As every business owner and upper-level manager knows, some business innovations are better than others. The corporate world goes through experimental phases with new ideas, trying out all sorts of things and seeing which ones show the most promise. Concepts like 100 percent employee ownership and 4-day work weeks were only partially successful.
Other ideas, like automated scheduling, real-time inventory accounting, and opt-in healthcare programs, have caught on in a more significant way. What are the innovative solutions that are proving their worth in the 2020s? For starters, telecommuting has already been a big hit with workers and owners. Other recent success stories include advanced fleet systems for transport companies, tuition reimbursement, on-site fitness facilities, frequent performance reviews, and flex-time scheduling. Here’s a look at the best of the best innovative solutions for businesses in the 2020s.
Home-Based Work Forces
The recent COVID pandemic did much to accelerate the work-from-home trend that was already underway in most developed nations. In the digital age, workers and employers are fast discovering that it’s usually not necessary to be on-site in order to get the job done. This principle is especially true in the financial industry, where millions of people now serve as bankers, stock analysts, insurance professionals, accountants, and brokers from the comfort of their homes. Be sure that you study up on how to manage remote teams before you pull the trigger on this model though.
Advanced Fleet Systems
Advanced vehicle fleet programs are among the most innovative business-related improvements of the past decade. For instance, better fleet systems include useful features like tachograph management that gives managers real-time tach status, remote downloads, and the ability to perform instant analysis. Essential data like distance traveled, speed, rest periods, and total driving time are at the heart of vehicle transport efficiency. In addition to tachograph software, fleet programs can be set to collect all forms of location data, the on-time percentage for each delivery, driver performance, vehicle maintenance parameters, road conditions, and most efficient routing based on traffic conditions.
Education and Fitness Incentives
An educated, healthy workforce is a productive, happy one. While there are exceptions to that rule, many employers discover that people tend to do less job hopping when they have access to no-cost fitness facilities and are reimbursed for college classes. That’s why so many small and medium-sized firms now offer on-site gyms. Additionally, employees can take online or traditional college-level courses and get partial reimbursement from employers. For younger people, the chance to earn college credit at a significant discount or for no cost is a benefit that will keep them on the job and productive for years to come.
Monthly Performance Reviews
The formal annual review is becoming a thing of the past as modern organizations switch to less formal but more frequent performance assessments. Instead of once-per-year evaluations that last for several hours and determine raises and promotions, monthly reviews aren’t such make or break affairs. Supervisors get the chance to follow performance review guides and offer real-time feedback and actionable objectives every four weeks. Team members receive clear benchmarks for improvement and know precisely what they need to do to earn a promotion or raise. Frequent reviews offer an honest, efficient way of keeping the lines of communication open in the workplace.
