In a very competitive marketplace, businesses need to control costs and eliminate unnecessary expenses. While major equipment and staff may be difficult to reduce without having an adverse effect on productivity, office expenses may be reduced through creative thinking and the use of new technology. In order to reduce office expenses, you should focus on things with recurring costs such as supplies, energy and other utilities. Here are five easy ways to cut down the cost of running your office.
1 Install Low Cost Lighting
Every office needs electricity for illumination but you can reduce your expenses by ensuring proper use of all lighting facilities. First, make sure you are using the most energy-efficient lighting systems you can afford. All incandescent bulbs and florescent tubes should all be removed and replaced with LED bulbs. Then, institute a policy that will make every member of staff responsible for switching off the lights when they are not in the room. Additionally, you should encourage the use of natural lighting where possible. You may also install motion sensors that will automatically switch off the light as soon as the room is empty.
2 Unplug All Devices That Are Not In Use
Cut down unnecessary power expenses by taking out the plugs for all electrical appliances from the socket when they are not in use. Most electrical and electronic devices draw power when they are plugged into the mains whether they are being used or not. This is particularly true about chargers for mobile devices which are usually left in power strips that feed numerous devices. Turning off these power strips when they are not in use, and at the end of each day’s work, can result in a significant reduction in expenses at the end of the month.
3 Reduce Printing Costs
Printing is one of the operations that can impact significantly on the total cost of running the office. To reduce the cost of printing, you should replace the small inkjet and laser printers with a larger multi-purpose machine that can scan, copy, print, and send email. This will reduce the cost of printing per page and also drastically reduce the number of print cartridges you have to buy every month. Also one of the ways to save money on printing is to use compatible and remanufactured cartridges. Energy usage will reduce and the networked printer will offer more functionality than four or five smaller units. In addition, you should make sure users preview their documents before printing and strive to save more documents in the “cloud” and print documents when it is absolutely necessary.
4 Buy Supplies in Bulk
To save money on office expenses, you should purchase your office supplies from a company that offers bulk discounts. That means that you will need to create an estimate of the total amount you will need over a quarter, six months or a whole year. Then order for a quantity that will qualify you for a significant price-reduction. Some retailers offer quantity discounts on items when you make a commitment to buy above a certain volume every year while other suppliers will reduce your total cost when you make a single large-quantity order.
5 Minimize Phone Bills
To cut down on your phone bills, you need to do a brief audit of your mobile and landline phone bills to discover the number of hours, number of text messages, and amount of data you download every month. Then compare various tariff plans to determine how you can save cost. Many providers have special tariffs that can help you to make free or cheap calls to specific numbers or at designated times of the day. You should also consider cheaper reseller packages that are designed specifically for businesses.
You can also reduce your phone lines and eliminating extra expenses for toll free numbers. It is not always necessary for each employee to have a separate phone line, your staff can share phone lines if they do not use the phone often enough to warrant having a separate line. Additionally, you should use Skype to make free internet calls. Skype is a great cost saver when you make many international calls and it now has a mobile phone number that you can use when you are on the move.
Conclusion
These are some of the simple cost-cutting techniques you can apply without reducing productivity. To successfully implement all the ideas provided here, you should make it a point of duty to educate your employees about the benefits of reducing office expenses and show them how this can make more money available to take care of their welfare.