Your company is running smoothly, but you know that there are some things that can be done to increase your business efficiency. If you want to get a leg up on your competition but are not sure how, these simple tips will help make your business thrive.
Automate Tasks
You can save your company tons of time—and more importantly—money by automating certain processes that are currently performed by humans. Automation is an easy way to ensure that tasks are done efficiently and correctly because it removes the aspect of human error. This does not by any means suggest that you should cut down on your human workforce, but it is an easy way to help reduce their workload so everyone can focus on more important tasks. Consider automating such things as payroll, as that is typically one of the most crucial jobs performed—at least to your employees.
Hire After-Hours Assistance
Sometimes, you may have customers who need assistance outside of business hours. If there is no one there to answer the phone or take their comments or complaints, you are likely to have unhappy customers on your hands—and unhappy customers are, sadly, the ones who are most likely to leave online reviews of your company. Consider hiring a company to perform property maintenance so you don’t have to work after hours or pay your staff overtime. These companies can handle late-night calls and also deal with everything that may come up from ing questions to customer triage.
Encourage Face-To-Face Conversation (When Possible)
It is very easy to send a quick email or instant message to a coworker when you need something, but is this really the most efficient way to handle things? Sometimes, it is much quicker to get the answer you need by speaking to the person face-to-face. If you are working remotely, pick up the phone and make a call. Emails tend to get ignored if someone is entrenched in other pressing projects, but a phone call is a simple way to get their attention when you need it. You can encourage this by hosting company get-togethers, or if everyone is working remotely, by hosting digital happy hours or online meetups where everyone can meet and become comfortable with each other. Once employees can put a face with a name and feel like they know who they are working with, they will have no problem engaging with others in the office.
Limit Interruptions
Meetings are a necessary evil of everyone’s work day, but they really can interrupt workflow and cause the office to run less efficiently. If your company needs multiple meetings a week to be successful, schedule them at the same time each week so that everyone can work around them. If possible, schedule all meetings on the same day so that every other day can be used for actual work. Also encourage employees to turn off unnecessary applications or notifications while at work, such as email or chat notifications. The constant “ding” of yet another email being received is enough to throw anyone off track.
Discourage Multitasking
We all ire multitaskers. Those people who can work on multiple things at the same time and get everything done without any stress. However, multitasking can actually be less efficient than simply doing one task at a time. Since the brain doesn’t perform tasks simultaneously, you are likely using more brain power to get everything tackled at once than you would if you just did one thing at a time. Teach your staff to finish one project before they jump into another (if this is possible in your line of work). You’ll see many more completed projects and fewer projects that are sitting at the “half-finished” stage.
Even if your business is successful, it could likely be even more efficient. Try some of these easy tips in your office and you’ll be amazed at how much more is accomplished in a workday.
