Is Your Office Operating at Full Capacity?

It can happen; things go can go wrong in your office, and then what happens next?

Have you thought about what would happen if your AC breaks down in the middle of summer, or your printers all crash the day before a big presentation?

This even relates to employees - what if for whatever reason someone can't get to work or can't get work done, or they quit much to your surprise - what now?

Preventative maintenance should be your friend here.

By thinking about your worst-case scenarios and even the not worst case but UGH scenarios, you can have plans in place for if these situations really do unfold.

Some would be easy fixes, like the all-night copy center down the road in case of emergency printer issues, but some may be a bit more difficult to remedy without a plan in place.

As the following article looks at, James McDonald shares some valuable insight on preventative maintenance in his piece, 7 items to consider for a well thought-out preventive maintenance strategy.

He goes over creating preventative maintenance schedules and checklists, who to refer to and who should be working together, among other pertinent information for anyone running a small business.

Don’t Forget the Human Issues

Along with the maintenance issues you may run into in your office, you have the human ones, too.

What do you do if one of your most valuable quits out of the blue? You should have a plan in place for that as well as what to do if your equipment malfunctions.

Here are some suggestions:

• Consider a counteroffer - You should think about what would you give an employee to stay. How much is it worth it to you to keep their value? Remember, though, once someone thinks of leaving, the seed has planted and will be their reliability be in question?

• Accept it and move on - Use this resignation as a time to think about if you could change things. Should you be paying employees more, offering more benefits? Is there anything you could have done differently that you could change now?

• Stay respectful - You never know what the future holds, so stay respectful of the employee who is leaving. Speak in kind regard and never bad mouth to other employees.

The smoother you make this transition, the more productive your office will stay.

Disruptions are usually never the best thing to happen, but you can all learn and move on. Step in to help out if you have to while you find someone new. Be supportive of who is still with you.

What Could Go Wrong Today?

Things can go wrong.

Each day you go into work, you never know what could go down. Whether your computers all crash, your favorite employee quits or your office floods - you should have a plan in place. That's what preventative maintenance is all about.

Do you have any great strategies you'd be willing to share?

If so, please comment below!