It is getting harder to run a business for a profit. We are faced with rising costs, lowered demand etc. Our businesses have to be super effective just to keep up.

But:

* How many more benefits are possible?

* Will pay increases increase effectiveness?

* Do more benefits really cause workers to produce more?

Well there is a way to increase productivity without increasing your Overhead.

We deal with doctors every day. And the number one complaint the doctors get from their patients is that their job is making them sick. And they aren't far from the truth.

No I'm not saying YOU are making them sick. Their work environment is making them sick.

Examples:

1. We had one office where the bosses turned off the air conditioner at 5PM on Friday. They turned it on Monday at 8AM. All the workers were sick until noon on Monday.

That's 10% of the work week was spent doing nothing but sitting around complaining.

We asked the bosses to leave the air handler on over the weekend. NOT the air conditioning, just the fan. This was to keep the air moving through the HVAC filter. The stuff the filter kept out of the air was causing workers sinuses to hurt. It was giving everyone a headache.

Under the old cost cutting procedure ( turning off the HVAC), it was taking till noon for the filters to catch up to the air quality level it was on Friday at 5PM. When the levels did reach that point everyone felt better and work continued.

But now the problem was eliminated! The bosses got an immediate 10% increase in work without paying a penny for it. Sure they used 50 cents more electricity. And some bosses will gladly lose $1,000's of dollars in work to save 50 cents in electricity. But some people don't care if the business makes a profit as long as they LOOK like they are cutting costs.

This isn't the only example of how the health of a building cuts worker efficiency/effectiveness.

2. We had one business where the walls were covered with mold, especially behind the pictures and calenders.

Everyone bickered and complained about headaches etc ALL week long. Management was constantly talking to someone from the Union about some complaint or another. Workers were constantly taking sick leave. Employee clumsiness was costing a fortune in copying machine and other mechanical repairs.

After cleaning up the mold, the workplace turned into heaven.

The point of this article is that the work environment has a direct effect on worker productivity. Don't hire more workers, take care of the workers you already have. Give them a clean healthy place to work. And just changing janitors won't help.

For 30 years, Dr Graham has been helping people treat and prevent disease by showing them how to live in a clean environment. http://www.tennesseemold.com DrGraham@themoldlab.com