Nobody likes uncertainty, but currently, businesses are fraught with the uncertainty of their working situation and the changes that come with it.
Running a streamlined business relies on employee productivity, but how can you improve team productivity without spending a fortune and time you don’t have?
Here are our top tips for improving employee productivity without breaking the bank.
Utilise technology
Our reliance on technology has increased tenfold since the pandemic, as has our need to find technology that is adaptable to our team’s needs.
The first priority for technology should be communication – Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Skype, the possibilities are endless.
Almost every major video conferencing tool has free versions available, and ensuring communication is at the forefront means that employees have the opportunity to continue team meetings and also socialise.
Keeping on track can be hard when juggling the day-to-day demands of a business, so communication can bridge this gap and keep everything on track.
Similarly, collaboration tools such as Trello can allow your team to see clearly what their priorities are, making it easier to stay on top of tasks and their progress.
Prioritise self-care
Without seeing your team face-to-face, you may find it more difficult to figure out how they are feeling than before.
A stressed employee is physically and mentally drained, which has a knock-on effect on their productivity and the team’s productivity as a whole.
A way to avoid burnout before it occurs is to care for their wellbeing, which can be done in a few ways:
- Encourage your employees to give feedback
- Give encouraging and constructive feedback to employees for their work
- Have one-to-one check-ins where possible
- Facilitate an environment in which employees feel comfortable going to you with concerns
A communicative environment fosters better wellbeing, so prioritising communication as mentioned above will help immensely towards this.
Set expectations
You may have a team that is evenly split between working in an office and working remotely, or you may be part of a team functioning entirely from home – setting expectations for these new working conditions is essential.
Employees may find their productivity slipping if they struggle to separate work life from home life, and a big factor in this is out of hours communication.
Setting the expectation that employees aren’t obligated to respond to out of hours emails and messages until the next working day can make a huge difference.
Additionally, explaining to your team what is expected of them when they are working and what they can also expect from you removes uncertainty.
That way, everyone can get some peace of mind!
Offer employee benefits
No matter the working environment or situation, showing your employees that they matter will boost their mood and their productivity.
A survey by Glassdoor found that 4 out of 5 employees preferred perks over a pay raise!
It doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg, though – at Wellbox, we offer a range of food, snack and wellbeing boxes that are customisable to your team’s needs.
Starting from £9.95, our gift boxes are as inclusive as they are affordable, and for every box sent, we donate one meal to homeless shelters and food banks.
(Your team can also have the option to donate their entire box to frontline NHS staff!)
A small gesture can go a long way towards employee satisfaction, morale and productivity and it doesn’t have to be a complicated process.
Don’t overdo it
It can be easy to become embroiled in ten video conferences a day, several productivity-related apps and tracking progress – instead, you should take it easy.
A minimalist approach allows you to build on that which you know works, whether that is a daily video call with your team or tracking progress by using a Trello board.
There are a lot of options out there that can streamline things, but too many causes confusion for you and your team. So, keep it simple.
If you find your team works better with more frequent meetings, then you can adapt, but productivity won’t increase if employees are under increased stress from too many moving parts.
(Plus, it’s a lot cheaper!)
Productivity boils down to thinking from your employees’ perspective as to what would motivate you to work your best.
It doesn’t have to cost a fortune, or prioritise on proficiency to excess, it simply requires employees’ to be prioritised in terms of their wellbeing and working ability.
Which tip did you find most useful?
