Increasing employee productivity and increasing turnover at the same time is a goal that virtually every business has. It is a great way to ensure that you become more profitable and grow quickly. The only problem is that the bigger you get, the harder it becomes to do this.
Pay attention to the little things.
Little things start to stay undone, standards slip, and efficiency starts to drop. For example, not ordering door signs from somewhere like my door sign for the offices in the extension. When little things like that get forgotten, people get lost, have to ask the way, and it takes longer than necessary for everyone to settle into their new workspace.
Maintain an organized and clean workplace.
Studies show that people perform better when they have a well-organized space to work in. One study carried out by Harvard University showed that people who worked at an uncluttered desk were able to remain focused for 7.5 minutes longer than someone working at a cluttered one.
Outsource mundane tasks.
Mundane tasks are exactly that, horribly boring. Nobody really wants to spend all day doing that sort of work. Those that do can easily become demotivated. When that happens, their productivity levels fall away drastically. So, if at all possible, outsource those tasks. If you cannot do that, try to rotate people through them. Perhaps ask everyone to do them once a week for just a couple of hours at a time.
Set clear goals.
Not providing your employees with clear direction is a sure way to de-motivate them. If people do not know what is expected of them, they will inevitably end up wasting a lot of time and energy on things that really do not need to be done.
Communicate effectively.
However, it is not enough to just set clear goals. You have to communicate with them effectively. People will put a lot more effort into achieving the goals you set them if they understand why they are doing it. Explaining where you are taking the business and how you plan to get there can make a huge difference to productivity.
Use productivity management tools.
Working collaboratively is tricky. Everyone has to be very clear about their role. They need to know what they need to do and buy when. It only takes one person to deliver their work late for the entire project to be held up.
The best way to map out what has to be done, who will do it, and what the timescales are, is to use project management software. It takes time to set up and get used to. But, that is time well spent. You can read more about why that is and how to get the most out of time management and productivity tools by reading this newspaper article.
How to continuously improve productivity.
There are many other ways to improve business productivity. So, set up a continuous improvement workgroup to uncover new ways you can use to work more efficiently.