
It is getting harder to run a business for a profit. We are faced with rising costs, lowered demand etc. Our businesses have to be super effective just to keep up.
But:
* How many more benefits are possible?
* Will pay increases increase effectiveness?
* Do more benefits really cause workers to produce more?
Well there is a way to increase productivity without increasing your Overhead.
We deal with doctors every day. And the number one complaint the doctors get from their patients is that their job is making them sick. And they aren't far from the truth.
No I'm not saying YOU are making them sick. Their work environment is making them sick.
Examples:
1. We had one office where the bosses turned off the air conditioner at 5PM on Friday. They turned it on Monday at 8AM. All the workers were sick until noon on Monday.
That's 10% of the work week was spent doing nothing but sitting around complaining.
We asked the bosses to leave the air handler on over the weekend. NOT the air conditioning, just the fan. This was to keep the air moving through the HVAC filter. The stuff the filter kept out of the air was causing workers sinuses to hurt. It was giving everyone a headache.
Under the old cost cutting procedure ( turning off the HVAC), it was taking till noon for the filters to catch up to the air quality level it was on Friday at 5PM. When the levels did reach that point everyone felt better and work continued.
But now the problem was eliminated! The bosses got an immediate 10% increase in work without paying a penny for it. Sure they used 50 cents more electricity. And some bosses will gladly lose $1,000's of dollars in work to save 50 cents in electricity. But some people don't care if the business makes a profit as long as they LOOK like they are cutting costs.
This isn't the only example of how the health of a building cuts worker efficiency/effectiveness.
2. We had one business where the walls were covered with mold, especially behind the pictures and calenders.
Everyone bickered and complained about headaches etc ALL week long. Management was constantly talking to someone from the Union about some complaint or another. Workers were constantly taking sick leave. Employee clumsiness was costing a fortune in copying machine and other mechanical repairs.
After cleaning up the mold, the workplace turned into heaven.
The point of this article is that the work environment has a direct effect on worker productivity. Don't hire more workers, take care of the workers you already have. Give them a clean healthy place to work. And just changing janitors won't help.
For 30 years, Dr Graham has been helping people treat and prevent disease by showing them how to live in a clean environment. http://www.tennesseemold.com DrGraham@themoldlab.com
AP - The U.N. Security Council called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, but an intense bombardment of missiles from Israeli jets and helicopters early Friday and a barrage of Hamas rockets indicated there may be no quick end to the fighting.
AP - Millions of tons of toxic coal ash is piling up in power plant ponds in 32 states, a practice the federal government has long recognized as a risk to human health and the environment but has left unregulated.
AP - The game defied expectations. Tim Tebow fulfilled them. He rescued No. 1 Florida, running through and throwing over No. 2 Oklahoma for a 24-14 victory Thursday night that gave the Gators their second BCS championship in three years.
AP - Major Asian stock markets fell Friday amid more corporate gloom and worries that a key U.S. jobs report could show recession in the world's largest economy is deepening.
AP - President-elect Barack Obama implored Congress on Thursday to "act boldly and act now" to fix an economy growing perilously weaker. Democratic and Republican lawmakers complained about his tax policies, letting Obama know they intend to place their own stamp on the economic recovery effort.
AP - Gov. Rod Blagojevich faces almost certain impeachment by the Illinois House, a historic step that would trigger a trial to determine whether the Democratic governor should be tossed out of office.
AP - Trying to survive a deepening recession, employers are cutting their work forces to the bone, leaving more Americans unemployed and with dim prospects of finding a new job any time soon.
AP - Vice President Dick Cheney said Thursday that he sees no reason for President George W. Bush to pre-emptively pardon anyone at the CIA involved in harsh interrogations of suspected terrorists. "I don't have any reason to believe that anybody in the agency did anything illegal," he said.
AP - President-elect Barack Obama's proposed tax cuts ran into opposition Thursday from senators in his own party who said they wouldn't do much to stimulate the economy or create jobs. Senators from both parties agreed that Congress should do something to stimulate the economy. But Democratic senators emerging from a private meeting of the Senate Finance Committee criticized business and individual tax cuts in Obama's stimulus plan.
Reuters - Israel pushed ahead with its offensive in the Gaza Strip on Friday, ignoring a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in the 14-day-old conflict.
Reuters - U.S. employers probably cut the most jobs in at least 34 years last month as the global economic crisis gathered pace and moves by policy makers took time to filter through to struggling companies.
Reuters - Europe sought a swift restoration of gas supplies on Friday after striking a deal with Moscow on monitoring gas shipments via Ukraine that have been halted by a pricing dispute with Kiev.
Reuters - Financial giant Citigroup Inc will support a proposal in Congress to rewrite U.S. bankruptcy law to help troubled mortgage borrowers avoid foreclosure, Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said on Thursday.
Reuters - A legislative committee on Thursday recommended the impeachment of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, citing widespread abuse of power including allegations he tried to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.
Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama's economic team is urgently overhauling the $700 billion financial rescue package to broaden its scope beyond Wall Street, The Washington Post reported on Friday.
Reuters - Al Qaeda's operations chief in Pakistan and a top aide are believed to be dead, a U.S. counterterrorism official said on Thursday, in what appeared to be the latest results of a campaign targeting the militant group's leadership.
AFP - Israel carried out new deadly air raids on the Gaza Strip on Friday as the UN Security Council called for an immediate ceasefire to end the two-week-old conflict in the Palestinian enclave.
AFP - European states deprived of Russian gas amid freezing weather were Friday hoping for a resumption of deliveries after the European Union claimed a breakthrough in the crisis between Moscow and Kiev.
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