The Best Ways to Boost Productivity in the Pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic has touched virtually all areas of life, from how we socialize, shop, and of course, work. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine any period of time when the working world has been transformed as rapidly as in 2020. Due to the coronavirus, the way almost all businesses operate has changed. There’s essentially no aspect of business that hasn’t been affected in one way or another. Sales are down, customers are wary, and employees are worried. Productivity is down as well, at a time when effectiveness is essential for business success. We were all caught off guard by the coronavirus pandemic, but that doesn’t make the negative impacts any less severe. Fortunately, there are things you can do that’ll push your company’s productivity in the right direction. Incorporate the tips below, and you’ll likely find that your employee productivity increases along with customer satisfaction.

1. Create a Healthy Work Culture 

We’re beginning to understand more and more just how important our surroundings are to overall productivity and happiness. This applies to both the physical setup of the office, but also the overall work culture of the organization. If you have a bright, spacious, and clean office, then your employees will work better. However, that’ll only be the case if there’s a healthy and respectful work culture in place. No company is perfect, but it’s what we should strive for. Take a look at your work culture, and see if you notice anything that could be damaging. Do people feel confident that they can share their opinion? Are your staff happy? Asking these questions can help you to get rid of any negative aspects that may be holding your company back.

2. Incentivize Employees 

If you want people to work as well as they can, then you need to give them a reason to do so. While the salary that you offer will be one incentive to work well, it won’t be everything. In many cases, the employee knows that they’ll receive the same salary if they work at 100% of their capacity or 25%. So you may have to look further than money if you want your team to boost their productivity. Small rewards, like getting additional time off work or even offering them a share of the profits, can be great tactics to motivate the team.

3. Assign Meaningful Work 

If there’s one thing that’ll inspire employees to work well, it’s improved engagement. Studies have shown that highly engaged teams are 20% more profitable than teams with low engagement. Now, having an engaged team sounds good, but how do you get there? The key is to assign meaningful work. In the end, an employee will work harder if they’re doing something that they enjoy, is challenging, and which they ultimately believe in. Rather than treating staff members as robots who can do any and all tasks, think about assigning them work that you know they’ll engage with.

4. Use Cloud Services 

Of course, you could have a highly-engaged, motivated team at your company, but if you don’t have the infrastructure that they need to work at their highest level, then you won’t reap as many benefits as possible. This means having things like high-grade computers so that they can work well. It’s also recommended to integrate cloud services into your organization. This can have a significant impact on productivity, since it allows workers to access important documents from anywhere, and it can also make it easier for colleagues to work together.

5. Train Your Employees To Work Remotely 

The pandemic has seen a huge rise in employees who are working from home. While it can feel like this will cause productivity to dip, the opposite is actually true. Studies have shown that workers who work from home 60 to 80% of the time are more engaged than those who are always in the office. But they may need a little help, especially if they’ve never worked from home before, so make sure you provide the resources, software, and support they need. As we’ve seen, there are plenty of ways to boost productivity, even during a global pandemic. It’s all about taking a concentrated, focused effort when it comes to employee productivity. The small improvements you make could lead to significant increases in productivity, which will ultimately have a positive impact on your bottom line. If you take the steps above, then you’ll be giving yourself the best possible chance to navigate the difficult economic conditions that COVID-19 may bring.