Being a good steward of your budget is always important, but perhaps right now it’s more important than ever. As organizations look at ways to trim the fat off wasteful spending, it’s critical that you’re able to defend the budget you have, and get the most out of what you’re currently allotted.
Every organization operates differently, of course, but following these tips will help ensure you’re able to get the most out of your budget so you can maximize the functionality of your People Ops team with the resources at your disposal.
1. Audit Your People Ops Expenditures
Did you know the average organization uses 110 SaaS apps? Cost control is one of the most valuable byproducts of running a department audit as doing so ensures your budget is only being spent on programs you actually use. The truth is, you don’t always know what you’re wasting money on until you know what you’re wasting money on. Without being intentional with your selections, SaaS creep is real, y’all. Technological advancements are happening at a rapid rate, and that includes the tools that you use to effectively manage the growing demands on your People Ops team.
Self-auditing your expenditures is a great way to identify where you might be leaking funds before the executive suite does. Evaluate if there are more modern tech solutions that can take the place of several inefficient ones. Which platforms are you paying for that your predecessor signed up for but you had no idea about? Consolidating your platforms where possible is also a great way to ensure you aren’t being wasteful with your budget and that you’re cycling out antiquated tools in your tool kit.
2. Prioritize data-driven decisions
Data! Everyone’s favorite four-letter word. Whether you love numbers or dread them, when squeezing the most out of your budget, data is always your ally. Leveraging data to drive your decisions will put you in position to make informed choices about where to allocate your funds and how much.
Collecting, tracking and analyzing data on things like employee engagement and satisfaction, turnover, organizational demographics, benefits and compensation, and recruitment to name a few, can tell you everything you need to know about where you should be prioritizing your budget spend in a way that can make the most impact.
Additionally, when the time comes to protect your budget in future discussions with leadership, you won’t only be speaking from a place of expertise, but you’ll have the numbers to back up your decisions. Leadership loves numbers, and they’ll love you (at the very least “like” you) for being data-driven in your budget spend.
3. Find Solutions That Automate Manual Processes
The phrase “do more with less” is enough to make anyone do a full-body shiver. However, in times of economic uncertainty it’s a reality that many people face from leadership. If you currently have manual processes that are eating up your bandwidth, that’s bandwidth you could be spending on doing impactful work.
Take what budget you’ve squeezed from your audit and allocate those funds to platforms that can automate your most time-consuming tasks. Manual processes also put you at high-risk for human error. If we were to take leave of absence management as a very convenient example, tracking and storing sensitive information in spreadsheets and email threads is a recipe for administrative catastrophe. Not just in the time and effort it takes to administer one leave, but you also could be creating costly compliance risks for your organization or missing out on employees applying for state benefits.
In this case, a comprehensive leave management solution not only frees up a boatload of time, it also reduces risk and can save your organization money. A good way to not get your budget cut when times are tough, is to demonstrate that your team is keeping your organization protected and boosting their bottom line.
About Tilt
Tilt is leading the charge in all things leave of absence management through easy-to-use tech and human touch. Since 2017, our proprietary platform and Empathy Warriors have been helping customers make leave not suck by eliminating administrative burdens, keeping companies compliant, and providing a truly positive and supportive leave of absence experience for their people.
