If I were to ask you the best way to grow a company, what would your answer be? Boost sales, maybe? Develop a strong marketing strategy? Great answers, for sure — they make plenty of sense. How about this one: Increase process efficiency. Would you ever say that? It’s a decidedly less sexy answer, one that probably sounds off the mark.
After all, how much of a difference can internal processes really make when it comes to growing a business?
A pretty big difference, as it turns out. Here are five eye-opening statistics — some scary, some encouraging — that will help show you the power of greater efficiency.
1. Companies lose up to 30% in revenue each year due to inefficiencies.
Let’s start here. If you thought process efficiency could only make a marginal difference on the bottom line — well, we wouldn’t blame you. But you’d still be wrong. Turns out that inefficiencies can cost a company big time. And it comes down to the customer: Every minute wasted on a bad process or system is a minute that can’t be spent bringing value to the customer.
2. 65% of senior managers say meetings keep them from completing their own work.
We’ve all felt the press of too many meetings — 30 minutes here, an hour there. It adds up. And on a day of especially unlucky scheduling, you’re left with a bunch of 15-minute slots to get your work done. Say goodbye to momentum.
Apparently, a majority of senior managers feel the same pressure. And that’s not good for growth. When leadership doesn’t have time to complete key tasks for the company, growth stalls.
[Looking to learn more about the power of efficiency? Register for our webinar to hear top process tips that fuel high growth.]
3. The average company loses over 25% of its productive power to organizational drag.
According to Fast Company, organizational drag is the “processes that waste time and prevent people from getting things done.” Stuff like manual data entry, overcomplicated communication protocols and forms and reports to fill out. Like meetings, these repetitive tasks add up, and collectively sap the company of valuable resources.
Look at it this way: If every every employee in a 100-person company is forced to perform the same 10-minute task every day, that’s more than 80 hours in a week spent on that task. If you can adjust the task to trim the required completion time to 5 minutes, however, you’ll save about 40 hours — that’s the equivalent of another whole employee.
4. 77% of remote workers get more done in fewer hours.
Lots of leaders seem afraid of the idea of their employees working remotely, unfortunately. This attitude shows an extreme lack of trust and encourages the false idea that people only work because they’re watched, or fear being reprimanded.
The stats paint a different story. People working from home actually get more done than their in-office counterparts. Why? Lots of reasons. Being at home often causes less stress, which leads to greater productivity. And depending on what their office environment is like, working from home might allow them to create a space that better suits their workstyle.
5. A structured onboarding program can help 58% more employees stay for three years.
This is a very specific process, but effectiveness and efficiency still matter greatly. To grow a great business, you need great talent. More than that, you need to nurture great talent. And that nurturing should begin on an employee's first day.
Does your onboarding process set up new hires for success? If you’re not sure, take a look at your employee retention numbers. If you’re consistently losing people before the three-year mark, it may be time to make a change.
Of course, these statistics only tell the beginning of the story. If you want to discover more ways efficient processes can help fuel growth, make sure you save your spot for our upcoming webinar:
