An office that runs efficiently can help not only to maximize the amount of work put out, but can also help to save you money. Cut back on wasted time and resources to boost productivity and efficiency.
Communicate Effectively
Communication is key to produce quality work. Improve communication within the office by encouraging staff to speak face to face, instead of feeling they should be sitting silently. Open communication allows for more open collaboration and effective problem solving. Emails should be used to confirm or follow up, not in place of speaking to the person who sits across from you.
Regular stand up meetings can be a handy tool to check in with progress on projects without slowing down the team working on it. Just five or ten minutes in the morning to get a status update can be enough to keep everybody in the loop on progress.
For out of the office, embrace online tools. Remote workers can be more connected to the physical office than ever before. Make use of programs like Slack to keep in touch, wherever you or your employees are.
Manage Information
Having an information management solution in place will help staff to keep important documents safe and easily accessible. A document imaging system helps staff stay in control of their documents. Improve document security and streamline the document workflow to keep things running smoothly.
A solution like this can make documents easier for staff to access while minimizing the need to print, which cuts back on a cost for you. Digitizing documents means you can secure the physical copies without restricting staff from getting to the paperwork they need, when they need it.
Make Employees Feel Valued
An employee who feels valued will put in more work than one who feels like a worker drone and is watching the clock until home time every day. Recognize when staff has performed well and acknowledge it. Remember to say thank you and to tell staff when they are doing well, rather than assuming they know.
Thank staff in person, or email the team to acknowledge a job well done. You could also offer incentives to reward top performers, such as granting extra time off, taking the team out for lunch, or letting people leave early on a Friday.
Review Admin Tasks
Many business processes stay in the workflow because that is the way things have been done before, without looking into whether these processes are actually effective or worthwhile. Look at the tasks on your employees’ daily list and see if anything can be cut out.
Many companies require employees to fill out weekly or even daily summaries of work they have completed to send to supervisors. The supervisor then only has time to barely skim these, if the reports are checked at all. If you have processes like these that are taking up employees’ valuable time without actually benefiting them or the company get rid of them. Take a regular audit of admin-based tasks and see which have value.
Some admin tasks need to be done, but see if the person doing them is the best person for the job. Is a highly skilled employee you’re paying for a specific job losing hours to filling in reports? See if there’s somewhere else in the company you could delegate these tasks. Is there an assistant or intern who could ease the load of admin tasks on other staff and give them more time to focus on other tasks?
Invest In Your Employees
Cutting the training budget might seem like an easy win to save on the budget for the year, but not investing in your staff will hurt you in the end. Add workshops, seminars or online courses to allow your employees to continue to improve and expand their skills.
Staff who you invest in will feel valued, which reduces staff turnover. You’ll also have a skilled workforce who continues to develop. More skills means more productivity and efficiency and more skills kept in-house.
Try a Different Schedule
Offer your employees the freedom to work in the way they find most effective, to match their own periods of productivity. Flexible schedules, such as offering late and early shifts, split shifts or flextime allows staff to balance work around other commitments, like family, so they can work without distraction when they’re in the office.
Allowing remote work can also boost productivity. If a staff member has a sick child to care for, or needs to wait in for a repairman, asking them to take an entire day off means you lose a staff member for a day when you don’t need to. Instead, allow them to work from home, so you’re still getting the most out of their time, even if they can’t physically be in the office.
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