It can be time consuming and expensive for most businesses to train new employees, or have existing employees take on new duties.  What can you do to cut down these costs?  Have manuals on hand that clearly spell out the day to day duties of each employee.  Having a detailed manual of each job within your company is a fast way to lower employee-training cost. 

Don't think that a procedures manual is the same as a written job description.  Having procedures manual should explain exactly how to perform any one person's job. 

Here's how you can get started: 

Have each team member prepare their own manual.  They should put in writing exactly what it is he or she does each day.  Even minor tasks should be noted.  Your team may not know that your receptionist drops off the mail each night on her way home.  If he or she left tomorrow how long would your mail start to pile up before anyone else noticed that it wasn't going out? 

After each person has written their individual descriptions give them to supervisors to edit.  Then have them follow the steps to see if the instructions actually work.  They can then add any missing information, and also see if the team member happens to be doing any unnecessary work.  By doing it this way supervisors can streamline procedures. 

Having procedure manuals in place will protect your business from any disruption if a team member leaves unexpectedly or is gone for any extended period of time.  Many jobs can grow more complex over time, and one employee can handle multiple small tasks that can fall through the cracks if that person were suddenly gone.  Develop your procedures manual and reduce the time and money you spend on employee training! 

If you have any questions or comments about this information feel free to leave us a comment on our facebook page: facebook.com/fbcpa -  We would love to hear from you!