How We Iincreased Employees’ Efficiency by 15%

A company that sells spare car parts was not content with the work of their purchasing department. Constant delivery delays, fast-moving items missing from the store, and deteriorating relationships with long-term suppliers were just some of the reasons plaguing the entire business.

To remedy the situation, the purchasing manager installed the control system offered by CleverControl, which specialises in employee monitoring, performance tracking, and productivity optimisation. After an intensive monitoring endeavour, the company was able to pinpoint areas that were causing their purchasing department to be inefficient and was able to take swift action.

The question, therefore, immediately arises of how to lead your company to a success and as a result, motivate the staff for it. Does the image of a perfect leader - an outrider and a mega driver - help? Yes, undoubtedly. But is it the key factor in the success of the company? Hardly so. How many such people do you know personally? In real life, the main point is that the director understands the staff’s needs and creates the correct strategy. A competent director sees his or her mission in supporting employees, but how to do it most efficiently and not to offend anyone?

The entire department saw significant workflow improvements, with their efficiency increasing by 15%.

The company is a well-known dealer of spare car parts. They pride themselves on the long-term relationships they have with their suppliers and the services they provide to their customers. Their success in the industry has allowed them to expand their product offerings and add departments for customer service and logistics as well. They work with a few long-term suppliers, who are all strategically located and provide high-quality products.

While their business has seen success, the purchasing department was being blamed for many of the company's problems. Often, the delivery of shipments was delayed, leading to unhappy customers and a poor reputation for the company. The department also struggled to manage its inventory. There were fast-moving items that often remained missing and others that showed little or no movement, which led to high return rates and dissatisfied customers.

Owing to these problems, the management started keeping a close eye on the employees working in the purchasing department. But to their surprise, they saw no signs of problematic behaviour from their employees. To the contrary, most of them were seemingly working constantly, no one lacked formal office discipline, no one was laid-back, and they were invariably on their systems.

When the management wasn't able to detect any problems internally, they decided to take action and put a control system in place for monitoring the efficiency of the purchasing department. The idea behind installing CleverControl was to learn about employees' working patterns, system usage behaviour, and more. The company wanted to find out how they could improve their purchasing workflow by enhancing the efficiency of their employees and get the department on a more productive track.

CleverControl's employee monitoring solutions are packed with performance analysis and optimisation capabilities. In essence, the management made use of internet usage monitors, recording features, video and audio control features, social activity monitors, and internet messenger activity monitors.

Out of these, live viewing, web monitoring, screen recording, screenshots, and program activity proved to be highly viable for the management. CleverControl's monitoring software captured and displayed real-time screenshots along with every employee's web browsing history and program activity. Additionally, the web monitoring application provided insights to the management as and when an employee's web activity changed. The social activity monitor and messenger activity monitor proved useful for analysing employees' social media usage while they were at work.

All the metrics (such as top sites, time spent on sites, keyboard events, etc.) were elaborated on via intuitive dashboards, providing data in an easily-comprehensible visualised form. The management was able to control the entire monitoring process using a centralised management console, which allowed them to set up alerts, view a historical record of employee web browsing, and create action plans.

With all the above-mentioned features integrated into the organisation's workflow, the management was able to analyse their workflows, categorise different tasks and activities, and pinpoint which activities were causing the most problems. As a matter of fact, the results were simply astounding. Here's what the management learnt:

1. Half of the Employees Engaged in Online Gaming - Lacking Workplace Discipline

   Two of the four employees of the purchasing department mostly played poker online or other online games; they even watched movies during work hours. Such behaviour was in direct contrast to the management's expectations and requirements. To make matters worse, their work was becoming increasingly sloppy, and their productivity rate had hit rock bottom.

2. The Diligent and Quiet Colleagues Were Overworked

   The idlers relied heavily on diligent and quiet colleagues, who worked from start to finish. The control system showed that these employees were online for around 11 hours a day and did not take significant breaks. This work pattern suggested psychological pressure, which down the line would have serious health implications.

3. High Customer Churn - An Unhappy Customer Base

   Customers were becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the purchasing department's services, and much of that could be attributed to the fact that idlers often ignored urgent requests. For example, one of the employees ignored an urgent request for 12 low-selling items from a long-term customer. The idler ignored the word "URGENT" in the title of the email and only started working on the request a week later. By then, the customer had already switched suppliers, incurring substantial losses for the company.

The management was able to conduct a thorough performance analysis of their purchasing department, identify the employees' problem areas and correct them as well. For instance, the two employees involved in online gaming were suspended for a certain time period and made to go through training. On the contrary, diligent employees were rewarded with a few incentives and bonuses.

Here's what the management reported after using CleverControl:

• The efficiency of the purchasing department increased by 15%

• The number of complaints dropped by 85%

• The revenue increased by 15% over a year

CleverControl's software was able to uncover employee behaviour and performance-related issues. Such problems were there all along, but they weren't easy to detect. If your company is facing similar problems, CleverControl can help. Connect with us today!