The greatest strategies for increasing productivity while reducing the cost of business are to empower your employees to work creatively and productively. There are two ways to increase productivity and creativity: make it easy to work remotely and make it easy to collaborate. The two go hand in hand, if you improve one area, you automatically improve the other.
Encouraging Employees to Work Remotely
Working from home increases creativity and productivity.
If you’re a millennial, working remotely doesn’t seem like that crazy of a concept, but if you’re a bit older, then asking your employees to stay home and work seems counterproductive. You’re probably also a bit wary about trusting technology as much as the new work culture requires. To succeed as a small business owner you need to think outside of the box and start adopting modern ways of running a business, and that means encouraging employees to work remotely.
Getting Results from Remote Workers
Allowing your employees to work remotely saves you money on physical office space, office supplies, bills, etc. Don’t think of remote working as employees staying home, think of it as you asking your employees to bring their own office. The next step is to set up processes that will allow employees to work productively, and for you to be able to stay on top of the work being done by those employees.
Trust, but Verify
Allowing employees to work remotely will also show them that you trust in their abilities to work without supervision. And by trust, we mean “trust, but verify.” You have to set up parameters and systems that will allow your employees to be productive while working remotely. These parameters and systems give your employees freedom while allowing you always to verify that they are being productive and sticking to deadlines.
Encourage Creativity
Be sure to secure your data when allowing employees to work remotely.
Remote working means that employees can choose their hours, as long as they stick to the major deadlines. When employees have the freedom to choose their own work hours, you are also allowing the creative juices more freedom to flourish. You never know when that brilliant idea will strike. Working remotely means that employees have complete access to the office so that they can take advantages of random bursts of creativity that happen outside of regular business hours. The more you can harness the creativity of your employees, the higher the productive output.
Secure Your Data
One of the major worries of allowing remote access is to be sure that your data is secure. Remote access feels like you are leaving many doors open for bad actors and hackers. Any time you create pathways for employees to access your data remotely, make sure that you have set up ways to secure each access point.
Communication and Organization Tools
Maximize productivity by setting up good communication and organization software allowing employees always to be connected, no matter where they are. Organizational software will help you keep track of your employees progress, as well as the infrastructure of the office. One way to cut costs is for you to wear many hats. Having programs that keep track of your expenses, deadlines, and other practical elements of running a business. The right office tools will allow you to eliminate extra employees because you can wear multiple hats with the help of good communication and organizational tools.
OnePointSync offers complete IT solutions to run your small to midsized business efficiently and effectively.
