No workplace is perfect; there’s always improvements that can be made to improve working conditions, efficiency, and just the general look and feel. This is why we should always be looking at different ways we can improve in order to keep the organisation ticking over smoothly. Just like any workplace, the office environment can give rise to many issues that can affect the quality of an organisation’s output. Below are common problems you would encounter in an office, and ways you can cure them.
1) Identifying pain points
The first step to curing your problems, would be to identify them, but just like with the human body, remember, prevention is better than cure. Begin by creating a workflow audit for every department in the company; this way you will be able to spot inefficiencies and bottlenecks with the workflow. For example, you could audit the sales department for their contract writing processes, or their customer onboarding. Are they taking longer drawing up contracts and having clients sign than you would like? Auditing the IT department could look into their process of maintaining current systems and making sure security is up to date. Could downtime due to IT-related matters be affecting other departments? It is imperative you have a holistic view of the business, in order to tackle these issues effectively.
2) Improve communication between departments
Resources are limited so it is obviously beneficial to use what is available to your organisation as a whole, effectively. Take for example a company headquarters that would house the sales; marketing, IT, and HR departments – they would be using the same facilities such as meeting rooms and using the same computer systems. However, inefficient communication between departments often results in, for example, double-booked meeting rooms and missing files that because of a lack of centralized systems. These pain points could be easily cured if they were to use a room booking system for the former, and cloud storage for the latter.
3) Have a visible management
Aside from breaking down barriers between departments, communication and the relationship between employees and managers are exceptionally important, and can often determine how committed the employee is to the company. If the managers are only present when things are not going well, and aren’t around to give guidance and lead, this can have a very detrimental effect on the organisation as a whole. Think of it as a weak foundation. This is a very common office pain point, especially more so when it comes to upper management who the employees may seldom see. It is this disconnect between employees and management that can really have a detrimental effect on the workplace. Begin to fix this by having a more open office layout and clear communication channels between all levels; that way, employees will feel they have a chance of their voice being heard.
