Top businesses like Google have playgrounds on premises, massive canteens where employees can take advantage of free meals, and even on-site shower facilities to keep employees fresh. However, you don’t need to spend a lot of money to increase productivity, you just need to make some effort. Running a business isn’t about treating your employees like numbers; it’s about treating them like human beings and doing the best you can to ensure their jobs can be undertaken as easily as possible. Here are a few of the most proven strategies to increase productivity.

Refrain from Banning Social Media

Many businesses implement restrictions on the use of social media by employees. This doesn’t increase productivity and, in fact, it sometimes has the opposite effect. While some employees will take the biscuit and slack off from time to time, many others are simply taking a mental break so they can return to work with a clearer mind. Of course, cracking down on those employees who spend more time on Facebook than they do undertaking their work is important, but so is being able to trust your employees to do the right thing. Banning social media is a big no-no if you want to keep morale up.

Implement Better Perks

It’s your business, so you can run things how you like, but offering better perks to the highest performing staff is a simple step to increasing productivity. Whether it’s small bonuses on top of their wage or an extra day off every year for those with 100% attendance, there are plenty of perks you can offer that won’t affect your finances. In-the-office perks like table-tennis, video games, and coffee machines from commercial businesses like LiquidLine for example can make your employees feel like they’re important to the business and the team.

Better Training

One of the main reasons why so many employees are unproductive is simply because they are not trained to the highest standards. It doesn’t matter how simple the job is, there is always something you can do to ensure they have the best training. This is one of the hardest ways to increase productivity, but it’s one that comes with better rewards. You may even find that better training could help your employees communicate better, and that could also improve customer service.

Provide Your Employees with the Right Tools

If you’re an office-based business, it’s important you have the right software to ensure your employees can undertake their jobs easily. Increasing productivity is all about trying to make business processes more efficient and, if an employee spends even 10% less time undertaking their usual tasks, you’re going to have 10% more of their time to get them doing other things. For example, ensure your staff have a communication platform like Slack which they can use to send documents to one another and send quick messages without having to bother them face to face.

In conclusion, it doesn’t take a lot of time and effort to increase employee productivity. What the above strategies will provide to your business, however, is a better working environment for your employees, and that could be the difference in helping take your business forward.