Okay, so that may be an overly ambitious title, but with the almost daily (bad) news of the housing crisis, the spectre of inflation, or the weakening dollar, executives can hardly afford to ignore what may be the proverbial writing on the wall. As a result, many companies are "circling the wagons," and looking for ways to cut costs and reduce expenses. Budgets are trimmed and new initiatives pared down. But the most valuable asset you have remains the same: your human resource. In such times, staff reductions are often considered - and often much sooner than they're necessary, given the cost of interviewing, hiring, training and maintaining new employees. Consider this: the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) reported that the cost of replacing a single hourly worker making $8 an hour was $3,500, and their estimate was the lowest of 17 nationally respected companies who estimate such costs! And the costs rise exponentially as you move up the chain: other sources estimated that it can cost you up to 400% of a specialized worker's annual salary to replace them! Fight the urge to cut your workforce - instead, look to get more out of your biggest resource: your people.
Cutting the people you've invested in can cost you a lot. But even worse, you may be getting less out of the workers you've invested in, trained and equipped. The revolving door can bleed your business dry, and when your margins shrink, this can hurt you especially badly.
Another thing that may be costing you: the people you've got may not be producing to their full potential. And it may not be their fault. An often-overlooked component plays an even bigger role: the work environment.
Managing the Work Environment
Think about the environment your workers work in. Is it stressful - noisy and chaotic? Open office areas are often great for the team-building banter that encourages collaboration and keeps morale high. But it also can be distracting and stressful. In a recent American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) study, more than 80% of respondents reported that their acoustic environment hindered their productivity. This results in much less productive workers than you'd like, I'm sure. For instance, a Cornell University study showed that workers with noisy work environments:
Experienced significantly higher levels of stress.
Made 40 percent fewer attempts to solve difficult problems.
Made only half as many ergonomic adjustments to their workstations as did their colleagues in quiet offices, resulting in an increase in repetitive strain injuries (such as Carpal Tunnel Syndrome) and workers' comp claims.
This would obviously qualify as a revenue hole you'd want to plug, I'm sure! Especially when treating it can be quite simple and inexpensive. Sound absorbent ceiling tiles, panels or even higher cubicle walls are common treatments. However, the most "bang for your buck" comes from sound masking - and the more uniform, the better. Numerous studies back up sound masking's advantages. For example:
1. Focus: the ability of office workers to focus on their tasks improved by 48%;
2. Distractions: "conversational distractions" decreased by 51%;
3. Error-rates: performance of standard "information-worker" tasks (measured in terms of accuracy [error-rates] and short-term memory) improved by 10%;
4. Stress: when measured in terms of the actual physical symptoms of stress, stress was reduced by 27%.
