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Injuries in the United States present significant economic costs, impacting not just the healthcare system but also productivity levels across various sectors. Every year, millions of Americans sustain injuries that require medical treatment, rehabilitation, and often long periods of recovery. The direct healthcare costs associated with treating these injuries are substantial, but they only represent a portion of the total economic burden. Indirect costs such as lost wages, reduced productivity, and the need for long-term care or disability support further compound the financial impact on individuals, families, and society as a whole.

The role of personal injury lawyers emerges as critical in the landscape of injury-related economic costs. These legal professionals advocate for the injured parties, striving to secure compensation that reflects the true extent of the financial losses incurred. The compensation sought typically includes medical expenses, lost income, and other damages such as pain and suffering. Personal injury lawyers operate within a complex legal framework, balancing the rights of their clients with the due process of law.

Economic analyses that account for injury-related costs play an essential role in shaping public health policies and prevention strategies. By understanding the financial consequences of injuries, policymakers and stakeholders can allocate resources more effectively to mitigate risks and enhance safety measures. Such analyses also underscore the necessity for adequate insurance coverage and reinforce the value of legal expertise in navigating post-injury financial claims. Despite the challenge of quantifying non-economic damages, the economic evaluation of injuries provides a clearer picture of the true cost to individuals and the economy.

Assessing Direct Costs of Injuries

When quantifying the economic impact of injuries in the United States, direct costs offer a tangible measure of the financial burden on both individuals and society. These expenditures stem from immediate medical care, long-term recovery, loss of productivity, and associated legal processes.

Healthcare Expenses

The initial healthcare expenses cover emergency services, hospitalization, surgeries, medications, and medical devices. For example, a broken limb may result in costs for an emergency room visit, X-rays, casting, and follow-up appointments. These costs vary significantly based on the severity of the injury and the required level of care.

Productivity Losses

Injuries often lead to an absence from work, reducing an individual's economic output. Data show that severe injuries can result in weeks or even months of lost wages. The table below illustrates estimated productivity losses per injury type:

Injury Type Estimated Productivity Loss
Minor 1-3 weeks
Moderate 4-8 weeks
Severe 8+ weeks

Post-acute care, including physical therapy and occupational therapy, is necessary for many injury recoveries. Costs can accumulate over time, depending on the duration and frequency of rehabilitation sessions needed to regain functionality and return to daily activities.

Legal and Administrative Fees

Legal costs arise when injuries lead to litigation. A personal injury lawyer might represent an individual in court to recover damages. In addition to attorney fees, there are court costs and other administrative expenses related to processing insurance claims and disputes. These fees can constitute a substantial portion of the economic impact, especially in cases with contested liability.

Exploring Indirect Costs and Long-Term Impacts

The economic toll of injuries extends beyond immediate medical expenses, encompassing a range of indirect costs and long-term financial impacts that affect individuals, families, and society at large.

Quality of Life Alterations

Injuries often lead to significant quality of life changes for individuals. These can include long-term disability, chronic pain, or reduced mobility. For instance, a spinal cord injury may necessitate home modifications or specialized transportation, both of which entail substantial expenses.

• Home modifications: $10,000 - $100,000+

• Specialized transportation: $20,000 - $60,000+

Loss of Employment and Earnings Potential

Injury can disrupt one's career trajectory, resulting in a loss of earnings. For example, a construction worker suffering a debilitating injury could experience:

• Immediate earnings loss: $30,000 - $60,000 annually

• Career advancement disruption: Potential loss of $500,000+ over a lifetime

Psychological Effects of Injuries

Injuries can lead to long-lasting psychological effects, such as depression and anxiety, which may incur costs due to therapy and medication. The average yearly cost for psychological therapy could range from:

• $1,200 - $3,600 for mild cases

• $6,000+ for severe cases

Household and Societal Costs

The burden of injuries also affects households and the broader society. Households may face increased childcare costs or loss of a caregiver's contributions, and at the societal level, there are costs associated with loss of productivity and increased insurance premiums.

• Childcare cost increase: $5,000 - $15,000 annually

• Productivity loss (societal): $60 billion - $80 billion annually

However, staying productive amidst the demands of legal practice can be challenging.

Fortunately, it’s not impossible. In this blog, we discuss a few valuable tips and strategies that can help lawyers enhance their productivity and streamline their workflow. So, buckle up, and let’s get started.

#1 - Prioritise and organise

One of the key factors in maintaining productivity is effective prioritization and organization. Start each day by outlining your tasks and setting clear priorities. Identify urgent matters, deadlines, and critical client needs.

Utilize tools such as to-do lists, calendars, or task management applications to keep track of your assignments and deadlines. By organizing your workload, you can ensure never to miss a deadline again.

Apart from this, it’s also advisable to employ the right tools, such as law firm billing software. With the right billing software, you can automate your invoice-generation process, track billable hours and make the most out of every minute you spend working.

#2 - Time management

Time management is crucial for lawyers to optimize their productivity. Implement techniques such as time blocking, where you allocate specific time slots for different tasks and activities.

Apart from this, minimize distractions by creating a dedicated workspace where you turn off unnecessary notifications and set boundaries to focus on the tasks at hand. Additionally, consider using time-tracking tools or timers to monitor and analyze how you spend your time.

The law firm billing software we mentioned in the previous section can help with this.

#3 - Delegate and collaborate

To make the most of your time, it’s important to accept that you can’t do everything alone.

Developing the skill of delegation is crucial for lawyers. So, identify tasks that can be effectively assigned to paralegals, legal assistants, or support staff. This will allow you to focus on high-value and complex matters.

Apart from this, effective collaboration with colleagues can also help boost your productivity while working. Law firm managers and owners should foster a culture of teamwork and open communication, encouraging sharing of ideas and expertise.

Utilize collaboration tools and platforms to streamline your communications, document sharing, and workflow management tasks.

With the help of collective skills and resources within your firm, you can achieve optimum productivity and deliver exceptional results for your clients.

#4 - Continuous learning and skill development

Investing in your professional growth is essential for maintaining productivity and relevance in the legal field.

To stay updated, make it a priority to stay informed about the latest legal developments, industry trends, and technological advancements. Engage in continuous learning by attending webinars, conferences, and workshops to expand your knowledge and network with peers.

Acquiring new skills, such as proficiency in legal research software or law firm billing software, will also help you enhance your efficiency. By embracing ongoing education and skill development, you can position yourself as a valuable asset within your firm and deliver exceptional services to your clients.

#5 - Streamline document management

Efficient document management is crucial for lawyers to maintain productivity. Implementing a well-organized and searchable filing system for digital and physical documents is essential.

Using suitable document management tools that enable easy retrieval and sharing of files can significantly reduce hassle and increase efficiency. Moreover, a law firm's billing software with document management systems can also offer seamless access to billing records, invoices, and client information.

This integration can streamline workflow processes, eliminate the need for manual document handling, and ensure accurate billing and financial management.

By adopting efficient document management practices and utilizing integrated software solutions, lawyers can boost productivity and focus more on delivering exceptional legal services.

#6 - Take regular breaks

No matter how much you crave productivity, at some point in time, it’s crucial to realize that we are humans and can’t work all the time.

Recognize your body’s need for revitalizing regular breaks and take it easy for some time.

To improve your resting experience, you can also engage in activities that promote relaxation and reduce stress. It’s important to prioritize self-care by incorporating exercise, nutritious meals, and adequate sleep into your routine.

By attending to your physical and mental well-being, you can enhance your focus, stimulate creativity, and boost overall productivity. Remember, a balanced and rejuvenated mind is better equipped to tackle challenges and deliver optimal results.

Wrapping up

Staying productive as a lawyer requires a combination of effective strategies, tools, and habits. By prioritizing tasks, managing their time, delegating responsibilities, and continuously learning, lawyers can enhance their productivity and deliver better results.

Embracing these tips and maintaining a balanced approach to work and personal well-being is crucial for long-term success in the legal profession. 

The common misconception about productivity is that it relates to staff apathy, but this is not what productivity measures. Instead, productivity improvements are created through investment in technology, supporting staff and considering new ways of working. Here, we take a look at some of the things that Finance Directors can do to boost productivity.

Process Automation

Business process automation is becoming one of the most popular and important forms of digitisation. The simple premise behind process automation is taking business procedures that take a lot of repetitive manual effort from human staff, and transferring those tasks to software and other technology. 

Naturally, there are a number of simple and repetitive tasks that take a lot of effort from finance department workers. So the move to automate these processes can save staff a significant amount of time. This frees them up to take on tasks that are more functionally valuable and productive for the company as a whole. 

Artificial Intelligence

While process automation is one form of digitisation that has become important to the finance department - it is also crucial to look at emerging technologies and possibilities. One area that Finance Directors really need to be investigating is artificial intelligence. Transformative technologies such as machine-learning algorithms and natural language tools can not be easily implemented. 

One overlooked area in terms of finance is the power of AI chatbots. These can save members of the team a great deal of time in explaining concepts and simple details to people who have questions. Of course, when the chatbots aren’t able to answer a question it can be passed on to a member of the team. But for simple queries, it can save a lot of time and boost productivity.

Invest In Cybersecurity

The finance team can be at risk from something known as Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks. BEC attacks are often designed to trick members of the finance team and therefore disrupt processes. “BEC is a specialist type of phishing attack that is becoming increasingly prevalent,” says Simon Monahan of cybersecurity specialists Redscan, “BEC attacks are designed to impersonate senior executives and trick employees, customers or vendors into wiring payment for goods or services to alternate bank accounts.” 

As well as being frustrating to deal with, the threat of this type of attack can significantly reduce productivity, as members of the team have to confirm identities even before processing payments from familiar people. Investing in cybersecurity can minimise this risk and free up valuable staff time. 

Focus On Morale

It is often underestimated just how important morale is to a finance department’s efficiency and productivity. The world has gone through the Covid-19 pandemic and come out of the other side with many things changed. Finance Directors must recognise this and accept that they might need to do something to help refocus and improve the morale of staff. 

It is no controversy to say that when staff are happy and feel good about what they are doing, they can be more productive and efficient. This could be something as simple as ensuring more regular meetings between members of staff, overhauling how the department works, and ensuring that staff feel comfortable with any changes. 

Embrace Remote Working

With finance departments operating remotely now as the new norm, many businesses are finding that their productivity levels have increased. With flexible working patterns, employees enjoy the balance of hybrid working.

Some companies choose not to move in that direction, preferring staff to work at the office wherever possible. If you are in this position, it is important to recognise the benefits of promoting remote working. 

It is necessary not only to invest in technology and software to help finance teams become more productive but also to thoroughly consider processes and adapt well to new ways of working. Many businesses evolve their finance processes not through striving for perfection, but simply because things need to get done. Examine your finance team’s procedures and look for opportunities to improve. 

About the author: Annie Button is a professional content writer and branding aficionado.

How To Boost Your Employees Productivity And Connectivity

Companies take several steps to increase their productivity and connectivity. However, only a few of them have been successful. Let us take a look at some smart ideas that help improve employees' productivity and connectivity.

Open Communication

Employees always want to feel valued and appreciated. Open communication between employers and employees is the first step towards achieving this. The company must set up several platforms that allow employees to directly communicate their views to the management. There are several ways by which this can be done, one of them being setting up an anonymous suggestion box where staff members are free to submit an idea or opinion they have regarding work-related issues. TeamSense, a Fortune 500 industrial technology company, fully acquired by Fortive, uses brilliant products and services that connect your workforce and help you work more productively. Through its scientifically proven, cloud-based technology platform built on real science, Fortive's TeamSense helps companies drive accountability and engagement across their global workforce.

Another way of promoting open communication is by holding regular town halls where staff members can directly pose their queries or ask any question they might have in mind. This will create a more relaxed environment and help staff members build stronger relationships with employers.

Handling Distractions

Distractions from work are something that every employee suffers from. It ranges from gossiping with co-workers to checking out social media accounts or even just getting up for a cup of coffee. These little distractions might seem harmless, but they do have a very negative impact on employees' productivity and concentration levels. The best way to handle these distractions is to instil a strict no-distraction policy at your workplace, which applies to all staff members. You can even go one step further and implement a reward system where staff members get awarded for completing their work without any distraction.

The company can also put a rule where employees cannot use their mobile phones or check social media during office hours. You can even implement a cell phone policy where you ban mobile phones from 8 am to 5 pm. This will give them quality time with family and friends post-work hours, which is beneficial for both employees and employers.

Structure Of Working Space

Another important factor that influences the productivity of your employees is the structure of their workspace. A workplace where employees are exposed to distractions throughout the day will harm their concentration and the number of hours they put in for work. A study was taken up by an Australian research company on this matter and clearly shows how open spaces such as coffee shops, libraries and even common rooms affect employees' productivity. This is why it is of utmost importance that you allocate proper space to each employee to work comfortably without being exposed to distractions.

Taking Breaks

Employees are not machines who can work continuously for 7-8 hours non-stop without any distraction or break. They require breaks between their work, which will help them re-energise and put in maximum effort when they resume their task. These little breaks also reduce the chances of employees getting stressed out. For instance, a study conducted by an online news agency shows that employees who take five minute breaks every hour are 46% more productive than those who do not take any breaks at all. Productivity is directly proportional to the number of hours employees put in for work. Employees must be given tasks according to their abilities, and more importantly, they must be able to complete the task with full efficiency and satisfaction.

Encouraging Teamwork

Working in a team will increase your productivity because you will draw inspiration from your co-workers. One way of increasing teamwork is by increasing the physical interaction between employees. The company should organise activities that encourage face to face interactions between employees. Such activities do not have to be related to work at all. They can be as simple as organising a picnic or a potluck dinner where everyone brings something different. This will enhance team-building and increase productivity levels because ideas are exchanged easily in such an environment, which leads to increased creativity among staff members.

Offering Rewards

Rewards do not mean money or time off. Employees who are appreciated for their work will put in extra effort to reciprocate that appreciation. There are several ways through which this can be done, one of them being offering bonuses based on the performance of individual employees over a while or setting up monthly prizes for employees who demonstrate maximum productivity. This will encourage other employees to strive for excellence and increase their performance. Therefore, managers should take care of their employees and praise them when due. They must also show that they value their workers by rewarding them on special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries and even a job well done. The rewards can be anything from a small token gift to a personalised message.

Encouraging Learning

Employees are constantly looking to learn new things. They are always on the lookout for up-gradation in learning something new, something that will increase their knowledge base. This is why there must be a clear policy that encourages learning amongst employees. Employees should be encouraged to attend conferences or seminars that have nothing to do with work so they can broaden their horizons concerning knowledge. This will increase their job satisfaction levels and allow them to work efficiently at high rates.

Final Thoughts

High employee productivity will reflect on the results of work done by them, which will fetch good profits for the company. The effectiveness of the suggestions mentioned above depends largely on the person who has to use them. Hence, managers need to adopt these suggestions as per their requirements and effectively implement them to be motivated and enjoy a healthy work environment.

Thankfully, improving your team’s efficiency and productivity doesn’t need to be difficult. There are many ways that you can give your team a productivity boost, and in this article, you will find out what they are.

Productivity Monitoring

Implementing productivity monitoring software is an effective way of improving your team’s overall productivity. The reason for this, by tracking employees and monitoring their productivity, you put them under a magnifying glass. This puts pressure on them to work harder because they know you are watching. Ultimately, the added pressure will improve their productivity and increase the amount of work that they do during the working day. When they know that their job is on the line and you can see everything that they’re doing, your team will be less likely to slack off and be lazy at work.

Proper Communication

Properly communicating with your staff is crucial if you want them to increase their overall productivity. Unfortunately, poor communication is common in many businesses. You need to ensure that your team managers communicate effectively, which you can do by having them participate in training courses and monitoring their communication. You should try to create a culture of openness in your company, so when staff aren’t communicating effectively, team members feel comfortable approaching you and bringing this up. When your staff know exactly what they are doing and overall communication is strong, they will work harder. Make sure you communicate effectively to managerial staff also, so that they know what tasks they are meant to delegate.

Strengths And Weaknesses

You need to take the time to identify your team member’s strengths and weaknesses. If you don’t know who’s good at what you won’t be able to effectively distribute work. You can identify your team members by having them participate in training courses and completing tests. You can also sit down with them and get them to tell you what they think they are good at. If you don’t have the time to individually interview your staff, then you could consider sending a survey around for your staff to complete.

Team Building

Colleagues sat talking on benchTeam building exercises are a great way of improving your team’s overall productivity. When your team works together well, they can get more done and will be more productive. Encouraging communication, friendship, and professionalism in your team are very important. If they do not get along and don’t communicate well, they will not be able to perform well. Team building exercises in addition to out of work get-togethers (Christmas dinners, etc), can be very effective in boosting overall efficiency and productivity. You can also hold training courses online through platforms like Zoom.

Culture Of Friendliness

Creating a culture of friendliness in your company is crucial if you want your team to work well together. As mentioned in the previous point, a team that gets along well will work harder, better, and will be more productive. Creating a culture of friendliness isn’t easy but is important. You can do this by following our previous steps, as well as creating a cafeteria inside your office so that your staff can eat together. Team building exercises, as suggested earlier, can also encourage your staff to get along and work together.

Incentivise Hard Work

Some bosses find that incentivising hard work by offering bonuses is a good way to boost productivity. This is especially true if you are offering wage bonuses during the Christmas period, as well as extra time off. Some companies even offer their staff physical prizes, like iPads and computers, to team members who work the hardest. Incentivising hard work is a great way to encourage your staff to work harder, although it can be an expensive method. You could also introduce an employee of the month system and offer prizes to staff members who achieve employee of the month several months in a row.

Make Work Convenient

Due to the pandemic, many staff are now accustomed to working from home. If you want your staff to work harder and be more productive then you will definitely benefit from making your team’s lives easier, by allowing them to work from home. In addition, make sure to give your staff the latest technology and software, so they can complete their jobs more efficiently.

Boosting your team’s productivity doesn’t need to be difficult. In fact, by following this article’s guidance, your team will be more productive than ever.

Even small businesses can achieve massive feats when people go the extra mile with their productivity. But you cannot expect it to happen by itself as employees tend to go slack when not supervised or motivated. The decline may be deliberate or unintentional, but low productivity always hurts the employer in more than one way.

As a business owner, you will need to invest in your team and drive them to achieve more with less. It may take some effort, but there is no other way to boost people and get your business ahead. A positive mindset and motivational approach give you a good start, but they are not enough to boost your workforce. You need to realise that technology is the driving force that makes a real difference, and investing in it is non-negotiable. Let us explain how you can leverage technology to build a productive workforce for your business.

Empowering with flexibility

Flexibility makes people productive, and it is all the more crucial in the remote work era. The right technology solutions empower your team to work from anywhere and anytime. You cannot expect to survive and thrive without implementing these solutions. They enable workers to connect and collaborate with each other and the clients, no matter the constraints of location and time. A flexible workforce aces on all fronts, including productivity. They also feel motivated because a flexible approach breeds trust. Let them work their own way, and they will give extra effort to do their best. Moreover, it is no longer a choice for businesses in pandemic times. Learn to live with flexibility, and productivity will grow organically.

Automating time-tracking

Employees often lose track at work because they get distracted or take extended breaks, sometimes unintentionally. The problem seems like a small one, but the implications of lost time are far-reaching. Thankfully, you can rely on apps to automate time-tracking to keep an eye on people. They are significant right now as people work from home and there are more chances of wasting time when away from physical supervision. Once you have these solutions in place, employees become more conscious, and you can save hundreds of work hours every month. They can even help employees to keep a check on their performance and do their bit for the employer. Time-tracking apps are a small investment that takes your business a long way.

Simplifying small tasks

When it comes to making your workforce more productive, you must start at the most basic level. Consider investing in technologies that simplify the smallest of the daily tasks at work. You can provide relevant tools to handle these tasks. Just imagine the problems employees can face when they have too many temporary files on their work devices. It sounds like a small issue, but the extra files can slow down the system and hamper the workflow significantly. Eventually, it will affect their productivity too. A simple cleanup tool can resolve the concern in minutes and get devices back to work seamlessly. Choose simple tools people can use without help.

Bolstering employee engagement

A happy workforce is bound to be more productive and efficient. So employee engagement is a worthy investment for any business. You can invest in engagement apps and gain in the form of a positive impact on work output. Several organisations are already leveraging gamification solutions to engage teams and foster healthy competition among people. As employees invest extra efforts to gain points, their productivity gets a boost. Similarly, feedback solutions go a long way in enhancing the engagement of the workforce. They let people know where they stand and how they can improve their performance with the adoption of the right measures.

Ramping up training initiatives

If productivity is your top priority, you need to have effective training initiatives for your team. The idea is to enhance their skills over time so that they deliver more and better. Once again, workplace technology can play a significant role in employee training. You can leverage high-end learning management systems to train through simulative technologies. Many businesses are also using simulative apps that leverage Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality to deliver lifelike learning experiences to the employees. Remote training is another area where technology emerges as a saviour right now.

Building a productive team should be a priority for every business, even if it takes effort and investment. It becomes all the more crucial at this point when organisations need to optimise resources and cut down costs. Technology takes you a step ahead with the initiative, so you must pick the right solutions to empower your workforce at the earliest. You will soon realise that technology pays for itself, so the investment is worthwhile. 

Whenever we reach a new patamar in information technology, its first commercial application is usually in the sphere of accounting. This was as true for the development of spreadsheets in the 1970s with Visicalc, as it was for ERP programs in the 1990s with the dawn of widely available internet, as it has been for a plethora of accounting software tools that have taken advantage of cloud computing over the past decade.  

The principal reason why accountants have been so fast to innovate in technology is probably because there’s always a new pain point for their profession to address. In the beginning, that meant invoice processing and calculation. These days it can mean anything from sophisticated auditing software to collaboration tools. 

The following are just some of the ways in which accounting software improves the lives of small business owners and their accounts on a daily basis. 

1. Increases productivity 

At its most basic, the goal of the first computer was to compute more productively. This is essentially a synonym for accounting more productively. Accountants were arguably the biggest early beneficiaries of advances in information technology. The academic James Kwak has said of Microsoft Excel, which at its heart is an accounting program: “Microsoft Excel is one of the greatest, most powerful, most important software applications of all time.”

Excel is just one facet of a much larger pool, however. There’s also Intuit’s QuickBooks, first released in 1998, and now used by over 5.6 million businesses in the United States. Most of those businesses are run by entrepreneurs with only a cursory knowledge of accounting. Modern accounting software of the likes of Excel and QuickBooks means that’s all they need. Multiply 5.6 million by man-hours saved, and you start to get a feel for the scale for the productivity generated by these tools. 

2. Saves Costs 

Closely aligned to accounting software’s ability to increase productivity, is its capacity to save costs. Most digital accounting tools aimed at the mass market are now marketed through subscription models, whereby small businesses can expect to pay a few hundred dollars per annum for a service that once cost them tens of thousands of dollars per year. The payroll function offered by Sage is a case in point. 

Most businesses lease at least some of their equipment and machinery, which involves complex lease contacts, replete with terms and conditions. Trullion is a lease accounting automation software that uses AI to extract the relevant data from these contracts, exporting it to the company’s ledgers, workflows, and report functions. The time savings for financial teams and external auditors - who can click on the data in these reports and be brought directly back to the original contract - is huge.

3. Enables Collaboration 

As mentioned at the outset of this article, accounting software was one of the first software applications to enjoy the benefits of cloud computing. Companies, finance teams, and auditors can now all be connected to the same documents in real-time. Thanks to the cloud, every transaction and the corresponding journal entry can be viewed by the relevant stakeholders, thus leading to a level of transparency and collaboration that simply didn’t exist before. Tools offered by FreshBooks and Financial Force are just two such examples.

4. Reduces Errors 

There is not an accountant alive today that is not familiar with error messages like #REF!, #NUM!, and #VALUE! in their spreadsheet calculations. Without software, most of these errors would continue to exist - at least in the short-term, while the accountants grappled to understand why their balance sheet wasn’t balancing, or why changes made in the debt schedule weren’t being reflected in the financial statements. 

Finding and reducing accounting errors is the bread and butter of accounting software. And while this is largely taken for granted, it generates huge value. If we equate small errors with essentially being poor quality data, we can put a figure on this. Research conducted by Gartner suggests that the average financial impact of poor quality data on an organisation is $9.7 million per year. The aforementioned examples of Trullion and QuickBooks are prime examples of where human error is minimised thanks to the functionality of the tool.

5. Generates Insight 

Taking all these points together, we’re led to accounting software’s greatest contribution to any business: the insight it provides. It is uncontroversial to suggest that, thanks to accounting software, millions of business owners now have a better handle on their company’s finances than ever before. Financial statements are easier to interpret. Budgets are easier to construct and analyse after the fact. And accurate Pro-forma statements are easier to project. This is the difference that accounting software can make to your business.

To improve performance, financial services firms must first assess their most successful salespeople to get a better understanding of what they do. Once employers have this reliable information from staff assessments, they can replicate these “winning behaviors” through training and support. Lars Pedersen, CEO of Questionmark, explains how this can be done and why it is vital for firms' continued growth.

What’s the issue?

Research shows that 50% of financial services salespeople expect to miss their targets. Yet, many salespeople believe that the targets they were set were reasonable.

While some salespeople may be performing well, many may be underperforming, despite the money that financial services firms often invest in training.

What’s the solution?

Often, the most successful salespeople have clear behaviors and activities that mean they sell more. They spend much of their time focusing on researching prospects, preparing proposals, and prioritising leads. Just under a third (32%) of a financial services salesperson’s time is spent on direct selling.

The factors that make a sales team successful will differ from employer to employer, but one factor is common: the majority of sales will come from a minority of high-performing salespeople. So, by assessing what these high performers do that others don’t through staff tests, employers can begin to understand what works and what doesn’t. They can then replicate good habits and successful strategies through training across all of their sales teams.

How can employers replicate winning behaviors? 

Staff tests are an effective way of measuring employees’ skills through tracking progress and performance. By measuring progress, employers can help improve it. So, employers can use online skills assessments and surveys of the top-performing salespeople to identify successful strategies and distill good habits.

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By using assessments in this way, financial services firms can see which crucial skills are missing from the rest of their sales teams. This can inform their decisions on training and how to support underperforming team members. Further tests can check that revised training programs are working.

As well as assessing their staff, financial services firms can conduct online tests across the entire sales operation, including channel partners. They can adapt the content of training programs to ensure that those representing their firm and product exhibit the skills and strategies that create success.

Meeting regulations

Assessments can also help employers discover whether salespeople know and follow relevant regulations.

By testing salespeople’s knowledge of and attitudes towards regulation, firms can build a culture of compliance, ensure their sales teams follow the rules, and avoid regulatory breaches.

Creating an impact

Crystalising the qualities of strong performers is important in industries that are struggling with a skills shortage, such as financial services. Firms must ensure teams have the skills to thrive. But 70% of financial services CEOs believe that the limited availability of skills is a threat to growth.

So, when the financial services industry is changing so rapidly, getting a clearer understanding of why some salespeople perform well, and others don’t, is crucial.

Gaining such understanding from staff tests could make a difference to individual, team, and firm performance.

Mark White, Financial Performance Management Specialist at MHR Analytics, outlines the steps financial specialists must take to keep projects from falling short.

It may come as a surprise, but research shows technology accounts for less than 1% of financial transformation failures.

Unfortunately, technology is often used as the scapegoat when the promised benefits fail to accrue from a major project. The reality is that most transformations fall short because neither an organisation’s leadership, nor its employees have developed the necessary growth mindset.

It’s here that the role of the CFO is critical in financial transformation. Firstly, to sell the transformation vision to the C-level executives and secondly, to empower and encourage the finance team and make them central to the journey. When the CFO knows the team is ready for change and understands the benefits, he or she has greater confidence in taking on the risk of transformation. Because employees let go of the past, they change with less resistance and become productive in the new situation.

At the outset it is important for the CFO to have a clear vision of what the organisation is trying to achieve and deliver. This is where the use of external expertise can make a significant contribution, helping understand the ‘art of the possible’.

Once this is understood, the organisation should set a realistic scope and matching expectations, taking small, manageable steps rather than trying to “boil the ocean”. Remember, transformation is an ongoing process and it should have no time limits.

At the outset it is important for the CFO to have a clear vision of what the organisation is trying to achieve and deliver.

As well as having the right mindset, devoting enough time to focus on transformation through strategising, training and delivering can also be a major cause of project failure. It is important to prioritise the use of internal expertise to deliver transformation, encouraging input and buy-in. But when the required know-how is absent internally it will be necessary to seek external help.

We can summarise the journey to financial transformation in a three-step process.

Step 1 – set a vision

The CFO and the finance team should set the vision. Finance teams should consider where they want to be on the scale that goes from bean-counters to strategists. It’s worth canvassing the organisation for its perceptions as a starting point.

Then teams need to get into the nitty-gritty of each process, identifying where there are inefficiencies, potential barriers and what their impact will be. Some limitations may be around systems and technologies or available resources and skills. Identifying the future impact on resource and skill-sets may be difficult at this early stage, but it is worth the effort.

From here the team should set out a high-level plan for transformation, mapping key steps and quick wins, quantifying benefits, and calculating an outline cost. External expertise may well be necessary to achieve this. The output from these efforts is a strategic finance transformation plan that the CFO should sell to the CEO and the board.

Step 2 - select a technology platform and partner

Pull together detailed requirements, platform restrictions and a deployment methodology. This will result in a selection process to identify the technology platform and partner that best suits your needs.

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Step 3 - start with quick wins and then move on

The transformation team should now look for quick wins because it is critical to build confidence and momentum in the early stages. Starting with process improvements to free key staff to deliver further transformation. Once the foundations are in place, the finance team can start to effect change in the organisation, improving perceptions of its role.

Conclusion

Transformation, like time, never stops, but it does not have to start with a Big Bang event that causes shockwaves in an organisation. The transformation journey needs to begin with setting a vision for the CFO and finance team. Once this is in place, an organisation should select a technology platform and partner for delivery. Finally, it must deliver transformation as an ongoing initiative, using external expertise for guidance when required. This is the three-step approach that makes financial transformation far more likely to deliver success for the finance team and the organisation it serves. It should no longer be necessary to blame the technology.

Peter Ryding, founder of Vicyourcoach.com and award-winning CEO mentor, discusses the prevalence of imposter syndrome in the financial sector and how it can be tackled.

The impact of COVID-19 will be felt for a long time, materially and psychologically. COVID-19 is not a leveller. It is divisive in who and how it strikes and in its wider impacts.

July has seen a record-breaking spike in unemployment and the sharpest economic downturn in living memory with the IMF predicting global GDP will shrink by nearly 5% this year.

McKinsey foresees a dramatic impact on mental health.  As witnessed after the 2007-08 global financial crash, depression and anxiety escalated coupled with alcohol and drug use. Suicides rose by 13% with an estimated 46,000 lives lost due to unemployment and income stress.

COVID-19, however, has more in its armoury than previous financial crises. Aside from financial concerns, lockdown isolation and profound uncertainty around ‘new normal’ working environments are likely to create significant and far-reaching mental health issues.

For both humane and commercial reasons, business leaders should be alarmed and ready to act. Mental health is highly correlated with productivity. According to The Mental Health Foundation, addressing wellbeing in the workplace increases productivity by as much as 12%. And that’s during ‘normal times’. The immediate hit to productivity now and in the near future is likely to be considerably greater.

Mental health is highly correlated with productivity.

So, now is undoubtedly the time for strong, resilient and compassionate leadership. Clarity of leadership and practical support are both needed over the months and years ahead.

However, in recent discussions with CEOs and CFOs, unsurprisingly, I have seen a huge increase in stress and self-belief and confidence have taken a hit. Not only are they tackling some of the biggest challenges they have ever had to face but also facing their own job security and safety concerns. Finance in particular has been in the eye of the storm, navigating their organisations through the tumult, safeguarding and advising on financial stability and integrity.

Through my work as a coach to CEOs and boards, I know that confidence and resilience are often skin deep. Impostor syndrome is widespread.

Perhaps this should come as no surprise? The most severe cases of imposter syndrome are often observed in sectors which recruit and promote overachievers and demand the highest standards. Finance is a classic example with long hours as standard and a tough competitive culture. To be noticed, employees have to continuously outperform and work even harder than their peers so it’s unsurprising that they often suffer chronic self-doubt. Add COVID pressures into the mix and it's a recipe for a mental health tsunami.

Even the most outwardly confident and successful executives live in fear of being exposed. Which is why ‘self-confidence’, ‘overcoming self-limiting beliefs’ and ‘resilience’ are some of the most requested skills within VIC, the e-coaching and e-learning platform I founded.

What is impostor syndrome, and how does it affect the financial sector?

Imposter syndrome is a pattern of behaviour where people doubt their success and accomplishments despite strong evidence to the contrary. Impostor syndrome not only affects mental and physical wellbeing, it also negatively impacts performance, productivity and proactivity. It stymies innovation and restrains bold leadership. By sapping self-confidence and self-esteem, it can prevent you from achieving your potential and block the organisation reaching its goals.

People exhibiting traits of imposter syndrome have an internalised fear of being exposed as a fraud. Indicators include being a workaholic, being a perfectionist, never asking for help and needing to know everything yet never knowing enough. These traits are often encouraged and rewarded in the finance.

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According to recent research nearly 60% of workers in accountancy, banking and finance have experienced imposter syndrome and whilst both men and women experience it, women seem to suffer more than men. A 2019 report by Access Commercial Finance found two-thirds of women had experienced feeling like a fraud in the previous 12 months and only half of men. Disparities still exist in female representation at senior levels in the financial services sector. Whilst 44% of the workforce are women, they make up only a third of senior management. External validation alleviates imposter feelings and a lack of inclusion, role models and positive support reinforces self-doubt.

So, what can you do to overcome impostor syndrome?

For some, impostor feelings are fleeting, and for others they are persistent. There are practical measures you can take against them. For example:

Actions to address impostor syndrome in your organisation

Impostor syndrome negatively impacts the success of your whole organisation. So, take positive action to address it.

We want to reach out and help businesses, teams and employees during these extraordinary times by offering VIC for free. VIC gives an interactive ‘coach in your pocket’ for all employees with self-coaching tools and thousands of hours of multi-media content to help with self-confidence, stress, resilience and a host of other personal and business skills.

Is it time to consider how recent changes to our working habits, previously thought of as radical, may have set the example for how we will work in future? As the supposed importance of 9-5 hours is eroded, and with World Productivity Day just around the corner on 20 June, it seems like now is the time to consider whether greater flexibility with our working hours will lead to a more productive workforce - even in the ‘round-the-clock’ world of financial services. Daniel Bailey, Vice President, EMEA at Zendesk describes how this can be made possible.

Embracing flexi-time all the time 

With teams logging on and off at times that better suit their lives, how can financial service providers - whose industry operates across time zones and is based around set working days - be expected to become more productive?

When Microsoft trialled the four-day work week (with no reduction in pay) in Japan last year, productivity increased 40%. The reduced number of working days led employees to find ways to make meetings shorter and more effective, and subsequently, they felt happier and more motivated in their roles. Simply put, the change drove efficiency. Four-day working weeks aren’t going to become commonplace for everyone. Instead, employers can focus on making flexible hours the norm. This could mean allocating certain ‘core’ hours of work for your team, and allowing them to flex either side of this to accomodate the needs and demands of their personal lives. Offering employees this kind of flexibility can actually enhance efficiency and ensure your employees feel motivated.

When Microsoft trialled the four-day work week (with no reduction in pay) in Japan last year, productivity increased 40%.

Supporting team efficiency

If your staff are working flexibly, internal collaboration tools are one piece of the puzzle for making sure your teams are delegating and sharing work, as well as getting timely updates on progress across their disparate work hours. Financial services teams should implement intelligent tools. By doing so, clients receive advice more quickly, and without the hassle of being passed around departments. Requests received out-of-hours can be escalated if they are urgent, routed to staff who have chosen to work later or can flex their time back later on. As a result, even with fewer staff simultaneously online, communication doesn’t fall through the cracks.

Furthermore, these tools can pull data from inbound enquiries that offer insights into the work your employees spend most of their time on. Not only does this help to plan your teams’ time, but repetitive enquiries can be automated to provide round the clock, easily accessible support. A robust help desk can be built that helps your clients to find answers for themselves, providing a simpler experience for them and freeing up your employees time.

The human touch

In the financial services industry, clients want to know that their money is in safe hands. That requires personal connection, trusted account leads and employees who can demonstrate that they care about their customers. But moving to a more fluid workday doesn’t mean that this element of the client relationship is in jeopardy - it means that it must be central to what gets done in working hours.

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Considering the efficiencies mentioned above, enquiries now reach the right teams faster, and the repetitive requests are handled automatically. What remains are the most pressing concerns and queries of your customers, one where there is no alternative to human interaction to offer expertise and maintain trust.

A significant part of that trust is built on feeling valued and understood as a customer. A business equipped with the right tools can immediately see a history of the customer who has made contact, their previous issues and account information, to facilitate a genuinely helpful and personalised interaction. If multiple teams are involved in the customer’s account, it is quicker and simpler to share data from their interactions and teams, leading to timely resolutions and greater satisfaction - even in the flexible working day.

Outside of customer contact, the work time given back to your employees can be used for the creative and strategic work that boosts productivity and helps to grow the business, offering new services to your clients.

The flexible working week may sound like a pipe dream. But so did remote working at one point - yet in these unusual times, we’ve seen how resilient and capable employees can be, adapting to keep businesses running. When offered more control of their time, to focus on themselves and their personal and social commitments, and the promise of greater productivity and more rewarding work when they are in the office, working 9-5 could be the next relic from our lives before - dare we say it - the new normal.

Consolidating and standardising processes delivers benefits such as improved operational efficiencies and reduced administrative costs. But as well as improving efficiency, sharing resources also creates valuable opportunities for revenue growth. Tim Vine, Global European Head of Finance & Risk Solutions at commercial data and analytics firms Dun & Bradstreet, explains how this beneficial coordination can be achieved.

Although finance shared services are often the focus during challenging times to reduce cost or outsource operations, businesses can deliver operational efficiencies and increased productivity by moving to a shared service model.

Historically, “back office” finance functions have not been seen as growth drivers or sources of innovation. However, there is huge potential to transform the management of processes such as invoice-to-cash processes and deliver significant value to the business, rather than just being seen as a function where costs can be cut.

Steps to Implementing Finance Shared Services

To create an effective shared model, there are three recommended steps to help deliver maximum value and tangible results for the business, regardless of company size or industry.

When considering a finance shared service model, it’s important to understand your current costs, structure and processes to help measure your performance against recognised best practice and measure any improvements.

Gap Analysis

Once you have evaluated the current situation and collected feedback from various parties, further analysis is required to inform the implementation strategy. This analysis will identify any gaps between what is actually being completed versus what people believe or perceive is being delivered. Bridging these gaps between actual performance and best practices will help you establish what needs to be done to drive improvement, reduce cost and create opportunity for growth. Gap analysis is a good way to manage expectations and provide evidence to key stakeholders on what a shared services model can deliver.

Scaling Shared Services

Best-practice governance models help finance teams gather the right information for each market a business operates in to understand the legislative landscape and identify similarities (and differences) between countries or region. Where legislation is similar, there is an opportunity for a more centralised and standardised structure.

Global policies can bridge gaps across business segments, units, markets, and regions and drives consistency across finance operations planning. To perform in the most efficient way, you can scale processes so that it doesn’t matter where the teams are based. Processes from credit, collections, billing, dispute management, disbursement, or transactional accounting can be managed consistently around the world.

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Auditing Technology

To support effective implementation, it’s important to have a full view of all the systems used across the business including customer relationship management (CRM) system, general ledger platform, collections management, enterprise data management (EDM) and a business intelligence (BI) or reporting tools. A technology audit can reveal which solutions should be kept, which have global capabilities, and which are potentially no longer required. Crucially, an audit can identify which systems should be integrated or combined across functions.

The End Game: Finance Shared Services

Initiating change and gaining buy-in from decision-makers can be challenging, especially if the change impacts people and resources. The steps outlined are designed to help with the successful implementation of a finance shared services model, to increase efficiency, reduce costs, but perhaps most importantly to add value for the business and its clients.

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