Improving Employee Productivity

With the amount of fear, uncertainty and doubt that is constantly circling above business leaders like a committee of vultures getting ready to land on a meal, what can we do to position an organization to thrive?  There are lots of things we could focus on like: reduce debt, preserve cash, increase revenue, increase customer satisfaction, and or cut costs.  The one though I want to highlight here is productivity.

Labor Productivity

One of the hangovers from three years of COVID-related uncertainty, various lockdowns, and the shift to ‘Work-From-Home’ (WFH), is that almost every work force in the world (especially the Western world) is suffering from a lack of clarity around what does ’Hybrid’ look like, and as a result there has been a decline in employee productivity. Combine that with inflation in the supply chain, and wage pressures and we have a scenario where businesses are paying more for far less.

In Canada, the Labor Productivity Index has dropped 6.5% over the last 10 quarters (two and half years).  That is massive.  During the same period, annualized inflation has grown from 2% to a peak of 7% and now has settled in at 5%.  Also, during the same period, the Consumer Price Index has increased 8% and the price of imports on average has increased 10% (which equates into supply chain pricing).

We may not have much ability to influence supply chain pricing however, as leaders we certainly can work on Employee Productivity!

Improving Productivity

Enough navel gazing at economic data.  Let’s do something about how we can improve productivity!  Here is a list of some of the areas you can focus on for your business or team:

1. Create clarity and alignment around your values, purpose (mission), vision and strategy. I believe that most people want to come to work and contribute. It is hard to be ‘rowing in the same direction’ when the team doesn’t know where they are going.
2. Be crystal clear around everyone’s role, responsibilities, expectations and what their success measures are. Knowing the direction the business is going if team members do not explicitly know their individual role and how they fit into the big picture.
3. Employee Engagement. You might be rolling your eyes reading that line however, I continue to go into organizations that have a less than stellar culture (and corresponding lacklustre results), and they have low levels of employee engagement.  Coincidence?  Employee is driven from the top down, and every leader in the business is responsible for ensuring that they create and safe, secure place where people feel supported, they get regular feedback, and they have development opportunities.
4. Train your leaders to be leaders (not managers). When times start to get tough, the first among the budget cuts is training and development.  The worst thing you can do.  Invest in your people and invest in quality leadership training that focuses on culture, values, purpose, core interpersonal skills and a healthy dose of psychology for leaders.
5. Make meetings, email and whatever inter-company app you are using efficient (once and for all). Why are meetings an hour long?  Make them 30-minutes and be efficient.  Why is email taking more and more time to deal with?  Develop and enforce your policy around email… Your inter-company chat app too!
6. Get really good at the Talent Acquisition thing. The most important things we need to do as leaders is find and retain talent that is a cultural fit. Get darn good at recruiting, assessing, hiring and on-boarding people.  I have not found very many companies yet in my 40 years as a leader that are good at it.  I’ve found lots of companies that are good at firing people but not many that are good at finding the right people in first place.  After you get good at that, get great at retaining talent!

There you go.  My list for improving productivity.  Only six things.  And none of them hard. Good luck, and let me know the results!

Robert Murray is a Vancouver, BC based Business Strategy Consultant, #1 Best Selling Author, International Keynote Speaker, and TEC Top Speaker of the Year for 2018. For further advice, insight and inspiration on how to unlock your inner leader, connect with Robert on LinkedIn.

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