Small Business Success Index — Workforce Dimension

According to the Small Business Success Index, small businesses are scoring, on average, a C+ when it comes to workforces — but that grade is trending upwards. Many small businesses are facing staffing issues as a direct result of the poor economy. Many small businesses have reported having to take steps like reducing employee benefits, shortening the work week or even reducing staff in response to the recession.

Morale

Despite the workforce difficulties facing small businesses recently, most remain moderately successful — few struggle to keep employees productive, especially in light of the high unemployment rates. Those businesses in a position to hire have no trouble finding the right employee. While employees in businesses that are struggling may experience lower morale, many small businesses are in a position to find out just how efficient they can make their businesses.

You may find that your workforce is stretching itself to cover projects with fewer staff members. While not all methods that you use to cover gaps in your business will be sustainable in the long-term, they can be useful in determining how to make your business more efficient overall. It also offers up opportunities to refine and focus your attentions on the most important aspects of your business.

The uncertainty surrounding many jobs right now does mean that keeping employees updated and working with them to improve morale is key for many small businesses. If you’ve been cutting back, it’s especially important to allow employees the opportunity air concerns — you may not be able to resolve them, but even a simple conversation can improve morale. No matter how things are going for your business, your employees’ morale can make a difference.

Benefits

One of the most difficult areas for small businesses, at least when it comes to managing a workforce, is providing benefits packages that can attract and retain employees. Recently, the issue of benefits has become more pronounced. In order to respond to the recession, 29 percent of small businesses reduced employee benefits. It may not be an option to attempt to improve benefits packages in the near future, either.

However, you can make effective use of those benefits that you are in a position to offer. It may be worth discussing with your workforce which benefits are particularly important to them. If something like health insurance is crucial, your employees may be willing to drop other benefits in order to keep insurance in place. It’s also worth thinking creatively about which benefits you can offer. If you’re in the position to allow your employees to telecommute, for instance, that sort of benefit may improve morale without breaking your budget. You’ll likely find that your workforce is more willing to discuss questions like which benefits are necessary currently, especially with the numbers of small businesses finding it necessary to make pay cuts, ask employees to take furloughs or shortening the work week in order to reduce workforce costs.

Image by Flickr user Steve Rhodes

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 at 8:00 am and is filed under Small Business Success Index. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.


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