1. Meet from afar:
Is every business journey necessary? Think of the amount of
wasted time and money that it takes to attend a one-hour meeting away from your
office. More often than not, you will find that the meeting can be just as
productive if it is held over the phone.
2. Be transparent:
Chances are your employees will be feeling much more
stressed than normal, even if they don’t realise it. Holding secretive meetings
will only increase the pressure, so keep them informed and involved in decision
making, and let them know about changes as soon as feasibly possible.
3. Employee’s welfare:
In a period where you would expect workers to give their all
to their job, we have experienced rising levels of absence throughout 2008.
Stress is believed to be its primary cause. In order to combat this, why not
introduce initiatives such as: regular five minute breaks from the computer and
real lunch breaks, rather than working through, or even coordinate fun team
building or ‘energizer’ exercises at lunch times?
4. Introduce flexible working:
Flexible working enables people to balance work and life,
especially if they have children, and it allows companies to retain talent and
experience in the work place. Other feasible options would be job sharing,
working from home or part-time work.
5. Consider your space:
If you are lucky enough to have extra office space, or rooms
that you just don’t need or use, then there is a great sub-letting opportunity.
Not only would you be generating extra revenue, it would be at absolutely no
cost to you or your business. You could even sell off excess equipment on eBay.
Perhaps you should review your premises; could you reduce the rent, or move to
a cheaper location?
