Q u a r t e r l y N e w s l e t t e r

© 2013 Ceridian Corporation. All rights reserved.

Q4 2013

Managing Your Time When You Work from Home

Ten Tips for Building a Strong Relationship

Tips for Making New Friends When You’ve Moved to a New Area

Understanding How Emotions Can Drive Spending

In this Issue:

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Excerpted from Work-at-Home Strategies for Parents © 2001, 2011 Ceridian Corporation. All rights reserved.

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Managing Your Time When You Work from HomeWorking at home has become more common. Advances in technology and communications have made it easier and more productive to work away from the company’s offices. To work at home successfully, you’ll need to set clear boundaries between home and work life. If you’re always working while you’re at home, your home life will suffer. If you let your home life interfere with your work, your work productivity and performance will suffer. Here are some ideas to help you manage your time and keep your home and work lives separate: • Establish a routine. Many people who work at home follow a schedule similar to that of a traditional office job.

Getting up and starting work at the same time each day can help you settle into a comfortable rhythm. This can make your boundaries and rules clearer for your children too, because they know what to expect at certain times of the day.

• Minimize interruptions. Have two phone lines and do not answer the private one during work hours. Alternatively, if you have a work cell phone, have colleagues and clients always call you on that cell phone for continuity. (Make sure that your child’s school has both numbers for emergencies.) If you have only one landline, ask friends to call during non-work hours, or to call you only on your personal cell phone. Make sure that your child’s school or caregiver has the most appropriate numbers to contact you. Wait to return personal calls until the workday is over. You can also screen calls using voice mail or caller ID.

• Don’t answer the door or do chores, such as dishes, during a business call. This is unprofessional — and people doing this, frequently forget to use their mute button, so everyone else on the call knows what they’re doing and then wonders what they’re doing the rest of the day.

• Designate a space just for work. Doing business from the kitchen table rarely works well. Convert a bedroom or create an office in another part of the house. Make your office in a room with a door that closes — both to block out noise when others are home and to make it clear to your children that you’re working and shouldn’t be interrupted. If you don’t have the option of setting up a dedicated space, invest in one of the portable office systems that can be tucked away when you’re not using it so you can work in whatever room makes the most sense on that day.

• Close the office door at the end of the workday. When it is the end of the workday, stop working. Don’t look at unfinished work or respond to emails until the next day. And try to schedule the last check of your email and voice mail an hour before the workday ends. This will allow you time to take care of urgent issues and schedule the rest for the next day. When possible, let your voice mail pick up calls after work hours. Though many people find they feel better if they catch up on work outside of the standard workday, do your best to not let work “scope-creep” invade your time with your family. Enjoy the benefit of work at home — which is leaving work and immediately being home with your family.

Q u a r t e r l y N e w s l e t t e r

© 2013 Ceridian Corporation. All rights reserved.

Q4 2013

2

Ten Tips for Building a Strong RelationshipEvery couple is different, so there’s no one-size-fits-all formula for a good relationship. People who have stayed together for a long time tend to have some of the same things in common. Here are ten tips based on the conclusions experts have drawn from studying successful relationships.

1. Have a strong commitment to making your relationship work. Most couples start out with a strong commitment to their relationship but, after a while, begin to give it less attention. In strong relationships both people may go through big changes, but they continue to make their commitment to each other a top priority. And because they do, they can survive challenges like getting older, living on a reduced income, or entering a new phase of life.

2. Think of yourselves as friends, not just as a couple. Couples who stay together see themselves as good friends. They share a variety of activities, enjoy each other’s company, show respect and trust in each other, provide support in good times and bad, and don’t take each other for granted.

3. Accept your differences and disappointments. You and your partner may share many interests, but you probably won’t share all of them, and one of your challenges as a couple is learning to live with your differences. In the early stages of a relationship, both of you may disagree only on small things. Over time, each of you may develop new interests and your differences may become greater. You may also have some disappointments along the way. At every stage of your relationship, it’s important for both of you to know that you’ll love and cherish each other even if things don’t always work out as expected.

4. See yourselves as equal partners. In successful relationships, two people may have very different roles, but they see themselves as equal partners. They don’t regard one person’s views or interests as more important than the other’s. Each person feels that he or she is making a vital contribution to the relationship.

5. Pay attention to how you communicate. More than two-thirds of the couples who seek counseling say that their problems include poor communication. It’s vital for your and your partner to learn good communication skills so that both of you are able to clearly express and listen carefully to each other’s needs and desires. One study found that couples can stay close by spending as little as twenty minutes a day simply talking with each other.

6. Handle disagreements constructively. Even in the strongest relationships, it isn’t possible — or healthy — to try to avoid all disagreements. A desire to avoid conflict can lead couples to ignore problems until they become too big to handle. A healthy argument can help to clear the air and clarify different points of view. Knowing that you and your spouse are committed to your relationship will help create a sense of safety in expressing yourself.

7. Develop a support system. When they fall in love, many couples think they don’t need anybody but each other. In the long run this usually turns out to be untrue. Maintaining a good relationship is difficult enough that most couples who stay together need a lot of support along the way. This may come from their friends or family. But it can also come from groups or organizations that reflect their deepest values.

8. Make sure each of you has some privacy and independence. In the early stages of a romance, couples may want to do almost everything together. But over time, most couples realize that each person needs room to grow and develop, not just as part of a couple but as an individual. Allowing each other some independence is a way of giving your relationship room to “breathe” and showing that you respect another’s unique needs and interests. It can also remind you of how much you miss each other when you’re apart.

9. Share rituals and traditions. Almost every successful relationship involves some cherished rituals and traditions that help to bind a couple together. Some couples share daily rituals, such as eating dinner together or talking before bedtime, even if one person is traveling and the conversation takes place by phone. Others enjoy weekly rituals such as going to religious services or to a favorite restaurant every Friday night.

10. Have fun. No matter how hard they work, couples who stay together usually make time for fun. Some set aside one night a week for a “date” with just each other — children and tech-free — even if they just go out for pizza or for a moonlit walk. What you do isn’t important, what’s important is that you spend time together having fun.

Excerpted from Ten Tips for Building a Strong Relationship © 2002, 2011 Ceridian Corporation. All rights reserved.

Q u a r t e r l y N e w s l e t t e r

© 2013 Ceridian Corporation. All rights reserved.

Q4 2013

3

© 2006, 2012 Ceridian Corporation. All rights reserved

Tips for Making New Friends When You’ve Moved to a New AreaMaking friends in a new community can be challenging. Below you’ll find some tips that can help you begin to build a network of friends when you’ve moved to a new area.

• Join something. Joining a group of some sort is one of the best ways to meet people. So sign up for an exercise class, join a gym or pick-up athletic league, find a book group through the local library, or take an adult community education class.

• Reach out to co-workers. Ask co-workers to recommend a local coffee shop or restaurant and invite them to join you. Invite a co-worker to have a drink or go to a movie after work.

• Get involved in a faith community. If you are a person of faith you may benefit greatly from getting involved in a religious or spiritual community. Find a local place of worship, which can serve as a built-in community complete with social activities.

• Volunteer. Volunteering your time is another good way to meet like-minded people. Sign up to serve food at a homeless shelter, clean up a park or work on a political campaign.

• Spend time outdoors. Go for walks, runs, or bike rides in your neighborhood or in local parks. If you have a child, go to a nearby playground. You’re much more likely to meet people when you’re out and about than you are sitting at home.

• Try to get to know your neighbors. Ask them for tips about your community, such as the best dry cleaner or electrician. Invite your neighbors over for a cup of coffee or lunch.

• Tap the power of social networking. Post a message on any online networks you’ve joined. Ask your connections if they know people you might like to meet in your area. Consider joining a site such as meetup.org to find groups and events with people who share your interests.

• Never turn down an invitation. Try to take advantage of every opportunity you get to meet people, even if you don’t feel like going or you’re not sure you’d like to be friends with the person who invited you. You never know who you’ll meet.

• Go beyond your “comfort zone.” You may have to push yourself beyond what feels easy or natural to make friends. For example, you may need to take a chance and invite a co-worker out for coffee or ask a person you met in the park if he’d like to play basketball.

Q u a r t e r l y N e w s l e t t e r

© 2013 Ceridian Corporation. All rights reserved.

Q4 2013

4

Excerpted from Understanding How Emotions Drive Spending © 2006, 2009 Ceridian Corporation. All rights reserved

Understanding How Emotions Can Drive SpendingIf you’ve ever tried to cheer yourself up by buying something, then you know that there is a strong emotional component to our spending habits. Some people buy things out of desire, others out of boredom. Some people spend money they don’t have to try to pick up their moods or celebrate a victory. Whatever the reason, emotional spending can be dangerous because it can easily cause you to spend more than you can afford.

The connection between how you feel and how you spend Managing your money isn’t just about budgeting and tracking your spending. It’s also about understanding your relationship with money. Spending is often driven by habits that we may not even be aware of that we learned from our parents or friends. And these habits are frequently fueled by emotions, which isn’t always healthy for your emotional well being or your finances. The following questions may help you understand your own relationship to money.

• Track your spending for a week or more to really understand where your money goes. Most people spend much more money each day than they think they do. Keep a small notebook in your pocket or bag and write down every purchase you make, especially small items, like a cup of coffee or a pack of gum. Also jot down how you were feeling at the time of the purchase. Even a word or two, like “bored,” or “upset,” can be helpful when you analyze where your money is going and why you are spending.

• Learn to recognize the emotional “triggers” that cause you to spend. Go back through your spending log and take a look at how you felt when you made certain purchases. You may see a pattern emerge. For example, if you see that you were feeling lonely or bored or angry when you made purchases, then you’ll know that these are your emotional “triggers.”

• Impose a waiting period on any purchase that you don’t really need. Force yourself to wait a week before making any purchase that isn’t a definite need. You may find that by waiting a few days your desire to make the purchase has diminished.

• Find alternative ways to satisfy the emotional needs that you are trying to fulfill by spending. For example, if you’re in the habit of going out for an expensive dinner with your partner after a tough day at work, try a less expensive way to de-stress.

You might cook a meal together at home or decide to eat someplace cheaper and take in a funny movie instead. If you realize that you go shopping when you feel lonely or down, try calling a friend or exercising instead. You might make a list of alternative activities now, when you’re not feeling lonely or bored, that you can substitute for shopping when these feelings arise. For example: have a picnic in the park, take a walk, go to the library. Come up with other ideas, too.

• Keep learning about managing your money. As you work to identify your emotional spending patterns, do all you can to manage your money wisely in other ways. For example, you can draw up a solid budget, develop a sound savings plan, and avoid financial scams on the Internet and elsewhere. You’ll find helpful articles on those subjects at MyMoney.gov, http://www.mymoney.gov, the U.S. government’s personal-finance site.

• Don’t deprive yourself. Everyone deserves a small treat once in a while. Just pay attention to why you’re spending and train yourself to avoid making financial decisions that are driven purely by emotion.

Curbing emotional spending If you realize that you frequently engage in “retail therapy,” or emotional spending, you can take steps to regain control of your money.

• Do you buy yourself “treats” when you’re feeling down?

• Do you reward yourself for accomplishments by spending money?

• Do you sometimes buy things you can’t really afford because you really want them?

• Do you save money even to the point of depriving yourself of simple pleasures?

• Do you frequently go shopping out of boredom or for distraction?

• When you want something in particular, do you typically come up with a plan for saving for it or buy it and worry about paying for it later?

Answering “yes” to any of these questions doesn’t necessarily mean that you have a problem. Most people occasionally let emotions drive their spending. But your answers could be a clue for understanding your relationship to money and how your emotions can drive that relationship. If you did answer “yes” to some of these questions, you may need to think honestly about how often emotions drive your spending habits.