The Wholefoods Company

At the wholefoods company most entry level employees make $10. 86 on average. This averages out to about 21,000 a year. This may not seem to be a very comparable pay scale, but their benefits out ways the pay. With a very extensive benefits package wholefoods has effectively been able to entice workers to be a part of the company. The company offers medical, dental, 401k, personal wellness account, health care reimbursement, dependent care reimbursement, life insurance, disability insurance, team member stock option plan, team member stock purchase plan, team member discounts, team member emergency sharing account, and gain sharing.Having all of these benefits outweighs the pay scale for most employees. They give good raises when promoting in the company as well. Most raise within the company are close to 1. 5%. The goal of employees in wholefoods would be to work their way up the chain of command to make more money. Store team leads within this company on average make $60, 171 a yea r. There are many other team lead positions within the organization that all pay close to $14 an hour. Being that there is a team lead position for each department of whole foods there is room for improvement and growth within the company.Wholefoods can turn into a career for any hard working employee. One purposed change that the company could make to their pay structure to increase their marketability to the workforce could to be to increase the raise percentage from 1. 5% annually to 3% annually depending upon productivity. Make the raise structure be based of productivity the more productive employees will earn 3% rises whereas the non-productive employees only get 1%. This change can also prove beneficial to the company as a motivation tool. (Whole foods market, pay scale and benefits ,2013)

Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan Essay

Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan Board: Hedging Foreign Currency Exposure Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan Board: Hedging Foreign Currency Exposure Issue Identification The Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan (OTPP) is a defined contribution plan that was created in 1917 to provide and administer a pension plan for Ontario school teachers. Sponsored by the Ontario Government and the Ontario Teacher’s Federation, the plan currently supports 343,000 teachers, former teachers and pensioners. The recent government decision to eliminate the 30% constraint on foreign investments and the increased volatility in the currency market has prompted the OTPP Investment Committee to address the following: 1. Whether to continue the International Equity Swap Program 2. Whether to administer changes to the Foreign Exchange Hedging Policy Goals and Objectives In order to come to a decision, it is necessary that any solution put forth must align with the goals and objectives of the fund. OTPP is a long-term fund determined to minimize risk, costs and the additional contributions required to fund the plan while maximizing its returns. OTPP Investment Strategy In the early 1990’s the OTPP board realized that it was essential to begin investing abroad to diversify risk and to capitalize on international opportunities to achieve greater returns, given the size of the fund. However, it was not until 1996 that the Foreign Exchange Hedge Program (FX Hedge Program) was implemented in response to a significant rise in currency exposure. As the fund faced increased foreign currency risk, risk management became essential and thus, a hedging policy of 50% of its foreign currency exposure was introduced. Due to the fact that OTPP has a continual commitment in supporting its pensioners, it must expose itself to limited risk and effectively hedge against any unexpected changes in its investments. Hence, a conservative policy of hedging 50% of foreign exchange exposure was enforced. Additionally, the International Equity Swap Program (IE Swap Program) was implemented as a solution to the government restriction of 30% ownership of foreign investments. Since most assets were tied up in non-marketable Ontario Debentures, a swap program enabled OTPP to reallocate its assets. OTPP Performance Evaluation The strategic decision to diversify beyond Canada and into global markets has proved to be beneficial to the OTPP investment portfolio. It has contributed substantial value to the fund over the 10 year period (1995-2005) by reducing potential losses, since five of the six foreign currencies appreciated against the Canadian dollar. For the past 15 years, OTPP investments have also consistently outperformed the benchmark rate of returns, generating a 10-year average rate of return of 11. 4% and a gross return of $15. billion over benchmark returns. Despite the portfolio’s negative rate of returns in 2001-2002, it has still produced considerable investment growth in relation to the benchmark, demonstrating the strength of OTPP’s investment policies in risk management. However, since interest rates have declined by approximately 3% (1990-2004), the value of the pension fund has increased. This has resulted in larger amount of payments made to pen sioners. Additionally, the demographics of the OTPP plan membership have changed significantly over the past 30 years. The ratio of active members per retiree has decreased from 10:1 in the 1970s to the present ratio of 1. 6:1. Moreover, the expected years retirees rely on the pension have also increased to 29 years. All these factors have exerted a great deal of pressure on the pension plan to sustain its funding with contributions from fewer working teachers. With the foreign currency market being increasingly volatile, OTPP is concerned regarding its future ability to support pension payments. Decision Criteria The Investment Committee must consider the following criteria when deciding whether to implement changes to the International Equity Swap Program and Foreign Exchange Hedging Policy: the fund’s exposure to foreign exchange risk, transaction costs, and an alignment of goals and objectives of the fund. Alternative: Although OTPP has performed well in the past, the future outlook of the pension plan remains uncertain. Therefore, OTPP has four alternatives to the future direction of the fund. OTPP can continue or discontinue the IE Swap Program and maintain or revise the current 50% FX Hedge Policy. Continue/Discontinue the Swap Program Previously, the swap program was used as a means to bypass the government restriction on foreign investment. With the regulation being lifted, OTPP has to now evaluate whether the swap program remains necessary. The program has allowed OTPP to reallocate their assets cost-effectively as it eliminates OTPP’s cost of transacting directly in foreign exchange market. Moreover, since OTPP does not gain ownership of the securities, it has reduced the amount of cash required and limited its risk by transferring the risk to counter-parties (UBS, Credit Suisse, JP Morgan, etc. ).

Compare and Contrast the Characters of the Loman Brothers

The audience are first introduced to the Loman brothers as they are staying at their parents home in Brooklyn. The brothers are woken by their father, and begin an incredibly deep conversation concerning their lives. This conversation reveals a lot about Biff and Happy and their outlook on life. Firstly, an immediate contrast is made in how the pair treat women. Happy has an incredibly degrading attitude, in which he thinks that he is entitled to any women that he wants, despite being aware that they are engaged to executives at his work.Not only this, he claims that he doesn’t â€Å"want the girl, and, still, I take it†. Firstly, the fact that he cannot address the woman by her name, and instead â€Å"it† shows how little he thinks of women and how they are made to feel by being given the false hope of being â€Å"wanted† by this womanizing character. Biff and Happy remember when they were young, and Happy refers to his â€Å"first time† as a †Å"pig†. This accentuates how little respect he has for women, and how he judges them on merely their looks.Biff, on the other hand, seems to feel differently to Happy, ignoring his derogatory comments and admitting, â€Å"I’d like to find a girl – steady, somebody with substance†. He clearly used to have the same tendencies with women, as he â€Å"taught† Happy everything he knows about women. However, Biff has clearly matured and grown out of his phase of seeking women as if it was a sport, as his brother still does. A similarity between Biff and Happy are that they are both concerned for their father’s recent behaviour, and discuss things that they have both noticed about him.Happy tells Biff that he is â€Å"getting nervous about im†. Despite having their differences with their father, they both care a lot for him and can immediately notice when he begins to act differently. Biff is also clearly concerned about his mother and how sh e is coping. When Willy is talking to himself, he is (growing angry) and asks rhetorically â€Å"Doesn’t he know Mom can hear that? † This portrays how Biff seeks to protect his mother.On the other hand, it seems that Happy seems to care more about his fathers opinions then Biff, as he tells Biff that â€Å"I wish you’d have a talk with him†. He does not like the conflict between his brother and his father, and perhaps believes that this conflict is what is making him act strangely. Biff on the other hand, see’s his how his father is behaving as â€Å"selfish† and â€Å"stupid†. He is still frustrated with the conversation between him and his father, concerning Biffs’ future plans (or lack of them).During Willy’s mobile concurrency, Biff and Willy are seen in their youth. Here, it is shown that Happy is often over shadowed by his older brother Biff and ignored by his parents. As a result of growing up in Biff's shadow, H appy is always striving for Willy's attention, but has never really got it. This is shown when the young Happy is repeatedly tells his father, â€Å"I'm losing weight, you notice, Pop? † Willy brushes Happy off here, and this hint of favouritism may be why Happy feels that he should aim to be in a job like his fathers to impress him, whereas Biff does not.

Comparison Between Erec and Enide and Don Quixote Essay

The famous Spanish novel, Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote is a parody for epic. It mimics traditional epic in a funny way so as to destroy the conventional expectation behind this serious genre. Therefore, its plot structure can be compared with Chretien de Troyes’ Erec and Enide ,a classic romance epic in Late Middle Ages. In Erec and Enide, the value of chivalry, courtly love and guest and host relationship may be found in this work. Speaking of chivalry, it starts from Erec’s adequate qualities of knighthood: handsome, valiant, noble, young and wealthy. He is qualified as a knight perfectly in appearance, social position and personality. Thereafter, Erec goes through two adventures. In the first one, he experiences a dishonored event, humiliated by a dwarf, the knight named Yder’s servant, and he fights and gains his honor back. In this combat, the dwarf’s physical imperfect may suggest his mental shortage, since he didn’t go hunting as other knights do, but he chose to accompany the queen with casual dress. This behavior and his lack of equipment may indicate that he may not fulfill his obligation of chivalry well. Therefore, the retribution means not only for the return for his honor but for the correction for his uncourtly behavior. After that, Erec becomes so attached to his wife , Enide, that he quits hunting with other knights. Afterwards, he goes on to the second journey. In the second one, he encountered a giant, Guivret, who symbolizes his overacting of courtesy. Guivret is also defeated, showing that Erec has corrected his behavior of overdoing. These two adventures tell that chivalry should be followed neither lacking nor exceeding. When it comes to courtly love, it may be shown from the relationship between Erec and the queen. At the beginning of the story, Erec’s undressing and his accompany with the queen may suppose his unusual relationship with her. When he triumphs over Yder, he commands Yder to go back to the queen to honor her. Since Erec can’t make this love toward her be revealed for the difference of social status, he puts this love into his heart and reveals it in this way. As for the relationship between guest and host, Erec meets the father of Enide and he shows his hospitality to Erec, and he in the end was rewarded for honor and wealth. Although Don Quixote has similar structure, its context reverses audience’s expectation of traditional epic and makes fun of it. First, speaking of chivalry, Don Quixote’s appearance may not be adequate: he is an old and lean person with a meager face. Besides, he is praised by getting up early; apparently it is not a description for a good knight. Cervantes makes Don Quixote funny by these portrayals. Later, he has several adventures, and in one of them he encounters the Biscayan, a servant of the ladies. Don Quixote’s fight with him mimics the combat between knights, and that it ends with Don Quixote’s victory and his request for the Biscayan to beg for mercy in front of his beloved lady, Dulcinea del Toboso. Second, as to courtly love, Don Quixote imagined a farm girl, Aldonza Lorenzo, to be the Princess Dulcinea del Toboso. Even though every time Don Quixote calls her name before he is going to fight, he never talks to her, nor did her know his name. Besides, unlike the noble ladies in traditional chivalry work, Dulcinea is described as â€Å"the best hand of any woman in all La Mancha for salting pigs†. Third, when it comes to the relationship of guest and host, in Don Quixote’s first journey he breaks the law of guest and host. He enters the inn and troubles the landlord to the degree that the landlord wants him to leave without charging him. In conclusion, Cervantes doesn’t only mimic the romantic epic badly for mocking it. He also wants to criticize it by putting a knight to the 17th century. The value of chivalry may differ from the value in 17th century society so much that the originally normal behavior of knights seems ridiculous in people’s eyes from different time.

Hamlet by Shakespeare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Hamlet by Shakespeare - Essay Example the period from the 14th up to the 17th centuries, but also a series of works of literature and art with specific characteristics. The Renaissance literature in the west is discussed in this paper. Particular emphasis is given on Shakespeare tragedy and Elizabethan drama. It is proved that Renaissance literature is differentiated from the works of literature of other periods, probably under the influence of the social and cultural trends of the specific period. In any case, it is made clear that the expansion of Renaissance, as a social and political movement, has been strongly supported by the literature of the particular period, as proved through the analysis of the ideas and the trends promoted through the Shakespeare tragedy, the Elizabethan drama and other works of literature that were aligned with the principles of Renaissance. In order to understand the nature and the role of Renaissance literature, it would be valuable to refer to specific works of literature of the specific period. Shakespeare tragedy and Elizabethan drama represent the principles of Renaissance as they have been aligned with the political and social ethics of Britain in the particular period of time. At first level, the following issue should be made clear: western literature has been strongly affected by Renaissance literature as these two types of literature have been developed within the same geographical area. For this reason, Renaissance has managed to influence western literature more than other types of literature developed internationally, for instance the Japanese literature. This phenomenon is highlighted in the study of Moore and Moody (187) and seems to be quite logical, also in terms of the common political and social traditions of western countries. In accordance with Keenan, the Renaissance literature had to faced an important problem: most of the works of literature developed during the particular period proved as ‘not timeless’ (Keenan 38), as initially t hought. It is noted that since the 17th century, the reputation of Renaissance authors, like Shakespeare, started to fell (Keenan 38), a phenomenon that has lasted up to the late 19th century (Keenan 38). Then, the interest for the Renaissance literature and works of literature, like Hamlet, increased significantly. Regarding specifically Hamlet, the specific work of literature was considered as ideal for identifying information related to Elizabethan England of the Renaissance period (Keenan 38). Hamlet, a play that performed for first time approximately at 1600-1601, has been based on the Danish history, a tale initially developed by Grammaticus (Keenan 92). It is explained that Shakespeare has alternated the tale and added a series of events, such as the appearance of the ghost of Hamlet for increasing the elements of tragedy related to the particular story (Keenan 92). These events and dialogues have been considered as necessary in order for tragedy to be increased; at the same time, the response of Hamlet to the events showed the role of revenge, as a tool for enforcing justice, even if this tool is not legally and socially justified. However, given the fact of the development of court corruption in that particular period, as presented through Hamlet, the use of revenge for enforcing justice seems to be appropriate, as this support is reflected in the response of the audience, which tends to support Hamlet. Hamlet, like the other works of Shakespeare, emphasized on tragedy, a fact that has made

Causes and Impacts of the French Revolution Research Paper

Causes and Impacts of the French Revolution - Research Paper Example However, the long period of revolution had positive impacts for the country as the citizens acquired equal rights and terminated the oppressive regimes that had continuously oppressed the rights of the public. It marked an end for unreasonable tax policies, oppression of peasants, and the decline of dictatorship. From this perspective, the French revolution was an expression of the political, financial and social crisis that had affected the country, and its results contributed to a positive transformation of France. The looming financial crisis in France was a major contributor to the events that occurred during the French revolution. By the end of 1789, France was in great debt and the country was already heading to the worst financial crisis. The country’s debts were as a result of the country’s participation in the Seven years’ war and the American Revolution war (De Tocqueville 12-19). The government of France had invested in the war and the country was already in a financial crisis at the time the war ended. Besides, the government was spendthrift and the country resources were used extravagantly. Consequently, the government was under pressure to devise ways to alleviate the crisis and fund its extravagant spending. The king was in fear that it would soon become hard to run the government if new strategies of the financial collection were no passed. When the government introduced burdensome tax policies, the Peasants were resistant and felt that the regime was becoming unbearable. The social activists mobilized the public to resist these changes. What followed was resistance to pay taxes as the peasants felt the need to fight for a fairer society which would be the government with economic balance. Therefore, an oppressive tax policy was the trigger that initiated the French revolution.

Question answer Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Question answer - Assignment Example These medical conditions and behaviors weaken the heart muscle, hence causing heart failure. One can be at the risk of having chronic congestive heart failure by smoking, being overweight or obese, being physically inactive, and having high blood cholesterol levels (Jeffrey & Ryan, 2007). All of these risk factors can be prevented or reduced to some certain degree. However, age is a risk factor for chronic congestive heart failure that cannot be prevented. When one approaches 75 years, the heart muscles become stiffer and less efficient: a natural consequence of aging (Jeffrey & Ryan, 2007). Causes of chronic heart failure such as high blood pressure and heart attacks become prominent from midlife onwards. Therefore, people age, they become more at risk of having chronic congestive heart failure (Jeffrey & Ryan, 2007). Fluid that goes back into the lungs causes the victim to cough. This backing up of fluid is encouraged when lying down. When sitting up straight, less fluid backs up into the lung, improving the condition (Trelogan, 2011). Liver and kidney failure can also be associated with this symptom. Accumulation of fluid in the feet happens when there has been prolonged standing. This happens because of fluid retention (Trelogan, 2011). Systolic heart failure: depressed and dilated left and/or right ventricle with low ejection fraction; diastolic heart failure: left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) normal but left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and abnormal diastolic filling patterns (Jeffrey & Ryan, 2007). Laboratory testing may reveal important heart failure aetiologies, the presence of disorders or conditions that can lead to or exacerbate heart failure; laboratory testing could also reveal important modulators of therapy (Jeffrey & Ryan, 2007). Laboratory testing may reveal important heart failure aetiologies, the presence of disorders or conditions