Business Information for Entrepreneurs by an Entrepreneur

If you are a small business owner who operates a business with multiple physical locations, consider yourself lucky. Sometimes a small business grows to the point that the logical next step is creating a presence in more than one geographic location. However, there can be problems with employee motivation and morale with this type of business set up.

The reasons for operating in multiple locations are many. You could be a local restaurant or style salon that starts a chain store or two in other diverse parts of your city. Or you could be a business with an industrial location that manufactures your goods, another retail location that sells them, and a third location to house your office and administration needs.

Whatever the case for having multiple locations, your staff and employees can suffer from being separated and lose that necessary interaction that makes a cohesive and solid company culture.

So what can you do to keep your company unified and share a common culture? Here are a few helpful tips:

Write a Weekly Staff Letter

Having multiple offices can have an isolating effect on staff, even if they are in the same city. Having the main leadership in a distant office with irregular visits or communication can make employees feel like they don't matter or that they just don't make a difference.

If your business has multiple locations, consider writing a weekly staff letter. Hearing from the "Big Cheese" on a regular basis can keep morale high, and your words of encouragement will be very welcome.

Create a Company Intranet

Just because your company operates on separate and multiple geographic locations doesn't mean you can't have a unified computer network. Consider publishing a company-wide intranet that is only accessible by employees logged onto your network.

Your business intranet can have a section for each of your departments. Publish updates and highlights from different stores. Keep a photo directory of employees, and keep employees equally abreast of company news and events.

Hold Friendly Competitions

There is nothing like a friendly competition to spur imagination and enthusiasm among employees in different locations. Consider having a decorating competition during the holidays. Or even a sales competition between your chain locations. And don't forget to organize a softball or other sporting tournament between location employees at the company picnic.

Be Consistent with Policies

Be sure you keep consistent HR policies among your multiple business locations. How does it look if employees at one location get to go home early on Fridays while other offices are working until 5pm and beyond?

Sure, you have to take into consideration the needs of the location. For instance, you may have a manufacturing location that works both day and swing shift or even multiple restaurant locations that are open until 2am. Of course, it's important to set the hours of each office location and keep them.

However, work hours are just an example. Other policies such as attendance, time off requests, holidays (or holiday pay), etc., are just as important.

Form Traditions

Why not create traditions that create a sense of family and unity? It could be something as simple as organizing a happy hour meetup one Friday a month. Keeping the company picnic tradition each summer. A quarterly blood drive. A holiday party with carolers. Or better yet, forming a caroling group of company singers. This is a category where you can let your imagination run.

Company-wide Celebrations

If you have a reason to celebrate, be sure all employees at all locations get to participate. For instance,for your 10 year company anniversary, you want to provide a catered lunch to all employees. Coordinate the catering to all locations, not just the main headquarters. And avoid jealousy by getting fine cuisine catering at home base and sending sandwiches to the satellite shops. Provide the same quality meal to everyone.

Your business is not just selling products or services. It is made up of a company culture consisting of your valued employees and staff. Be sure you take necessary steps to keep your small business culture unified if you operate in more than one location.

Just because you own and operate a small business doesn't mean you can't compete with giant corporations for qualified staff. Sure, the right salary is important, but there are several other factors that help a potential employee choose your small business over an internationally recognized brand name. And part of that attraction is in the form of employee benefits and company perks.

In this article, we assume you already offer the list of usual employee benefits such as paid vacation, health/dental, 401(k), etc. What really can solidify a long-term relationship with employees are the additional employee perks not found elsewhere, even in the corporations.

Here is a potential list of employee perks and additional company benefits you could integrate into your total compensation package.

1. Flextime

   Whether employees work a full-time schedule or part time, one very attractive employee perk is the ability to be flexible in scheduling those hours. Flextime means that you and the employee agree on a schedule that fits both your business needs and the employee's needs. For instance, in many small companies, the accountant is not required to be at the job during all business hours. She may prefer a 6am to 3pm schedule to accommodate her children getting home from school. As long as the work gets done, the time could be flexible.

2. Telecommuting

   In some cases, employees may not even have to be on-site. Many people would enjoy an employee benefit of staying home to work, or telecommuting. It would require a remote computer network set up and telephone. However, in most cases, an employee could get the same work done at home as at the office. Ultimately, this could save you money on the size of space you rent.

3. Instant Monetary Rewards

   Workers love monetary employee benefits. You could issue $5 or $10 gift cards to employees who accomplish certain tasks. Or even a larger $250 cash bonus reward for suggesting a new and more efficient process.

4. Child/Pet Care

   Other uncommon employee perks is actually having on-site child or pet care. Child care is an absolute necessity for young parents, and this service on-site could really help attract and retain your best employees. Even on-site doggy day care has been adopted by many small businesses to help employees stay in touch with their pets while at work.

5. Interest-Free Computer Loan

   This employee benefit has been adopted by many companies, including small businesses. Though the cost of personal computers has dropped considerably since the beginning of the 21st century, they can still be difficult to purchase as an initial cash outlay. Consider an employee perk where you offer to pay for the computer and then take small installments out of regular paychecks for 6 months until the loan is paid off.

6. Free or Discount Products/Services

   Many small business owners have no problem giving steep discounts or even free products or services as an employee benefit. For instance, if you are a CPA, you could offer free tax preparation service to your five employees. Or offer "employee prices" on your retail products.

7. Parking/Transit Discount

   Most workers must commute. And free or reduced prices on parking or transit fees are always a welcome employee benefit. If you're in the 'burbs and have plenty of parking, this may not be an issue. However, if you are located in a central business district or downtown in a major metropolis, this employee perk will be attractive to current and potential employees.

8. Paid Community Volunteer Hours

   Some people like to give back. Consider an employee benefit where you will pay up to 3 to 5 hours a week/month to volunteer. This would allow employees to volunteer for SMART reading programs or to help with their local charity.

9. Errand Service

   It's difficult to complete errands while at work. Consider hiring a local "errand" concierge service that your employees can use once or twice a week for picking up dry cleaning, getting the dog to the grooming service, etc.

In every company, big or small, employees and management regularly gather in the conference room to hold a business meeting in order to discuss new developments, solve an issue or review current processes and brainstorm. Business meetings can end up fruitful and accomplish much or they can leave people confused and bewildered - and simply full of donuts. In fact, company meetings have been humorously relabeled "the practical alternative to working."

However, there are ways to ensure that your next company meeting runs smoothly and allows you to meet your objectives faster. Read these tips on meeting improvement to find out how you can gather your employees more effectively.

1. Find Alternatives to Company Meetings

   A business meeting, as most people know, can often be a colossal waste of time. Most people can remember sitting in a meeting where the discussion quickly trails off-topic, becomes unfocused, and concludes without ever reaching a resolution. Everyone leaves the meeting wondering why they even had one in the first place.

   To avoid this, your company meetings should have a direct purpose and objective for a group gathering. First, ask yourself whether the meeting agenda can be resolved through an email broadcast or a memo. Perhaps you can simply stop by the office of a few staff members to get their input without a full-blown company-wide meeting.

   Whenever possible, try to avoid setting a meeting in the first place.

2. Draft a Meeting Agenda and Set Objectives

   If you do find that a company meeting is necessary, your meeting improvement journey starts with writing an agenda and setting clearly-define objectives.

   • What is the purpose? - First, ask what is the purpose of this business meeting? Do you need to accomplish a goal? Get a process solidified and understood? Improve your next meeting by simply having a goal or objective in mind.
   • Write the meeting agenda list - When you have set your purpose and objectives, you should organize a list of topics that need to be discussed into a meeting agenda. You can gather input from attendees on what they need to discuss to help determine the agenda as well.
   • Map a timeline for the company meeting - Your staff will applaud your meeting improvement efforts if you can stay on track and on schedule. Map a timeline, estimating an approximate and reasonable amount of time for each topic. This will help you stay on track and spend only the allotted time in discussions. There should be some flexibility in the timeline, as it is likely that some discussions may end up requiring more or even less time than what was allotted.

3. Delegate Meeting Agenda Items Beforehand

   You will have more productive meetings if you delegate agenda items beforehand. Assign someone to prepare an agenda item. This helps in two ways. First, it gives meeting attendees more ownership of the meeting so they have something at stake in being there. Secondly, it helps relieve you from having to prepare everything on your agenda.

4. Be the Moderator to Stay on Track

   A simply business meetings improvement is to assign a moderator or take on the responsibility yourself. This will happen keep the rest of the attendees focused and on track with the meeting agenda. As mentioned, segues into unrelated topics can happen frequently. You can avoid this by:

   • Help discussions stay focused - when a discussion begins to wander, or even if too much time is being spent on a particular item, it is the moderator's job to pull back the discussion and keep it focused.
   • Use a timer, or assign a timekeeper - use the clock as a dictator. Everyone's time is important. Don't let discussions go too long. Keep it only to the allotted time.

5. Use Visual Aids

   When possible, use visual aids during a company meeting. A media inclusion such as a Powerpoint presentation, a photo slideshow, or even a short video can help get your attendees more involved and engaged with the meeting process. It can also help spark creativity and aid in the brainstorming process.

6. Ready, Set, Action!

   Never let a meeting agenda item go by without some assignment of action. Even if it is determined the agenda item is completed, someone needs to file papers, inform others via email memo, etc. Make sure someone is assigned to follow up on the task.

7. Set Regular Meeting Times When Necessary

   Depending on your industry and your business needs, it may be necessary to gather a group of your management team or other staff on a regular basis. If this is the case, set up a defined meeting time, say once a week on Wednesday morning at 9am. That way you don't have to "find" time among the regular attendees. Rather, they have to work around the set meeting schedule.