When trying to maximizing your small business’s bottom line, it all comes down to productivity. With a wide variety of “proven methods” to increase productivity, it is difficult to zero in on what truly matters to a growing business. However, the following four steps are essential keys in setting the gears in motion and moving forward with your small business.
1. Set Clear Expectations and Associated Repercussions
In order to maximize the rate at which work gets accomplished, a company must know what it is working towards. Setting clear-cut goals for your team is vital in order to keep everyone focused and prioritized. The methodology by which these goals are defined is equally important; including your employees’ input in creating goals changes the mindless-drone mentality into a mentality of ambitious growth and success.
In the same beat, it is important that repercussions for failing to meet expectations are defined as well. However, the line between lackadaisical leadership and domineering enforcement must be tread carefully in order to maximize productivity while keeping the team motivated.
2. Consider an HR Software System
A Human Resource Information System, or HRIS, allows employers to organize and carry out administrative tasks in an incredibly efficient and streamlined manner. Such time-consuming tasks, including but not limited to payroll, tax payments, and scheduling, are difficult to manage. However, the availability of HRIS’s can eliminate the need for extra personnel because an HRIS (alternatively referred to as an HRMS – Human Resource Management System) supplements HR and allows you, the employer, to focus on more important issues related to your company’s success. Many different HRIS’s are available to choose from, and Compare HRIS allows you to find the system that fits your needs to its maximum potential through its free Software Selection Tool.
3. Fostering Healthier Employees
Healthy employees are happy employees. With less attention being focused on injuries or illnesses, employees can focus on productivity. Encouraging healthy employees can be handled in many different ways. For example, health and wellness programs inform employees about responsible behavior for reducing the risk of physical injury or mental stress, and give them the opportunity to pursue active lifestyles that would otherwise be difficult to lead in a tense workplace. Also, strong adherence to responsible safety codes on the part of the employer gives peace of mind to everyone in the company. An employee that feels ensured about having the proper safety codes in place (and sufficiently insured in case there is an issue) will be comfortable in his or her work environment.
4. Good relations between coworkers
You and your small business form a cohesive unit, a team, that must work together to attain a common goal. And, with any good team comes a sense of trust and loyalty, which are much easier to establish and foster with a sense of camaraderie amongst its members. Some employers utilize icebreakers at the start of meetings in order to strengthen coworker relations. Studies conducted by the Future Work Institute in Germany show that employees who work with friends or people they are familiar with increase their productivity, on average, by 10%. A happier worker is a better worker.
Productivity is key in keeping your small business alive. The aforementioned methods of increasing and maintaining productivity are surefire ways of giving your small business the boost it needs to move in the right direction at an increasing, steady pace.
About the Author
Carolyn Sokol writes about issues that may affect small businesses such as human resources, HRMS and HRM Software. She is a founder of PEOcompare.com and frequent contributer to compareHRIS.com which both help match businesses to the right HR or payroll service provider for their particular needs.
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