Regardless of the size of your business or how many employees you have, being as efficient and productive as possible is something you should strive to achieve. When things are running as smoothly as possible, it not only makes staff far more motivated, but it is likely to have a positive effect on your profits too. Here are 3 ways to increase efficiency and productivity in the workplace.
Reviewing systems and procedures
If your current systems and procedures have been in place for some time, it is worth considering whether they need to be improved. Just because something has always been done in a certain way doesn’t mean it’s necessarily the most efficient.
It’s a good idea to ask staff for their opinions too. If they are dealing with a certain set of procedures day in day out, they may have some ideas on how they can be made better. There may also be duties carried out that are no longer needed. Establish which procedures are required and which are perhaps no longer of any relevance and narrow it down from there. The tighter the systems are, the more efficient your business will become.
Communication
Good communication in any business is crucial and can make a huge difference in how productive it is. If you feel that communication is somewhat lacking or isn’t as good as it could be, talk to the teams involved, find out what the issues are, and explain why good communication is so important.
Perhaps there is ongoing confusion about the roles people have within the organization, who answers to whom, and so on. Employee directories and organization and workflow charts create transparency in the workplace and can help to increase efficiency. Reducing the need for staff to have to ask who deals with specific tasks or where to direct particular queries will make your business far more productive. Not only that, but it also helps staff get to know a bit more about their colleagues, could save a lot of time, and will also help make employees feel far more connected and informed.
Do you have a training program?
Regardless of how long your employees have been doing their job, training may be of benefit. Whether it’s learning new skills, brushing up on existing ones, or gaining experience in other areas of the business, everyone can learn something from workplace training. It’s also a great way to keep staff motivated and could make them more inclined to work harder and more efficiently. It is important, especially for female employees. It is a proven fact that empowered women perform better.
Training is also a great way to find out whether procedures are being done as they should be. If you have numerous staff employed to do the same role in your organization, you may find that they each have their own way of doing things. Although this isn’t necessarily a problem, it can lead to a lack of continuity, which can affect efficiency and productivity.
Procedure manuals can also help with streamlining, so if you don’t already have them for each department in your organization, it might be worth considering.
