Every owner wants their company to run as smoothly and efficiently as possible, but finding actionable steps to take toward this ideal can be difficult. If you are ready to push your business to the next level, here are some simple tactics, provided by Chiro 8000, to increase efficiency without cutting quality.
1. Improve Ergonomic Standards
If you have not taken the time to analyze your employees’ workspace for ergonomics you could be dealing with a second-rate workspace. Everything from the keyboards and telephones to their chairs and footrests will make a difference on their level of comfort, their productivity, and even their long-term health.
2. Give Your Company Hardware an Update
When a company’s hardware and technology becomes more than a few years old it will begin to affect productivity and efficiency. Modern multi-taskers such as a new smartphone can be used to carry out complex process such as scanning documents, turning them into .pdf files, digitally signing them, and then forwarding them to the correct department.
3. Use An Office Management Program
Client management systems can be used within any industry to monitor a wide variety of data without the need for multiple programs and services. These systems will help with projects ranging from billing clients and printing invoices to creating custom forms and tracking inventory.
4. Stick to an Open-Door Policy
Many companies may say that they have an open-door policy, but actually promoting communication within a company day in and day out can be much more difficult. Owners and managers must lead by example and make a constant effort to ask questions of their employees. Even more important than listening is making changes when the employees have spoken up.
5. Have an Analysis System in Place
When your company does not have a system in place that can analyze productivity and efficiency it will be impossible to see which tactics are working and which tactics are not working. This often begins with company-wide polling, but there is actually one other effective tactic that is rarely used: exit interviews. Interviewing employees as they leave will often reveal much more profound information than traditional polls.
6. Cut Out the Unnecessary Meetings
Meetings can feel like a break in the day when employees can relax and daydream, and this leads to some major inefficiencies. Every meeting should have a full outline, a specific time frame that will be followed, and only employees that are in need of that information should be in attendance.
7. Take Breaks
It may sound like taking breaks is contrary to improving efficiency, but studies show that the opposite is actually true. Employees that get behind on their work and skip breaks may have slightly more productivity within those few minutes, but in the long run it will almost always result in less work and lower quality work.
When it comes to the success of your company, few things are as important as streamlining your office and improving your employees’ proficiency. Promoting communication and comfort as well as adopting new hardware and software may be all that is needed to keep your company competitive and pushing forward.