Five ways you’re wasting money in your operations and administration

Articles, Improving Performance, ,

Time and money are precious and every one of us tries to make the best of it. Almost in every organisation, there are 5 ways you’re wasting your money in your operations and administration.

1. Death by spreadsheets

Everyone loves a good spreadsheet. Spreadsheets can help you organize and manage all sorts of information, from expenses, budgets, client lists, employee data and even telephone lists. But if you have more than a few hundred employees and clients, tracking performance, training, orders, requirements and so on with spreadsheets is the stuff nightmares are made of. It gets more complicated if these spreadsheets need to shared and updated by a few people.

Spreadsheets are also dependent on manual entry and human error, which in turn impact on the quality of work and time required for these manual activities. These manual tracking also increases your administrative workload which leaves you less time for the more important stuff.

2. Inefficient and/or lack of systems

Processes and systems need to be in place for the efficient and effective running of the business. Processes need to be clear, documented and often simplified further to be effective. A few ways to find out how efficient your processes and systems are:

  • Is your organisation able to duplicate the desired result every time?
  • Are your processes consistent throughout the organisation?
  • If new employees are asked to perform a task, do they have a clear path to follow to ensure that the desired result is achieved?
  • Do employees have a hard time finding the content and information in your organisation?

Technology is a great way to improve your processes and systems. There are numerous systems out in the market that will streamline your accounting, payroll, documentation, training, incidents, risks and etc. processes. All of which in the long run will help improve the speed of the tasks, reduce human error, reduce stress, improve quality, increase productivity as well as reduce cost and of course, save money.

3. Keeping hardcopies

Even though there is technology available to reduce the amount of paperwork in the office, it is still surprising that organisations are still keeping hardcopies and loads of them. Ask:

  • What information do you use or add to the paperwork? Why is it needed?
  • What information do you obtain from the paperwork? Why do you need it?
  • Why is this paperwork important for you to perform your job?

If there is no clear answer other than “because it’s always been done that way”, then it is quite certain that this is a good part of the process for reducing paperwork and streamlining the process. Also, if each piece of information cannot be justified, it should be eliminated from the hardcopy form to reduce the amount of work necessary to process the paperwork.

Another related area to consider here is filing and storage. File cabinets and storage boxes that keep these hardcopies take up valuable office space. Consider using a document management system to archive paperwork for long term storage and retrieval to free-up the office space that is being occupied by paper storage or even an online document management system.

Furthermore, spreadsheets and paper-based processes cannot give you deep, quick, real-time insight into how your employees, clients and activities are doing. “Going paperless” can save money, boost productivity, save space, make documentation and information sharing easier, keep personal information more secure and help save the environment.

4. Lack of Staff Development

With skills shortages and the high costs of recruiting, it is more cost-effective to retain and engage with your current employees and provide them with developmental opportunities. However, how often do you provide opportunities to develop your employees? Most people think of employee training as sending the employees offsite to a training seminar or training centre. Another way is to conduct the training onsite by bringing the trainer into your premises to do the training for a group of employees. Both of these alternatives can be expensive but there are other alternatives that can save you money and still get your employees the training and development that they need, such as online training, on-the-job training, coaching, mentoring or even, based on the concept of ‘teach to learn’ – send one employee out for training and as part of his/her post-training assignment, this employee is to teach the rest of the team on what was learnt.

5. Inefficient Wasting Energy
Quick wins and easy ways to improve your operational efficiency and safety, save money as well as create an environmentally friendly reputation are to conduct a walk-through assessment. By taking time out to walk around and observe the working environment and daily/nightly operations of the business, it will help you to identify opportunities to improve performance and implement the appropriate initiatives. These include:
Lighting

  • Switch off lights when not needed
  • Replace globes with more efficient ones
  • Remove globes/lamps in areas that have more light than needed
  • Install timers or sensors to switch lights off
  • Install zoned lighting so you have more control over turning off lights in some areas

Heating and cooling

  • Reduce the amount that you use heating and cooling
  • Adjust the temperature to use less power
  • Improve insulation
  • Purchase a more efficient heating or cooling system

Appliances, equipment and machinery

  • Switch them off when not needed
  • Turn them off standby
  • Maintain the equipment to ensure it works efficiently
  • Purchase more efficient equipment

Vehicles

  • Use different fuels (e.g. gas, diesels)
  • Reduce the number of trips or encourage car pooling
  • Reduce the total distance being travelled
  • Purchase more fuel efficient vehicles or convert existing vehicles

Rubbish and waste

  • Increase your recycling
  • Re-use material that was previously discarded
  • Reduce the amount of rubbish and waste produced
  • Introduce recycling for different types of waste
  • Change business practices so that less waste is produced

Let me conclude with a simple thought: if you are still doing 3 out of the 5 things above and you don’t have an integrated management platform yet, you should seriously think about it. We can help you with strategy, compliance and implementation of practical, effective solutions for your businesses, large and small. These systems are not only highly valued by HR, OHS and green groups, but now highly valued by your employees as well. In fact, with the new financial year, isn’t it time to start it by saving as much?

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