I recently read an article by Danielle Ofri about the “mushrooming workload” that doctors are experiencing.
There are many contributors to the increasing workload, but the biggest one in her opinion is “the electronic medical record, or E.M.R.” Dr. Ofri does recognize that there are many good things about the E.M.R and that “no one wants to go back to the old days of chasing down lost charts and deciphering inscrutable handwriting. But the data entry is mind-numbing and voluminous.”
That got me thinking about the different project management software programs which many remodeling companies are using, often transferring work that used to be done by “the office” to those working in the field.
“Primary-care doctors spend nearly two hours typing into the E.M.R for every one hour of direct patient care. Most of us are now putting in hours of additional time each day for the same number of patients.
“In a factory, if 30% more items were suddenly dropped into an assembly line, the process would grind to a halt. Imagine a plumber or lawyer doing 30% more work without billing for it.”
Actually, I think something like that might be happening in many remodeling companies. One of the reasons might be the following:
“The E.M.R is now conveniently available to log into from home. Many of my colleagues devote their weekends and evenings to spillover work. They feel they can’t sign off until…”
Until they have done a whole bunch of work that needs to be done, but they don’t have the time to do during the normal work day and week.
“I see it as a result of administrative creep. One additional task after another is piled onto the clinical staff member who can’t—and won’t—say no.”
The outcome is “burnout from chronic workplace stress.”
Dr. Ofri suggests “the health care system needs to be structured to reflect the realities of patient care.”
Take a good look at your business. I think a lot of what Dr. Ofri suggests has and is happening in the medical world is happening in remodeling companies.
Listen to your lead carpenters, project managers, superintendents, and production managers—anyone who is responsible for data entry while being responsible for bringing projects in on time and on budget, with happy clients.
They might be attempting to do more work than they can. That could lead to burned out employees, unhappy clients, and poor results.
Get real, real soon. Otherwise your company won’t be healthy.