It’s a statement that’s as obvious as it is often forgotten. Happiness breeds productivity and nowhere else is the spirit of a team more important than in the office of a growing small business.
The knock-on effect of stress, anxiety and dissatisfaction is reduced productivity, this much is undisputable; but it’s more than just quantity of output – it’s also about quality, innovation, and customer service; it’s about the very fabric of your company’s culture. And guess what, customers don’t have to be psychic to pick up on unhappy staff – and nobody likes to do business with a misery guts!
While there are many contributing factors to staff happiness one of the biggies is workload. Not because they necessarily mind working harder, but because it creates stress when staff have to meet deadlines and targets under increased load. The danger is the knock-on effect when a) the work doesn’t get done and b) the frustration of an unmanageable workload causes further reduction in productivity.
And maybe it’s not your staff that’s feeling stressed, maybe it’s you? As a solopreneur or small business owner wearing multiple hats, how are you doing? There are times when you can carry a mountain and there are times when the pressure and the workload combined starts to affect you.
Obviously it would be ideal to hire more staff, but perhaps you haven’t got the room, the money for a full-time member of staff, or even just the workload to bring someone extra in each day? A virtual assistant gives you and your staff the chance to offload tasks that may be slowing things down, clear backlogs, and free up time to concentrate on the important work that’ll help move the business forwards. Giving the gift of a virtual assistant to help out, can be a great way to show appreciation for a hard working staff member or yourself!
