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100 Simple Ways to Cut Your Office Overhead

Most business owners believe that though they are cost-conscious; most of the people, who work for and with them, are not. And yet when the inevitable moment comes when a drastic step needs to be taken, suddenly everyone realizes how the business has been wasting money in innumerable ways.

The trick is to get your people saving costs and reducing overheads without it becoming an issue and before are forced to take extreme action. Here are 100 ideas which, when implemented, will surprise you in just how much you can save.

Your Staff

1. Set staffing levels to cope with normal work levels. It is important to hire just the required number of employees. During peaks, hire temporary staff rather than increasing costly over-time.

2. Change working hours. Most of us have made the 9-to-5 routine a habit and consider it best. However, you could try staggering the hours and have an office presence early in the morning and deep into the night. Many companies can exist on cheaper part-time staff, be open longer and increase productivity by avoiding the 9-to-5 routine.

3. Offer unpaid leave. It is important to maintain a healthy work-life balance. If you do not want to lose valuable staff, work out a compromise which allows both of you to benefit.

4. Avoid the hire-and-fire routine. Contrary to popular belief, it is very difficult to get talented, and productive employees. Go that extra mile to retain a competent and enthusiastic employee – one such employee is worth much more than a 100 temps.

5. Do you know the rules concerning employees? Keep yourself updated on legalities to avoid penalties from the IRS.

6. Train your employees. Does your staff have the requisite training to work in the new-age workplace? Even ‘experienced’ staff members can sometimes become jaded after years. It is important to train them and keep them updated – this helps increase their efficiency multifold. The benefits far outweigh the costs of training.

7. Equip your employees. Ensure that your employees have everything they need to do their jobs well. If your staff doesn’t have the right kind of equipment for the job, their efficiency takes a big hit.

8. Empower your employees. Ask your staff to come up with suggestions and ideas to reduce wastage. You will be surprised at the unique and workable ideas that come from such brainstorming sessions.

9. Praise your staff. If your staff is going that extra mile for the company, let them know that you appreciate their efforts. Bonuses apart, employees value appreciation and recognition and will perform even better.

10. Use a time attendance system. This system, which is very similar to a punch-out clock, will help you zero in on employees who are not using office hours productively.

11. Conduct regular anonymous employee surveys. This helps you gauge their requirements and job satisfaction levels, and they can give you an honest appraisal of what they feel about their jobs, their seniors and the company. The more satisfied an employee, the better s/he performs.

12. Encourage your employees to save a portion of their pre-tax salary for medical costs. They can use their flexible spending accounts for this purpose. This system benefits the staff as well as the company – it reduces their total medical expenditures, and in turn saves your company’s insurance money.

13. If any staff member quits, do not be in a hurry to find a replacement. It is sometimes difficult to work out exactly how important a member of staff was until they go. Rather than instantly replacing them, try without. You may find that you can do very well even without them!

14. When you plan to hire somebody, don’t try to reach for the first agency in the book, think of other options first. You can hire staff quite cheaply by trying out job centers, unemployment bureaus, and free newspapers. You could also talk to the staff you already have – you may often attract just the right person and for little cost.

15. Keep office noise levels low – this helps increase productivity. You could move any noisy office equipment away from the walls and add carpeting, office dividers, or curtains to muffle the noise

16. Bring nature indoors. An abundance of windows and fresh plants turns a drab work area into a healthy productive environment. This even helps your employees perform better.

17. The simplest thing to increase productivity is to ensure that your office is ergonomically safe. This means, you should ensure that computer monitors are at least 24-36 inches from the users eyes and the top of the monitor should be below or at eye-level.

Lower Energy Costs

18. Make maximum use of daylight. Optimize the use of natural light by opening up the internal layout to allow daylight into all offices. If feasible, turn off lights near windows

19. Collect your utility bills. Separate electricity and fuel bills. Target the largest energy consumer or the largest bill for energy conservation measures.

20. Install meters to track energy use.

21. Replace incandescent lights with compact fluorescent lights (CFLs). This will save about 50 percent on your lighting costs.

22. Ensure that all the lights are turned off before you leave for the night.

23. You could use dimmers, motion sensors, or occupancy sensors to automatically turn off lighting when not in use to reduce energy use and costs.

24. Try using task lighting. This way, instead of brightly lighting an entire room, you can focus the light to directly illuminate work areas.

25. Ensure that your employees don’t leave phone or laptop chargers plugged in when they aren’t charging – this uses a substantial amount of electricity. Also, unplug all equipment that drains energy when not in use like fans, coffeemakers, desktop printers, radios, etc.

26. Turn off your computer and monitors at the end of the work day, if possible. Train your staff to turn off their monitors every time they leave their desks for extended periods like lunch or coffee breaks. This practice is estimated to save nearly $50 per year, per computer.

27. Change over to energy saving models of equipment. For instance, you could purchase a new copier with low standby feature or printers and fax machines with power management features.

28. If you have a vending machine in your office, coordinate with vendor to turn off advertising lights.

29. Have a qualified professional perform an energy audit. You could even request for an off-peak usage discount from your utility company.

30. Clean or change furnace filters once a month during the heating season. Buildup of dirt can lower effectiveness and increase energy consumption

31. Check furnace ducts for disconnects or leaks – a major reason for decreased efficiency and higher costs.

32. Install a smart thermostat in your office. While they don’t come cheap, once installed, a smart thermostat will save you 10 to 30 percent on annual heating and cooling costs. It does this by coordinating its operations with your office hours.

33. Keep your thermostat at a temperate level during work hours. While your staff may not notice a 1º drop or rise in temperatures, this little change will lower your energy costs considerably.

34. Allow the office dress code to reflect the season. In summer, relax the suit code and in winter encourage the use of appropriate warm clothing.

Telecom

35. Encourage a ‘no personal calls’ in office rule. Unnecessary calls are known to distract employees and reduce their productivity.

36. Use the telephone bill to identify telephone abusers; some of your staff may cost you double their wage in calls.

37. If your employees have to often call clients on their mobile numbers from a landline, you could try cheaper alternatives. For instance, a contract with a mobile phone company may make calls cheaper from another mobile.

38. Wherever possible, give preference to email over telephonic conversation for routine communication. It’s fast, practical and free.

39. Switch to VoIP – it offers flat rates for long distance, cuts back charges on local calls and has many other features that a regular phone service doesn’t offer. Focus on deals with integrated encryption and voice transport over IT networks without loss of quality. This will help you ensure confidentiality of your communications and the great sound quality.

40. If the nature of your business doesn’t allow you to use VoIP, you could buy a switchboard to manage your calls.

41. Keep a tight rein on Internet security: anti-virus software and anti-spam. This is essential if you want to ensure the security of your IT equipment. A breach can cost you dear.

42. Switch to Wi-Fi instead of cabled Internet. The system allows you to reduce costs on wiring the entire office.

43. Change your documentation to put the onus on people to call you. For instance, you could ask suppliers to ring and check if you need something, say, once a day or week.

Keep Real Estate Costs Down

44. Review your lease. If your rent review is a one-way option, insist on a two-way review. Ask your proprietor to complete all repairs and ensure that they meet all the terms as per the agreement. If for some reason, the property owner does not want to or cannot meet all the terms, find out how much they are willing to reduce your rent.

45. When lease is up for renewal, don’t get taken in by the ‘fair market price’ spiel. This price is not beneficial to you as it could change very often. Instead, bargain for a fixed rate.

46. Another thing you must do when your lease comes up for renewal is to review it with your attorney. Ensure that the work letter, which details the things your proprietors is willing to repair and replace, is in order.

47. If you have a part of your office that is being wasted, try getting yourself sub-letting rights. Filling the area with a rent paying tenant is an easy way to lower your expenses.

48. Appeal against your business rates. Did you know that all your taxes are open to debate? Problem is very few debate them because many don’t care to find out. For instance, burglaries up in your area, garbage not collected, or street-lights not working are all real problems which cause a loss in business.

49. Move out. If customers do not visit your office, you don’t need to maintain a swanky office on expensive premises. You should try to find the cheapest accommodation you can.

50. Encourage your employees to telecommute/ work from home. If your business model allows, work-from-home is the easiest way to save a lot in office expenses. It also helps you retain your good employees and enhance job satisfaction.

Techno-friendly Office

51. Use technology to your benefit. Instead of spending a fortune on a web-site think about the ways you can harness the power of the web. You can correspond for nothing, receive orders, place orders, supply documentation and a whole lot more and all this for nothing.

52. If you have strict limitations on the amount you can spend for office products, get an all-in-one. Such a machine has features of a scanner, printer, fax machine, and copier built into one compact device, saving you space and money.

53. Do you require all those software licenses? The average company pays nearly 50% too much for licenses. Do a reality check to find out if you really need all those licenses you pay for. Also, ensure that you are paying for the right number of licenses.

54. Upgrade only if necessary. There will be new gadgets and latest software by the thousands. Before you spend hard-earned money on these, check if your office really needs them. If you can, try to wait it out till your office supplies are no longer functioning up to par and then get yourself the best deals possible.

55. Cut down on the amount of paper you use. Convert your documents to computer files by scanning them.

56. Before you buy any new technology, check if it is the right one for you. Buying technology or software is costly business. Ensure that the technology you buy provides value-add to your business and helps enhance productivity in your office.

57. Use freeware wherever possible. Download.com has a huge library of free products that can be a cheap and good replacement to some of your software.

58. Use Internet internally. Your staff can submit expenses, reports, orders and just about everything else via the Internet and it saves time in re-punching and processing.

59. Bank online. There is no better way to understand cash-flow than having instant access to your office account online. It helps you know of any issues or problems in real time. This way you can find out about bounced checks and additional bank charges, and do something about them, that much quicker.

60. Pay your bills online – this will help you save time and postage. Some companies may even offer discounts for doing so.

Reduce Cost of Operation

61. Inculcate the feeling of ownership among your staff. Get them to keep their desk areas tidy. This way, you can cut your cleaner bills in half by getting in a cleaner only every other day.

62. Instead of traveling try web conferencing.

63. Put a check on unnecessary business travel. Business trips cost money and lead to loss of valuable time thanks to congested roads, stations and airports. You could invest in videoconferencing and computer conferencing technology instead. If your client insists on a meeting, make them pay for the trip by inviting them to see you at your office.

64. Some trips are unavoidable. In such cases, go for chart out a no-frills travel plan. You or your employees don’t really need to use first-class travel and first-class hotels. Budget airlines and smaller hotels can be just as comfortable and certainly just as efficient.

65. Set subsistence allowances for staff traveling on duty. Ideally you should set a rate and mention what that sum covers. You are paying your staff for the inconvenience of being away from home and they can use that money to pay for all their expenses including meals, drinks and newspapers.

66. Reduce the audit fee. Ask your auditor what you must do to reduce the audit fee. Their suggestions will help you save a neat sum. If they cannot suggest anything go someplace else for suggestions.

67. Regularly review your marketing costs. Reviewing the costs will help you find out how much you should be spending. It will also make your sales and marketing people work that little bit harder as they know that you are watching their performance.

68. Eliminate waste. Avoid useless, unnecessary processes that are a waste of time and money. For instance, instead of placing suggestion boxes in the office, you could just go around asking your staff for their opinions and suggestions. You could also ask for their opinions on what they regard as a waste; they will certainly tell you.

69. Forge business alliances if necessary. It may not be easy to accept the idea of working with other businesses. However, if you do get down to it, you will be able to share marketing costs, increase sales opportunities and improve the chances of better funding and opening up geographical opportunities.

70. Outsource where possible. Outsourcing is the reality of the day and there’s no way you can escape it. If there is any function in your office that can be outsourced to save money, do it.

Finances

71. Keep detailed records. The more you know about your company’s financial situation, the greater chance you have at success.

72. Plan for your commitments. Set money aside in advance for tax obligations and for major bill payments.

73. Contact overdue accounts more frequently. No law says you can contact a customer only once a month. You could try contacting late payers every 10-14 days.

74. Improve your credit balance. For this you must send out your invoices at the earliest possible. The sooner you receive payment, the sooner your company’s cash flow will increase.

75. Spread out payments. Don’t make all your payments all at once. Spreading out payments through a month versus paying everything on one day can really alleviate a cash crunch due to the natural flow of business and customers’ payment preferences.

76. Donate and reduce costs. You can get quite a few substantial tax breaks by donating to charity. And you will get the satisfaction of having contributed to a good cause.

77. Keep yourself updated on tax laws. Lack of knowledge may make you pay too much or too little in taxes. Either way, you stand to lose money. Knowing your tax laws can help you save your company thousands of dollars every year.

78. Run credit checks on potential customers. It’s better for your business over the long haul to reject a slow paying or consistently delinquent customer immediately rather than bear the consequences later on.

79. Sell off under utilized assets and fully depreciated assets. Once an asset has run through its useful life and is no longer a depreciable asset, consider selling it off if you can get good value for it. The cash can help you replace that asset or upgrade to a new technology or model.

80. Stick to budgets. Several projects suffer budget creep throughout a fiscal year. A couple hundred dollars here or there may not seem like much for a particular project, but it will quickly add up if there are multiple projects going on across the company.

81. Fine tune your expenditure. Does your office furniture or equipment have to be new or can you perform just as well with second hand stuff? Used equipment will save you hundreds of dollars per piece of furniture or appliance. Auctions, newspaper classifieds, and craigslist ads are good places to find used equipment.

82. Some types of equipment don’t come into daily use. Sometimes, it is best to lease such equipment instead of buying them outright. This will save you a considerable amount of money.

83. Reduce thoughtless spending. Keep a tight check on the buying decisions in your company. This will not only help you control theft and fraud; it will also curb wasteful spending. For instance, staff in one company had bought enough stationary to last three years because buying in bulk offered good discounts. This money could have been easily put to other, more productive uses.

84. Use plastic. Be sure to check out reward programs from credit card companies like American Express. You’d be surprised how much money you can save by purchasing office supplies with a company credit card.

Insurance

85. Get all your insurance policies through one reputed carrier. This will prevent different forms of coverage from overlapping, and thereby reduce the rates

86. Go for a higher deductible – the higher the deductible, the lower the premium.

87. Set up a risk management/ loss reduction program. This helps lower premiums since insurers are attracted to companies that make an effort to minimize losses from fire, theft, employee and customer injuries, etc.

88. Educate and update your staff on current company insurance policies. This protects your company from fraudulent lawsuits.

Miscellaneous

89. When your printer runs out of ink, don’t buy new ink cartridges. Refill them instead. Here’s what you save: A refill kit usually costs around $5. A new ink cartridge will put you down by $30 or more. A neat $25 in your pocket — enough cash for 5 more refills.

90. Check if you can get special deals with companies like Staples and Office Max. This will help you save a lot of money on daily essentials.

91. Bill your customers for expenses. If you are made to go beyond the call of duty, don’t hesitate to charge back expenses to your clients.

92. Save paper. Photocopy only what you need. Always use the second side of paper, either by printing on both sides or using the blank side as scrap paper.

93. Get your checks in the mail. If you order your checks from a printing company, it costs much less than getting them from a bank.

94. Always use more than one supplier for important requirements. That way, your office doesn’t come to a standstill if your supplier experiences serious problems.

95. Don’t waste money on postage. Use the fax machine or email instead.

96. If your company mails out a high volume of packages, you could invest in a postage machine. They don’t come cheap, but these machines do save you time from trips to the post office and provide more accurate postage rates. This ultimately reduces your overall mail cost.

97. Install low-flow toilets.

98. Use coffee mugs instead of disposable cups.

99. Set up a carpooling scheme for car-dependent commuters. You could either use the intranet for this purpose or word of mouth should work even better.

100. Have fun and stay motivated. It isn’t easy to reduce overheads – it is a time consuming and difficult affair. A positive attitude will help you overcome the obstacles and perform better.