We Americans are fat cats.
It's one of the reasons the country is in a recession.
We have an insatiable appetite for everything, especially convenience, which makes us physically and intellectually lazy and much less introspective.
Consumers expect three pharmacies on a high traffic intersection, four big shopping malls within fifteen minutes of each other, gourmet coffee on every block, and faster, fast food.
When life is good, Americans seldom look around and think, what can we do without? But add a nasty recession to the mix, and things change.
People are forced to figure out how to do more with less.
Translate this reality into a business environment, and if the examination is done properly, the end result can be permanent employee cuts and a leaner, meaner business model.
So if the country is waiting for the employment rates to recover, it may never happen.
After being forced to dig deep and reconfigure a more efficient business model, our payment services company discovered the recession was an eye opening opportunity in disguise.
However, the reality was painful and sobering - - too many employees for the work load.
It was painful because valuable employees had to go, yet sobering because it took a recession to build a stronger, more effective payments model with a brighter future.
The most amazing discovery was productivity actually increased with fewer, better trained, and more motivated employees.
First, the senior team had to admit that there was definitely room for improvement and efficiency in the current operating system.
The challenge was to see if employee costs could be trimmed, yet still provide a high quality payments service to the clients.
The operating model had to be intricately dissected to better understand the specific skills required for each job.
Employees came under scrutiny; how did they contribute to the effectiveness of the payments model? This examination meant thoroughly understanding their individual roles, responsibilities, skills, attitudes, hidden talents, performance levels, and willingness to learn, adapt, and meet new challenges.
Part of the process meant cross training employees on a variety of skills so they could step into several roles, if needed.
Plus the training gave them a better understanding of the inter-working of all the payment services ranging from electronic check collection to automated payments, to check conversion.
The company's commitment to the employees was to offer complete and accessible training for the new skills.
The workload of individuals was measured and the results were monitored.
Employees were also challenged to ask for more responsibilities and encouraged to offer new ideas for efficiencies and improvements.
Everyone had a fair and equal chance to succeed, however, job security was not assured.
When their work expectations were raised, most employees responded with increased efforts and enthusiasm resulting in greater productivity.
The offer to expand learning skills and increase workload, however, was not easy for everyone.
Obstacles appeared, defenses were up, and some felt threatened by the energized, competitive atmosphere.
Ultimately, the employees were challenged to step up to the plate, display new power, raise their batting averages, or lose their positions.
It became obvious who embraced the new challenges and opportunities for growth, and who did not.
Slowly, the All-Star team positions were being chosen.
By reevaluating talents, diversifying job responsibilities, cross training employee skills, measuring performance, raising expectations, and increasing workloads, the company reduced its employee costs by 20%.
The leaner staff felt more connected to the bigger picture because they had a greater understanding and participation in it.
And guess what the effect of a smaller, improved team had on productivity - - it was higher.
The re-energized team discovered they could do more with less; a novel idea for a fat cat.
It was agreed that Wall Street should not shoulder the entire blame for the country's poor economy; we all played a part in it.
It took some work, but our payments company learned how to curb its appetite.
If our experience is widespread among other businesses, employment rates will not be dramatically affected by an invigorated economy.
Rather businesses need to find fresh opportunities to create new jobs for a changing, leaner economy.
It's one of the reasons the country is in a recession.
We have an insatiable appetite for everything, especially convenience, which makes us physically and intellectually lazy and much less introspective.
Consumers expect three pharmacies on a high traffic intersection, four big shopping malls within fifteen minutes of each other, gourmet coffee on every block, and faster, fast food.
When life is good, Americans seldom look around and think, what can we do without? But add a nasty recession to the mix, and things change.
People are forced to figure out how to do more with less.
Translate this reality into a business environment, and if the examination is done properly, the end result can be permanent employee cuts and a leaner, meaner business model.
So if the country is waiting for the employment rates to recover, it may never happen.
After being forced to dig deep and reconfigure a more efficient business model, our payment services company discovered the recession was an eye opening opportunity in disguise.
However, the reality was painful and sobering - - too many employees for the work load.
It was painful because valuable employees had to go, yet sobering because it took a recession to build a stronger, more effective payments model with a brighter future.
The most amazing discovery was productivity actually increased with fewer, better trained, and more motivated employees.
First, the senior team had to admit that there was definitely room for improvement and efficiency in the current operating system.
The challenge was to see if employee costs could be trimmed, yet still provide a high quality payments service to the clients.
The operating model had to be intricately dissected to better understand the specific skills required for each job.
Employees came under scrutiny; how did they contribute to the effectiveness of the payments model? This examination meant thoroughly understanding their individual roles, responsibilities, skills, attitudes, hidden talents, performance levels, and willingness to learn, adapt, and meet new challenges.
Part of the process meant cross training employees on a variety of skills so they could step into several roles, if needed.
Plus the training gave them a better understanding of the inter-working of all the payment services ranging from electronic check collection to automated payments, to check conversion.
The company's commitment to the employees was to offer complete and accessible training for the new skills.
The workload of individuals was measured and the results were monitored.
Employees were also challenged to ask for more responsibilities and encouraged to offer new ideas for efficiencies and improvements.
Everyone had a fair and equal chance to succeed, however, job security was not assured.
When their work expectations were raised, most employees responded with increased efforts and enthusiasm resulting in greater productivity.
The offer to expand learning skills and increase workload, however, was not easy for everyone.
Obstacles appeared, defenses were up, and some felt threatened by the energized, competitive atmosphere.
Ultimately, the employees were challenged to step up to the plate, display new power, raise their batting averages, or lose their positions.
It became obvious who embraced the new challenges and opportunities for growth, and who did not.
Slowly, the All-Star team positions were being chosen.
By reevaluating talents, diversifying job responsibilities, cross training employee skills, measuring performance, raising expectations, and increasing workloads, the company reduced its employee costs by 20%.
The leaner staff felt more connected to the bigger picture because they had a greater understanding and participation in it.
And guess what the effect of a smaller, improved team had on productivity - - it was higher.
The re-energized team discovered they could do more with less; a novel idea for a fat cat.
It was agreed that Wall Street should not shoulder the entire blame for the country's poor economy; we all played a part in it.
It took some work, but our payments company learned how to curb its appetite.
If our experience is widespread among other businesses, employment rates will not be dramatically affected by an invigorated economy.
Rather businesses need to find fresh opportunities to create new jobs for a changing, leaner economy.
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