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Photo by Andrea Piacquadio
Just as you might be trying to do at home, you might need to save money as a business as the winter approaches. Already, European energy agencies are talking of blackouts and higher costs. So you need to make up for what you might need to pay to keep the lights on.
Outsource Expert Tasks
You should try to outsource as much as you can to save money. Of course, some things will have to stay in the office. But you can use outside companies like Southern IT Networks for IT outsourcing services. You can also outsource payroll assistants, and call answering services. This means you don’t have to pay the extra costs of an employee who could be expensive. You simply pay when you need to, as agreed upon by a service, and get 24/7 expert advice.
Save Money as a Business with the Cloud
Computers are essential to modern businesses. But you don’t have to buy pricey hard drives to store your information. Instead, you can keep all of your business documents safe and sound by storing them in the cloud. This will not only keep you safe in case of a fire or physical theft. But if you have a cyber attack, it will work out cheaper. If your client and company data is stored somewhere else, you can get back to work quickly and with little business disruption.
Switch Energy Suppliers
The big one this winter is the energy supply. Businesses have to deal with steep increases in their energy bills, just like people do. Energy costs are too high for many small businesses, and business energy rates aren’t capped in places like the UK. The best way to find better deals is to use comparison sites like Compare the Market. This might be more necessary than ever if you rely on energy as a part of your business, such as for power tools or ovens in a restaurant.
Take Your Time When Hiring
When a small business needs to cut costs, it has to give up some things. You can’t just hire people with the most experience. Instead, you can hire young people who are smart but haven’t worked before. This will make them much cheaper and more loyal, but you need to sort them:
- Don’t just hire the first person that comes along to fill a much-needed role.
- Check their skills and experiences, and ask them to demonstrate what they can do.
- Offer training for qualifications, if they seem promising, to avoid mistakes later on.
- Don’t discriminate, but you can often get much more out of an eager younger person.
- Hire business services to make the hiring process more efficient and quicker.
It takes a lot of work to find a new employee. To replace a skilled worker can cost as much as a year’s salary. But if you try to hire someone quickly, you will end up paying a lot more. You’ll have to do it all over again if you hire the wrong person.
Get a Better Deal Buying in Bulk
If you want to save money as a business, it’s important to buy in bulk. You can buy almost anything in bulk, from office pens to items you sell. Most of the time, the price per unit goes down as you buy more. You can often get a better deal if you are a regular customer who a supplier can count on. Plus, you can help your business meet its sustainability goals because if you ship more items at once, you use less packaging and polluting transportation.
Shorter Meetings will Save Money as a Business
Most businesses can’t run without meetings. But meetings can detract from important work time. Because of this, you should try to keep meetings short and on point. Before starting the meeting, ensure you know what it’s for, and assign speakers beforehand. When sessions are shorter but still get the job done, employees will have more time to work on the tasks you pay them for. One of the worst things you can do in business is waste time in meetings.
Reduce Work Hours
When some people are having trouble keeping their homes warm, cutting back on work hours might not be a popular idea. But recent studies have shown that a reduced work week makes staff more productive when they are in the office. They feel better about work and more refreshed after the extra day off. You can talk about it with your team and find out what they think. Most workers are willing to take less pay if it will make them happier at work and at home.
Summary
We are living in very uncertain times, especially for small to medium size companies. Therefore, you must make some changes to save money as a business. This might involve outsourcing specialist services, being more rigorous in your approach to hiring, and cutting employee hours.
