Cash flow projections can get you thinking and force you to look for cost savings.
No-one wants to look at their staffing efficiencies, but with wages and salaries often the biggest cost for a business, it is unfortunately imperative to do this to ensure this is money well spent.
It can be that you look around your workplace and think “Why is that person always so flat-out busy?” or alternatively “How does that person fill their day?”
Work has changed over the past few years, and with it the demands and tasks for your teams may have changed too. It is important that you have balanced roles and workloads.
“Organisational structures of today demand too much from a few, and not much at all from anyone else.”
(Gary Hamel)
Being right sized doesn’t necessarily mean reducing the size of your team.
It is about making sure you are well organised and have the right resources focused on the right priorities to successfully achieve your business goals.
If you want to make sure you have a “right sized” team, here are a few key pointers:
- Your overall organisational structure – Is this aligned with your vision and goals? Is it best designed to make sure you have the teams working together and achieving what they need to achieve? Should teams be working closer together or could your structure be arranged differently to get better results?
- Role size – Workloads have changed considerably over the past few years with the challenges we have faced, and this may have caused some of your roles to be unbalanced. Has the workload increased in any areas, or decreased in others? Does anyone seem overworked? Or underutilised? Are some departments struggling to complete everything they need to? This may mean some tasks should be reallocated, some roles re-scoped, others could be merged, or a more significant change may need to take place.
- Clear accountabilities – Is every single person in your organisation crystal clear and focused on their key accountabilities and outcomes? Do they know how these relate to your overall business performance? If you cannot articulate what these are for each role, chances are your team can’t either. This may mean they are spending time on the wrong things, rowing in a different direction to the rest of the crew – or on a different boat altogether!
- System efficiency – What can you automate, and what processes can be improved to save time? Imagine how much impact some of your team could have if they were working on business improvements rather than completing administrative tasks? Or how many $$ you could save over the next few years if you could reduce paperwork and inefficiencies? It is worth reviewing and investing in as you get set for the future.
- Options for true workforce flexibility – Many jobs and tasks don’t need to be performed for 40 hours a week every week. You will have peaks and troughs and changes to requirements will shape these hours. Are you flexibly set up to take advantage of this or are you paying a salary even when there is no work to be done? Consider outsourcing, contracting and casual resourcing. These options can be far more cost effective and give you “right sized” flexible coverage when you need it.
Positive People have over 25 years’ experience helping businesses set up the right structures to align with your business goals. We can help you “right size” your organisation, then guide you successfully through any processes required to put the changes in place and offer you flexible resourcing in the HR space. Call us now to discuss your requirements.