Labor Losses

There are so many ways a business loses money. One is obvious, theft, damage, loss, etc. Those things are very understandable losses. Those you can see. However what about the loss of labor dollars. Those are harder to see unless people are just blatantly working over time without checking or some other blatant abuse. However, what about labor dollars that are really truly almost invisible, or simply hard to track.

Ask yourself this: Are the people who work for and with me happy to be here?

If the answer is mostly, or yes! Then great, you should read a different blog in my archive. If the answer is mostly, Yeah, except for ____(insert name/department here)___, or no...then maybe you should read on.

As was once sung, people are in fact, people. Disappointing as that may seem, you can not just replace everyone with robots...well for now anyway. Even if you did make everyone into a robot, you will be bored, and who will you talk to about the latest sports scores or the best coffee in town is...

People who feel taken for granted, work slower. They also do less quality checks. They tend to work just enough to get the 8 hours to pass.

People

People need rewards, they need understanding, and in 2016 they need flexibility, they need appreciation, and a paycheck. The issue is, with the competitive market the way it is, a lot of people will flee if a better offer is waved. Most people will leave not for money, but for the hope of being respected or trusted. Sure there are those who you just can't trust and you have to dig deep to truly respect. We all have our seasons. Not everyone is in the same place at the same time. So people, unlike robots, are a complex thing.

Paychecks

So what I am getting at is that people do not come to work JUST for a paycheck. People come to work for a sense of belonging, for a sense of pride, to pay their car payments yes, but also to be successful. People who come to work and do not feel successful, won't stay forever. There are certain generations of people who will stay, no matter what, but they are retired or retiring. The rest of us, we want to feel successful.

What to do:

Find out what the general feeling is in your departments. Maybe you can't change the entire culture of the company, but can you change yours? I always say, bring coffee and doughnuts. People spill it when they are hyped up on glazed sprinkles and dough. Good coffee is just a bonus point that people will remember and ask for. (do it and see) Start with that, then maybe simple little things here and there. Performance rewards or contests.

Reward cycle counting, damage reduction, theft prevention, safety patrols, loss reduction, savings in purchasing during certain time frames, inventory reduction of dead or dying stock....there are simple fun and easy ways to show you are watching. Show your people that they are appreciated. People who are appreciated will reward you with harder work, longevity of career, and loyalty.

I personally am quite lucky I have all of the above and then on top of that I am appreciated with sprinkles of emails and notes telling me what or how you used this information. I hope you are successful today and know that someone out here wants you to be awesome!

Send me a note! danah@distributionteam.com