DOING WELL WITH LESS: HOW TO ADDRESS 5 WORKPLACE INEFFICIENCIES

DOING WELL WITH LESS: HOW TO ADDRESS 5 WORKPLACE INEFFICIENCIES

WELL DOING MORE WITH LESS We need to do more with less. How many times have you heard that sentence in the last few years? Most companies are trying to do more with less. In fact, according to a recent Deloitte survey, 76% of executives say they are planning to reduce expenses over the next two years. 1 Unfortunately, cutting costs doesn t guarantee you will do more with less you might end up just doing less with less. This conflict between efficiency and effectiveness is a constant challenge for organizations. 76% OF EXECUTIVES SAY THEY ARE PLANNING TO REDUCE EXPENSES OVER THE NEXT TWO YEARS. According to a study conducted by consultants at Booz Allen Hamilton, organizations should reconsider the idea of doing more with less, replacing it with a different concept: doing well with less. 2 2014 Paycor

This encapsulates the idea of being efficient without sacrificing your business goals but provides an important distinction whereas doing more with less implies you are pushing your teams to do more work with fewer resources, doing well with less implies your teams are doing good work with fewer resources. More is not necessarily better. 2 It s the quality of the work that matters. But the question remains: How do we become more efficient? It will take a range of approaches and techniques to weed out inefficiencies in your organization. Productivity expert Laura Stack explains that this is because inefficiencies can take many forms, such as unproductive employees, bureaucratic red tape, or poorly designed processes. 3 HERE ARE FIVE COMMON WORKPLACE INEFFICIENCIES, INCLUDING SHORT CHECKLISTS FOR HOW TO OPTIMIZE EACH ONE: REDUNDANT OR NEEDLESSLY COMPLICATED PROCESSES OUTDATED TECHNOLOGY FIXING ERRORS GATHERING INFORMATION UNHAPPY EMPLOYEES 2014 Paycor 3

1REDUNDANT OR NEEDLESSLY COMPLICATED PROCESSES Unnecessary processes are a major source of inefficiency for many organizations. Because it s crucial to identify the problem before you craft a solution, use the steps below to root out inefficient processes: Identify your company s core competencies to set the stage for a discussion about key processes. Map out and measure your current workplace processes. Ask yourself, what would be the ideal state of efficiency for each process? Research efficiency benchmarks for each process to determine if your expectations are realistic. Investigate the least efficient processes and determine how they need to change. Create a list of specific action items for making those changes happen. 4 2014 Paycor

As you consider options for improving inefficient processes, you might think about outsourcing as a solution for some tasks. For processes that are necessary, but not part of your organization s core competencies, outsourcing may be the most efficient solution. COMPANIES THAT OUTSOURCE PAYROLL AND TIME AND ATTENDANCE SAVE 18% ON AVERAGE. EXAMPLE A recent PricewaterhouseCoopers study found that organizations that retain payroll, workforce administration, time and attendance and benefits administration in-house spend on average 18% more than those that are outsourcing. 4 Relying on an outside vendor for certain processes can free up your workforce to focus on adding real value to your business and doing well with less. 2014 Paycor 5

2OUTDATED TECHNOLOGY Technology can play a major role in your organization s efficiency for better or for worse. Whereas outdated technology can hold you back, embracing technological advances can propel you forward. How can you determine where obsolete technology is holding you back? An example of a standard, essential business process that can benefit from newer technology is tracking employee hours. A surprising number of companies are still doing this manually. But optimizing this process can lead to huge time savings. For example, the staff at the Nashville Sounds, a minor-league baseball team, previously spent two full days collecting paper timecards and compiling all the data. By switching to an online time and attendance application and digital time clocks, they can now transmit employee hours to their payroll system in just 10 minutes. Almost two days of staff resources were reclaimed by a targeted technology upgrade! STEPS FOR IMPROVING TECHNOLOGY: WELL DOING MORE WITH LES 6 Make a list of the technologies you currently use. Include the date of the last time each one was updated. Determine if each technology is still working well for your business. AFFORDABLE CARE ACT WHAT YOU CAN DO TO PREPARE WELL Identify the time and cost savings that could result from upgrading each technology, balanced against the cost of upgrading. DOING MORE WITH LESS Spend some time investigating the replacement technologies with the highest potential to make a positive impact.

3 FIXING ERRORS A recent study showed that 37% of workers say their work day is wasted trying to fix other people s mistakes. 5 Not only do errors waste your employees time, they can have major consequences, ranging from unhappy customers to penalties and lawsuits. Use this checklist to help root out costly mistakes waiting to happen: Identify the top sources of errors. 5 Errors are bound to happen, but proactively working to prevent them can save time, money and headaches. For example, one third of all employers make payroll errors, according to the IRS. 6 These can lead to hefty fines, but most can be easily avoided by reducing the potential for human error in the process. Using a cloud-based payroll application will help improve accuracy and reduce mistakes. Rank them in order of riskiness and time wasted trying to fix them (this will help you prioritize). Uncover the most common reasons the errors happen. 37% OF WORKERS SAY THEY WASTE THEIR WORK DAY TRYING TO FIX OTHER PEOPLE S MISTAKES. Ask subject-matter experts within your company to provide ideas on how to reduce the number of errors. Create a list of specific action items for executing those ideas. 2014 Paycor 7

4GATHERING INFORMATION Trying to gather key information from other people wastes an average of 36% of an employee s day. 7 While playing phone and email tag is inevitable at times, there are ways to make sure more information is readily available to the people who need it. Use this checklist to identify what information needs to be accessible: Determine what sort of information your teams need on a regular basis to make decisions or get work done. Find out whether they are able to access that information quickly and easily. Decide if there is an easier way to make that data available, and if there is, determine how to do so. Create a set of defined action steps to make it happen. Some members of your organization need certain information to do their jobs or make decisions, such as overtime data or benefit enrollment numbers. Consider implementing a web-based reporting solution that allows them to access data and create custom reports on the fly to enable them to be more efficient. Other members of your organization might want to be able to access simpler information, such as their work schedule, time-off requests or pay stubs. Using a mobile app that makes all of this information available to employees from their smartphones is an easy way to make sure they are getting the information they need quickly, securely and efficiently. TRYING TO GATHER KEY INFORMATION FROM OTHER PEOPLE WASTES AN AVERAGE OF 36% OF AN EMPLOYEE S DAY. 8 2014 Paycor

5UNHAPPY EMPLOYEES Unhappy workers mean reduced productivity. In fact, committed employees have been shown to deliver 57% more effort than their uncommitted colleagues. 8 Workers who are happy with their jobs perform better and are more productive and more efficient. Unfortunately, 70% of employees are unengaged at work. 9 Use the checklist below to start moving your organization in the right direction in terms of employee engagement: Find out how engaged and satisfied your employees currently are (surveys are a good tool, and turnover rate can also be a good indicator). 70% Unengaged UNENGAGED Benchmark your findings with your peers and analyze them to understand the root causes of any dissatisfaction. Work with your HR team to design initiatives to improve engagement. Check your progress by surveying your employees and measuring other engagement indicators over a period of time. 2014 Paycor 9

INCREASE YOUR ORGANIZATION S EFFICIENCY WITH INTUITIVE HR AND PAYROLL SOLUTIONS Paycor helps companies perform better with intuitive, cloud-based HR, payroll and timekeeping software. We use clients feedback to continually enhance our technology, empowering our clients organizations to be more strategic. More than 24,000 small and mid-sized businesses across America trust Paycor for easy-to-use solutions that improve efficiency and enable them to focus on growing their businesses. IMPROVE YOUR EFFICIENCY WITH: 10 Fast access to the data you need with custom reporting on everything from overtime costs to total compensation to certification expiration dates. Streamlined processes for payroll, time and attendance, hiring and benefit administration that allow more time for your team to devote to strategic initiatives, such as improving employee engagement. Compliance assistance to help you stay on top of the constantly changing regulatory landscape and avoid costly errors. Cloud-based software that guarantees you re always up to date and no longer limited by outdated or obsolete technology. WELL DOING MORE WITH LESS

FOR IDEAS ON HOW TO CREATE AN ENGAGED WORKFORCE, visit paycor.com/engage FOR HELPFUL WHITEPAPERS, CHECKLISTS AND WEBINARS Improving the engagement and satisfaction of your employees will increase overall productivity and efficiency. Doing more with less is a popular buzzphrase, but true efficiency improvements start with focusing on areas that need the most work and implementing smart, simple ways to streamline processes and improve workforce productivity. Using the ideas and examples provided here, your organization can take the first steps toward being more efficient. SOURCES 1. CFO Insight, Deloitte s Senior Executive Survey (2013) 2. Sniffin, Ted, Booz Allen Hamilton, Enterprise Effectiveness and Efficiency Solution Series (2013) 3. Stack, Laura, Weeding Out the Inefficiencies in Your Workplace Garden (2012) 4. PricewaterhouseCoopers, The Hidden Reality of Payroll and HR Administration Costs (2011) 5., 7. Arnold-Smeets, Leah, PayScale, 10 Ways to Waste Away the Day at Work (2013) 6. Internal Revenue Service (2013) 8. Towers Watson, Global Workforce Study (2012) 9. Gallup, State of the American Workforce Report (2013) 2014 Paycor 11

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