Start Up Secrets: 3 Small Business Productivity Hacks

A recent study found that during an eight hour day, the average employee is only productive for two hours and fifty-three minutes.

If you’re a business owner, that’s a huge problem as low productivity levels can be harmful in the long run.

That being said, how exactly are you supposed to improve productivity? Do you need to provide better instructions? Maybe you need to invest in software? 

Below you’ll discover some tips on how you can improve small business productivity. If you want to improve employee output, this post will help you achieve that goal. 

Let’s begin!

1. Give Everyone Clear Instructions

If you want to improve productivity, then you should think about how you can give everyone clear instructions. 

If you can do this, you will be able to minimize the back and forth employees need to go through when trying to complete a certain task. 

Perhaps the best way to go about this is by creating a standard operating procedure—otherwise known as a ‘SOP.’

This is a document that provides clear, step-by-step instructions that someone needs to complete a specific task. 

By providing this document, an employee can now refer to this, instead of asking a fellow employee. This then limits any interruptions that might lead to a reduction in productivity. 

2. Invest in Software

Investing in software is a great way to improve productivity throughout your business. That’s because, with the help of software, employees can complete tasks with greater efficiency.

Now, there’s not one specific kind of software that will improve productivity levels for all businesses. Thus, you need to review your organization and question the specific aspects of it that might benefit from software. 

For instance, if you find it takes a long time to issue pay stubs, you might want to invest in pay stub software such as ThePayStubs.

However, if you find that employees have a hard time communicating with one another, you might invest in a ‘chat’ software like Slack. 

3. Question How Things Can Be Improved

You may be able to improve productivity levels by reviewing how you handle certain tasks or scenarios. 

For instance, you might have a certain process for dealing with customer complaints. But if you review this process, you might find that you can improve productivity levels by removing certain steps/procedures. 

This might mean you give employees permission to offer refunds without having to ask a manager. Or it could mean that you reduce the level of paperwork associated with a complaint. 

Do You Know How to Improve Small Business Productivity? 

With the help of these small business productivity tips, you should be able to improve employee output levels. 

As your business grows and changes, you’ll probably need to do different things to improve productivity levels. Thus, you need to regularly review your business, so that you don’t miss any potential areas for improvement. 

Now, it’s vital that you don’t ignore the small things you can do to raise productivity. After all, while a 1% increase in productivity might not sound like much, such an improvement will compound over time. 

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