How to improve business efficiency? This is a question that should excite every entrepreneur, at any time. The truth is that there is no universal answer, but there are many ways and successful practices in this direction.
Suggestions for improving office efficiency
In the following lines we will present 8 ways to improve the efficiency of your company, which will lead to lower operating costs:
Set goals
First, you must have very well thought out, smart goals. Placing them is imperative to follow a plan to achieve good results. The office must be managed purposefully and forward-looking. If a goal is unclear or unattainable, employees will be less productive.
Here are the conditions they must meet:
- ➤ Specific – set the goal as clearly as possible so that it can be understood as easily as possible.
- ➤ Achievable – you have to be realistic and pursue what you know you can achieve.
- ➤ Measurable – you need to be able to track the path, so choose goals that you can measure in the form of some indicators.
- ➤ Urgent – always set a deadline to achieve something. In the case of your business, it is even more urgent. However, be careful with the deadline you set. Let it be real – neither too short nor too long.
Communicate clearly and realistically
Most employees today communicate via email, but do you always understand everything there. Take care of the flawless correspondence in the office, but “face to face” or at least on the phone. As much as we want digital services to replace live communication, this is not a good move. To improve office efficiency, you need to carefully review your communication style.
Just think about how long it takes to read and reply to emails, it can be about ¼ from the employee’s work day.
Therefore, we will give you some suggestions for optimizing the flow of information:
- ➤ Be clear how you want to respond to your message – let me know if you want a quick or more thoughtful response, leave time to focus on other tasks if the current one is not so urgent .n.
- ➤ Bring back the fashion of old verbal conversations, which are always tolerated – a quick meeting or a conversation for a minute can be more effective. The tone is also lost when the communication is virtual, so something can be misunderstood.
- ➤ Use valuable communication tools for faster correspondence. Slack is such a very good solution for communicating with your team.
Create a pleasant workplace for your employees
Every company founder should be aware that his business depends mainly on the work and motivation of its employees. The more you take care of the good atmosphere and peace of mind of the workers, the more creative and productive they will be.
Creating a job that is friendly to them is a step that must be taken.
Here’s what can be done about it:
- ➤ Allow your employees to come to work with their pets. Yes, you read that right – it has been proven that interaction with animals reduces stress levels. Of course, this is in cases where the environment allows it.
- ➤ Take care of the general interior of the building – equip well the rooms for relaxation, make changes in the lobby and exteriors, if any. More colors and style create a mood, albeit subconsciously.
- ➤ Encourage the creation of friendships and good teams among colleagues – this improves communication and especially teamwork, which can lead to many positives for your business.
Reorganize and make the post office more modern
The mail room is usually always messy, dark and bad looking. It is often neglected. However, this needs to change as online shopping and delivery to the workplace become more common. Do not make it difficult for employees to find their shipment, but facilitate this process.
Deal with the problem of increasing supplies by better organizing the room in which they are stored on arrival. Make it more modern by integrating cabinets for electronic parcels – this is a good solution.
The convenience of the parcel terminals is expressed in the following:
- ➤ Elimination of the process of wasting time for receiving, registering, sorting and distributing packets.
- ➤ Optimizing the office space
- ➤ Reducing the delivery time of packages
- ➤ Facilitating the delivery of employees who shop online – reduces the risk of loss and theft when delivered to your home.
Invest in training and development
This type of investment always pays off for the owner. With quality training on issues where you notice difficulties and omissions of employees, the work will be done at a higher level. In short, a well-trained workforce is the basis for increased office productivity.
There is a different type of training that you can focus on – from an external company or you can conduct the courses yourself.
Advanced training
Are you familiar with the so-called. “Cross training”? For example, employees who perform well on their current duties within their remit may be content to face a new challenge. The cross-training strategy does just that – it expands the skills of the workers, which leads to a search for the overall productivity of the team.
In most companies, where managers have the wrong approach, a big problem arises when someone falls ill or asks for leave. Therefore, you should consider exchanging skills so that your employees can be interchangeable.
In addition, everyone would like to learn and do something new, deviating from some bored duties.
Strategic delegation
Proper delegation is the foundation on which every business must stand. It is very important for business management, so bet on more time to think about who and what exactly to assign as tasks. Strategic delegation leads to greater productivity.
The assignment of tasks must be in line with the strengths of the employees. What does this mean? Delegation must be according to the job description of the workers. Skills are also very important.
One common mistake that leads to inefficiencies is macro management. Do not trust only one or two, but give a chance to other employees. The earlier you deal with the delegation, the more time you and other managers will have to take on new and more serious activities.
Remuneration efficiency
The employee’s incentive is always important. Hard work should always be rewarded with something extra from the salary. Give bonuses to your employees to make them feel valuable and even more motivated to achieve results.
Here are some ideas with more sustainable remuneration models you could use:
- ➤ Share the successes of your employees with your boss, let him even congratulate them on the results achieved.
- ➤ Have a Thanksgiving party for a well-executed project.
- ➤ Organize team building.
- ➤ Encourage your most productive employees with a two-day family vacation or with tickets for a concert or theater, etc.
- ➤ Pay for the overtime employees spend in the office.
We hope these tips will be useful for your business, its development and the cheerful mood of the employees. Remember that everything pays off. Over time, your employees become loyal to you and even a higher salary will not make them move, because in the current company they receive good treatment, peace of mind and training opportunities.
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