Four simple ways managers can improve staff productivity

Hourly output fell by 2.5%. between April and June of that year, one of the steepest declines ever seen.

However, keep your composure, leaders and managers of the world, because it is not all doom and gloom. In fact, the number of searches in Google on 'staff welfare' doubled between November 2020 and March 2022, and while employers have been under pressure to meet welfare demands, the results of doing so have fundamental outcomes.

In this article we will explore the simplest ways to sustainably increase staff productivity. This means making your staff productive in the long term.

What is staff productivity?

According to the Fellow website Staff productivity can be defined as the output produced by a worker over a given period of time. As a leader, it is important for you to know how long it takes your team to complete tasks, and whether there are any obstacles or distractions in the way that you can help them overcome. However, there is more to it than that. To be productive requires a certain mindset, which the traditional office, with its emails, calls, meetings and other distractions, does not provide. Improving productivity in a sustainable way

Here are four easy-to-implement ways to improve staff productivity:

1. Communicating your purpose
2.  Use an automated CRM
3. Optimise emailing habits
4. Encouraging self-care  

Each of these four methods has a history of improving productivity, so let's break them down a little further.

1. Communicate your purpose It is shocking how many British workers do not really know the mission they work for, or the purpose of the company they work for. In fact, in a recent survey, only 4 out of 10 British workers knew what their company stood for and only 50% felt connected to their organisation's mission.

How can we expect staff to be highly productive if they do not know the higher purpose for which they are being productive?

Decide the purpose of your business.

It's OK not to know the exact purpose of your business when you start out, but identifying it and communicating it in plain language that everyone can understand is essential to growing your business.

Your mission statement should be short and to the point, and some of the questions you should ask yourself are.

What do I want to change in the world?

2. What problem do I want to solve?

3. What impact do I want my business to have?

4. What do I want my clients or customers to say when they talk about us?

Answering these questions will help you identify exactly what that purpose is, so that your staff can be more productive in following it and your clients and customers will be more loyal in investing in it. How to communicate your purpose Remember that communicating your purpose internally is as important as communicating it externally. Your staff should want to invest their time in you, and your customers should want to invest their money in you. That's how your business will grow.

Some ways to communicate your purpose to increase productivity are:

- Paint it on the walls: It may sound crazy, but fast-growing fitness clothing brand Gymshark is famous for doing this all over their offices. And it's not uncommon to see their team sharing these messages on their social media with a picture of the wall.

- Communicate this at meetings: When you ask an employee to perform a difficult task, or to take on an additional responsibility, this is the best time to remind them what their extra effort will contribute to.

- Include it in your brand: A slogan is the perfect way to signal and celebrate your purpose. Add it to email signatures, signage, advertisements and posters. Your staff and customers will be quick to remember it.

Want to try a CRM?

- Datalyse CRM fast and easy to use that allows you to unify your company's needs, centralising all your operations in a single application. Find out how a CRM can help your team on our website and blog, or get in touch with us.