If your company is not essential, you cannot operate in most parts of the United States right now due to the crisis caused by the novel coronavirus. While this time at home is upsetting and frustrating, use it to plan ways to improve your company once your area reopens.
Evaluate Your Equipment
Review how long you have had each piece of equipment, such as those that complete your custom machining. Check their last dates of maintenance, and determine if any are close to breaking. With this data in mind, prioritize your spending on new machines or maintenance based on which pieces of equipment bring in the most revenue. Additionally, make sure that your spending on fuel and parts adheres to your budget, and make any necessary adjustments if it does not.
Evaluate Your Safety Standards
In the middle of your busy schedule, it’s easy to let safety regulations slip so that you can complete tasks more quickly. However, relaxing your safety standards is a bad idea because accidents more likely to occur, and you and your company can be held liable if the accident in question was preventable. For example, machines that complete custom machining often operate at high temperatures and speeds, so misusing this equipment can quickly lead to injuries. Simply avoiding these machines is not an option; you need them to create the parts your customers have requested. Instead, you must find ways to update and enforce your safety regulations.
Evaluate Your Workplace Environment
Your workplace environment involves much more than the level of safety you practice around machines. It also covers topics such as discrimination and sexual harassment. Contact your human resources department to see if any complaints have been filed recently and, if so, what the unwelcome behavior was. Determine what steps you can take to make all employees feel welcome, no matter their race, gender or sexual orientation. Remember, not only do your employees work better when they feel safe, but also you are obligated to ensure that discrimination does not occur in your workplace.
Don’t waste the weeks of shutdown by watching the news and hoping that you’ll be able to reopen next week. Instead, evaluate your business’ policies and practices, and decide if you need to make any changes to increase productivity and make your workplace as safe as possible. While some people may complain about changes to the rules, the majority will be happier and more efficient.
