Poor Employers in the Age of Technology

When a person like you and I imagine setting up a business of our very own, what we imagine is having a fleet of workers working for us like Willy Wonka’s squirrels and taking them to new heights of success and power.

Owning their very own business is a dream that many people across the world hold very dear and keep close to their heart. They work all their life only to create a life for themselves and indirectly create jobs for people who avail them at the beginning of their career. While business owners do everything in their power to make sure that their business is a successful one – they hire employees, they get hold of all sorts of hardware and software that they may need.

Yet, it is a truly devastating fact, when an employer or a business owner loses his or her business not because of the lack of any effort, but because of the very facilities that business owners provide their employers with. A few basic necessities that business owners provide their employees with that turn out to be their very own downfall is as follows:

1. Put up with internet abuse

An employer provides all of its employees with internet for work-related web surfing. But, unfortunately, instead of using the provided internet for its designated purpose, employees abuse it by browsing the internet in any way they see fit, making companies lose as much as millions of dollars annually. While some employees have been using it for things like using Facebook during work hours, watching a number of videos on YouTube, others have been reported to be conducting their e-commerce business online using office provided internet and even the various services their office uses at times to serve their own purpose.

2. Stationery

Another thing that office employees more often than not abuse is the limitless access to office stationery. From simple pencils and notepads to printing paper and even printer color ink and toner abuse by employees since they tend to pack such items to take home with them. This type of stealing can take a toll on the annual revenue if all the employees in a company are participating in it. Furthermore, since most companies tend to invest in personalized stationery which is designed and made exclusively and thus, happen to be costlier than any other simple old store-bought stationery and can take a bigger toll on one’s business, if employees exploit the unlimited access to them.

3. Hardware

In order to help their employees and indirectly make sure that their business grows and continues to be successful, business owners ensure that their employees have all sorts of hardware and equipment at their disposal. With that being said, company hardware is another thing that employees exploit, without the knowledge of their employers. Computers, printers, photocopy equipment, etc. especially the portable devices like Laptops and Tablets.

Companies provide employees that usually have to lead a mobile task force with their very own laptops and smartphones to be able to work on the go and at the same time stay up-to-date with them. Yet these are the very things that are most exploited by employees since they literally be out of an employer’s sight when they do this.

4. Telephone

Company telephone line is that one thing that employees abuse even when they know that the phone line is being monitored. More often than not, employees have been seen, making hours long out of city personal phone calls, using the office landlines, simply adding to the company’s phone bills.

5. Mobile Workforce

Mobile workforce is that one group of employees that get the most leeway compared to other in-house work space employees. Not only do they have access to company automobiles and hardware including phones, laptops, and cars but since they remain on location and out of office i.e. that is out of sight of the employers, their lack of productivity makes the deepest dents in the pockets of the company that they work for.

The Bottom Line

While most employers, in light of such occurrences would see no way to help them and more often than not, consider shutting their businesses down because of the lack of the profitability of the business. But, if they consider spending a little more on the purchase, they can keep an eye, a very close eye on their employees, both in-house and mobile and keep a twenty on their twenty.

This way not only you will be able to know whatever your employees are up to but also catch them in the act and if push comes to shove, even fire them and ultimately restore the rate of employee productivity and company profitability.