4 Tips That Can Take Your Staff’s Productive to New Heights at a Small Business

The ability to maximize productivity at a small business can really drive revenue. Excess revenue and beating projections year after year will help grow a business in a healthy way. Bonuses for the most productive employees are an option in order to incentivize the top performance at the company. There has to be a balance between pushing employees and pushing too hard. Constantly asking for more even staff is improving can lead to poor morale as a quality job done should be recognized. Asking staff can be a great idea as they understand what they might need to help make their jobs easier daily. Below are tips to help take productivity to the next level at your small business.

Coffee in the Office

A vending machine that dispenses high-quality coffee being brought into the office can work wonders. Providing coffee is an option but most of the time the coffee could be sitting around for hours or even days. Saving staff money when compared to making a run to Starbucks will add up over the course of the year. You will even reduce the number of people late on a given week due to stopping to get their morning coffee during their commute. Perks like these might seem small but make a big difference as a cup of coffee after lunch can give you the energy you need to sustain performance. Finding the right office coffee service can work wonders and eliminate the need for management to go to the store regularly.

Reduce Meetings with Detailed Emails

The truth is for most small businesses is that many meetings can be replaced by a detailed email. Most managers will send a recap email for a meeting so those that are not in the office can be informed of what was going on. Doing a weekly meeting to go over progress is one thing but meeting daily for over an hour to discuss a project that is behind is not wise. The time spent could be used to catch up on a project as to not miss a client deadline.

Work from Home Days Dependent on Productivity

A team that consistently shows that they can work from home without a drop in productivity can be given quite a bit of freedom. There are going to be those employees that slack off during this though. These members of the staff should be reprimanded and their work from home privileges revoked until they can show personal responsibility without a manager looking over their shoulder. There are going to be certain members of the staff that are far more productive working from home. A chatty coworker or excessive meetings oftentimes impact productivity negatively when compared to working at home alone.

Set Realistic Goals for the Production Team

Goals that are impossible to reach can bring down the morale of a team. Goals that are attainable but will take hard work will help push the team without asking for too much. Improving month by month even by a little bit will make a huge difference at the end of the year. Time tracking software can be a huge help in setting goals as you can see how long specific tasks take a certain member of the staff.

Improving productivity cannot be undervalued at a small business as employees will be able to see their successes in a clear way when compared to a large corporation. Write out areas you want productivity to improve at your company and put a plan into place to do so.

Adam Hansen
 

Adam is a part time journalist, entrepreneur, investor and father.