What Can Increase Workplace Productivity?

You’re hoping to boost productivity at your workplace, but you’re not entirely sure how.

Should you encourage your team to work more? Hire more people? Download surveillance apps?

Read ahead to find out what changes you should and shouldn’t make for the sake of productivity.

What You Should Do: Expand Your Team

Is productivity dropping because your employees are behind in all of their tasks? Are they swamped with responsibilities? Are they juggling too many deadlines? This is a sign that your workplace is understaffed.

Keeping your workplace understaffed is a big mistake. It will leave your current employees overwhelmed and overworked. Eventually, they will suffer from the symptoms of burnout — this will inevitably push them to get sick or break down and need time off to recover. They may even look for work elsewhere to save themselves the stress.  

A simple way to fix this is to expand your team. Some new staff members can help your team pick up the slack, meet their deadlines on time and push your company’s productivity. 

How can you increase your team? Turn to a professional recruitment agency that specializes in the positions you’re looking to fill. So, if you’re trying to expand your sales team, you should look at these sales recruiters in NYC to find exceptional candidates for the openings. These recruiters belong to the largest, fastest-growing recruitment firm that focuses on top-notch B2B sales professionals in New York. They’re bound to find you the best workers for your team.  

What You Shouldn’t Do: Monitor Everything

Far too many companies are using surveillance apps to micromanage and monitor their employees while they’re working — including when they’re working from home. Some of these apps monitor what websites employees visit during their work hours, noting if they check their social media pages or browse the news. Some apps require employees to prove that they’re working by moving their computer mouse or typing on their keyboard. Some track location settings to make sure remote workers are sitting at their desks at home. 

These apps may force your employees to constantly sit at their desks, but they will not inspire genuine productivity. They will inspire anxiety, stress and resentment. You could completely undermine your team’s morale and workplace satisfaction. Employees may even look elsewhere for work opportunities where they are guaranteed a higher level of trust from their employers. 

What You Should Do: Encourage Breaks

When employees are allowed to step away from their desks for a short amount of time, they can return to their tasks feeling refreshed and revitalized. So, encourage your team to take regular breaks. Research shows the best work break strategy is 52 minutes of working followed by 17 minutes for a break. In the office, provide incentives for employee breaks with comfortable break rooms, tasty snacks and top-quality coffee. 

What You Shouldn’t Do: Book More Meetings

It’s difficult to be productive when you’re booked with meetings for half of the day. Try to limit the number of meetings that you set for your team. Keep them brief and practical. If you can summarize your meeting notes in an email or chat message, do that instead. 

Now you know which workplace changes will actually boost your team’s productivity and which ones will sabotage it.