Getting the right level of staff to run your business effectively is an essential part of success. Many business owners fall into the trap of not replacing team members when they leave a company, believing that existing employees will absorb the additional work and the business will save recruitment and payroll costs. However, operating an understaffed business can be far more damaging in the long run, not just on profitability but also on the reputation of the business.
Some of the most significant impacts of being understaffed include:
Employee Burnout – Being understaffed puts enormous pressure on your workforce who are expected to meet unrealistic performance targets. Working in this kind of environment causes higher stress levels which can cause real damage to an employee’s mental and physical health if it continues for a prolonged period of time. At its worst, high stress levels can result in employee burn out meaning your employee will either quit their job or go on long term sick. Both of these outcomes will have a negative impact on the running of your business.
Loss of Motivation and Low Morale – Expecting your staff to carry out an unfair level of work will lead to them feeling undervalued which in turn will affect their motivation levels. It’s very difficult to rebuild morale and motivation once it hits rock bottom. A knock on effect of this will be a decrease in productivity meaning that standards are likely to slip all round. It’s so important to make your employees feel valued at work because this feeling is at the core of everything they do.
Higher Staff Turnover – With staff feeling underappreciated, stressed and in a team where morale is low, it won’t be long before your employees start looking for jobs elsewhere. At some point you’ll have to replace the employees who leave and the recruitment and training processes will come at a cost to the business. In addition, staff who have left on such bad terms are not going to be recommending you as a great place to work. The opposite will be true, they will share their negative experiences of working for your company and this will damage your reputation with future recruits.
Impact on Customers – No matter what your business does, if it’s understaffed there will be some negative consequences on your customers as staff struggle to keep up with demand. If you’re the owner of a Fast Fit Centre that’s understaffed, your customers are likely to have to wait longer compared to if they used your correctly staffed competitor. If you run a Main Dealership and are lacking Sales or Service Advisors your employees are likely to work faster but less effectively to try and see every potential customer. Happy staff will usually result in happy customers!
Business unlikely to Grow – An understaffed business is unlikely to grow because it lacks the resources to keep up with demand. Understaffing could result in not being able to keep up with customer orders or even a drop in quality because staff are so stretched! Both of these outcomes will have a detrimental impact on the company’s reputation.
Our team of specialist Automotive recruiters speak to businesses of all sizes every single day. We offer full recruitment support as well as our long standing experience of recruiting in the Automotive Industry.
We can help you get the staffing levels right for your business and will only ever put forward candidates who we believe are the perfect match.
Contact the experts at Perfect Placement today.