by Richard Milam, the Founder and CEO of EnableSoft Incorporated
The summer brings humidity, heat, vacations and the well-known fact that employee productivity decreases this time of year. Workers become distracted and sluggish when wanting to be out-of-the-office. A Captive Network study of 600 white collar North American workers says that workplace productivity drops 20 percent during the summer months, worker attendance decreases by 19 percent, projects take 13 percent more time to complete, and workers are 45 percent more distracted (Sprung, 2012). This plunge in productivity has critical impacts on a business’s efficiency and revenues.
Here are three tips to keep your business at top performance despite summer setbacks:
1. Offer a summer promotion or discount.
While this is not a novel idea, it does achieve the goal of increasing customer turnover and earnings in the economic slump. Summer is a great time to offer a “summer promo deal” or new “promotion” to entice new and existing customers to purchase your product or service. Existing customers that are satisfied with your product or services will be enticed to buy-into the new promotions and discounts. Offering summer promotions is almost a must because if your organization does not offer a special summer savings, customers will purchase from your competitors that do.
2. Have an employee appreciation day.
This involves entertainment or a fun activity allowing employees to socially engage and interact with one another, but during business hours. One of the reasons employees lose focus during the summer is due to the increase in their personal priorities and commitments. Many workers may have children that are out of school and have to rearrange their schedule to accommodate summer activities. Showing that you understand your employees have personal lives outside of the office, and enabling the organization to come together creates a collaborative team environment that reiterates the unified goal of the company to be successful. When workers are allowed to socialize in a group setting, it builds employee comradery. Bottom line: employees will feel appreciated and strive to perform better when knowing they are on a team.
3. Revisit technology inefficiencies in the office.
The new wave of Robotic Process Automation is taking over many operational, clerical, and business processes for organizations enabling them to function efficiently and profitably, with few resources. Only five years ago, 80 clerks and salespeople, at one company, spent a combined 3,200 hours a week completing data-related processes (Monga, 2015). Data automation software, such as Foxtrot, bridges the gap between employee production and business performance when employees take vacations. What’s more, even when employees are at work, data automation software frees up employees’ time to provide enhanced, customer focus and increase revenues. Robotic Process Automation softwares are the future employees.
Following these three simple tips can ensure that any organization can still function at their best, and increase profits, during the summer lull.
Richard Milam is the Founder and CEO of EnableSoft Incorporated (www.enablesoft.com). EnableSoft, is engaged in offering game changing software products and services to the business and financial services industry, healthcare and a dozen other markets. EnableSoft serves over 500 corporate clients worldwide. Prior to founding EnableSoft in 1995, Richard was a partner and served as Senior Vice President of FiTech PLUSmark, Inc.
