A successful business relies not only on a great plan and a talented pool of employees but also on employee productivity. To truly master the art of employee productivity, you need a robust productivity improvement strategies for your business.
A comprehensive productivity improvement strategy is vital and requires careful planning, patience, and adaptability. Whether it’s setting key performance indicators (KPIs), fostering motivation, or promoting physical wellness, there are numerous methods to increase productivity at work. Implementing productivity management tools and embracing time management strategies can further improve productivity, ensuring that your team stays on track and performs at their best.
By focusing on employee productivity monitoring and using the right productivity management software, you can make sure your efforts are not just well-intentioned but also effective.
Remember, engaged employees are more productive, and with the right strategy, you can create a workplace where productivity flourishes and thrives. Unfortunately, even after striving to hire productive employees, research tells us that employees are productive for only 2 hours.
If you want your employees to be fully productive and ultimately have an efficient and well-run business you need to see these . Let’s begin!
How Can a Business Improve Its Productivity?
Business productivity is closely related to how engaged employees are in the office and with their employees. A recent Harvard study shows us that employees tend to be more productive when they feel observed and appreciated. Managers need to create an environment where employees can focus well. this is especially important in the context of remote work. Developing strategies that engage employees in the office and home are important, capturing the attention and interest of your team can significantly boost productivity.
11 Productivity Improvement Strategies For Your Business
Without a clear plan, maintaining consistent employee productivity can be a challenge. Here are 11 productivity improvement strategies to increase your business productivity:
1. Keep Things Simple
A complex productivity strategy can overwhelm employees and hinder effectiveness. Instead, focus on simplicity by creating a clear, actionable plan. Use SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) to provide clear direction and ensure everyone knows exactly what is expected. Break down large goals into smaller ones to help employees stay organized and focused throughout the day. When you simplify the processes and the communication, you’ll see a sudden boost in employee productivity, Moreover, the team will be more aligned and efficient.
2. Use Reminder Tools
Effective time management is one of the best productivity improvement strategies. Utilize reminder tools such as smart calendars and task management apps like Todoist to stay on top of tasks and deadlines. Communication platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams offer many built-in and third-party options, including integrations with your favorites like Todoist and Assignly. Set major milestone alerts to keep the entire team informed of critical deadlines and encourage individual team members to use reminders for their tasks. These integrations ensure that important tasks and deadlines are never overlooked, enhancing overall productivity management.
3. Maintain Regular Goal Reviews
Setting goals is a crucial first step, but reviewing and adjusting them regularly is equally important to ensure continued effectiveness. Implement a system for regular goal assessments—whether through daily check-ins, weekly summaries, or scheduled response times. These reviews help track progress, identify any issues, and make necessary adjustments to stay aligned with objectives. Regularly revisiting goals ensures that your team remains focused and motivated, leading to improved employee productivity and achieving better outcomes.
4 Use Software to Gather Data
Often the biggest gap organizations have is knowledge itself, as they don’t generate or accurately track data about productivity. Without the data to make decisions and manage how and where time is spent, productivity improvement often stalls at a dead end. Tracking time spent on specific projects and tasks can be challenging, but there is a whole universe of tools and software to enhance and manage productivity in the office.
While there are many options to choose from, tools like AttendanceBot are a great choice for teams that don’t currently track time use or use informal tracking methods like spreadsheets and end-of-week attestations. By plugging into existing company tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams, AttendanceBot enables convenient time tracking and insight which is complemented by attendance and leave management – it’s a full-service employee productivity tool.
By using productivity management software tools, businesses can gain a better understanding of how their team allocates time and where improvements can be made. This is also one of the best productivity improvement strategies.
5. Focus on One Task at a Time
Another of the best productivity improvement strategies is to focus on one thing at a time. Many employees pride themselves on their multitasking abilities, but research suggests they may not be as effective as they think they are. A Utah University research showed that only 2.5% of people can multitask. To think multitasking enhances productivity is just not true.
Encourage your team to focus on one task at a time to boost their productivity. For instance, employees might benefit from allocating specific blocks of time for focused work, free from interruptions.
Consider an example where an employee dedicates the first two hours of each workday to a single project for a week. During this period, they avoid checking email, answering phone calls, or engaging with colleagues, thereby enhancing their focus and productivity. By fostering a culture that values single-tasking over multitasking, you can help your team achieve better results and greater efficiency.
6. Adhere to Deadlines for Better Results
Deadlines are crucial for maintaining project timelines and ensuring productivity. When a deadline is set, the team should stick to meeting it. However, deadlines can be jeopardized by various issues such as decreased productivity and other obstacles.
Managers should stay actively involved in tracking their team’s progress and understanding how much work remains to complete a project. Regular check-ins and status updates are effective strategies to monitor employee productivity and ensure deadlines are being met. By keeping a close eye on progress and addressing any issues promptly, managers can help their teams stay on track and achieve their goals efficiently.
7. Keep Your Meetings Limited
You must have seen so many posts on social media that say ‘ This meeting could’ve been an email’. Well in many cases, rightly so. In today’s work environment, meetings seem to proliferate. Take a cue from Elon Musk’s approach who says if you think you shouldn’t be in a meeting, feel free to leave.
When meetings are necessary, use tools like free bulk email senders to communicate actionable items and updates. This allows everyone to stay informed without spending excessive time in meetings. By valuing employees’ time and allowing them to focus on their tasks, you’ll help increase overall productivity and job satisfaction.
8. Give Employees the Right Tools
There’s nothing more frustrating than encountering issues with software or equipment when sitting down to complete a task These problems can derail employee productivity and create unnecessary stress.
To avoid these disruptions, ensure that the process of acquiring and maintaining essential tools is smooth and efficient. Regularly assess whether employees have access to the right productivity management tools and productivity tracking resources they need. Make sure devices and software are up-to-date and functioning properly. When existing tools aren’t working as needed, or aren’t a good fit for your organization, they quickly become productivity liabilities that weigh down rather than power productivity improvement.
Managers should be vigilant about checking that their team has everything required for effective productivity management. By providing the necessary tools and resources from the start, you set employees up for success and help them avoid common pitfalls that can hinder productivity. This proactive approach ensures that your team can focus on their tasks and achieve their goals, enhancing overall productivity in the workplace.
9. Focus on Mental Health and Self-Care
Promoting mental health is crucial for maintaining a productive workforce and is also one of the most effective productivity improvement strategies. Employees who prioritize their mental well-being are generally more engaged and effective at work.
An APA research found that 59% of employees reported negative impacts from issues at work and 87% believed that the actions of their employers will help with their mental health.
Encourage employees to take short “wellness breaks” throughout the day. These could involve a quick walk, a few moments of meditation, or simply clearing their mind. If your company provides an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), make sure your team knows how to access it and utilize its services. By fostering a culture that values mental health and self-care, you can boost employee productivity and create a more supportive work environment.
10. Tackle Time-Wasting Activities
Every workplace faces potential distractions that can hinder productivity. Effective managers know how to address these common time-wasting activities:
Optimize Communication
Email isn’t always the fastest way to communicate. Use real-time tools like Slack for quick messages, video calls for urgent discussions or phone calls for immediate needs. These alternatives can enhance productivity in the workplace by speeding up information exchange.
Manage Social Interactions
While building relationships with colleagues is important, personal conversations should be managed to avoid disrupting work. Encourage activities like team lunches, virtual happy hours, and chat channels for non-work-related discussions to keep personal interactions separate from work time.
Improve Organization
Disorganization can waste time and decrease efficiency. Ensure a clean workspace and organized digital workflows. Tools like Slack can help by providing features to search conversations, share files, and manage projects efficiently, enhancing productivity.
Regulate Social Media Use
Many employees waste time using social media. Therefore, having a clear policy is crucial. Define acceptable social media usage times and emphasize periods when focus on work is required.
Combat Procrastination
To manage procrastination, set clear deadlines, and maintain accountability. Regular check-ins and follow-ups ensure that projects stay on track and help maintain consistent employee productivity.
11. Reward High-Quality Work
Employers need to focus on quality over quantity when it comes to work from employees, because it is the quality of their work that drives the ultimate success, To make sure employee productivity is high, ensure work meets high standards, set clear goals, and provide regular feedback. Next, make sure to recognize and award high-quality work. This will be good not only for the company but also for the company’s productivity.
By emphasizing the importance of quality and integrating it with productivity management tools, you can encourage your team to focus on producing valuable outcomes, thereby boosting overall productivity in the workplace.
What Are the Benefits of Increasing Company Productivity?
Boosting company productivity brings numerous advantages, primarily leading to increased profitability. Studies show that office workers are often interrupted frequently, which can severely impact their ability to stay on task and extend the time needed to regain focus.
By minimizing interruptions, companies can significantly enhance employee productivity. Implementing strategies such as effective time management and utilizing tools like AttendanceBot for productivity tracking and employee productivity monitoring can help employees stay focused and work more efficiently. This approach not only improves productivity in the workplace but also contributes to higher job satisfaction and long-term retention, fostering a more successful and productive workforce.
Case Study: Boosting Productivity with AttendanceBot
Code for Africa is a not-for-profit organization operating across 22 African countries, with a mission to give citizens better access to better information, Code For Africa strives to amplify voices and ultimately build a more responsive and accountable society.
As they grew to support more people and regions across the continent, they increasingly spent more admin time manually managing payroll and time off in spreadsheets. At the same time, employees themselves grew increasingly frustrated by payroll errors and efforts to schedule absences. Between hiring extra admins, relying on overcommunication, trying to correct mistakes, and generally creating frustration, Code for Africa knew it was time to level past spreadsheets.
To better navigate their growth and create accuracy without effort, Code for Africa found and implemented a Slack software called AttendanceBot to automate leave management. The goal was to allow employees to manage schedules without leaving their primary communication platform – Slack – so they weren’t adding extra steps or distractions to existing workflows.
By choosing to invest a precious budget in dedicated software, Code for Africa overcame two key productivity hurdles:
- Employee Ownership: AttendanceBot allowed employees to own and manage their own time off requests and data, with clear visibility and approvals from managers. They eliminated lengthy email threads and manual approval processes, eliminating day-to-day menial workflows for their employees.
- Automation: Code for Africa eliminated a mountain of administrative effort by allowing software to calculate and report automatically, ensuring instant and accurate data without thousands of messages and spreadsheet rows and spot checks.
AttendanceBot significantly improved Code for Africa’s productivity by simplifying leave management, reducing administrative burdens, and creating a more efficient and employee-friendly workplace.
In the end, Code for Africa was able to automate a costly admin process to instead surface relevant info at the right time, in the right channel, to the right people, ultimately saving thousands of staff hours each year.
To Sum Up Productivity Improvement Strategies
Boosting productivity in the workplace can significantly impact a company’s success and profitability. To increase productivity at work, start by defining productivity and implementing time management strategies. Create a straightforward plan using SMART goals to guide your team and ensure clarity in their tasks.
Utilize productivity management tools and productivity management software to streamline processes and enhance employee productivity. Tools like AttendanceBot can aid in tracking employee productivity and provide valuable insights for productivity improvement. Integrating productivity tracking systems helps minimize time-wasting activities and manage employee productivity monitoring effectively.
Regularly review and adjust goals through daily or weekly check-ins to stay aligned and focused. Engaged employees are naturally more productive, so foster an environment that supports their involvement and growth. By following these strategies, you’ll learn how to increase company productivity and ultimately improve overall productivity in the workplace.
