Keeping Your Business Enterprise In Good Housekeeping Order

Your business enterprise is always important to respect. Part of this respect emanates from the ability to develop a more consistent approach to your housekeeping. You may be in the business of running your own firm (at least in part,) to the freedom that comes from being your own boss. In pursuit of this freedom, you can become a little loose and neglect keeping all systems of your business watertight. This can definitely trouble the smooth flow of your business growth, and can serve as a headache for those who have to pick up the pieces.

Keeping your enterprise in good housekeeping order is very important to do. We’re here to show you why, how, when and where to do it:

Responsibility

Housekeeping is important for all departments to take care of. By that logic, it’s important for every employee to be responsible for correctly indexing their paperwork, dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s as it were. There are multiple different ways to make sure a firm is operating at its record-keeping best, but on the level of the employee is the most reliable place to keep faith in your firm.

To keep this responsibility appreciated from all levels of employee, then you must conduct proper system meetings and policies which allow for the safe storage and communication of information. This could be educating every employee in the indexing system and software that you use.

Keeping everyone responsible for this will allow for a great accuracy in the recalling of information from an employee to employee basis. This will allow them to keep a strong sense of the working history in the mind of your workers. However, for this to work you must also:

Streamline

If you can systemize and make sure that the information entry duties of a staff do little to contend with their overall role at the firm, then they will stay motivated and you will stay well provided for. The only way to achieve this is to streamline your efforts from the get go. For example, electronic tagging and cataloging of information can likely take place when you’re auto-generating sales reports from a regular client. Using serial numbers and open accounts to deal with certain clients can help you localize all of the support and purchase history to one location. Having programmers design a business-wide intrasearch network to allow employees with access to pull any files they desire can work wonders, and can save you time sending the relative materials for review.

Tracked Communication

We’re not sure exactly how you choose to communicate with those who work for you. You might choose useful VoIP telephone systems, or simply use IM services such as Hangouts or Facebook messenger. The online world has allowed for many different services to communicate with one another.

As a business leader, it’s important to choose one of these services and roll with it. There you can purchase a premium option if possible to make use of extra features. For the most part though, you will have access to your chat logs, and the viewable chat logs of other employees. This can allow you to prove an employee wrong if they litigate against you for a reason you dispute, or it can simply allow for you to ensure your instructions were understood to the best of the ability you did.

It’s always best to cover your tracks by knowing exactly what you have stated to someone at any one time. For example, suggesting someone works harder and begins pulling their weight, or you will be forced to take disciplinary action might warrant a spiteful employee to claim you wrongfully sacked them. With proof behind you, you will always be able to prove your cordial and inviting manner to the legal bodies that count. Of course, this is not always used (and maybe even never,) but it’s always nice to have, and is one less contingency you need to worry about.

Physical Organization

Yes, this is the most important thing you can have for an office pleasant and motivating to work in. You simply need to ensure that your overall office is hygienic, regularly cleaned and secure. You must also try and incentivize employees to keep their desks tidy. Not only does this allow for a more natural and open working environment, but it prevents employees from being suffocated in a pile of paperwork they might need saving from.

Upgrade the storage solutions of your space also. If employees feel they ‘must’ encounter a messy desk due to a lack of options, it might be time to upgrade your computer desk offerings to those with more draws, or simply invest in more binders and desk storage units for all staff members. A tidy room is a tidy mind, and this is ten thousand times more true in an office. One messy desk in an office might not bother a person on the surface, but the time it might take for them to locate a file, a note or a piece of contact information can be incredible to see. This reduces productivity. A messy desk might also make the employee next to that person feel uncomfortable in their surroundings.

Incentivize cleanliness and hygiene in the office to a near obsessive degree. You should feel as though you’re a head chef, teach your line cooks to always keep a perfectly spotless station. We can almost guarantee that this requirement of discipline will cause your staff to feel developed, respected, well trained and generally more capable.

Social Ethics

It’s important to understand that the people in your firm are living, breathing people. If given the chance, they will likely blossom in their role. They can surprise you in ways you might not be fully aware of, but only if you genuinely care about them and helping them grow. Employees can identify when someone promises false things, or gives false compliments. Keeping your workforce in good housekeeping order means treating them as the most important internal part of your business. This is true, particularly if you have your hands full in the leading duties already.

The three things an employee truly wants to keep are a solid, stable and reliably paid income, a respectable office environment and a workload that challenges but does not overwhelm them. There are many other small little tactics that help, such as employee of the month, holiday bonuses or target bonuses. Depending on if you’re able to identify truly what a select individual wants from their career, you’ll be able to keep them happy and able in their role on a day-to-day basis.

This is also why it’s so important to develop a no-tolerance anti-bullying strategy. The social dynamics of an office MUST be peaceful and respectable at all times. While dating can occur within your ranks, you shouldn’t make a big deal of it as they wouldn’t.

Part of social ethics is also allowing people to thrive. Challenge them, invite them to your personal projects, and praise them to the point where it’s considered sincere and not your default greeting. If you take care of that, you’ll soon find that people warm to you as the boss with a much better attitude. Great social moods in the office are the fuel of great housekeeping, and the willingness to learn about that term in all angles of competency.

With these tips, your business enterprise is sure to be in great administrative order.