We all hate paying taxes -- income tax, property tax and the yet to come harmonized sales tax (HST) -- and most of us have developed an aversion to income tax season. I'm surprised, however, that people procrastinate filing their tax return. It's our money that the government is hoarding and this is our chance to get it back.

Many people get a rebate on their income tax. It's a way to make us feel good about paying tax. And, the benefits keep coming -- the goods and services credit, the Canada child tax benefit, and more. According to File a Tax Return, Raise Your Income, a single mother with an infant who earns $22,500 can increase her income to $28,495, nearly $6,000 or over 25 per cent of her original earnings.

There are also many deductions you can make that can result in a bigger tax refund. For instance, you can claim fees paid for your children's participation in hockey or other approved physical activity, the amount you spent on TTC Metropasses and medical expenses.

If you find doing your taxes too confusing, you may qualify for free services. Volunteers from the Chartered Accountants of Ontario operate free tax clinics in co-operation with a variety of agencies -- food banks, charities, hospitals, senior centres and homes, community centres, social service agencies and libraries. Look around for postings of clinic dates and eligibility criteria on bulletin boards in your neighbourhood.

Don't delay. Get working on your tax return right now. You'll feel great when the cheque arrives.

For More Information:

• 20 Most Overlooked Credits and Deductions (PDF)
• Canada Revenue Agency: Community Volunteer Income Tax Program

Susan Stone

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Recently, as I sat in my office lunch room, hunched over the newspaper while eating my homemade barley, chicken and vegetable chowder, I became inspired by a story about a Toronto architectural firm that cooks up daily soup for communal employee lunches. Four days a week at Diamond + Schmitt Architects, an employee will cook a bisque or chowder to share at lunchtime. Being a foodie, I instantly fell in love with this new twist on the business lunch.

Although not every workplace is equipped with facilities for in-house cooking, why not be creative? Consider a simpler option like starting a salad club, where employees are encouraged to bring in one or two salad components (lettuce, cucumbers, cheese, nuts, berries -- the list can go on and on), which are then compiled into a salad buffet for all to enjoy. Or, for a slightly less healthy (but probably more delicious) option, you can, like one of my former workplaces, have a monthly cake day where you order cakes from a local bakery to celebrate employee birthdays.

The benefits of communal lunches at the workplace are numerous: bonding between staff members, sharing foods from different cultures, and encouraging employees to take a break from work stress. It also provides an opportunity to discuss work projects in a more relaxed environment. And, as Alexis Wise points out in "An Apple a Day: Corporate Strategies for Better Nutrition,” sharing healthy meals promotes better health, more energy, and self-esteem in employees, which can translate into increased productivity.

As an added bonus, lunchtime potlucks mean you'll never again have to wonder who stole your lunch from the fridge.

Veronica

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There's no such thing as a free lunch, and, according to McDonald's, there's no such thing as a free slice of cheese either.

According to a recent article, a Dutch court ruled that it was wrong for McDonald's to fire an employee who added a free slice of cheese to her colleague's hamburger. Sounds awfully similar to the Tim Hortons debacle of not long ago, where an employee was fired for offering a free Timbit to an 11-month-old infant. (She was subsequently rehired after all of the bad press).

Although it's understandable that giving away free food to customers, friends, or colleagues could technically be construed as theft, most people with any shred of business sense (or sense of any kind) would find the notion of being fired over a slice of cheese ridiculous. So why is this happening? Are these merely cases of managers acting "a bit overzealously?" Or is there something else going on?

The McDonald's and Tim Hortons incidents may seem like anomalies, but they do draw attention to how easily someone can get sacked. I'd imagine that most employers would give a staff member a slap on the wrist for a minor infraction, but if your performance is already in question and your boss is looking for a reason to get rid of you, a free slice of cheese (or misuse of company supplies or equipment) can become a convenient reason to let you go. At one of my former jobs, I witnessed a somewhat incompetent cashier who was on probation get fired for "stealing" a bag of chips (which she intended to pay for after her break, or so she said). Even though consuming food before paying for it was an abuse of a company rule, I wondered whether the chips incident was just a good excuse to dispose of a new employee who wasn't working out.

While firing someone for a theft of under one or two dollars shows lack of judgment on the part of management, employees should still be cautious about taking liberties at work. Ideally, a workplace should strike a balance: management should appropriately deal with employees' misconduct, while employees should act with integrity and respect company policies. That way, no one gets the boot over a bit of dough.

Veronica

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Most of us feel a little twinge of trepidation upon starting a new job. My first day at my former workplace was no exception. I wasn't nervous about being able to handle the work—I knew I fit the role to a tee—but I worried about whether I'd mesh with a corporate setting, which is not really my thing.

Much to my surprise, that office turned out to be my dream work environment. I felt instantly comfortable as I was first introduced to new staff, met directors and VPs, and was invited to join co-workers for a coffee break. The feeling of camaraderie continued until my last day there.

I've often asked myself why that particular workplace felt so great. The answer recently came to me while reading Klaus Kneale's article "CEOs Reveal How They Hire". You may be surprised to read that some CEOs "match personality to culture" as they strive to "shape their companies' personalities." Similarly, a New York Times interview with Bobbi Brown, founder of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, highlights how she places personality at the top of her list of priorities when interviewing candidates: "I don't think about interviewing them for work. I first try to understand who they are as people. I usually have someone's résumé, but I never look at it until they sit down. Then I say, 'O.K., take me through the resumé.'"

While I didn't realize it at the time, when I interviewed with the director of the department I would soon be working in, I was auditioning for a role alongside the company's other main actors. Although I was put through a rigorous interview (followed by a skills test—it was an editing position, after all), I felt relaxed and comfortable enough to express my views and values. By the end, we were chatting and laughing, and it became clear I was the right fit for the role.

I have a sneaking suspicion that creating and maintaining a positive workplace culture is not something that happens by chance. Creating the right vibe actually requires some strategizing in the same way movie directors search for just the right actor to join the cast of their next box office hit. Perhaps handpicking employees with personalities and values that resonate with the company's work culture, as Kneale suggests, helps to ensure employee happiness while cutting down on office drama.

Veronica

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Every time I hear the word "matchmaking," I can't help but think of the well-known "Matchmaker" song sequence from Fiddler on the Roof. Or, maybe the meddling aunt in everyone's family who desperately tries to set up her single niece with "the nice guy next door." Maybe I'm out of touch, but matchmaking has always seemed old fashioned and outdated to me.

But then I came across Bravo's Millionaire Matchmaker, a TV show that features Patti Stanger, a Beverly Hills matchmaker who created a millionaires club for rich singles looking for love. And I thought, "Hmm ... is this a new trend?"

The answer is yes. It seems that with the growing popularity of new dating strategies, such as online and speed dating, comes the rebirth of the matchmaker. According to Career Pro News, there are 114 million single people in North America -- a huge potential client pool to draw from. But is matchmaking a lucrative career? The Matchmaking Institute, which offers a certificate in matchmaking as well as a Professional Matchmakers Association, claims that a full-time matchmaker can earn between $20,000 and $100,000 per year. Lisa Clampitt, the co-founder of the Matchmaking Institute also stated in an interview that "a successful professional matchmaker can make an average of $200,000 dollars a year," depending on where they operate.

If, after hearing these figures, you're now seeing huge dollar signs in your future, be forewarned that matchmaking is still work. A successful matchmaker needs to possess the right combination of entrepreneurial savvy and well-developed social skills. You have to be an individual who reads people well, knows about the psychology of personality, and enjoys being out and about at social events and schmooze fests. As matchmaker and relationship coach Rachel Russo describes, it's a busy lifestyle: "My career is more of a lifestyle than a nine-to-five. Whether I am calling new leads, making matches, writing profiles, or updating my blog, I do what needs to be done!"

But, hey, playing cupid for a living still sounds like a heck of a lot of fun to me.

Veronica

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Many of us with a desk job sit for seven, eight hours or more at a stretch and it takes a toll on our bodies. According to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, sitting reduces the blood supply to muscles, accelerating fatigue and making the muscles more likely to pull, cramp or strain.

As if that isn't bad enough, a 2009 study tracking more than 17,000 Canadians for a dozen years, showed a link between sitting time and mortality. Even if you exercise in your leisure time, prolonged sitting could be bad for your health, says a toledoBlade.com article that reports on the study.

However, there is some hope for us desk jockeys. "[I]t seems the more you can get up and interrupt this sedentary behavior, the better," says study leader Peter Katzmarzyk, quoted in the article.

Part III of the Sitting Will Wear You Out article, which gives tips on how to survive a day of sitting, supports Katzmarzyk's interruption theory. The article recommends that office workers get away from their desk for 10 minutes each hour and take micro breaks the rest of the time.

I do what I can to "interrupt" sitting. When possible, I stand up to do my work and when I can't, I get up every so often to stretch. Occasionally, while bending down to retrieve a pen, I go so far as to subtly (so I think) attempt a cat and dog stretch. I also move around a lot, ever so happily walking to the other side of the office to retrieve my printing jobs -- a good excuse to get a tiny bit of exercise in.

Physical activity expert Tim Armstrong, also quoted in the news story, says we sitters might benefit more if we spread our exercise across the day. I wish employers would get on the bandwagon and encourage movement and exercise in the workplace. I don't just advocate for workplace gyms, but workspace gyms (mini ones of course). How would my body feel if I had a yoga mat and a treadmill beside my chair? I can only wonder.

For More Information:

• About.com: Exercise at Work

kathyo

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I used to work for a company where, in addition to being given vacation time plus two personal days per year, all employees were allowed unlimited paid sick days. Yup, you read that right. Unlimited.

What may sound like a prescription for disaster turned out to be a non-issue. The policy was simple: sick days were tracked. If you took more than three in a row, you had to supply a doctor's note. If a manager deemed someone was taking too many sick days, or if things started looking a bit suspicious (i.e., Bob's always sick on Mondays and Fridays), she would speak to the employee. But, otherwise, we all knew the drill: if you were sick, you stayed home and got better.

While many workplaces limit sick days as a way to curb employee abuse, proponents of unlimited sick leave believe granting employees trust and flexibility has its merits.

In the years that I worked under the no-limit sick day policy, employee absenteeism in my department was not off the charts. In fact, the trust that management seemingly had for its staff helped maintain positive employee morale, and it kept us committed to our jobs and honest about our absences. As Peter Svalo points out in The Benefits of Not Having a Sick Leave Policy: "It boils down to simple psychology -- when no formal limit exists, getting paid for being sick is more likely to be viewed as a privilege." And that's exactly what happened in my office: without an annual sick day quota, people didn't feel entitled to use up a certain number of days by the end of the year.

So, despite the fear that an unlimited sick day policy will encourage employee fake-outs, fictitious fevers and made-up maladies may not become an epidemic after all.

Veronica

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