restaurant is expanding. Reference http://www.comparehris.com/product_pdfs/Vista%20HRMS%20Product%20Information%20012012.pdf Facts at a Glance | National Restaurant Association. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.restaurant.org/News-Research/Research/Facts-at-a-Glance Intuit payroll general disclosure: Intuit payroll information. (n.d.). Retrieved