For most businesses today, the magic phrase is “minimal outlay, maximum profit”.
Ever since the brunt of the recession a few years back, companies have paid greater attention to their cost-cutting measures, and are always on the lookout for ways to trim unnecessary expenses in a bid to preserve revenue. During the height of the economic crisis, hotels like Starwood skimped back on traditional luxury items like fresh flowers in the hallway. The airline industry, hit hard by the sudden decrease in passengers, also practiced drastic cutbacks. Southwest Airlines actually made its aircraft seats and onboard utensils lighter in a bid to save on fuel costs.
With the impact of the recession now a fading memory, companies have once again started to shell out money on what were previously viewed as unneeded items. If you are a small business still struggling to make it in the market, it’s understandable that you scrutinize each expense like a forensic investigator in a crime scene.
However, it’s worth understanding that not all “frivolous expenses” are really frivolous. In fact, some may be worth the cost when it comes to long-term benefits for your company. Here are some of the items worth spending on.
Office chairs
Let’s see: a typical working day lasts 8 hours. Take an hour off for restroom and smoke breaks, and you’re still left with seven hours. Nearly all of which are spent sitting down in front of the desk.
That’s nearly a third of the entire day spent in a chair. As such, it’s worth it to give your employees the best possible chairs for the budget. A tired and sore staff is more likely to be crankier, work slower, and be less productive than a comfortable and satisfied one.
Monitors
After the office chair, the computer is perhaps the second most used equipment in the office. You and your employees will each spend more than six hours looking at your screens, crunching away.
There are now a lot of entry-level slim desktops on the market designed for SMEs. However, a lot of entrepreneurs overlook the other essential part of the computer: the monitor. Giving your employees a old fashioned CRT will likely make them grumble, not to mention cost more in electricity, space and maintenance costs. A 14-inch flatscreen won’t cut it either: imagine if you had to navigate a spreadsheet on a screen the size of a small laptop. Give them at least a 15 or 17-inch monitor to make the best use of their time working, rather than trying to make a document or spreadsheet fit on a miniscule screen. You might also want multiple monitors for yourself or your managers to maximize your time on actual work instead of navigation.