Yearning to increase your bottom line? Looking for ways to drive sales or cut product costs is the first thought of many business owners. However, your employees and the processes surrounding them can be a significant opportunity to decrease your expenses.
From seeking employees benefits to keeping them healthy, thinking outside the box can decrease your expenses. You’ll save money by embracing technology and automating many of your processes. In the long run, you’ll create a well-oiled machine that makes your business more efficient.
There are several strategies you can implement that can drastically affect your budget. Consider the time and money that each of them can save. Then, strategically apply them in a way that makes sense for your business.
#1 Cost-Effective Recruiting
It’s tempting to go all-in on your recruiting efforts to find the highest quality candidates. However, these costs can quickly add up. Look for the most cost-efficient ways of recruiting while still finding well-qualified potential hires.
Online recruiting tools can be a budget-friendly method to reach a wide pool of candidates. Many are also user-friendly and intuitive, saving time searching for specific skills and qualifications. These tools allow you to communicate with candidates, screen your applicants, and set up and conduct interviews.
Don’t hesitate to use social media for free or low-cost networking and recruiting options. Sites like LinkedIn are a useful place to search for candidates with the skill sets, geographical location, and education you need. It also allows you to post a listing to their job board for a nominal fee.
Your own internal people are an awesome way to find quality candidates. Look to your more successful and dedicated employees to refer candidates from previous workplaces. Your team knows what it takes to be a valuable part of your company and they are likely to know other workers with the same qualities. Make sure you reward employees for referring and recruiting these quality candidates and saving you money on recruiting efforts.
#2 Streamline Onboarding
Once you have developed a plan for finding solid hires, the onboarding process is another cost you need to address. This process is full of regulations and scheduling hurdles. Making it as seamless as possible will save your business both time and money.
Focus on developing an online onboarding process. This can be created in-house but external onboarding applications are more cost-effective and reliable for smaller businesses. These programs can manage every step of the process from tax forms to verifying employment eligibility. This allows new hires to move smoothly to the steps of onboarding and ensures no critical components are overlooked.
Consider eliminating costly non-critical parts to your onboarding process. Drug screenings have become less relevant due to legal changes so phasing out this costly step might make sense for your business. You can also save costs and labor by reducing the number of previous employment verifications you perform, especially for entry-level positions.
#3 Automate Training
Training is an essential part of introducing new employees to your company standards. It’s also vital in the ongoing education of your current employees. Automating your training can make it much more convenient and cost-effective.
Online training allows employees to work at their own pace. It also gives them the freedom to complete training at their convenience. Giving employees access to training materials at any time or place gives them the ability to review the information whenever they need it.
Automating employee training also eliminates the need for a set training place and time. Costly third party training consultants are no longer necessary. Plus, by putting in-house training materials online, human resources employees are freed up to perform other tasks.
#4 Have a Solid Retention Plan
One of the most important HR budgeting strategies is employee retention. Having a plan in place to keep quality employees on board saves recruiting and onboarding costs. Keeping turnover low also boosts the reputation needed to attract quality candidates.
It’s essential that leaders in your company keep the lines of communication with their employees open. The proactive resolution of issues results in satisfied workers that are likely to stick around. Promoting from within fosters a culture of career growth, leading to more motivated and driven team members.
HR teams are now exploring unique career advancement strategies and one that stands out is employee relocation, which according to ARC Relocation, is a progressive way for career growth and development. Since the competition to retain top talent is high, they build a competitive relocation package that includes document processing, housing options and other services.
A toxic culture can cause employees to leave at a noticeable rate. The news of an unsatisfactory workplace can spread alarmingly fast around the job-seeking community. Keep your solid reputation as an employer intact and you’ll save on the recruiting efforts you would need to overcome a negative one.
#5 Find Reliable Vendors
Running a business has so many moving parts. It’s impossible to be an expert in every area and all of its aspects. Finding quality, cost-effective vendors is the best way to utilize your operating budget.
Intricate areas like benefits administration, employee retirement plans, and payroll require an immense amount of organization, labor, and expertise. Staffing a single employee to run each of these individual tasks can be costly, especially for a small business. Finding a great vendor to provide these services has the potential to save you tons of labor costs.
Carefully compare vendors for not only price points, but for features also. Each business has different needs so work to find vendors in each area that address your requirements. Review your plan details and contracts to ensure your paying for the specific amount of services you need.
#6 Promote Wellness
Employee health benefits can be extremely costly. The trending focus on wellness is about more than promoting active employees. Healthy workers significantly drive down health insurance costs.
Encourage wellness in fun ways in and out of the workplace. Allow for walking meetings and plan healthy potlucks and lunch outings. Implement wellness-based competitions and incentive programs.
Employees that eat well and exercise usually have fewer medical costs. This can drastically drive down your portion of their health insurance costs. They will also likely take less sick days or suffer from a condition resulting in an extended leave.
Healthy employees also tend to be more productive. Their lifestyle choices provide them with increased focus and energy. This influx in productivity and efficiency will pay off for you as an employer.
Conclusion
Developing a comprehensive plan to address all stages of your employee life cycle can reduce costs. Using technology and third-party vendors can eliminate the costs and headaches of managing specialized processes. Focusing on your employees’ happiness and well-being will boost morale and decrease turnover.
It’s no secret that budgeting is complex and overwhelming. It’s essential to have and follow a well thought out plan for your finances. It’s also important to consider alternative, employee-focused ways to save money and create a healthy culture. This strategy will pay off in both financial growth and employee satisfaction.
