How Businesses are Cutting Down on Expenses
No matter the size of your business, when things start moving slowly, it is time to look at the expense report and find ways to cut down on costs. What are some ways to cut costs without sacrificing on quality? What are the first things to go? Let’s look at ways to save businesses money even in this harsh economic climate.
Office Inventory
Businesses often succumb to the ritual of ordering office supplies. There can never be enough pens, paper clips, and post-its in the office, right? Wrong! Take stock of the entire supply inventory and minimize the order on supplies. Ask yourself, “Is it really necessary to purchase that box of multi-colored highlighters?” The answer is more than likely, “No,” however, people get trapped into the fact that it costs less to buy in bulk, but does each employee need up to five different colors for highlighting?
Do not forget to use scrap paper for note taking, not only will it cut on costs, but it cuts down on the amount of paper waste. Any time an employee prints something incorrectly, put in a scrap paper box, and re-use for notes on the blank side.
Reduce Employee Hours
It is tempting to fire employees when things start getting tough, but before handing them the layoff notice, consider lowering the hours of the employee’s to only a 35-hour workweek. Some might be furious by the cut in work hours, but it beats standing in line at the unemployment office. Try to keep employees by offering fewer hours in the workweek. This also help’s businesses cut back on employee-sponsored benefits.
Telecommuting for Employees
One of the quickest ways to cut down on costs and overhead is to move out some of the employee’s from their office to an at-home workspace. Set up at their home a business data network using a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone where a virtual office phone number is utilized so clients are not aware they are speaking with someone at a home residence. This will instantly save on calls that companies make to international clients. IP phones are flexible and affordable allowing for the user’s to set up call forwarding, therefore eliminating any missed calls.
Overall, there are ways to running an office and the staff in a more cost effective way, by ordering less office supplies, reducing employee hours, and transferring some employees to at home workspaces. Here’s a few extra ways business owners can cut costs, salary freezes, hiring freeze, and forced unpaid holiday time for employees.
Business owners are required to look at the bottom line and cut back where they have to in order to keep running their company. When things get tough they have to make the hard decisions to stay in competitive within their industry market.
Contact Advanced Communications LLC today to learn more about cutting your costs by switching to VoIP!
