On top of managing people with different (and often conflicting!) demands and dispositions, most office managers also have to keep their office on budget. This means that it falls to the office manager to understand how the daily behavior of employees affects the bottom–line.
To help you manage those little things that can have such a big fiscal impact, we've provided the following tips and advice.
Trim your travel budget
Employees should book airline tickets 21 days in advance. Barring last–minute conferences or meetings, there's no reason why this shouldn't be possible for most trips. A second budget–saver is travel consolidation. If an employee is planning separate trips to the same state (or to neighboring states) over a one– or two–month span, recommend that the trips be combined into one. When two or more employees make a business trip together, suggest that they share a rental car. For Friday or Monday meetings, weekend stay–overs can save a huge amount of money on airfare.
For online travel agencies offering competitive prices, try Travelocity, Expedia, or, if the exact traveling times for a given trip are flexible, Priceline.
Eliminate expensive entertainment
Keep track of lunch expenses and discourage dining at extravagant restaurants when it's on the company tab. When throwing office parties, tap into office "fun funds"—a reserve of money that the company sets aside for festive occasions. Throwing a potluck birthday or holiday party is another effective (and team–building) way to save, especially for businesses that are still getting their financial footing. As you watch entertainment expenses, however, remember not to cut so much that employee morale suffers!
One other thought: when ordering food for the office, offer more fruits, vegetables and dips than packaged junk foods. Packaged, processed foods are generally more expensive — not to mention expansive — than their healthy counterparts.
Save on supplies
Provide employees with the essentials (business cards, pens, pencils, stapler, staples, scissors, phone, trashcan, desk, chair) and make sure that access to the supply closet is restricted. Also, look for deals such as email reminders and free delivery for orders over $50 (both of which Staples.com offers, by the way).
Get the most from your postage
Since postage costs can add up quickly, make sure that only official business material is being mailed from within the office. It's also a good idea to invest in a postage scale. Without a postage scale, some small offices develop the habit of estimating postage, which leads to rounding up, for instance, from 34 to as much as 55 cents. Yet another way to save money on mailing and postage is to sign up with an automatic package and tracking service. An auditing service will track UPS and Federal Express packages and notify you when there is a late delivery, thereby qualifying you for a late–shipping refund. Claiming late fees on deliveries could potentially save your business hundreds of dollars each year.
Start smart printing and copying habits
If you or others in the office need to print color documents, it's ultimately more affordable to buy two printers — one color and one black–and–white. Purchasing one color printer and using it to print both color and black–and–white documents will cause greater wear, which in turn will hasten the day you need to buy a replacement. Since color printers are much more expensive than grayscale printers, it's better to use them sparingly.
One other tip. To save on copying, urge your colleagues to make double–sided, rather than single–sided, copies.
Pare down cellular phone plans
Because cellular phone plans change constantly, it's a good idea to review your company's current one. If you find more favorable rates, consider switching.
Sharon Billings, an office manager at Corcoran Havlin Insurance in Boston, recommends encouraging employees within the office to sign up for networking plans together (just as a couple or members of the same family would do). Networking translates into cheaper employee–to–employee cell phone calls for a fixed monthly fee.
A final thought about cost-cutting
If you encounter resistance to money–saving initiatives, Cheryl Zalomis, an office manager at Staples.com, suggests asking your colleagues if they would spend $1000 on an airline ticket for themselves. Would they not also make double–sided copies if they were making copies at their own expense? Fortunately, developing such a personal attitude toward expenses is easier to achieve within a small business.
