3 Productivity Improvement Benefits of Greetly | i Receptionist App

Sure, an electronic visitor sign in app like Greetly makes your small office look sophisticated. And you will save thousands per year. But can an auto receptionist actually generate productivity improvement? Yes! This article explores three productivity benefits your office can achieve.

“Near the Door” Employee Productivity Improvement

“Hello? Hello? I’m here to see Barbara. Can somebody tell me where Barbara sits? Does anyone know who Barbara is?” Ever have this experience either in your office or when visiting another company?

Research shows that office distractions take up and an average of 2.1 hours per worker per day. That is valuable time that could be spent moving the organization forward, or even improving work/life balance. This is especially prevalent in open office spaces.

The first productivity improvement of Greetly is reducing distractions for employees who work near the lobby or front door. Frequently in this scenario several employees are distracted simultaneously. The visitor may only be there for a minute or two, but on average, it will take an employee 25 minutes to return to a task after the interruption. Multiply this distraction by every employee within earshot, then by the number of visitors per week (including food and package deliveries), then by the salaries of the affected employees and you will realize this is a costly impact.

Consider the following example:

Number of employees affected 3 Visitors per month 100 (4–5 per business day) Lost productivity time per employee per visitor 25 minutes Percentage of total working time impacted 26% (7,500 out of 28,800 available minutes) Average monthly salary of affected employees $4,000 ($48,000 annual salary) Cost of Interruptions $3,125 per month

Let’s compare the cost of a virtual receptionist like Greetly to the productivity improvement. With plans starting at just $49 per month, Greetly offers a 500% return on investment. Over the course of a year, “near the door” productivity savings alone will save your company tens of thousands of dollars.

Employees Focus on Higher Value Work

Many companies, especially small offices, have what we at Greetly refer to as “superhero receptionists”. For superhero receptionists, greeting visitors is just one of many, many tasks they perform to help your office run smoothly. They order supplies, fix the printer, manage conference rooms, book travel itineraries, handle customer service inquiries, finalize sales and even assist with bookkeeping — superhero receptionists do it all!

Which leads us to Greetly’s second productivity improvement benefit — allowing live office receptionists and other employees to focus on higher value work. Instead of having your receptionist or office manager be interrupted from a value-add project to assist a visitor, an auto receptionist allows them to focus on the tasks that best increase productivity.

Another scenario where Greetly increases productivity is by allowing employees to focus on higher value work is when your receptionist takes a well deserved break. At many companies, junior employees are posted at the reception desk. This takes them away from the more specialized task they were hired to do. It may even upset some employees to be pulled in different directions. Instead, Greetly can fill in for the receptionist allowing employees to focus on their highest value tasks.

Smaller Reception Area = More Office Space

Because Greetly takes up so little space, companies can dedicate less space for the lobby. There are several ways a smaller reception area can be used to boost productivity — and employee satisfaction. For example, your company can:

• Add another workstation spreading your existing lease expense over more employees.
• Create a conference room or open meeting space giving employees an additional place to collaborate.
• Add employee perks like an espresso machine, kegerator, snacks or a foosball table.

We would love to hear from you… Please let us know how Greetly led to productivity improvement in your office.

Photo credits: Fabio Comparelli and marvelousRoland

Originally published at www.greetly.com.