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How To Keep Your Business Running 24/7
How To Keep Your Business Running 24/7
Keeping your business running 24/7 can offer myriads of benefits. For one, it can help in boosting your business’s sales and revenue. When someone calls you after your business hours, and they can’t reach you, chances are they will call other businesses offering services after the operating hours. When this happens, keep in mind that aside from losing new sales, you’re giving new customers or clients to your competitors.
Keeping a business running without a break may not be as easy as it seems. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you shouldn’t give it a try. After all, it can be extremely beneficial. Know that there are many ways that you can try to implement this kind of schedule effectively.
So, if you’re interested, be sure to see this page until the end. Here’s how to keep your business running 24/7.
- Consider Hiring Interns Or Apprentices
When interns and apprentices are utilized properly and effectively, they can serve as one of the best instruments in running your business or company. While they can’t completely replace full-time and permanent employees, consider the back office work they can do while trading their effort and time to have experience working in your company.
Usually, an apprentice or intern tends to be energetic, younger demographics, and ambitious, which means they want to make their marks. As a matter of fact, some of them will feel happy when they hear the term overnight. It’s indeed a win-win situation.
- Be Kind To Your Employees
There’s an emotional and personal side to running your business 24/7. To maintain productivity at all times, it’s important to keep all your employees happy and highly appreciated. It’s also best to boost the wellness of your employees since it’s important to keep a business successful. If you don’t take care of them, they’ll also do the same thing to you and your business.
Ask yourself, are you giving your workers who are working at night the same benefits, respect, and opportunities that your daytime staff obtains? While it’s easy to think that a nighttime operation isn’t completely crucial, if possible, avoid this kind of temptation just to discount other shifts.
Having said that, if you feel like the drive of some employees is getting low, especially on night shifts, consider giving them some incentives. By simply showing that you care for them, you can surely offer the needed jolt. It’ll also keep your business running around the clock since they won’t feel lazy working at night.
- Automate And Streamline The Scheduling Process
Unlike the typical 9 to 5 business hours, you can’t get consistent scheduling with a 24/7 operation. It means there should be some variations. You can’t work with your employees all day and all night. Also, it’s worth mentioning that not all workers want to go for a night shift.
Most probably, you’re aware that trying to recall those who can work as well as how many hours every worker has already worked during a certain shift or even weeks or months isn’t easy. So, if you want your business to keep running 24/7, consider streamlining or automating the process of scheduling in order to account for the preferences and needs of the employees. One way to do it is to request worker availability. You can hire workers for certain shifts. But it would help if you also allowed some flexibility when it comes to scheduling to fit different lifestyles.
- Hire Virtual Workers
In addition to hiring employees who will work in your office, hiring virtual workers can help you, especially if they’ll directly work for you. With a reliable offshore provider operating 24/7, you’ll be able to hire people with lower salaries. What’s more, you don’t even have to pay for the expenses that are usually incurred in the office. These will include office space, employee taxes, computers, and overtime rates for overnight employees.
- Improve Security
It’s also important that you prioritize security if you want to keep your business working 24/7. While security really matters all day and all night, it’s even more important regarding a nighttime operation.
You have to be extra careful and vigilant during these working hours, particularly if you’re not operating at total capacity. Thus, it’s an excellent idea to improve security measures. If you’re worried about the safety of your premises, most importantly, your employees, you may want to consider hiring nighttime security teams.
- Communication Is The Key
Providing your clients with open communication with your business any time of the day is crucial. This means you need to have a website where they can easily access your support team and contact information.
If people use your product, expect that they will ask for more details about it and seek help, regardless of what time of the day is. Even though you’re only giving them automated responses, telling them about your support and service hours as well as giving them links to possible solutions is better compared to not responding to them at all.
If your website has a live chat feature, people will have an idea of where exactly they are in the support line and how long they’ll wait. By doing this, you can show your customers that you’re always there.
- Hire A Competent Assistant Manager
To keep your business running any time of the day, you should also consider hiring a competent assistant manager. This person will take your responsibility when there’s an important thing you need to do outside your business premises if you’re sick, or on vacation.
In that way, your business will run 24/7 without dealing with any losses. Having an authority figure that’s always present in your workplace is crucial for making an important decision. This also helps to ensure that everything is going smoothly and well. In fact, some businesses hire an assistant manager, and they’re taking shifts to make sure that everything, even the smallest details, is under control at all times.
Conclusion
Taking control of the operations of your business is the key to having an effective and successful 24/7 schedule for your business. If you don’t value your night shift workers, like focusing on the scheduling and security of everyone, you’re less likely to exceed. Hopefully, the tips mentioned above will help you in keeping your business running 24/7 effectively and smoothly.