Fast Ways to Cut Business Costs in Under 24 Hours

Leading a business is like navigating a ship through uncharted waters.

The ocean, a.k.a. the industry, is vast and unpredictable.

As the captain, you have to sail through calm seas and deadly storms, setting a clear course and inspiring your crew to work together and communicate clearly.

You also must adjust your sails to catch the wind of opportunity by adapting and making tough decisions.

Basically, your goal as a leader is to ensure your ship reaches its planned destination safely and successfully. In business terms, it means you are the one in charge of your business’s prosperity and profit.

That’s why one of the critical things you need to determine is how to save money to maximize profit.

On that note, there are obvious ways to cut costs, but they usually take a lot of time and cause unnecessary casualties (like losing loyal talent, reducing employee benefits, restricting the budget for innovation, etc.).

If you need some fresh tips on reducing business costs, we came up with a list of 3 quick money savers that take less than 24 hours (realistically, even less than 8 hours) to implement.

1. Offer Remote Work Option (if You Haven’t Already)

Introducing the work-from-home model is always a good idea because it helps reduce office space rentals and office supplies.

Here’s how remote work leads to cost savings for businesses (besides office space rentals):

• It reduces overhead costs like utilities (electricity, water, heating) and cleaning services for the office.
• It eliminates parking reimbursements if your company offers them.
• It lowers recruitment costs, as you’ll be able to hire talent from anywhere in the world with lower minimum wages, social security contributions and payroll taxes.
• It will potentially increase employee retention, as remote work leads to higher employee satisfaction and allows them to achieve a work-life balance.
• It lowers your travel expenses, as there will be less need for business travel (taking flights, choosing suitable accommodation, etc.).
• It allows you to save on perks such as free meals, snacks, or gym memberships for your employees.
• It lowers the investment in company-provided hardware, as remote employees tend to work on their personal devices.
• It reduces energy consumption, such as the need for lighting, cooling, heating, etc.

And if the list of reduced costs above hasn’t convinced you it’s time you try remote work, maybe statistics on remote workers’ productivity will.

On average, those who work from home spend 10 minutes less a day being unproductive and work one more day a week. One pioneering study found out that working remotely just once weekly boosts employee output by 13%. Having remote employees leads to more efficient operations, reducing the need for additional staff and overtime expenses..

How to Implement Remote Work in Just 24 Hours

If you’re unsure about setting up a remote work strategy in just 24 hours, don’t worry—we’ll tell you how.

The thing is, a remote work strategy is (or at least should be) based on a comprehensive remote work policy. 

Such a policy is nothing but a set of guidelines and rules that outlines how (and when) employees should work outside the office. It covers all the basic information on communication while WFH, time-tracking processes, data security guidelines, legal aspects, and more.

So, the only way to implement remote work in less than a day is to write an in-depth policy. Here’s how to do so in ten steps.

1. Define the policy’s scope: When doing this step, explain why you decided to create the policy and to whom it applies; if it applies only to full-time employees (not interns, part-timers or new hires) or particular positions, list them in the document.
2. Explain the approval process: Highlight the section that refers to employees who can request to work remotely and mention the exact steps of the approval process.
3. Set clear work expectations: Communicate the need for work expectations as a foundation of high productivity, but try to be flexible about work hours, responsiveness (considering different time zones), communication tools, how and when employees can reach out to managers, etc.
4. Add legal considerations that limit overtime: To avoid high overtime costs, ensure that remote employees know the exact number of hours they’re allowed to work and what to do if they need to work overtime, such as getting written permission from their superiors in advance.
5. Mention equipment and tools your employees need to work remotely: Explain what tools you’ll provide, and the equipment employees have to purchase themselves, if there are any.
6. Highlight the importance of data security: To avoid the risk of a data breach, provide employees with steps to secure confidential data and avoid sharing sensitive information with (potential) clients.
7. Explain the IT support options: Specify the actions remote employees must take to contact technical support when they experience difficulties.
8. Create a home safety checklist: Provide guidelines on how to set up a secure workstation to avoid potential injuries while working from home.
9. Mention any salary changes: If you plan to adjust employees’ pay when they start working from home, be transparent about such a change.
10. Provide a list of consequences: At the end of the policy, mention all the consequences employees must face if they violate any of the mentioned rules in the policy.

2. Start Tracking Where Your Time Goes

Speaking of productivity, we must highlight the importance of thinking of your time and efficiency.

After all, time is money, and if you choose to spend it on high-impact activities, you will contribute to your company’s profit. This is why we suggest you start timekeeping to determine how you use your time and what you can do to improve your utilization.

Now, tracking your work hours might sound ridiculous, but for you, a business leader, it reveals just how much time you spend on tasks that don’t contribute to your company’s success. Once you start to monitor your time, you will identify activities that can be delegated (the redundant ones), automated, or even eliminated, reducing your “time waste” that costs your business more than you realize.

Here’s an example.

If you easily get caught up in meetings, admin tasks, and solving all types of business crises, you need to be aware of it.

Let’s say that 3,5 out of 8 hours of your day is spent in meetings. By tracking your time, you may find that some of those meetings exceed the planned time frame, are entirely unnecessary, or could be shortened. That way, you’ll have more time to, for instance, conduct performance reviews.

So, as a business leader, understanding exactly how your time is spent enables you to make smarter decisions that drive efficiency and cost savings across your company.

Now, there are a lot of tools you can use to track time. But before you jump to choose the most budget-friendly option, ensure that the app offers automated time tracking, so you don’t have to press the Start/Stop button each time (and in consequence, lose even more time while tracking time). 

Additionally, look for an app that allows for a free trial; that way, you’ll be able to start monitoring immediately and have enough time to decide whether or not you find the tool helpful. To leave you with an action item, you can sign up for Memtime for two weeks, free of charge (and regular subscription starts at $14 monthly).

3. Eliminate Unused Subscriptions

Are there any monthly or yearly subscriptions for tools or plug-ins you no longer use or find unhelpful? If so, it’s time you cancel all those subscriptions so you can ensure that every dollar spent contributes directly to your business goals.

Here’s how the cut in subscriptions can make a difference to your costs:

• You’ll reduce direct costs, as most subscriptions incur regular fees, whether they are monthly, quarterly, or annual.
• You may reduce redundancy because sometimes we tend to subscribe to multiple tools and services offering similar or overlapping features.
• You’ll be able to allocate the budget to more critical areas.
• There will be no hidden costs like automatic renewals or price hikes after a particular period of using the tools.
• You won’t have to deal with vendor management, as fewer subscriptions mean fewer vendors to manage, no payment processing, or contract renewals.

Conclusion

Building on the metaphor introduced at the beginning of this article, as a ship’s captain, your remote work, time tracking, and cutting unused subscriptions are navigational tools that ensure your ship avoids unnecessary risks.

Remote work allows your ship to optimize its speed and direction by allowing you to reduce the costs of office overhead, employee commuting, etc.

Your time tracking contributes to the ship’s navigation system, ensuring you give your best so the ship reaches its final destination.

Cutting unused subscriptions can be viewed as trimming the cargo to make the ship lighter and more maneuverable.

And the best thing about these three money savers is that they can help your ship stay on the right course in a snap of a finger.

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