It is no secret that productivity gains lead to a better bottom line, but a surprising number of businesses tend to use out-of-date systems and processes without pausing to consider the cost impact to the company. This month, take some time to find your most significant organizational inefficiencies and work to address the most pressing issues. Here are a few hints to get you started:
Automate
Workplace automation is becoming commonplace across businesses of all sizes, as companies look to increase efficiency and profitability. Opportunities to boost efficiency abound: Streamline freight systems finding the best shipping software, gain efficiencies with cloud-based accounting systems or supercharge your sales funnel strategy with automated email marketing campaigns. Alternatively, To improve your customer service response time, you can deploy a chatbot to handle straightforward inquiries, referring more complex questions on to one of your employees.
Standardize your Onboarding Process
Research has shown that it can take up to two years for new employees to begin operating at full capacity within a business. This lag often reflects a loss of “institutional knowledge.” When an old employee leaves, their understanding of internal processes, company systems, roles and responsibilities, and client information is often lost. By recording your business processes and implementing steps to capture internal organizational knowledge, you can reduce onboarding time and new employee frustration by ensuring all required information is ready and available.
Hire on Values As Well As Experience
If you peruse the job vacancy ads, then you will note that all non-entry level positions request a certain number of years experience in similar roles. While it is valid to look for someone who brings experience to a job, people’s values and their attitude to their work is equally critical. If you can build a team that is passionate, engaged, and motivated, they will work harder and feel more emotionally invested in the success of the business.
Show Your Team That You Care
Once you have recruited a great team, it is vital to make them feel valued and recognized. Not only is a happy employee, a more productive employee, but they are also more likely to remain with the company if they feel appreciated. Up to 66% of people would consider leaving their jobs if they were feeling undervalued. Some tips for creating a positive company culture include providing a flexible working environment, recognizing hard work, listening to employee feedback, organizing work social events such as a team lunch, providing tasteful corporate gifts for outstanding achievement and providing opportunities to grow and develop.
Turn Up the Heat
A recent study on the perfect workplace temperature found that the optimum temperature to maximize women’s productivity is much higher than men’s. Women work best with the thermostat between 70 and 80 degrees, while men prefer sub-70 degree temperatures. However, women’s productivity was more negatively impacted by a cold office than men were within a warm office. The thermostat setting may be a hotly debated topic, but the latest scientific evidence points to an ideal office temperature around 75 degrees.
Counting Beans
One of the easiest ways to improve your bottom line requires no change to your business at all. Without sound financial advice, you could be missing out on opportunities to minimize your tax burden, obtain rebates or identify areas of inefficiency that can be tightened. A professional small business accountant will ensure that your business structure and tax calculations are all optimized to deliver the best outcome.
So what are your core areas of inefficiency? No matter how busy you are, taking the time to find productivity gains in your business will always pay dividends.
