Business are being told more and more often these days to seek ways to protect their people and workplace. After all, employees and facilities are both crucial to sustaining operations and attempting growth in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. When even one of these aspects is negatively affected, the business suffers and struggles to survive and thrive.
That’s because workers and work environments are intrinsically linked. They are essential to each other for achieving their respective maximum potentials. Workplaces bring out the best in workers, and workers bring out the usefulness of workplaces.
So what happens to your costs when you invest in protecting both in the middle of this crisis? Protecting your people and work environment contributes a lot to keeping everything you own in tip-top shape.
Avoid frequent repairs and maintenance
Repair and maintenance costs are inevitable for any business. Assets, properties, and other functional facilities cost money long after they’re purchased, because they degrade over time just like any physical object will. Naturally, a business will spend on maintaining them so that they can continue to be used, bringing value to the organization that contributes to furthering operational goals.
That might seem like a straightforward aspect of running a business, but it’s one where unwanted expenses can creep up unnoticed for a long time. For one thing, it’s not enough to simply repair and maintain your facilities whenever they need it. A vital part of keeping them in the best working condition for the longest possible time is reducing the need for them to be maintained.
So the first step to avoiding frequent (and costly) repairs and maintenance is to prevent incidents that create the need for repairs and maintenance. Train everyone in their proper use as intended by the manufacturer, so you can prevent incidents that degrade your facilities to the point that they need maintenance or repair. Depending on your capability to do this on your own, you can implement an in-house strategy with a dedicated team. Otherwise, a flexible and proper managed services plan can cover this aspect of prevention for you.
Second, and in connection with proper usage of facilities, you can implement an operational efficiency plan that reduces the frequency and duration of facilities usage while ensuring that the same results are produced. This is usually part of project or operations management, which you may already have an in-house team for. But if you don’t, you can absolutely partner with a managed services provider who can deliver that kind of functionality for your organization.
Third, ensure that when you do need repairs and maintenance, they will be conducted according to the highest industry standards so that it would take longer before the next they’re needed. Getting the best professionals in this field goes a long way – their hard-earned certifications and licenses are actually indicative of the level of skill and expertise they have, and therefore the kind of value they can bring. If you already have the right people for this, go for a fully-integrated implementation of periodic repairs and maintenance. If not, managed services providers do focus on hiring the best professionals in these fields, and they can deploy a team to take care of repairs and maintenance for you. There are concrete measures you can implement to make your facilities last longer before needing repairs or maintenance. And when the time comes that they need to touch-up, there are also ways you can ensure they’re getting the best care possible. Through these measures, you can reduce your repair and maintenance expenses at this time when costs are some of the biggest obstacles to business continuity.