Posts

6 Ways To Improve Productivity In The Office

/in /by

StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Improve office productivity|6 Ways To Improve Productivity In The OfficeDriving 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.


Offer Good Benefits

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.

Be More Productive With These Office Tips

/in /by

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Productive office tips|Be More Productive With These Office TipsWorking in an office environment is sometimes a stressful job. It is a working environment that is often fast paced and sometimes it is hard to balance every little job and reach your goals.

If you have been sure going creating a productive office space recently it is important for you to try and make some key changes for efficient working. Today we are going to take a look at some of the ways you can make a change to your office space this year and be more productive.

Make it light

An office space cannot be dark and drab if you are to work in it effectively. You need to make sure that the office has plenty of natural light as well as bright light sources such as a 2×2 led panel above desk areas. Light helps people to stay awake and focused and it will ensure that they are able to work efficiently throughout the week.

Hire an Accountant

Running a business is stressful enough but if you are also trying to budget your business it can become a difficult and overwhelming task rather quickly. Instead of trying to budget for your own business and risking making mistakes, hire an accountant to handle it all for you. It will save you time and will ensure that you can be more productive at work.

Schedule social media

If you are looking to better market your business with an online presence, one of the things that can be very time consuming is making social media posts to go out throughout the week. To save you some time throughout the week, schedule them all in one sitting with an app like buffer and this will allow you to maintain an online presence without taking too much time out of each day to create new posts.

Virtual Receptionist

Who enjoys answering the phone? No one! If you don’t want to spend every 10 minutes having to stop working to answer the phone, a great idea would be to get a virtual receptionist. All calls will go through to them and they will simply update you with messages when needed.

A happy environment

The most important thing you can do to create a productive work environment is to make the office a happy and homely place to be. The office is a place where you will spend a lot of your time during the week so ensure you bring some comforting touches to the space. This includes things such as plants, cushions, sofas and artwork. The last thing you want is to have an imposing space that leaves no room for inspiration.

Avoid clutter

A cluttered desk is a cluttered mind. If you constantly have clutter all over the office and your desk, you won’t be able to concentrate very well on your work and nothing will get done. Always make sure that you clear away paperwork and clear the space to make it feel open and light. This will make a huge amount of difference.

How to Create a Workplace to Maximize Productivity

/in /by

StrategyDriven Talent Management Article |Workspace|How to Create a Workplace to Maximize ProductivityWhile introducing innovative software and streamlining processes can create a more efficient environment, you shouldn’t underestimate the importance of improving your team’s workspace.

Your goal must be to create an organized environment that supports collaboration and improves employee morale. To create a focused, efficient, and happy team, read the following advice on how to create a productive workplace.

Add Office Plants

A study has found that office plants can increase employees’ productivity levels by 15%. It’s believed the plant life can boost staff members’ concentration levels while creating a higher level of air quality and improving workplace satisfaction. It can, therefore, support your employees’ health and quality of life.

Eradicate Daily Mess

A messy desk can equal a messy mind. Provide your team with mental clarity by encouraging your staff to eradicate mess on a daily basis, which can help them to remain both focused and productive. For example, you should encourage them to throw away unnecessary items, clean dirty dishes and keep personal items to a minimum on their desk.
It will free them of visual clutter and increase their focus on the task at hand. Eliminating clutter from the office space can also prevent your staff from misplacing items, so it can be an effective tactic for improving internal efficiency.

Set the Right Temperature

A hot, sticky office can considerably reduce employee morale and impact your team members’ concentration. For this reason, you should introduce a dependable air conditioning system into your workplace, which can help your employees to remain cool, calm and relaxed once temperatures start to rise.

Tweak Your Office Design

The layout and design of an office can determine the atmosphere within the workplace. If your employees appear unsatisfied in their role, it might be time to tweak your office space to improve your staff members’ job satisfaction, efficiency, and productivity levels.

For example, you should tinker with your office’s color scheme, lighting and general layout, which should improve light and space within the workplace. It could prevent your staff from feeling cramped and claustrophobic while improving their happiness each working day.

Provide the Best Tools and Equipment

Slow, inefficient equipment and tools could drain your employees of morale and make them long for 5pm to strike. It can also prevent your team from completing a task at a fast rate, which could lead to missed deadlines, unhappy clients and smaller profitability.

For this reason, you must review your current hardware and software to ensure they are up to your company’s standards, and you should ask your employees for feedback regarding their equipment, which you might need to replace as soon as possible.

For example, they could benefit from:

A few changes to your equipment could make a big difference to employee morale and can lead to greater individual and team performances in the workplace. While the above options can be expensive, they could potentially save and generate more money for your business over time.

Designing Your First Office: A Guide

/in /by

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship ArticleBecoming an established business with its own premises is a great leap forward in your company’s journey. No longer are you a one-person band; now you can hire talented employees and invite clients and suppliers to your office for meetings. Creating the perfect office space can be a challenge, however. After all, there are numerous aspects to consider, and each one will impact on the atmosphere, efficiency, and first impression you give. With that in mind, you will find two areas to focus on when designing your first office below.

1. Electricity, Heat & Water

Regardless of what industry you are in, you will need a reliable energy supply, which is both cost-effective and eco-friendly. You will no doubt be running a number of computers, providing internet access, telephone lines, along with lighting and more. One highly popular option, especially in newer builds, is to use solar panels to power the building. These convert sunlight to electricity, but the good news is that they work even in cloudy weather. What’s more, sunlight is free, which means your electricity bill will be reduced by opting for this energy source.

When designing your office, you will also need to keep in mind the comfort for everyone who is in occupying the space, whether that’s employees, clients, or just yourself. To keep the office warm and cozy in the depths of winter, PBE Fuels are your go-to for biomass boilers, which use sustainably sourced wood pellets to provide adequate heating for the whole building. By picking biomass, you will be choosing a self-sustainable heat supply and one which will also work to lower your heating bills.

Comfort also applies to your water supply. Without clean, running water, you will not be offering the legal requirements to your workforce. As a business owner, it is your responsibility to provide a healthy, safe environment, and this includes drinking water. Of course, most offices opt for office water coolers, but you still must ensure the water running from your taps is drinkable.

2. Décor Scheme

The next step in designing your first office is choosing how to decorate it, including the color scheme you want and the furniture. It is a lesser known fact when planning your first office, how impactful color can be in regards to productivity and overall atmosphere. The color possibly depends on your business’s logo, but take the time to consider what feel you want to evoke in the room. Purple, for instance, can work to represent magic and mystery, or it can appear somewhat fake and artificial. White, on the other hand, evokes feelings of purity and cleanliness, or it can feel stark and sterile. When deciding on the color scheme, think carefully about how you want people to feel the first time they walk into the room. Do you want to impress clients and show your authority? Use black to create elegance – but use it sparingly, as it can absorb all the natural light.

The furniture will usually depend on the industry you are in; an office-based company will require a series of desks, chairs, and computers, whereas a manufacturing warehouse will need heavy machinery. However, both buildings will require a reception area, and this is where you can make your best first impression. By creating a welcoming, friendly reception area, where clients and potential employees can wait in comfort, you will be subtly showing your professionalism. Opt to place a relaxing couch in the waiting area, along with refreshment facilities, as these are proven to wow clients and make them feel at home.