Making employees feel happy and healthy at work is good for many businesses. But it isn’t always an easy thing. A study suggests that only 33% of the U. S. employees consider themselves fully engaged （投身于）in work, while 16% are greatly disengaged, and 51% are just showing up.

But there is an exception. When it comes to employee engagement, it seems that employees in small companies are doing better. According to the same research, the largest U. S. companies are at the lowest levels of engagement, while companies with fewer than 25 employees are at the highest. And in one recent report, 75% of small business workers surveyed said they were “very” or “extremely” satisfied with their role as a small company employee.

Unlike big companies, small companies are often short of resources but the employees can get more surprises there. Small companies offer excellent career opportunities to their employees. The bosses often know their staff very well and understand their personal needs. Employees of small companies are more likely to receive free meals, paid leave, and they can even bring their pets to work.

But of course ? there are many other draws in small businesses. One of the top draws is flexible scheduling (弹性工时). Another is being able to really see the fruits of one's labor. Besides, non-cash award is also a big draw. This could be something small that reflects employees’ interests and lifestyles.

While a parental leave might lead to some financial problems, small companies may do something to improve it. “It may be impossible for a five-person team to be reduced to four for six months,” writes Camillia Velasquez, head of HR management platform, Justworks. “But it could be possible to allow new parents to take on reduced hours in a work-from-home environment. ” This kind of method has been realized in some small companies.

Pang Hui placed a few more pairs of chopsticks on the table for a family dinner, though she did not expect her big family of seven would use them as serving chopsticks.

Surprisingly, her 75-year-old father, who used to shrug off the idea of serving chopsticks, became a firm supporter this time, said Pang, 40, from Beihai, a coastal city of South China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Chinese people often share dishes, and diners use their own chopsticks to serve themselves food from the shared dishes, a tradition now being challenged by the outbreak of COVID-19.

“We feel a sense of crisis as well as the urge to desert our old habits when we see reports of family infections,” Pang said, pointing to the reports of the virus spreading via droplets and close contact.

Local governments are helping to encourage a shift, too. On Feb.13, 2020, local authorities of Beihai started a campaign promoting serving chopsticks and spoons, which will avoid cross-infection caused by the use of personal chopsticks.

Similar measures were also adopted in other cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou. Taizhou city in East China’s Jiangsu Province even standardized the colors of serving chopsticks and spoons to help diners differentiate (区分) them from personal ones.

The practice of eating wild animals has been targeted by the government, which remains present in certain areas.

China stopped the illegal trading and transportation of wild animals shortly after the outbreak. The move became a permanent ban on Feb.2, 2020, when the country made a decision on thoroughly prohibiting (禁止) the illegal trading of wildlife and the consumption of wild animals.

Li Bo, with the Hainan International Center for Wildlife Protection, said wild animal consumption could lead to the faster extinction of particular species, damage the ecological balance and harm people’s health.

“The epidemic (流行病) could become a turning point to eliminate the bad habit.” Li said.

There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that the influence of media is growing stronger and stronger as time passes. If you have noticed, the speed at which news travels around the world has become faster with the development and advancement in technology Media are actually influencing people in different ways.

Whether you admit it or not, watching movies and programs on the television or our laptop, ipad and other mobile devices as we relax takes us away into this different kingdom — that is, there are parts in our being that feels we are the ones in the movie and sometimes we even feel what they are feeling as we get caught in the emotional excitement. The effect of media does not stop when the movie or program ends. And this effect might just be the cause of behavioral changes in people.

With action films, children tend to follow the movie hero, engaging them to violent acts thinking that it is acceptable because his hero became successful in the end. There are cartoon programs that show acts of violence and dishonest acts against others. In return, children tend to copy the characters and think that cheating other people is a way to deal with their problems. They learn to transfer these ill behaviors to friends.

There are some television shows and movies that attempt to create an atmosphere to change the view of people towards social issues such as racial discrimination. In the minds of other people, the effect can be for the better, but some unfortunately for the worse.

There had been instances in the past that young people drunk driving imitating their favorite actress. There was also a case where somebody set a subway ticket booth on fire because he saw it in his favorite film. These are just a few examples of the disturbing influence of media on people’s behavior.

An explanation to these bad acts is that these people could not distinguish fantasy from reality. They get caught up in the kingdom of what they had been watching and the images and scenes become deeply rooted in their minds.

So the media is largely responsible for giving people false ideas and unhealthy pictures, which lead to misbehavior against other people, and can create a dangerous cycle among individuals as they attempt to do the same or even worse things to others. The sad reality is, no one is tuning off their televisions or disconnecting from these influences. The only way programming of this sort will change is when people no longer buy into it, demand it, and watch it.