Company Calendars: Big Productivity Bang for Your Buck
Still don’t have company calendars?
Neither did we until 3 years ago. (And we’re a technology and business solutions company–the shame!)
As easy and as basic as it sounds, many businesses are running their operations as if every employee was in charge of their own individual calendar. Here is what company calendars did for us:
⇨ Reduced overhead time and made our staff more efficient. Checking calendars and scheduling a meeting now takes about 15 seconds.
⇨ Reduced embarrassment. We no longer have to reschedule that meeting we planned on a day a co-worker is taking vacation, or make lame excuses for the co-worker who didn’t remember (or wasn’t told).
⇨ Connected mobile staff. Our office manager no longer has to figure out how not to admit, “I actually don’t know where she is today.” Shared calendars enable the office staff to help clients and prospects schedule meetings with busy executives and sales staff who are often out of the office.
⇨ Organized conference rooms and other resources. Our busy locations and resources have their own calendars and can be reserved. There is still competing demand (who doesn’t want to meet in the conference room with the mini-fridge?), but the calendar keeps us forewarned.
One thing to keep in mind: If your calendaring and scheduling system is not integrated with your email and CRM database, you or your employees may not use it because it’s just going to be too hard. We chose a full email and collaboration platform, and went from not using calendars at all to using them religiously in six months. It was so helpful, we didn’t need any carrots or sticks. Our people realized the value themselves.
