We are facing one of the tightest labor markets in 50 years. Employers are not able to hire enough employees to meet demand. This Wall Street Journal article on May 13 explained that small companies are adding employees at the slowest rate in eight years, not because they do not have the work for them, but they cannot attract and retain workers.
The article tells the story of a number of businesses that are posting ads online, signs in their windows, and on their front lawns as well as working with temp agencies in an effort to get enough employees to meet the demand for their products.
The tight labor market has prevented small to mid-market companies from being able to meet their current demand or to expand. In the process they are losing out on increased opportunity to grow revenues. The work is there, but not the employees to fulfill the orders. Employers are having to increase their offer rates for new employees in order to attract them, upsetting the apple cart with their existing employees when they see the ads. Employers are trying various sorts of incentive programs to not only keep the employees they have but to attract new employees a well.
The reality of this situation dictates that employers will need to maintain and even increase output with fewer employees than they need or would like.
How do you do more with less? You look at current processes and procedures to see what can be streamlined, eliminating waste as you do so, generating more throughput with the same amount of labor or less. There may be unnecessary complexity in your processes and procedures, which is common to businesses as they grow. Value stream mapping your current processes and procedures as well as process mapping are tools you can use to increase capacity without capital expense—and with fewer employees!
If you are in need of increasing output with fewer employees, we can help. We are skilled in value stream mapping and process mapping to eliminate waste within your systems and processes. You can do more with less. Give us a call: 503-312-3145
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