Curbing Workplace Overload – Tips to Help Small Businesses Work Smarter, Not Harder
We get it – you’re stressed, overworked, and exhausted. You wake up each morning with a to-do list that seems to multiply by the second. Increased workloads along with strict deadlines often leave us wishing for extra hours in the day – and maybe a personal assistant! In fact, according to a recent study, 50 percent of all U.S employees have said that they experience work overload on a consistent basis. With nearly half of America’s workforce falling into the category of overworked, it’s safe to say this is a growing concern that affects far too many of us.
Small business owners in particular feel overwhelmed just trying to stay afloat managing day-to-day operations. The responsibilities that rest on the shoulders of small business owners are daunting, and the ultimate goal of bringing in tech solutions should be to free up time and resources to focus on top-priority items for the business’s overall health.
As a small business owner and entrepreneur, maintaining an efficient work environment goes hand in hand with easing stress levels. When the work is getting done, employees are generally happier, and executives and employees alike leave at the end of the day without the thought of tomorrow’s workload hanging over their heads. The takeaway? An efficient office is the product of an efficient workforce.
Keep in mind the following tips and techniques for creating an efficient and effective office environment:
Use The Right Business Management Tools
By leveraging the right business management tools, you are giving yourself the best chance to completely streamline business operations. Using the tools that fit the best within your business can help improve a number of back-office functions including project management, timesheets, expenses, ticketing, and more. For example, the right business management solution can help you examine KPIs and make sense of your peaks and valleys of your workforce utilization and time. Make sure to do some research and select the right business management tool that will not only streamline your operations and improve your profit margins, but also grow with your business.
Work Smarter
People often think the harder they work, the more productive they will be. While this might hold true on occasion, more often than not employees are dedicating too much time towards individualized tasks. Hard work should be applauded, but also encourage employees to think about working smarter. For example, time tracking and management tools can keep employees on a schedule that is built to increase efficiency and productivity. Of course, certain tasks require more time than others, but it is important to keep in mind that your time may be better suited for a more time-sensitive or high priority project. The latest business management tools are also both time efficient and mobile friendly to further increase productivity. Poor allocation of time is one of the biggest problems seen in the workplace today. The smarter you go about tackling your to-do list, the more productive and efficient you will be.
Capture every single billing
Because so many small businesses are service-oriented, accurately documenting every single billing component can exponentially help your business. Poor accounting can be crippling, but by automating business operations, you can ensure long-term success by potentially saving thousands of dollars. There are many things that can be done to streamline the billing process. For example, using a business management platform that can scale with you as your business grows is a great start to ensuring the accuracy of any billing procedure or payment collection.
Leveraging these tips and techniques will not only help contribute towards overall success, but also help improve the quality of today’s work environment. Office management should be a streamlined process built to increase efficiency. By adhering to these tips and techniques, your stress levels will decrease and your productivity and profit will increase.
Mike Salem is the CEO and founder of Vorex, Inc., an online business management solution specifically designed for small businesses. Salem brings more than 20 years of business management experience at Fortune 500 companies to Vorex. His tenure at companies like Bank of America and Sprint have enabled him to create a solution that brings enterprise-level quality to the small business without the enterprise-level price tag.
