As the holiday season nears, companies are usually throwing office parties, giving employees days off, and maybe even handing out bonuses. Employees look forward to the end of the year festivities, but returning to work in the coming year should be just as promising. While end-of-year benefits are helpful, there are other ways to make your employees’ days at work better. Here are a few tips on closing out 2018 while also preparing to make 2019 even better.
Numbers Matter, But So Do Your People
Many companies exploit people for the sake of profits, but Envoc exploits profits for the sake of people. Certainly, company profits are important and determine many decisions for the coming year; however, it’s also beneficial to understand how your employees fared throughout the year. Ask your employees what their biggest hurdles are and how the day-to-day workflow piles up for them at the end of the year. Most people make new year resolutions, which often means breaking old habits and instilling new routines. Use the last few weeks of the year to analyze your processes and introduce new, more efficient and less stressful routines to your employees at the beginning of the year.
Make Next Year Even Better for Your Employees
Remove Counterproductive Procedures
Your employees complete many tasks each day that might take up valuable time that could otherwise be spent on more productive items. Most out-of-the-box software might offer solutions to those time-consuming actions but could actually hinder the process. Custom software performs only the procedures you need and does so while taking the rest of your business processes into consideration. With boxed software, you have to find ways to modify your processes to utilize the program, while custom software is created to fit into and optimize the workflow you already have in place. You can provide your employees with a tool that actually completes a task the way that offers the most value to their responsibilities. For example, the Meat Inspection App we created for Associated Grocers integrates their meat grinding operations and utilizes existing barcodes to create complex reports that were otherwise impossible with their old handwritten inspection procedures.
Improve and Streamline Processes
Even when companies develop processes and organized workflows, employees learn his or her own workaround to complete tasks. This is often a result of poor communication between departments or employees may be forced to find their own system due to the limitations of out-of-the-box software. Custom software streamlines processes so that everyone across your company follows the same set of steps and uses the same tools for every process. Additionally, custom software can allow multiple users to work on the same project at once, no matter if those users are in the same room or across the country. The ability to collaborate rather than wait to merge efforts decreases production time and reduces the opportunity for mistakes or overlooked requirements. Your employees act as a unit rather than individuals in the dark.
Alleviate the Stress of Daily Tasks
Many people spend most of their workday interacting with software. If the software they use does not make their tasks easier, requires workarounds, or just flat out doesn’t work correctly that person’s day is stressful. The more stressed an individual feels at work the less productive they are. Custom software not only offers efficient processes, but it is also designed with your specific employee as the baseline user. Your employee is more productive because the operations perform exactly how they are supposed to and when they need it to, thus giving your employee a better day, which leads to a better tomorrow.
This year, consider the day-to-day journey your employees take to keep your company running and your clients happy. If your team is experiencing any lag in productivity or they seem daunted by certain tasks, it may be time to consider custom software. Fortunately, we can help you get your employees on the same page, give them the tools they need, and make their day a little better.
