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Working Moms
Company Cost Savings Ideas
I know many of you have complained about the company cost saving measures implemented over the last few years...
What are some of the better strategies employed by your employer and which are the worst?
TIA
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Re: Company Cost Savings Ideas
They asked us each to take 10 unpaid days a year and we got to pick them, some of us voluntarily dropped to 4 day weeks. That went over 100x better than when they cut stupid little things like not buying creamer for the coffee or asking us to take out our own trash 1x a week. Even though those little things didn't cost us anything personally in our salary, I think it caused resentment that the company can't give it's employees a few simple luxuries. Everyone seemed to understand the unpaid days as a way of not laying people off and were willing to do it. It was also nice because they could choose those days so they could spend time with family etc. which made people feel better.I mean it wasn't super popular, but I didn't see the overall whining and resentment that I saw when things around the office started changing and the company probably saved more on salaries than they ever did cutting creamer.
The funny thing is that given the choice people would probably not have picked the 10 days off because they would think they would rather have the money, however the overall company morale was actually better with that strategy than cutting all the tiny luxuries that people had come to be used to at work.
The one that worked here was employing people with accounting skills. When we were bought out, the new company brought in people who actually understood accounts payable and accounts receivable. Not to knock the people that were laid off because it was the higher ups who were making the bad decisions. And in the end, most of the higher ups were laid off as well.
Ones that didn't work - cutting the little things that actually helped business like traveling onsite for training. But not cutting things like lunches at meetings or parties for the big wigs.
Totally this... It irks me to see how much the directors spend and the kind of stuff they take away from us!
This.
It really does make a difference in how you communicate this kind of things. I think it saved a lot, plus you also feel were helping to keep jobs. I mean, it was a way "to help the company"...
also, if you ask employees about it, you can also get a lot of ideas without hurting morale and creating resentment.
We do this as well.
Also? Office sharing. Some people are only in the office one day a week yet they had their own office that went unoccupied for the other 4. You just have to make sure everyone is on board if you implement something like that because you don't want people feeling like they're being "kicked out" of their office.
I like the idea of people voluntarily going down to 4 days a week. That is definitely something I would do if I could (I actually asked to cut down my hours - and paycheck - when I came back from mat leave but my request was denied)
We also have several cost-cutting measures that are complete BS in my opinion:
Switching to the cheapest office supplies possible. For instance, I go through 3 times as many pens now because they dry out/don't work/whatever. So yeah, the old ones might have been a little more expensive per unit, but on the whole, I don't think we're saving any money there.
Cancelling the Christmas/End of year party. Our company has several branches, and the Christmas party was the one time in a year where all the branches came together. I would not have minded paying for part of it out of my own pocket (which BTW I think is a great idea - even if it's just a small amount. I think it also helps better plan if you make it a non refundable deposit: that way people think twice before saying whether they will attend or not). What especially bothers me here is that they are still hosting events at head office. They have an Oyster Party in the fall, and they just had a huge BBQ lunch dinner for all the HQ employees as well as clients.
Oh and just a general common sense comment: we are constantly reminded that the economy isn't all that great, that we need to make cost-conscious decisions, etc. etc. But then head office sends out press releases bragging how well our stock is doing... Talk about sending a mixed message to your employees
We also limited printing, encourage customers to move to paperless communications from us (also saves on postage), each LOB has to pay for coffee for their suite, if they want it - many opted not to pay. Also no more styrofoam cups, people have to bring their own mugs (this is represented as a green effort).
Another positive is they've highly encouraged working full time from home which saves on real estate costs and has been a huge increase in satisfaction.
Some negatives: Of course all the parties are gone and travel is very limited. And outsourcing/offshoring is a sensitive subject to many.