Tag: employee feedback

Using Lessons From Remote Working To Run A Better Office

Scott Asai2 Comments

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One of the hallmarks of a successful business is listening to your employees and ensuring you take on their feedback. But these days there are so many out there are scattered all over the place, that you can’t have them all under one roof. Remote working is so popular now, but for all of the veritable pros and cons, you may very well want to bring everybody back together. What can we learn from remote working to ensure that we run a better office?

Being sociable works wonders for positivity

If you’ve been working on your own for a long time, you might find that remote working means you lose that social aspect. By encouraging that old fashioned approach to the water cooler, and having a conversation about last night’s television, you start to solidify a bond between the employees that goes beyond the work. So take it upon yourself to install a water cooled chiller and encourage people to talk because this means collaboration becomes effortless.

Communication and collaboration works across many lands

In running a remote team, or if you work by yourself at home, you realize just how easy it can be to get in contact with others. There are so many different communication tools out there that it’s very easy to get to speak to someone, either via Skype or email. But when it comes to this office environment, we can very easily ping over an email to someone, but this could interrupt their work flow. Set about finding the right communication tools and collaboration so everybody still has that working flow. It is a very difficult thing to get right, but when you want to inspire collaboration and communication ensure that people get up off the chair and wander over to their colleagues, especially if they’re only on the other side of the office! Some businesses frown upon this because it takes people away from the desk but if you want to run an office driving, culturally sound, and where people communicate effortlessly, that human contact is also essential.

People can be disciplined when they want to be

When you run an office, that temptation can be to bark orders and everyone so that they follow the rules. But when you bring people in from a remote working environment they have to function under their own steam. As a result of self-discipline is a fantastic tool, not just because people figure out their own way to get a task done as quickly as possible, with great quality, but it also inspires trust. If you can entrust your employees to do the job that them to do without them feeling that you are watching their every move, they shall work better, are more relaxed, and everybody wins.

Many people find that remote working is a heavy burden on a business, but others can’t help but go down this route due to the cost-effectiveness aspect. But there are things we can learn from remote working that we can apply to an office environment. That lack of sociability from remote working means that employees will make the most of developing relationships with employees, communication is better and more comprehensive and also, that idea of self-discipline is arguably the biggest asset of any business when you transfer remote workers to an office environment.

How to Make Life Easier for Your Staff

Scott Asai2 Comments

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Keeping your employees happy is essential if you want them to do their best work. If they’re finding it difficult to concentrate or they feel like it’s harder than necessary to get their work done, you could find the productivity is nowhere near as good as you want it to be. Many employees complain that things get in the way of them doing their jobs. If you want things to improve, you should think about how you can make life easier for your staff. There are many things you could do that will remove some of the barriers your employees face so they can work better.

Remove Unnecessary Work

There are tasks that you might ask your employees to do that they feel are completely unnecessary. Although you might see them as things that they need to do, they could just think that they get in the way of their real work. The best way to identify these tasks is by asking your employees for feedback. If you’re unsure if they will be honest, you can allow them to give anonymous feedback. This will allow them to say what they feel, without having to worry about whether there could be negative consequences.

Put Them in Control of Their Time

Helping your employees to manage their own time can help them to balance their work life and personal life. This is one of the best ways you can improve your employees’ happiness and work satisfaction. With the right HR software, your staff can manage their own time off, submitting requests for leave when they need to. If they have their own accounts that they can log into when they need to make a request, look at pay slips or find out other information, they won’t have to spend time dealing with HR in person or sending emails.

Make Sure Team-building Has a Purpose

One thing that can really frustrate your employees is having to deal with team-building days that don’t have a clear purpose. Many companies want to engage in team-building, but they don’t have a clear goal. So your employees are left wondering why they’re doing it, and why they can’t just get back to their normal work. Before making them participate in team-building activities, make sure that you know why you’re doing it so that you can make it clear to your staff why you’re doing it too.

Improve Transparency

Another thing that can be frustrating for your employees is feeling like they’re missing vital information. Not only does a lack of transparency cause frustration, but it could also lead to big mistakes and a lack of motivation and morale. While there are some things that might need to be as confidential as possible, they are many times when you should open up communication and make sure that your staff have as much information as they need. Keeping them in the dark won’t help them do their jobs better.

If you want to make life easier for your employees, stop getting in the way of them doing their jobs. Help them to get their jobs done well and avoid unnecessary work.

What You Should Do When Your Team Needs Motivating

Scott Asai2 Comments

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If you want your business to be flying high, you need to have the right people with you. You need the best possible contacts that can assist you in your pursuit, and you need to have excellent employees that can put the work in and provide the right results. When you planned everything out at the beginning, you probably thought you could solely take on the world. You’ll soon realize that it’s a group effort and, without a crack team of fully motivated employees, you won’t get anywhere near what your fantasies are picturing. 

Bringing in the right people is one thing, but keeping them on track and focused can be a whole new challenge. They’re only human after all. Having a driven workforce can be pivotal in a business taking off, so keeping them upbeat and hungry to work is so important. As a boss, you’ll always be looking to keep them going. Here are a few ways you can do so.   

Make The Workplace Beautiful 

Nobody functions well in an ugly environment, so make the office/warehouse/factory/etc. a little nicer of the eye at least. It doesn’t have to be the most perfect place in the world, but a clean area with little problems would go a long way. Make sure everyone and everything is organized, too. Clutter around desks and workspaces will only lead to more problems.  

Set Little Goals

When people have a goal in front of them, they immediately become more motivated. Working towards nothing other than a big collective goal at the end of a big project can be tiresome for most. You’ll know the feeling yourself. You’ll also know that completing even the smallest challenge feels good and makes you want to hit your next target in order to get the same feeling. Perhaps you could give them little daily or weekly goals to hit. 

Don’t Pile On Pressure 

At some points in our professional lives, we’ll hit certain times where we need to get our heads down and ride the pressure. It’s not all of the time, though, so don’t make your staff worry all of the time. There are some people that thrive under pressure, but a lot of people crumble.  

Acknowledge Their Work

When somebody is working hard or getting their jobs done, it doesn’t hurt to recognize their efforts. Put yourself in their shoes: it would feel nice, and it would assure you if the person overseeing you told you that you’ve done an excellent job. 

Be Positive At The Right Times

As a boss, you’ll need to know how to behave at different times. It’s not something you are born with, it’s something that you learn over time during the course of your leadership development and evolution. If things go a little south, a lot of the time you need to put on that happy face and gee up the employees. How they’ll behave will be based on how you behave – you are the conductor, after all. 

Be Stern At The Right Times

As much as calm, cool and positive vibes are the go-to way of behaving most of the time, there will be times where you need to put your foot down and apply some seriousness. An arm around the shoulder doesn’t really work if someone is slacking off or misbehaving.

Useful Tips For Making Choosing A Business Premises Simpler

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When it comes to choosing a business premise, there’s a lot that you need to consider. Whether you are moving from one premise to another or are only just looking for a business premise after working remotely, it’s important to ensure that you know what you are doing when it comes to choosing the right premise for you business to run from.

The process of choosing a business premise can be an extremely daunting one, which is why it’s so important that you take steps to make choosing a business premises a little simpler and less stressful. To help you to do that below is a guide to what you can do to make it easier to find that perfect business premises.

Write a tick list

First things first, start the process of finding a new business premise by writing a tick list of all the things that you need your new premise to have. This could include things like on-site parking, space to expand in the future, areas for relaxing as well as working – think about what you and your team members need from your premise and create a tick list that incorporates all of those things. Obviously, it’s important to bear in mind that you may not be able to have everything that you want, and may need to compromise on some factors.

Decide whether to rent or buy

The next factor to consider is whether to rent or buy. This is a tricky one to consider as there is a lot to think about and take into account, from the cost of buying to whether any premise can give you what you may potentially need for the future. If you’re concerned about the financial side of buying, you could consider taking out a commercial real estate loan to help make buying a premise more doable. However, if you don’t want to be in debt or are not eligible for this kind of loan, then you might want to consider renting instead.

Utilize the internet

Once you know whether you are renting or buying, take advantage of the internet to look at properties and get an idea of which ones you like and which ones you don’t. The internet can be an amazing tool for property searching as it gives you access to properties in various locations, giving you a greater amount of choice, regarding where you buy from.

Ask your employees for their insight

When you find a business premise that you like, take one tour of it by yourself and take a look around. Then, ask for a second viewing and bring a selection of your employees along with you, to see what they think about the premise. It can often be highly beneficial to get an outsider’s insight into choosing a property, as sometimes you will miss things, which is why having a second pair of eyes can be so helpful.

There you have it, a guide to everything that you need to know about making choosing a business premise simpler and less stressful for everyone involved.

How To Increase Your Manufacturing Profit Margins

Scott Asai2 Comments

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If you’re in the manufacturing game, then you’ll already be aware that it’s an expensive business to be in. The profit margins aren’t quite as high as you’d like them to be, and it can feel like you’re putting in a lot of effort for not that much reward. But maybe it doesn’t have to be this way. Like in every other business, it’s possible to increase your profit margins in a number of ways, and once these have all been combined, you might find that they’ve made a noticeable difference to your bottom line. Below, we take a look at a few handy changes you can make to boost your operations and ultimately earn more money.

Work Out an Efficient Routine

You can get caught into a way of doing things, which sticks just because you’re used to it. However, it’s good practice to ask yourself whether you’re working this way because it’s the best, most effective way of working…or you’re doing it because this is how its always been done. Take a look at your operations, or, if you don’t feel too informed about what you should be looking for, gave an outside expert do it. You might be making a simple mistake and not even know it!

And Update Your Equipment

Your equipment is key to your success. If you’re using old machines which take twice as long to do things as the newer machines, then it doesn’t take a rocket science to see that this isn’t good for business! Keep your equipment well-serviced, and then, when it’s obvious they’re beginning to break down, replace them altogether. Also, have a think about the useful equipment that you don’t currently possess. Things like cost-effective roller conveyor systems can make the whole factory process much smoother and save a lot of time, for example. If you have the best equipment, you’ll find it easier to work efficiently. Simple!

Work With Your Employees

You’re just pulling the strings. It’s the workers on the shop floor who are doing the work. So work with them, first by making sure that they have all the training and support they need to do their job well. Second, by asking for feedback. What do they think slows down their work? What do they need to work at their best? Ultimately, if your employees can work well, then your company will benefit.

Negotiate With Suppliers

You’re not going to be working alone at your factory. You’ll have supplies and partners that you work with. But are you getting the best deal possible from them? It’s not always wise to stay loyal to companies you work with! Don’t be afraid to walk away if you’re not getting the best deal from them!

Crunch Them Numbers

And finally, go over those numbers, again and again. It’s nearly always possible to save money without compromising the quality of your work or the happiness of your workers. Have an eagle eye, and make small savings wherever you can.