3 Ways Your Business Could Save Money and Protect Against Losses
It has always been important for businesses to increase profits and protect against losses; but now, in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis, ruthlessly cutting expenses is a matter of survival for many businesses. The following 3 strategies could potentially help Australian businesses to save money, protect against future losses and increase profitability during this challenging time:
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Do Everything in Your Power to Keep Your Best Employees
It would be possible to temporarily reduce your business expenses by making employees redundant; but that would most likely be a case of false economy unless you have some truly unproductive employees you want to get rid of.
Historically, businesses have usually lost startlingly high sums of money when they’ve had to hire a new employee to replace one that left. So before initiating redundancies, do consider all the costs associated with recruiting and training new employees. Some time ago, Business Insider estimated the associated costs, including advertising costs, recruiter’s fees, interview time and administrative training expenses, at more than $34,000 all together. That’s per employee.
Considering the high replacement costs, it’s worth doing all that you can to avoid letting go of your most productive employees.
The Australian government recently announced an extension of the Jobkeeper program, a scheme which is designed to help businesses retain their employees during the crisis.
Making use of the Jobkeeper program is a good start, but you might need to resort to more than one strategy for employee retention. This is particularly true if your employees’ jobs routinely require them to take considerable risks. Initiating an employee retention program could help your company ensure that employees remain satisfied with their positions rather than jumping ship to work with another company.
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Utilise Fuel Cards
If your business requires regular fuel consumption, a fuel card is likely to save your company money – but not in the way you might be expecting. Many people associate fuel cards with fuel discounts; and, while it is true that some fuel cards do offer attractive discounts and rewards, it is also true that these are not usually the most compelling cost savings associated with fuel cards.
Where the true cost savings happens: the accounting department. Without a fuel card, your team would have the inconvenience of dealing with collecting and filing numerous paper receipts and filling out countless expense reports. The associated data entry tasks are time consuming and extremely prone to human error.
In contrast, fuel card users typically have the option to obtain a single consolidated monthly receipt for all transactions, which makes it much easier to do your accounting. The fuel card can save countless accounting hours, which would likely translate to a real cost savings for your company. More importantly, the consolidated invoices can help to protect your business from making costly mistakes when filing important tax documents.
If this idea is of interest to you, the experts at Fuel Card Report can assist you with finding a suitable card offering the features that would be most beneficial for your company.
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Proactively Invest in Cybersecurity
In times of crisis, crime levels tend to rise – and today’s crimes are increasingly committed digitally rather than in person. Instances of cyber crime have quadrupled during the COVID-19 crisis.
If your business has any dealings whatsoever with the internet, it is only a matter of time before criminals attempt to target your online resources. In fact, in 2017, Australian businesses each endured an average of 53 security breaches. That year, the global average was 130 security breaches per business.
While security measures are not cheap, they’re quite affordable as compared against what it would cost to clean up the mess after a significant security breach. Many experts would agree that cyber security is an essential money-saving investment when conducting business in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis.
These aren’t the only things Australian businesses can do to save money and protect against future losses; however, these are some of the most practical protective measures that would be relevant to a broad variety of businesses. It’s definitely worth considering these money-saving tips in hopes of discovering instances where it might be possible for your business to save money and improve operations to reduce risk.
