Does Your Strategic Plan Address Increasing Employee Costs and Decreasing Employee Productivity?

Employee benefits jumped to 44% of total 2006 payroll costs according to a recent survey of 400 U.S. companies released by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Another report suggested that almost 60% of all employees are not fully engaged in their positions. The question that you need to answer as a business owner or business executive is:

Are these continued increases in employee costs coupled with the decrease in individual performance part of your strategic plan?

Numerous reports during the last several years revealed that U.S. employees wasted time and lacked the necessary skills and knowledge to take their businesses to the next level. The bad news continues to flow from the U.S. Manufacturing Association’s report detailing how the U.S. public education system is contributing to the skills gap. In spite of continued increased educational funding, twelfth grade reading scores are at the lowest since 1992. Also, three quarters of seniors scored below the expected math proficiency level. (Source: The Nation’s Report Card: America’s High School Graduates)

With this dismal news, business owners need to run not walk back to their strategic plan and make the necessary course corrections. For example, medical related expenses rose almost 3% over the previous year. Possibly, now is the time to consider employee wellness as a potential critical success factor or critical goal category. Paid time and holiday time inched up .6%. With the push back on profit margins in almost all industries, any fixed cost increase is not good. Finally, employee engagement is another potential critical goal category with a specific goal to increase employee productivity.

Executable strategic plans include critical areas from which specific goals are committed to writing and monitored on a regular basis. Since the bottom line for any business is to increase revenues and decrease costs, ignoring this information is potentially fatal. With the Internet acting as viable resource to quickly capture important data, business owners can quickly analyze this information to make any necessary course corrections to their strategic plans.

Leanne Hoagland-Smith, M.S. is a business coach and executive coach with offices in Indianapolis and near Chicago. She writes, speaks and coaches people in businesses to quickly double or triple results through the creation of an executable strategic plan along with the necessary leadership skills “to pull it off.”

One quick question,if you could secure one new client or breakthrough that one roadblock holding you back from success, what would that mean to you? Then, take a risk and give me, Leanne, a call at 219.759.5601 to experience incredible results.

Visit http://www.processspecialist.com/ and explore everything from free articles to connecting with Leanne.