Company owners looking to increase their bottom line often look to an increase in their
productivity, usually at the expense of what is seen as additional workforce or the reduction of ongoing costs. While it’s true that this can see results, they are often limited and almost definitely short lived. For an increase in ongoing profit margins a smart company owner knows to look deeper – employee happiness.
Increase Through Ideas
Just like mentioned above, there are tried and true methods for increasing bottom line, however, they are often short lived and used largely to appease shareholders closer to the times of either quarterly reporting or payable dividends.
However, what about companies looking to increase their profits longer term?
With the intricacies of each individual company the best people to find ways to increase profits in other aspects are the very ones who know the most about the inner workings of not only the company as a whole but how each division performs and interacts throughout a business. For this level of knowledge, your employees truly become your biggest asset.
How Do You Facilitate These Ideas?
Herein lies the big question – how do you encourage employees to share their ideas?
For smaller companies, the best incentives are likely to be immediate or tangible ones. A couple of extra days off for vacation, or even simpler by providing employees with Groupon coupons for local stores where they can see immediate benefits. For larger companies, however, longer term employee happiness needs a little more.
Regular and constant growth is often seen through alignment – aligning the future prospects for each employee with the continued growth of their division, and as a whole, the company. Localising the alignment with their respective divisions keeps the task not only within their expertise but can work to help employees who can often feel company-wide problems are outside their control.
For leaders, the task remains the same, with programs often designed to provide a very clear and visual path to their continued growth throughout the company and its acquisitions. For leaders, the key is clarity and longevity. An immediate and clear link to the company’s growth and their continued professional growth and development within it.
Whichever company and workforce you’re looking at, increasing its profit margin through employee ideas is a viable option. What matters the most is that your efforts are geared towards longer term success, and not just an immediate boost for appeasement.
