With the rise in our aging population, more and more adult children are assuming the role of caregiver while also maintaining a full- or part-time job. This pressure to balance work and caregiving responsibilities has left 61 percent of working caregivers feeling as if they must choose between being a good employee and being a good daughter or son. To make matters worse, only 29 percent of these caregivers are satisfied with their employer’s family leave policy.

As this issue grows to impact a larger percentage of the workforce, it will be essential that employees and employers work together to find solutions. Consider the following recommendations as ways to get started:

1. Ask for help – For caregivers, it can be extremely difficult, but also tremendously beneficial, to ask their employer for help. For employers, create opportunities for employees to express their needs. Schedule brief weekly meetings to check in and ask how they are doing. Transparency helps eliminate pressure on the employees to keep their concerns to themselves.

2. Create a flexible policy -When it comes to caring for a loved one, there are no fixed hours or planned deadlines; emergency situations can come at any moment. With a plan in place, employers and employees can be on the same page about flexible working hours or situations that require time off.

3. Offer in-office assistance – Employers can create a culture of safety for working caregivers by forming a support group for employees who are in similar situations. Such groups not only provide a place for relief, but also create the opportunity for employees to grow relationships with one another – positively affecting workplace culture.

4. Provide care for the caregiver – It can be easy for a caregiver to quickly forget about his or her own needs when caring for a loved one. Encourage individuals to take time to care for their own physical, mental and emotional well-being. In addition, pay attention to signs that indicate your employee may need a break. Connect them with available resources or encourage time away from work.

5. Make time to listen – Lending an ear is one of the most impactful things an employer can do for a working caregiver. More than half of caregivers have expressed feelings of depression and find it difficult to care for themselves. When employers open the door for a conversation, they are providing hope and reassurance to the working caregiver.

Family caregivers and employers can view more resources and tips at caregiverstress.com. Or, contact your local Home Instead Senior Care office for additional resources and to learn how a professional CAREGiverSM may be able to assist.

Find an office near you at www.homeinstead.com/state/.

“When it comes to fitness resolutions, the focus should be on small steps,” said Tom Holland, exercise physiologist and Bowflex Fitness Advisor. “While having a big goal to work toward can be motivating, it’s important to have small, manageable goals that allow you to celebrate the milestones along your fitness journey.”

Here are three examples of lofty fitness resolutions — and how to break them down into achievable goals:

* “I want to run a marathon.” Training for a race takes months of commitment. Start with a 5K and work your way up to a 10K or half marathon, before deciding if you’re ready to complete the full 26.2 miles. To build endurance before you hit the pavement, consider an in-home cardio machine like the Bowflex TreadClimber TC200. This machine combines the motions of a treadmill, a stepper and an elliptical for a low-impact, total-body workout.

* “I want to look like a bodybuilder.” This route takes serious patience. Begin with smaller goals, such as gaining one pound of muscle per month. You can accomplish this by increasing the amount of weight and reps with each workout. The Bowflex SelectTech 560 Dumbbells condense 32 different weights down to two — maximizing space and storage at home. A smooth weight-changing mechanism in the handle allows you to adjust weights in varying increments and create a customized strength workout to sculpt your body. These first-ever “smart” dumbbells record reps, weight lifted and speed, sending your workout data via Bluetooth technology directly to your mobile device.

* “I want to go on a cross-country bike trip.” Like a marathon, months of training go into preparing for this long-distance journey. Experts suggest building up your stamina over time to avoid injury. For an at-home workout, try the Schwinn Airdyne AD Pro Total Fitness Bike. The technology in this bike allows users to tailor intensity levels during workouts — the more effort given, the more resistance it delivers through the bike’s smooth, quiet, direct-drive belt system.

To find your perfect New Year’s workout solution, please visit www.bowflex.com or www.schwinnfitness.com. For more tips from Tom Holland, visit the Bowflex Insider blog at www.bowflexinsider.com.

Humanscale, a leader in the design and manufacture of high-performance ergonomic office products, demonstrates how one company’s leadership can set the example.

When it comes to environmental impact, “‘less bad’ is not good enough,” says Humanscale’s founder and CEO, Bob King.

“We took a look at our manufacturing and operational activities to understand our key impacts: energy, water, emissions, resource depletion, wildlife preservation, social responsibility and healthy materials,” says King.

“In each area, we consider what it would take to go beyond sustainability to making a truly positive impact on the world around us. If a company can make a positive impact in all of these ways, it will be acting like a tree,” he explains.

“While trees aim to grow, they’re self-sustaining and they replenish the environment. If we want to live at peace with the planet, then our factories must be like trees, our companies like a forest.”

Humanscale is set to release its annual Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report in time to coordinate with Earth Overshoot Day, the date calculated to mark when humans have depleted Earth’s resources beyond its ability to regenerate these resources within a given year.

Company achievements highlighted in the report include the use of solar energy for nearly 70 percent of electricity used by the company’s main manufacturing facility in 2018; reduction of normalized greenhouse gas emissions by 63 percent since 2011; and the use of rainwater for 100 percent of production water in the United States.

In addition, in the last year, nearly 500 of Humanscale’s employees voluntarily completed more than 10,340 activities that involved saving energy, reducing water use, and cutting down on their emissions.

Humanscale has also made material transparency a priority. Material transparency means labeling products, such as furniture, similar to food ingredient labels that clearly state what materials a product contains. Material transparency labels, such as Declare labels and Health Product Declarations (HPDs), identify potential toxins and unhealthy materials in products so consumers can make informed decisions before choosing these products for their homes or offices.

Humanscale has taken the lead in this area. Their products contain no Red List chemicals, and as of December 2018, the company has published 60 percent of all Declare labels and 54 percent of all HPDs that exist in the entire furniture industry.

In 2018, Humanscale received a BIFMA (Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturer’s Association) Level 3 (the highest level of that association’s certification) for all its products. The BIFMA is based on analysis of product manufacture, including water and energy use, emissions, chemicals, waste, and environmental design.

For more information about Humanscale and its sustainability efforts, visit humanscale.com.

Finding consensus on addressing the question of how to pay for the massive investment needed to fix the problem, however, is another matter entirely.

As federal and state legislators discuss and debate the means by which to fund infrastructure improvements, what has become clear is that funds, whether from public or private sources or a combination of the two, are precious commodities that must be wisely spent and protected.

Mandatory bonding on federal and state public construction projects has been in existence for many decades, protecting and preserving countless projects through prequalification of contractors and providing guarantees of contract performance.

In fact, a recent study conducted by The Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis verified the economic value of surety bond protection.

“One of the conclusions which leapt off the page to us was…that non-bonded construction enterprises are 10 times more likely to become insolvent than bonded companies,” states Steve Ness, President of the Surety Association of Canada. Construction projects carried out under the protection of bonded contracts have reduced risk of contractor insolvency, greater protection of economic activity, and better management of economic risk, Ness adds.

“Disastrous consequences for the public can result from instances when mandatory bond requirements are ignored,” asserts John Bustard, President of the National Association of Surety Bond Producers, Inc. and Executive Vice President of King & Neel, Inc., an insurance and surety bonding agency in Honolulu, Hawaii.

He cites the example of the city of Harrisburg, PA, which decided to retrofit its trash incinerator plant without requiring the contractor to furnish a bond guaranteeing its work. The work turned out to be deficient, leaving the city with more than $280 million in debt. A grand jury investigation of the situation produced “A Report of the Thirty-Ninth Statewide Investigating Grand Jury” under then Pa. Attorney General Josh Shapiro, in which it was concluded that “the absence of performance bonds which were equal to the contract amounts involved here was the single biggest factor in producing the overwhelming debt now facing the city.”

The report further states: “Had performance bonds been in place, they would have shielded the City from the financial fallout from the failed contract to retrofit the incinerator.” Subsequently, Pennsylvania legislators have introduced legislation to address this particular issue and to require bonds at 100 percent of the amount.

Even when infrastructure projects are not solely funded with public funds, such as projects undertaken through a combination of public and private financing, as through public-private partnership arrangements, those projects need bond requirements.

Approximately 20 states have already reached that policy conclusion, enacting public-private partnership legislation that also mandates bonding requirements on such projects. Situations have arisen, however, in which bonding has been ignored or reduced on public-private partnership infrastructure projects; and the public has paid a heavy price when problems have arisen with little or no backstop.

As Congress weighs how to address the tremendous infrastructure needs of the country in the coming months, protections in the form of performance and payment bonds will be absolutely necessary to ensure that the precious funds of America’s private and public investment are wisely spent and that the public receives the quality of infrastructure that it deserves.

While most people know that water is critical for your health, what you may not know is that water makes up about 55 to 65 percent of your body. Many may be surprised to know that losing only four percent of your body weight — roughly the equivalent of riding a bike for three hours in extreme heat without rehydrating — may cause you to faint.¹

The following simple tips from Dr. Ralph Holsworth, a board-certified family medicine physician and head of clinical and scientific research for Essentia Water, will help you stay well hydrated this summer:

* Sip with purpose; don’t chug. — When you drink too much water at once, it passes through your system too quickly, failing to go to the kidneys. This can lead to dehydration despite the amount of water you may be drinking. Drinking too much water can also cause cramping, as well as bloating and stomach pains, due to loss of electrolytes. Aim to take a sip of water every 15-20 minutes when you’re playing sports or when it’s hot outside and you should be right on track.

* Aim to drink 3 liters a day. — The age-old 8-glasses-a-day rule doesn’t always suffice in the hot summer months. People should try to drink 12 glasses a day, especially if they are planning on working out, playing sports or spending excessive amounts of time in the sun. A good trick to know if you’re drinking enough water is to keep your urine the color of straw (or transparent yellow).

* Bring water with you. — Spending more time out of the house often means less easy access to water. When you leave for a day at the beach, make sure you throw enough bottles of water in your beach bag to last throughout the day. Keeping a case of water in your car is another way to ensure you’ll always have water on hand.

* Limit sun exposure. — Not shielding yourself properly in the sun causes you to sweat more, which can lead to quicker dehydration. Wearing cotton clothes that are breathable in the heat and a hat that covers your ears will help protect you from potentially dangerous health issues such as heat exhaustion.

Whether you’re an athlete, a weekend warrior or just want to take better care of yourself, staying hydrated is essential to a healthy body, especially during the hot summer months. John Ross III², wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals, knows a thing or two about the importance of staying hydrated, especially during the summer heat.

“I push my body to the max every day and sometimes it can get into the 90s during practice,” says the recent first-round pick in this year’s NFL draft.

“If I’m planning to exercise outside in the heat, I always prioritize two things — sleep and staying hydrated. I always get at least 8 hours of sleep and always have a bottle of water by my side.”

For more information about Essentia Water, visit www.essentiawater.com.