The Cost of Disorganization

A few months ago I was talking with a potential client who felt that his staff didn’t have a system for handling incoming items such as paperwork, e-mail, and voice mail. He wanted to get a system set up for them, however, he expressed that a few of them were resistant. They thought that getting organized may stifle their creativity and they felt that they were “organized enough.” Their boss, however, felt that although some of them said that it didn’t bother them to spend a few minutes looking for an item on their desk, that several of those “few minutes” per day were probably adding up and costing the company money. I agreed and we took a look at the cost of disorganization calculator on my website.

We took the number of employees on his team (9) and their average wage (which including benefits was $30/hour). He then estimated the amount of time per day that his staff spent looking for information. For some it was over an hour and for some it was more like 10 or 15 minutes. We estimated that they spent an average of 30 minutes per day looking for information or not working due to the overwhelm they felt from being disorganized. When we typed in the numbers, the calculator estimated that his cost of disorganization was over $32,000 per year! Even if he had overestimated the amount of time wasted by half, his cost was at least $16,000 per year! When he looked at these numbers, it was easy to justify the cost of bringing in systems that allowed his staff to find anything in just seconds and feel peaceful and productive every time they entered their offices.

What about you and your team? Have you ever thought about the price disorganization is costing you? What about your peace of mind? When you calculate how just a few minutes a day can affect your profits, you can easily justify training on new systems via books, training seminars, or consulting services.

Calculate your numbers at www.organize2optimize.com and let me know your results. Good luck! Have a wonderful month!

Nicole