It is getting harder to run a business for a profit. We
are faced with rising costs, lowered demand etc. Our
businesses have to be super effective just to keep up.
But:
* How many more benefits are possible?
* Will pay increases increase effectiveness?
* Do more benefits really cause workers to produce more?
Well there is a way to increase productivity without
increasing your Overhead.
We deal with doctors every day. And the number one
complaint the doctors get from their patients is that their
job is making them sick. And they aren”t far from the truth.
No I”m not saying YOU are making them sick. Their work
environment is making them sick.
Examples:
1. We had one office where the bosses turned off the air
conditioner at 5PM on Friday. They turned it on Monday at
8AM. All the workers were sick until noon on Monday.
That”s 10% of the work week was spent doing nothing but
sitting around complaining.
We asked the bosses to leave the air handler on over the
weekend. NOT the air conditioning, just the fan. This was
to keep the air moving through the HVAC filter. The stuff
the filter kept out of the air was causing workers sinuses
to hurt. It was giving everyone a headache.
Under the old cost cutting procedure ( turning off the
HVAC it was taking till noon for the filters to catch
up to the air quality level it was on Friday at 5PM.
When the levels did reach that point everyone felt
better and work continued.
But now the problem was eliminated! The bosses got an
immediate 10% increase in work without paying a penny for
it. Sure they used 50 cents more electricity. And some
bosses will gladly lose $1,000″s of dollars in work to
save 50 cents in electricity. But some people don”t care
if the business makes a profit as long as they LOOK
like they are cutting costs.
This isn”t the only example of how the health of a building
cuts worker efficiency/effectiveness.
2. We had one business where the walls were covered with mold,
especially behind the pictures and calenders.
Everyone bickered and complained about headaches etc ALL week
long. Management was constantly talking to someone from the
Union about some complaint or another. Workers were constantly
taking sick leave. Employee clumsiness was costing a fortune
in copying machine and other mechanical repairs.
After cleaning up the mold, the workplace turned into heaven.
The point of this article is that the work environment
has a direct effect on worker productivity. Don”t hire more
workers, take care of the workers you already have. Give them
a clean healthy place to work. And just changing janitors
won”t help.
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