8 Wastes of Lean and How to Eliminate Them

A lean process aims to reduce waste and increase productivity for more efficient operations and profitability. 

It traditionally comes from the manufacturing sector, but principles of lean manufacturing can be applied to performance management, especially when they involve frontline & hourly teams. 

Lean principles define “waste” as a step or action in the production process that’s not required to successfully deliver a product or a service. 

Waste is “non-value adding,” and identifying and eliminating different types of waste in your performance management allows you to increase efficiency and reduce costs. 

The goal is to continuously improve your process until all of the steps are “value-adding” and necessary for success. 

Secchi is an hourly performance management software that streamlines cumbersome steps and data so that your teams can work better and faster. 

In this article, we’re going to unpack 8 wastes of lean for hourly & frontline teams and explain how using Secchi helps you eliminate them for increased productivity and bottom line. 

What Are the 8 Wastes of Lean and How to Streamline Your Performance Management Process for More Value

1. Defects 

In lean manufacturing, “defects” refers to loss of value because a product or service is not fit for use and needs to be reworked or scrapped. For example, a product with missing components would fit the definition of “defects waste.” 

But when it comes to leading a frontline or hourly team, employee behavior can also be “defective” and in need of correction & process improvement. 

For example, your supervisors may need to address chronic absenteeism or low job performance. 

The problem is, manual performance management makes it difficult for team leaders to gather and analyze data that they need to make proactive decisions. 

Without automated data, supervisors may miss “defects” in workers’ behaviors and fail to address them before they devolve into serious problems. 

Alternatively, supervisors may address the same defect over and over again without having proper documentation in place to realize it. 

Secchi gives frontline leaders the clarity they need to make data-driven decisions and continuously improve worker performance with real-time data and instant performance reviews. 

2. Waiting

Waiting to address disruptive employee behavior is a waste. It lowers employee engagement and has a negative impact on team culture. 

In a recent study, 25% of employees said that they had quit a job due to an uncivil workspace and 87% of workers reported that incivility has an impact on work performance, from bad morale to co-worker resentment. 

When a supervisor has to wait days or even weeks to address an incident, it staggers productivity and increases turnover rate. 

Secchi reduces time from incident to corrective action by more than 50% while improving documentation and consistency to enforce good discipline and protect your organization from litigation. 

3. Motion

Motion waste in manufacturing refers to movement of people that doesn’t add any value to the finished product, such as moving equipment or repetitive reaching or bending. 

When it comes to performance management, wasteful motion is hidden in paperwork and complicated communication between different people involved. 

For example, it can look something like this: 

1. Employee has to find the form they need to fill out
2. Employee has to fill the form out
3. Employee has to save the form
4. Employee has to print or email the form for the manager/HR
5. Manager/HR have to make edits 
6. Form has to be printed out
7. Employee has to sign the form 
8. Form has to be filed accordingly 

For most teams, manual paperwork is a massive waste of time and motion. Plus, there is a vast possibility for human error and important documents getting filed inaccurately, misplaced, or lost. 

Secchi streamlines performance management processes with just a few clicks, easy-to-use interface, and clear templates. It drastically reduces unnecessary motion and makes paperwork fast and accurate. 

4. Excess Inventory

Many organizations struggle with inventory waste, which refers to goods or information accumulating without serving a valuable purpose. 

In hourly and frontline work environments, inventory waste means extra communication, unnecessary paperwork, and meetings that could’ve been an email. 

If supervisors and HR professionals are spending too much time on unnecessary tasks, they won’t have enough capacity to engage the workforce, analyze performance, and help employees increase their output. 

Secchi cuts down the time supervisors and managers have to spend on emails, meetings, and paperwork and gives them back the space they need to become better leaders. 

5. Transportation

Transportation waste means any physical movement that doesn’t support effective performance. 

For example, frontline leaders may need to go back and forth in a giant facility to have multiple meetings with HR because they don’t have enough real-time data to accurately execute their responsibilities. 

Having supervisors and managers distracted and having to constantly travel for lengthy meetings is transportation waste, especially in the fast-paced environment of frontline organizations. 

It also hinders performance, productivity, and engagement, because team leaders waste their time getting to endless meetings instead of maintaining discipline and encouraging positive improvements in the workplace. 

Secchi reduces the time supervisors have to spend off the floor, digitally streamlining tasks like communication with HR, pulling files, and making reporting cases. 

6. Overproduction

Without consistent documentation and automations, HR sometimes has to produce more data than is actually needed, which is a waste of time, energy, and resources. 

For example, a supervisor may need HR data to take corrective action against an employee to address a disciplinary issue. 

To do that, HR needs to collect files that are similar to the incident that needs to be addressed, but most of this data may never even end up getting used. 

Secchi brings visibility to behavior patterns and trends over time, quickly giving supervisors all of the data they need to take informed action without having to mine through piles of overproduced materials. 

7. Over-Processing

Over-processing refers to activities or efforts that stem from the right intentions but don’t actually add value to the performance management process. In a way, it’s similar to overproduction. 

A good example of extra processing is a recognition program that employees don’t actually resonate with. 

According to Deloitte, recognition can increase employee engagement, productivity, and performance by 14%. 

But to reap the benefits of employee recognition, your workers actually have to recognize your efforts as such. 

Secchi enhances connections between managers and employees with engaging features like personal connection text messages to communicate with workers and recognize top performers in simple and easy ways. 

8. Underutilized Talent

Team supervisors and managers are responsible for crucial day-to-day operations but often don’t have the right tools to engage employees and improve productivity & retention. 

Statistics show that 27% of hourly workers want to leave their job within a year because they’re unhappy with the management.

But poor leadership is not always a question of skill. More often than not, it’s a question of having the right tools to efficiently perform. 

An effective performance management tool like Secchi helps supervisors become better leaders by streamlining data, enhancing connections, and reducing time wasted on manual tasks. 

As a result, frontline leaders become more equipped to utilize their own talent and foster & retain employee talent for better productivity and stronger teams. 

Secchi: Performance Management Software to Eliminate Waste 

Waste is a pressing challenge in performance management that stems from a lack of efficient processes and comprehensive data. 

From eliminating unnecessary motions to empowering supervisors to be better leaders, Secchi was built by HR veterans to maximize productivity and profitability for hourly and frontline teams. 
Book a demo today to discover how Secchi can reduce waste and increase value in your performance management process.