A workplace community isn't just about recognition and positive feedback to the staff but also the level of engagement and trust the business gives to them; after all, without your employees, you wouldn't have a business. This community does what any community would do and protect itself, that is what we want to draw on for new cost-cutting options.
Here are 5 quick tips, focusing on the power of your workers, on helping chase down the money leaking from your books, reducing labor costs and improving workplace community loyalty.
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| Both costly and invaluable employees are a very powerful double-edged asset. |
1) MONEY MANAGERS IN THE FIELD
In their day to day workings, your employees will come across things in the work environment and they will be confused about why the company is spending money on it. Give your associates a chance to express these question effectively and without fear of judgment. You may find that small overhead costs have added up over time for things your employees don't use or acknowledge, making them a poor ROA.
2) SURVEY OF PERQS
Letting your associates tell you what company perqs are working for them and they are ACTUALLY utilizing will allow you to trim the fat on your benefits packages without incurring negative impact from the staff. Offering your employees exaggerated benefits packages don't aid in retention if they never use, or have a reason to use, any of the perqs.
3) CROSS TRAINING FOR A PATH OF SUCCESSION
Employees are often driven to improve their usefulness to a business they are engaged with. By letting your associates call out where they want to go and establish a career path with that. This will increase the well of skills you have and determine the level of commitment from existing employees.
4) FLEX TIME
People don't like being TOLD their paycheck are going to be cut. Cutting back on hours can also be highly detrimental to staff morale unless it's their own choice. Giving your associates a chance to take extra unpaid time willingly without repercussions allows a greater level of work/life balance. Simple gestures like this can lead to higher levels of confidence in the workers to the company because this freedom shows the companies trust in them.
5) JOB RESTRUCTURE
Revelauating jobs is a critical point of any growing and mature business for catching inefficient labor uses. Your managers and staff know what needs to be done to get their jobs done. They know what they have that works and what they need to be more effective. Getting a new understanding of what your employees are doing to get their jobs done may open up new opportunities to recover losses. This can also be a chance to open up options for job sharing and rotations.
Associates are one of the most expensive single points of investment in a business. That is exactly what they are, an investment in your business. Along with working to ensure that you have the right people for the right tasks, it's important to make sure that you are properly empowering them to be stronger. According to a BOL report from December of 2018 extra benefits increase employee compensation by 50% over wages. Combining this with a Harvard report on the effects of employee engagement marked that businesses with a high level of employee engagement in the wellbeing of the firm set the firm up to improved levels of success, up to 44% improvement over firms that don't prioritize high levels of engagement.
In conclusion, my opinion is that your employees and associates are the most valuable part of your business. Treating them with trust, respect, and decency as humans has a huge return on efforts. No compensation package can ever replace the human need to belong to something greater than themselves. Working with that impulse your staff can go from a fearful expense to an unstoppable force of growth for the firm.
