Productivity and efficiency play critical roles in a business’s profitability, competitiveness, and long-term success. Yet, as business leaders face continued economic uncertainty, particularly regarding inflation and a tight job market, they also face significant decreases in worker productivity. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported worker productivity fell 7.5% in the first quarter of 2022, representing the fastest decline since 1947. Output decreased by 2.4 percent even as hours worked increased by 5.5 percent. The good news is while there are many things a business leader cannot control, such as rising labor costs, they can actively work to improve small business efficiency.
When employees are productive, they use their time wisely, becoming more efficient and producing better results in less time. Now is an excellent time to evaluate your processes and look for areas where you can improve. Safeguard can help business leaders learn how to use their resources most efficiently. With an extensive breadth of services and products and specific expertise in your industry, your Safeguard Advisor can help you meet your time, productivity, and business needs.
What steps can you take to improve small business efficiency?
Small businesses can help improve efficiency by ensuring employees use their time wisely. Training, eliminating unnecessary work, utilizing rewards and recognition, and giving your employees the right tools for the job are all steps to improving small business efficiency.
Increasing Efficiency and Security: The Newport Advisory Story
The money managers at Newport Advisory have built a solid reputation in financial circles by consistently and efficiently helping clients position their portfolios for maximum returns while managing appropriate levels of risk. With their focus on delivering maximum efficiency for their clients, they realized reducing risk, and increasing efficiency were things they desired for their day-to-day operations. Checks remain one of the payment methods most impacted by fraud activity, according to the 2022 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey.
After consultation with their Safeguard advisor to determine their challenges and goals, it was determined they would benefit the most from these products:
- High-Security Checks – Providing the highest level of defense and support, multiple embedded fraud protection features make these checks extremely difficult to replicate, alter or copy.
- Safeguard eChecks – The easy-to-use electronic version of traditional checks sent safely, securely, and immediately via email anywhere, anytime.
- Personalized Secure Letterhead – Security features help prevent unauthorized copying or tampering with sensitive business-critical documents.
Though it’s invisible to their high net-worth clientele, Newport Advisory now runs a smarter, more secure operation that’s just as buttoned up as their financial services.
Employee Productivity is Essential to Small Business Efficiency
Business efficiency is a ratio that measures total input to output. It helps determine how effectively a business can utilize its resources. Peak efficiency is when a company can use the least amount of information to achieve maximum output. Employee productivity is an essential component of business efficiency as it measures the amount of work an individual employee can produce in a specific period.
Improving small business efficiency depends on employees who are using their time wisely. When employees focus on the right tasks at the right time, it prevents them from spending too much time on any task and can better meet deadlines. Training and utilizing employees to the best of their abilities is a significant strategy for increasing business efficiency.
Small businesses should also remember that the most productive and efficient employees are engaged. Two primary ways companies can improve employee engagement are by:
- Eliminating unnecessary work – Technology, automation, and outsourcing are primary ways businesses eliminate unnecessary work and leverage resources more effectively. Marketing, payroll, and accounting, tasks that are not core business-building activities, are ideal for outsourcing, freeing up your in-house employees to focus on areas that will bring growth and improve the customer experience.
- Utilizing rewards and recognition – Employees who feel valued and appreciated are more motivated to continue performing well in their jobs. Employee recognition could be tied to performance, embodying company values, or an appreciation for meeting a specific employment milestone.
The more productive your employees are, the more efficient your business is, and the greater your competitive advantage.
Increase Efficiency with Personalized Business Solutions
Be better organized, find files more efficiently, or process paperwork faster. From the proper forms to secure payment solutions, giving your employees the right tools for the job will go a long way to make them more efficient.
Your Safeguard advisor will work with you to understand your operation to provide the solutions you need to improve efficiency. You can rely on your Safeguard Advisor for the right products, services, and ideas to make managing and marketing your business more efficient. Call 855.778.3124 to get started.
Disclaimer: The story, names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this work are fictitious and are provided to illustrate typical relationships between Safeguard advisors and customers. No identification with actual persons, places, and results is intended or should be inferred. Your experience may vary.
Key Takeaways
- Efficiency plays a vital role in a business’s profitability, competitiveness, and long-term success.
- Eliminating unnecessary work, utilizing rewards, and giving your employees the right tools for the job are all steps to improving small business efficiency.
- With an extensive breadth of services and products, your Safeguard Advisor can help you to meet your time, productivity, and business needs.
- You can rely on your Safeguard Advisor for the right solutions to manage and market your business more efficiently.