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Productivity is the Holy Grail for many businesses. Achieving more with less is a great way to remain lean, and profitable and provide great service to clients. But creating a work environment that allows employees to do their best isn’t as easy as you might think. 

Get rid of outdated thinking

There are still a lot of toxic, outdated ideas that are present in a number of workplaces. This includes things like presenteeism, and micromanagement treating employees like faceless workers rather than as whole people. 

Consistently forcing employees to work long hours isn’t going to make them more productive. While the occasional overtime to get a big project over the line is normal, working long hours without break will actually affect productivity adversely. Add to this the very real likelihood of burnout and issues with physical and mental health, and you’ll find that productivity actually decreases. 

Employers like this find themselves with high rates of employee turnover, which itself is terrible for productivity as you struggle to hire quality candidates and get them up to speed. 

Make your systems efficient

Most businesses run on IT systems now. From the computer, you use to the software you conduct your business on. No matter how skilled your employees are, poor systems, technology and software can absolutely tank your productivity levels as it takes much longer to get things done. If your information and library systems are in need of an overhaul, platforms like those from John Yokley PTFS are a good place to start to get things back on track. 

Make meetings efficient

Let’s face it, most people don’t like meetings. They’re stressful to prepare for, last too long, happen too often, and don’t really achieve things. Even now, as a lot of people embrace remote working, we’re doing exactly the same, just over Zoom. 

Meetings eat into time, leaving less of it to complete tasks. Try and reduce the number of meetings and attendees at them. Before booking a meeting, ask yourself if you can achieve the same thing with an email or phone call?

If meetings are held, keep them short and adhere to this. 

Encourage people to work when they’re most productive

Some workplaces need people there at specific times of the day in order to provide their services. But for many companies, allowing employees to work when they are most effective can be a game changer. For example, some people are naturally early birds and could potentially get their best work done between the hours of 6 am-9 am. Others might be night owls and work best later in the day. 

A rigid 9-5 schedule might not be the best way to work effectively. However, this type of work makes many employers nervous as they want to have at least some indication of where and when people are working. To get the best of both worlds, having core hours where all employees are expected to be available (unless they are in a very different time zone), can ensure that teams are still collaborating and communicating, but the rest of the hours are used at the discretion of the employee. For example, if you employ a working parent, they may work their core hours when their children are at school, log off for a few hours to collect their children and have some family time, then log back in on an evening for a few hours. By promoting this work-life balance and trusting people, you’re building loyalty and a workforce who want to work their best for you. 

Final thoughts

Productivity in today’s economy is about more than having bodies in chairs. Learning how to get the best out of your people is far more complex, but will ultimately reap the biggest rewards.