As Human Resources professionals we dread this part of our job. It's one of those things that we grin and bare; take a second look at our job decription to make sure that it does not read "administrative assistant". What are those tasks? Those adminstrative tasks such as employee birthday cards, ordering flowers for employees, ordering the birthday cake for employee birthday celebrations, the list could go on and on. How do you survive slicing and serving one more birthday cake or running after senior leadership to sign one more birthday card? You're in luck. I've found some out-of-the-box ways to effectively outsource some of the administrative assistant rigmarole out of the day so more focus can be dedicatied to the real business of...well managing human resources.
1. The Monthly Birthday Cake
Small and medium size businesses tend to put a significant focus on employee birthdays. Perhaps the thought is that it creates a family enviornment or maybe people just want an excuse to eat cake. Whatever the reason might be, human resources is usually tasked with coordinating the monthly birthday bash. This drove me to a level of insanity I thought was impossible to reach. After a few months of running out to the bakery during my lunch hour, before work or after work the day before cake day, it occurred to me that there was a better way to accomplish this task that didn't involve wasting my time. The solution: Contact a few bakeries in your local area and find one that delivers. Once the bakery is selected put the cake delivery on auto pilot. Provide the bakery with the schedule of when cakes will be needed, the type of cake, how the cake should be decorated and a credit card to bill the cost of the cake and delivery to each month. The icing on the cake is that everyone is happy. Human Resources does not have to waste valueable time on a cake run. Employees will feel special having a cake delivered from a bakery. The bakery will also appreciate having a set cake order every month. Its a win-win-win situation.
2. Employee Birthday Cards:
If you find yourself hunting down your senior management team to get signatures on birthday cards every month or living in constant fear of forgetting to reorder birthday cards, you can now take a deep breath and relax. Services like Cards Remembered, take "mail monthly birthday cards" off of your to-do list. A little time is spent upfront selecting the card(s) uploading the signatures or typing the text you want included on the card, select your date and the birthday cards are done. No more signatures, mail or keeping birthday cards on hand.
Stay tunned....more tips to come in part II!
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