Boosting your personal productivity as an entrepreneur is one thing but doing so for the whole office of an SME is another matter entirely. What works for yourself when you’re highly motivated to get more done in a day is not the same for employees on a fixed wage. Here are 3 ways to get the productivity level up in the company.
1. Project-based assignments, not fixed working hours
It’s been found in repeated research studies that workers around the world who are in the office for 7-8 hours during the weekday barely manage 3-3.5 hours of productive work. The rest of their time is spent on some combination of time-wasting meetings, social media activity, emails, personal calls and messaging on their smartphone, surfing the internet, bathroom use, chatting with colleagues, and lunch (and other) breaks.
In fact, most workers could start at 8:30 am and finish by noon if they had a job that allowed them this flexibility. The modern workhours are based on the industrial revolution where factory workers had to work a fixed number of hours to keep their productivity up.
However, despite advancements in technology, people still go to an office for most of the day even though they’re only productive for roughly half of their time on-the-job. Consider making some jobs paid based on specific assignment completion to an agreed standard and not a fixed “full-time” job that encourages staff to be less productive to make it through a full day.
2. Refit or refurbish the office
When the office gets a complete overhaul and creates an inspiring, modern feel when walking in every morning, employees feel happier to be working there. This often translates into a greater drive to push harder on behalf of the company out of an increased level of pride. Employees take a little more ownership that it’s their company, their job, and they should really deliver. Most workers feel indifferent about their job, so anything a company can do to create a welcoming space is worth it.
A refit or refurbishment of the existing office carried out by a specialist like Stoica Office is going to be like a breath of fresh air for staff who have worked in the company for many years. Old pieces of furniture that were not really suitable any longer get removed in favour of an eye-catching new design and floor plan.
3. Examine all processes to make them more efficient
For most companies, even start-ups, when an employee hits on what they see as the right way to approach a task, they stick to that approach time and again. It doesn’t matter whether there’s been improvements or new software that helps get the task completed faster, many employees are reluctant to change. Others are completely unwilling to do so.
Instead, ruthlessly look at every business process to find inefficiencies and update the process to remove them. Also, look for perfectionism to see whether making something absolutely perfect is holding staff back from getting more done each day. Usually, a 90% perfect outcome or lower is acceptable for many tasks.
Making improvements to how the company collectively accomplished tasks roots out many areas where small incremental changes can be applied to save time, money, or both. For companies, that’s a win-win for productivity without extra wage costs.