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Proper use of employee's time
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Proper use of employee's time
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Would you pay an employee $60,000/year to stuff envelopes? I'm hoping some of you might be able to help me with an issue we are facing in our office. We have four full-time professional staff, but no
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Forums » Topic Forums » General Forum » Proper use of employee's time
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Proper use of employee's time
posted at 2/4/2013 1:47 PM EST
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 4
First: 2/4/2013 Last: 2/8/2013 |
Would you pay an employee $60,000/year to stuff envelopes? I'm hoping some of you might be able to help me with an issue we are facing in our office. We have four full-time professional staff, but no support staff at all. For example, one employee is a special events coordinator/fundraiser, and is paid accordingly for that level of work. However, she spends almost 50% of her time stuffing envelopes, preparing basic correspondance, scheduling meetings, etc.. If we had clerical support of some kind, she could spend that time raising money for our organization, planning events, improving existing programs, etc., but that isn't happening because she doesn't have time. The other three employees are facing the same exact problem; losing valuable time working on clerical tasks while being paid for a different kind of work. We have been trying to convince our boss that we need clerical support, but the answer is always "we can't afford to hire anyone else.". I'm looking for a way to demonstrate how much we are losing in time, money and resources by not using our staff's time efficiently/effectively. Having clerical assistance would be extremely valueable to us, but I just don't know how to make an effective argument for it. Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! |
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Re: Proper use of employee's time
posted at 2/4/2013 5:24 PM EST
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 180
First: 9/21/2011 Last: 5/14/2013 |
Proper use is whatever your employer decides it is. If that means someone is overpaid to stuff envelopes, than that is what it is. The only real argument i can see that you have is opportunity cost/lost. Your example about the event planner/money raiser, is she unable to fulfill the company's goals because of lack of time? What is NOT getting done that would (not could) get done? |
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Re: Proper use of employee's time
posted at 2/4/2013 5:53 PM EST
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 215
First: 9/20/2011 Last: 5/14/2013 |
Do people really still stuff envelopes? Why? |
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Re: Proper use of employee's time
posted at 2/4/2013 6:02 PM EST
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 4
First: 2/4/2013 Last: 2/8/2013 |
You've made some excellent points, thanks! Our employer DOES believe we need the clerical support, but has to have justification for the board. I am trying to prepare that justification but do not have the experience or tools to know how to best approach this. I don't really agree that it is in the employer's best interest to overpay employees by having them handle tasks that don't match their pay grade. It would be irresponsible for us not to bring the issue to their attention since it is costing money and can be avoided. Since one of the employees is a fundraiser, it is absolutely possible she could cover the $30K salary of an additional staff member with her fundraising efforts each year. She brought in over $20K in the past two weeks alone. Imagine what she would do if she focused her efforts on that task 100% of the time rather than 50%. Our organization has very special, personal relationships with our constituents due to the nature of what we do, so most communications have to be personalized, not computerized. Although being a techie myself, I would love to automate it all...lol. I honestly believe that a talented, organized staff member who is focused on general clerical tasks (answering phones, processing mailings, scheduling meetings, scanning/copying, correspondance, etc.), could increase the productivity of our department greatly. I just don't know the best way to quantify and present that information. I guess I'm hoping there are some templates or formulas used by others when justifying additional staff that I might be able to borrow from. In other words I know what I want to say, I'm just not sure how to say it... In Response to Re: Proper use of employee's time: Proper use is whatever your employer decides it is. If that means someone is overpaid to stuff envelopes, than that is what it is. The only real argument i can see that you have is opportunity cost/lost. Your example about the event planner/money raiser, is she unable to fulfill the company's goals because of lack of time? What is NOT getting done that would (not could) get done? Can she and the rest of you truly make enough money during that lost time to pay the salary plus benefits of a clerical employee? You are looking at probably $30K or above once it is said and done (and could be more depending on the COL in your area) for a fulltime employee. Or can you find a temp service that could help as needed for specialty times/events? Years ago, clerical staff started decreasing because there is so much than can be done on and with computer programs that companies haven't needed as much admin/clerical to get things done. I work in a company where we have no clerical staff. We all do our own typing, scanning, mailing, licking stamps, stuffing envelopes, etc. Since clerical staff don't bring in direct $s, you have to be able to show where freeing up the time will bring in AT LEAST the cost of the clerical employee. The last few fulltime clerical/admins we have hired, we can't give them enough to keep busy and find we are paying them to play internet games, on facebook, etc. Our total company has about 70 employees, 6 businesses with employees and other EINs with no employees. The corp staff is 8 of us who do all of the service related functions like payroll/HR/IT/COO/CFO/accountant/insurance/business consulting.... Posted by rrupert |
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Re: Proper use of employee's time
posted at 2/4/2013 6:14 PM EST
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 4
First: 2/4/2013 Last: 2/8/2013 |
I agree! I just started working here less than a year ago and was surprised at how many tasks are still manual, until I understood why. Our constituents (we are a non-profit, private educational org), expect a certain level of personalization in our communication with them. At first I thought things were done this way because "they have always been done this way", but that actually isn't the case here. The way things are handled here are very purposeful and make sense to me now, so I'm trying to figure out an alternative solution. It goes against everything I learned in business school. I actually cringe when I see a highly paid employee (who could be out raising $100K or more) sit at a table and stuff envelopes. In my opinion that is wasted money (the difference between that person's pay and the pay of an employee hired for clerical tasks). An organized, energetic clerical staff person can be the backbone support of a department, so I just need to find the right way to quantify that. Thanks for replying! :-) In Response to Re: Proper use of employee's time: Do people really still stuff envelopes? Why? Lick stamps? Why? Perhaps someone should spend time looking to see how to eliminate these tasks or at least mechanize them. How about an envelope stuffing machine (one time cost)? We always have to remember that there are only two ways to increase the shareholder value of a company. You can either increase revenues or decrease costs. Therefore to justify addilng cost you must show how revenue will directly increase. If it won't, then the hire should not be made............ Posted by howard7 |
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Re: Proper use of employee's time
posted at 2/5/2013 12:59 PM EST
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 215
First: 9/20/2011 Last: 5/14/2013 |
Here is one approach. Put together a spread sheet that shows fundraising revenues for the past three years. Assuming that the net cost of the new hire would be approximately $30K times 1.5 or $45K, determine what percentage in fundraising NET would be required to cover this cost. Ask your fundraiser(s) if this is doable and if so what is their estimate of how much they would bring in. Next put this as a proposal to the head person. Ask them to do it on a trial, one year basis. If the fundraising is not there to cover the costs then eliminate the position at the end of the trial. Keep a monthly track of cost against increased fundraising net and publish it to those involved. If you cannot exceed the cost then you should not do it. |
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Re: Proper use of employee's time
posted at 2/8/2013 12:18 PM EST
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 4
First: 2/4/2013 Last: 2/8/2013 |
This sounds like a good technique. Thanks for the advice! In Response to Re: Proper use of employee's time: Here is one approach. Put together a spread sheet that shows fundraising revenues for the past three years. Assuming that the net cost of the new hire would be approximately $30K times 1.5 or $45K, determine what percentage in fundraising NET would be required to cover this cost. Ask your fundraiser(s) if this is doable and if so what is their estimate of how much they would bring in. Next put this as a proposal to the head person. Ask them to do it on a trial, one year basis. If the fundraising is not there to cover the costs then eliminate the position at the end of the trial. Keep a monthly track of cost against increased fundraising net and publish it to those involved. If you cannot exceed the cost then you should not do it. Posted by howard7 |
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Re: Proper use of employee's time
posted at 2/20/2013 4:47 AM EST
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 2
First: 10/27/2011 Last: 2/20/2013 |
This is a really tough one. By clerical assistance, do you mean physical assistance at work? Because if that's not really the case, has your boss considered outsourcing some of the other tasks that he gives you? If that is possible, then he should probably go to like Staff.com to hire full time remote workers that can do assistant clerical work for those of you who are overworked. Costs will not be an issue in this case since these people are affordable (unless the boss wouldn't really want to shed a dollar). Probably just outsource those that do not require physical work (e.g. envelopes). A virtual assistant would be good. I belive if you are just open about how you feel (and I'm sure you will consider all the suggestions here), every "good" boss will understand that. Let us know how this goes. |
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Re: Proper use of employee's time
posted at 2/20/2013 1:23 PM EST
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 180
First: 9/21/2011 Last: 5/14/2013 |
Since you mentioned this is a non-profit, it could be that the Board wants to limit the amount of the budget that goes to "administrative staff/duties" vs how much of the budget is spent on the actual reson for your non-profit. By adding another staff member, you decrease that amount going to the actual casue. I know that many charities/non-profits have been outed for spending a huge amount of their budget on admin. So they may be reacting to that also. |
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