Category Archives: Staff/Employees

A person in the service of another under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, where the employer has the power or right to control and direct the employee in the material details of how the work is to be performed.” Black’s Law Dictionary page 471 (5th ed. 1979). In a commercial setting, the employer conceives of a productive activity, generally with the intention of generating a profit, and the employee contributes labour to the enterprise, usually in return for payment of wages.

Reports – do they work for you?

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How often do you see reports that have little meaning or are too ponderous to use, this then makes the reports ineffective, simply because no-one wants to use them.  Then there are the reports that you have been instructed to put together and although they are useful, they have little relevance to your own position or function.  What you need are reports that are concise, relevant and effective.

To design a good report, list the minimum information that is required to manage that part of your business you are reporting on.  Next, find what is the required data to compile this information. And lastly, source the data – where does it come from. Preferably, most of this data is already contained in spreadsheets (or can be imported into one easily).

Now review the source, include other fields that will beef up your report, but ensure it adds value to the report and is not just filler.  If done in excel the report should also include a tab that has the data in pictorial format – graphs! This is where KPIs can be viewed and valid assessments made.

A good report will show trends, both positive and negative, as well as status.  It will also be timely, easy to produce and even easier to read.  This then will allow you to see what is happening, or has the potential to happen, and take the appropriate action.

For all the SMBs and Operations people out there, I have written a brief on ‘Focus’ that may help you design your own reports on Freight, Inventory and Staffing (Operations reporting 101).

Note:
DATA – is raw detail, usually one line of data contains information related to one transaction. Doesn’t tell you much.
INFORMATION: an assortment/combination of data, providing information and trends in simple format.
REPORT: Information in a format that tells a story. Big picture stuff.

Warehouse Protocols

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Your company is running fine then one day someone gets hurt or makes a complaint and it all goes downhill,  fast.  Allegations  are fired at you stating that you did not provide adequate training, that there were no systems in place, etc, etc.   But you were doing what you thought was right, you did not do anything wrong – in today’s world that will not cut it. What you think (or don’t think) can get you in trouble.

This particular flash is about warehousing although it can apply to every area of your business. You need to draft some protocols, some instructions, an explanation of who does what and when they should do it.

I call them guidelines, but they can be called anything for example work instructions or procedures,  as long as you make sure they are used and understood by everyone.  In this scenario I am referring to the warehouse, but it can apply to any part of your business.

So you are storing and distributing products from your own warehouse – have you documented what happens and who does it and more importantly who does what when it goes wrong?  Your document should include sections such as Responsibilities, Hazard Identification, Risk assessment, Risk Control, etc. These, along with a number of other item are important in running a safe and efficient business.  Yes it is not just about safety, it also includes efficiency and effectiveness.  In simplistic terms efficiency = dollars and effectiveness = goals.

When you have a document that covers such things then you can start moving forward, defining where you are and what needs to change, plus it is a way of ensuring that everyone knows what should happen, when it should happen and who to turn to when it doesn’t. Then build in review cycles, these should include those ‘on the line’ as they will know far more than you what is and is not happening. Use this knowledge, it is free and possibly (probably?) have positive repercussions for your company.

And as always, if you need help, I am only a call (or email) away.