There's that old saying “you gotta go when you gotta go”, but just how much is your bathroom break actually costing your company?

The average size of a bathroom is 40 square feet. The average rent of an office is $23.23 per a square meter every month. The average time spent on the toilet, as a mean between men and women, is 95 minutes a week, which comes to 13.57 minutes a day and roughly 4.5 minutes during your eight hour shift. There are 43800 minutes in a month, which means that one square foot costs $0.00053 every minute, and 40 square feet cost $0.02121 every minute. This figure multiplied by 4.5 minutes is $0.09546.

During those 4.5 minutes on the toilet, your wages are still being paid for you to be essentially idle. The average American is paid $24.57 every hour, which equates to $196.56 for an eight hour day, and $0.4095 every minute. Your time in wages, on average on the toilet during company time is $1.84275 every day.

The average price of water is $1.50 for every 1000 gallons. The average amount of water used to flush the toilet is 1.6 gallons, which means that each flush costs $0.0024. Then of course we still have to clean up, and let's just say a roll of paper costs a reasonable $0.25 which consists of 500 sheets, 8.6 of which are used on average every trip to the bathroom, the price of this will be $0.0172.

If we add all of those figures together, we come to $1.95781, or $1.96 when rounded to the nearest cent, and this doesn't include factors like the water and soap used to wash your hands, the time spent walking between your desk and the computer, the cost of lighting the bathroom, the cost of maintenance and cleaning, the cost of heating, the cost of wear and tear on the office carpet, the cost of running your computer while you're not using it and most importantly the share of the 6.5% annual profit margin which you will not be making whilst you are taking a bathroom break.

The amount of money that a company spends on its employees being idle racks up very quickly when you begin to consider every element that a company spends simply on existing. It is absolutely essential that a company does their best to eliminate time wasting in order to be successful. Going to the toilet is an essential part of our day, being mammals we simply cannot live without it, but what about time on social networks, or time socialising at the water cooler, or the time waiting on hold for a conference call, or the time waiting for your computer to power up in the morning? Are there any ways that you can cut out unnecessary elements in your time to save your company money? And if not, is there anything else you can do while your computer is loading up? Are there emails you can be answering while you are waiting for a conference call to start?

Time is money, and time is the most valuable resource that we have. Make sure to use it effectively.

With advancements in technology constantly in the pipeline, the world has come a long way in the last few years. Gone are the days of vinyl, film photography, tape decks, CD, VHS, polaroid cameras, DVD and board games…. or are they?

While we have music streaming websites such as Spotify dominating the music industry, and likewise Netflix taking a lot of consumers away from their traditional televisions, it seems that it is becoming fashionable to revel in the processes of our pastimes. More and more people are falling back in love with their film cameras, chasing the analogue systems over their digital counterparts. More people are sitting down with the warm crackle of a vinyl; a sound that was almost lost in the digital age. There are even new advancements in film photography so that photographers can develop their film on the go. There seems to be a certain romance with the physical connections with our music and photos.

While on the rise, it is still a very small market, and the majority of consumers will opt for the newer and more practical solutions. There is an upwards trend in paying for subscriptions for services like Netflix and Spotify, where instead of paying once for a DVD or a CD, people will pay a monthly fee for unlimited access to the services that website provides. This eliminates clutter around the house, makes media completely portable by putting everything in one place - inside a smart phone or computer device, and also gives users more access to content that before they would have had no exposure to.

With over 100 million people subscribed to a music streaming service worldwide, it is certainly a booming industry. Initially, the introduction of digital files in the music industry was problematic as music piracy became more common. While still very popular, the introduction of services like Spotify is beginning to tackle that problem. The drop in demand for the physical product is saving record companies a fortune in shipping, storage and production as effectively, all they need to do is to allow access to a digital file, which also combats issues such as pollution generated when moving vast amounts of a product as well as the reducing the plastic used to create CDs and CD sleeves.

Youtube poses a potential threat to paid streaming services as there are more consumers listening to music on youtube than through Apple and Spotify combined. While royalties are paid out through this service, the inflation of royalties has not kept up with the increase of streaming creating a a value gap. Money is obtained through advertising and distributed accordingly, instead of through a paid subscription.

Despite revenues being $195 billion for Spotify in 2015, the company doesn't produce a profit as the price of royalties increases. Spotify's sustainability is questionable, despite the fact it is still going strong. Still, in a rapidly developing environment, it's only a matter of time before everything changes again, and music streaming becomes, like film photography and vinyl, a thing of the past.

While appearance isn't everything, making a good initial impact is very important. There are a number of beneficial reasons for dressing up smart for your career and a number of mental changes that come with looking sharp, for both the observer and yourself .

Dressing smart makes us feel powerful. A phycology study at California State University suggests that looking more formal than is required broadens our perspective and encourages wearers to think in a more abstract way. By feeling more powerful, people in formal attire are less likely to get caught up on small details and tend to think about the larger picture. The wearer begins to distance themselves from social elements such as what others may be thinking about him or her and can focus more on the professional implications of the task at hand.

There is a well documented link between power and abstract thinking throughout history. What this means is that the thinker removes the facts and thinks more conceptually. This is effective for some areas of business, but not others. It is very helpful when problem solving as the person would tend to think of the whole process rather than just the obstacle. It's also effective when receiving criticism because the thinker can take a step back from the social implications rather than letting the negativity drag down their self esteem. The opposite of subtract thinking is concrete thinking, which is particularly effective when following a process and focussing on small details

As wearing formal attire makes you appear more professional, people will listen more to what you have to say and find you more trustworthy. Somebody wearing a suit emits a lot more confidence than somebody wearing a tracksuit, at least in a formal work atmosphere. If you consider somebody asking for change to catch the bus, are you more likely to part with 50 cents to a businessman or to somebody is casual attire?

There is a subconscious mindset that somebody wearing formal attire is successful and moving upwards in the world. We naturally see somebody who is working to make a difference, in one way or another.

Other research suggests that wearing formal attire in business environments where it is not essential or part of a dress code has even greater effects. By raising the bar a notch, you will be making the people in your immediate proximity uncomfortable and making a larger statement with your choice of formal attire. You will increase the margin between those who chose to down dress and, even if only on a subconscious level, you will place yourself at the top of the hierarchy.

Obviously it depends on your job and the environment that you work in as to which attire will help you settle into the right mindset for the task at hand, but when you have the chance to and you need to boost your abstract thinking, put away the polo top and trade it for something a little smarter. You might just feel the difference that you need.

"Fair Trade” is a label that we see every day in supermarkets, cafes, supermarkets and shops. It is a social movement who's goal is to help producers in developing countries achieve better trading conditions. It is also set up in support sustainable business. There is a level of concern over how much the farmers and workers in poorer conditions are receiving, and fair trade companies wish to support them with three main beliefs; producers have the power to express unity with consumers, that an inequality of wealth distribution exists between different nations, and that buying products from developing nations supports sustainable business and development.

More consumers in the millennial generation are spending more money on day to day products from ethical companies instead of opting for cheaper products from companies that do not support these values. They feel it is worth spending more money on companies that support their beliefs and values, and therefore, the value of being a fair trade company is increasing as demand rises for such products.

These days companies pay as much as 2% of their profit to have the “Fairtrade” logo on their products. The standards required by Fairtrade International, formerly FLO (Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International) include a minimum price for producers and development initiatives, which is funded by a 10% surcharge on certified products. Companies are pressured to register with the FLO brand as it has become a distinctive label that consumers expect to see on the products they are buying, and so the “Fairtrade” logo has become the standard brand in the field. Ironically, these multibillion dollar logo has become it's own business, and has had problems supplying the producers with the benefits it promises as it struggles to recoup the cost of labelling.

Some British supermarkets are setting up their own fair trade brands to support “the little guys”. They are questioning the values of the “Fairtrade” logo and finding that they can support growers and producers in developing countries in their own way without relating to the standard “Fairtrade” brand. The owner of Mojo coffee in New Zealand pays his suppliers almost twice the premium they would receive under the “Fairtrade” logo but refuses to register with Fairtrade international as that would require him sending a cheque for 2% of his profits to a conglomerate in Germany. Some companies feel that they can do more to support developing countries and the fair trade social movement in their own way instead of simply acquiring a logo on their product.

The benefit of registering with Fairtrade international is that you can display their logo on your products which is instantly recognised by your consumers and displays your ethical commitments and beliefs. For those millennials who shop with a sustainably and ethically conscious, this is important, and it could attract a larger and more refined consumer base for your products. If you decide to own a fair trade business by your own means, it is more difficult to portray to your customer base. The logo has become so international and so recognisable that it does all the speaking for you and your business.