How to increase the efficiency of the administration team in your company
An inefficient workplace is not something that anyone strives for. Finding those inefficiencies to be able to eliminate them, though, is often much more difficult than simply acknowledging that they exist. When it comes to the administration team at your company, there are likely many efficiencies that could be realized, allowing you to shift more resources to the frontlines of your company. Here are some ways to begin realizing those efficiencies.
Reduce paperwork
If you haven’t taken a look at your administrative processes in a while, whether it be hiring, retention, payroll, or some other function, it’s likely you’re completing the process using an unnecessarily large amount of paperwork. The process you use may have been the best and most efficient when it was instituted, however, as laws and trends change, processes need to change, as well.
See if there’s anything you can digitize and automate, and find the best software for the job. If you can’t automate a process, at least find ways to simplify it, both for the sake of saving money on office supplies, as well as valuable labor. Of course, some parts of certain processes must remain for legal purposes, but beyond that, put everything on the table and keep only what’s absolutely necessary.
Leave onboarding to trainers, not administrators
When you’ve begun new jobs in the past, you’ve probably felt overwhelmed with the amount of paperwork that’s pushed at you before you can even begin training for your actual job. In some ways, it almost makes you feel like a kid on the first day of school, taking a bunch of papers home to your parents to be signed. Instead of wasting your administrators’ time handing out and collecting new hire paperwork, put the ball in the court of the new hire by using an employee onboarding software.
These kinds of software allow you to ensure new hires can jump right into their training as soon as they arrive for their first day of work. Plus, it creates an effective line of communication with the new hire prior to their first day of work, thus increasing their excitement and the likelihood that they’ll actually show up. Not only that, but it frees your administrators to do what you hired them to do, and allows your trainers to get going quickly and effectively, doing what you hired them to do, as well.
Do some spring cleaning
It may seem painfully obvious, but one of the easiest ways to increase efficiency and productivity is by simply giving your administrative offices a thorough cleaning and organization. Many times, a document or piece of equipment will be placed somewhere by an employee who has an intention for it, but it is then forgotten about, and no one else moves it since they don’t know why it’s there. Over time, with dozens of moments like this, the office can become a cluttered and unproductive nightmare.
Take a thorough look at what’s in each space, and investigate why it’s there. If it’s not needed to complete normal processes, either get rid of it or place it in long-term storage. Your administrators will benefit both from the newly-clean workspace and the increased work ethic that comes from the care shown by you to get their workspace clean.
Effectively delegate and separate responsibilities
Over time, an effective office staff can be slowed down simply because of their experience with their own job. If several employees have worked together for a long time, they will start to understand each other’s responsibilities, and even be able to perform each other’s jobs. When it comes to effective teamwork, this is actually a desirable trait, as the different administrators can pick up the slack if someone has to be away from the office.
If this begins to happen all the time, though, some members of the staff may begin to regularly take on responsibilities that they don’t even realize aren’t part of their actual job description. So, if you have administrators with fairly low turnover, make it a point to occasionally discuss each person’s job responsibilities, both with each individual team member, as well as the group. This is not to discourage collaboration, but simply to ensure no one person is taking on an oversized portion of work that is actually someone else’s responsibility, to begin with.
Never stop encouraging
Ultimately, a productive and efficient administration team is one who feels they are valued for their contributions to the company as a whole. If any one person feels under-appreciated, their disappointment will rub off on their coworkers, leading to overall low morale and increasing inefficiency. Stay on top of letting each administrator know that they are valued and appreciated, and you’ll continue to have the efficient and productive workforce you’ve come to expect.
