Technical Difficulties: 3 Efficiency Killers Your Business Must Avoid

Managing a business is certainly no easy task. There are hundreds of things you have to worry about that could go wrong on a daily basis that could eat away at your profits. However, some things that help to deteriorate your bottom line are much more subtle. This is the case for decreased efficiency, and it’s something almost all businesses have to wrestle with. Below are three efficiency killers your business must avoid.

An Unmotivated Office

Often, lack of efficiency in a company can be traced back to an office that is not motivated to perform its work in a quick and correct fashion. There are many things that can lead to an unmotivated workplace. It is management’s job to get to the bottom of it for the benefit of the entire organization.

Lack of direct feedback on the work performed is one possibility. If employees feel their efforts don’t matter in the big picture, they are likely to spend more time checking social media updates than actually completing work. Similarly, a toxic workplace in which employees are hostile to each other could grind efficiency to a halt.

Malfunctioning and Inefficient Office Equipment

For employees to be productive, they need the proper tools to allow them to complete their work in an efficient fashion. Sometimes, however, the tools they are given are not adequate. To print documents, create copies and send faxes, sometimes three completely different devices in different locations must be used. Then there’s the possibility that those devices might be old and cease working altogether. This, of course, can create a workflow logjam in which nothing gets done until third parties are called in to repair the devices. You can avoid this by either hiring a service to do regular maintenance or contact a company like Lafayette Business Machines Inc to replace old equipment.

Instead, ensure that your employees do have newer working office equipment to complete their work. Consider multifunction printers that can perform more than one function for your office workers. Wireless connectivity and quick print speeds are also a must.

Too Many Buffers and Too Much Redundancy in the Chain of Command

Sometimes a company’s corporate structure can also be an impediment to efficiency. If too many buffers exist between the CEO or business owners and the employees that complete the grunt work, important information may never reach the top of the chain of command in a timely fashion. While middle managers are needed in many cases, there also shouldn’t be so many middle managers that their responsibilities overlap with each other.

Overall, efficiency in a company is important. If a company runs inefficiently, all the effort made to sell an excellent product or service could be for naught due to slow progress and costs that get out of control. Make sure you do what you can to run a tight ship.