StrategyDriven Expert Contributors’ Blog

Driving office productivity is a ley task within every office-based business. Over the years, there have been many drastic attempts to improve productivity that have ultimately failed. More subtle, empathic models of productivity provocation typically bear the most fruit. Here are six ways that a business can improve office productivity.

Listen To Your Staff

Contented staff are typically productive staff. Employees will not work to their full potential if they feel like their concerns are not being listened to. Every responsible business owner needs to listen to employee concerns about bullying, office culture, performance roadblocks, and discrimination. Employees are working on the frontline – their perspective is extremely valuable and can help drive institutional change that ultimately increases productivity.

Accept The New Normal

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, many businesses have struggled to negotiate the transition back to office-based work. Many employees have simply quit their jobs when forced to go back into the offices they despised. The companies that are having the most success with the transition into a post-pandemic world are those that are able to see the benefits of a hybrid system. Allowing employees to spend some of their working lives at home or in the office is a perfectly good way of embracing the new normal while maintaining the ability to call workers in.

Hybrid working models are a great way to maintain pre-pandemic levels of productivity without simply embracing the bad old ways. It can only be implemented, however, when there is adequate security measures implemented to protect the company when people are working remotely.

Design Your Office Space Adequately

Good office design can go a long way. There have been some rather dismal office configurations popular in the past that have – quite understandably – driven employees to hate their jobs. The dreaded ‘cubicle office’ is perhaps the most famous example of a depressing office configuration. Human beings need to be in a pleasant and natural environment if they are to work to their full potential. Check out these five office design tips that can improve employee satisfaction. Modern office spaces that produce happy, productive employees are typically semi-open in design and feature live plants, places to relax, and the option of some genuine privacy. Make your office a place that people actually want to work in.

In order to cultivate a productive workplace, you need to give employees good benefits. Unless employees are well paid, their wages will not cover expenses during a pregnancy, dental or legal emergency. In the United States of America, companies need to cover some kind of health insurance as a minimum benefit in order to retain happy employees. However, if you want to retain loyal employees for a longer period and have lower turnover rates, then you should consider other benefits than just the bare minimum. This could include things like paid maternity and paternity leave, so staff can feel secure when they take time off to be with their new family, or regular recognition and small bonuses for high-performers – it doesn’t have to be a large amount of money, a small gift card can go a long way in making people feel appreciated.

Use Project Management Software

Poor project management is one of the most common reasons that businesses reach stumbling blocks in their schedule. No matter how simple a project seems, it will still involve multiple stakeholders, budgeting issues, multiple workers, and the need for accurate communication. More complex projects typically require regular reporting, complex data sharing, and multiple teams working in conjunction with one another.

Project management software makes projects far more efficient and cohesive by combining reporting, communication, monitoring, and just about every other essential area of project management. If you don’t use project management software in your office, you have fallen somewhat behind the times.

Don’t Push Multitasking

People working in offices are often expected to take on too much at once. While multitasking might seem like an acceptable way to drive up productivity in a workforce, it can actually damage overall productivity. Set guidelines for task delegation should be written up to make sure that managers do not ‘pass the buck’ onto their staff colleagues. In recent years, a great deal of academic attention has focused on the development of effective delegation styles. Read up on the latest organizational psychology research before committing to a set of rules.

Staff members that are allowed to focus on one task at a time are more likely to work efficiently and effectively. This will ultimately drive up productivity.