The Shocking And Pointless Ways Businesses Waste Time

We like to think of the private sector as a dynamic place, looking for efficiencies to boost profits. But that’s not always how it works in the real world. More often than not, company bosses and their employees are lazy, careless, or incompetent, and it leads to a lot of time-wasting. 

Here are some of the biggest culprits: 

Not Tracking Expenses In Real-Time

Tracking expenses is an essential part of running a business. You need to know precisely how much cash you’re burning so you can calculate your end-of-year tax bill. Most companies diligently collect receipts as they go along, but some decide to leave it to the last minute. At that point, they have a stack of receipts, none of which have been processed. It’s a massive ordeal going through every item, line by line. 

Failing To Automate HR

With the modern tools available to firms today, payroll accounting shouldn’t be complicated. A combination of software and outsourcing can make even the most complicated payroll structures easy to administer. Most companies, though, still insist on doing things by hand in-house, and it’s holding them back. 

Arranging Unproductive Meetings

When you run a private enterprise, you need to figure out how to spend your time best. If you don’t, then your rivals will outcompete you, and you’ll lose out. 

Team get-togethers can be helpful if they serve a purpose and ensure that work gets done. But unproductive meetings that go round in circles can ultimately wind up hurting your business.  

Meetings are a massive time sink. It’s not just one employee taking an hour out of their day – it’s sometimes dozens. Gatherings, therefore, must be focused and valuable. If they’re not, you could be putting your competitiveness at risk. 

You’re Holding Employees Back

Just because somebody is on a basic salary doesn’t mean that they have no potential. All great people must start from somewhere. Good managers spend a lot of time observing their people and trying to separate the wheat from the chaff. They know, statistically speaking, that they will have some geniuses working in their organization – it’s just a matter of finding them. 

Bad managers don’t adopt this approach, and instead, assume that everyone has their “station in life.” They don’t reward based on skill, but on what the HR department decides somebody is worth. It is a tragedy and a waste of human talent. 

Holding employees back is a massive time-waster. It means that you’re missing out on opportunities to do things better and faster. Where possible, try to leverage your talent and get the most out of them. You never know the resources that you have until you tap into them. 

You’re Not Automating Basic Processes

We’ve come a long way since companies had to employ legions of clerks to process receipts by hand. Today software can do the whole lot. Some bosses, though, aren’t aware of these changes and are still relying on outdated methods. Making the switch, however, is simple. Often the companies that offer the service will do all the background work to implement it for you.