Improving Workplace Productivity

The Department of Labour website has some great resources for improving productivity in the workplace, including research into the drivers of productivity and tools to assist you in improving productivity in your business.

Productivity Drivers

A Workplace Productivity Working Group published a report which identified 7 key drivers of productivity and the following is a brief summary of those points:

1.  Building Leadership and Management Skills

Effective leaders are people who can identify opportunities and inspire others to pursue those opportunities.  Leadership is a crucial factor in creating a positive and productive workplace culture.  Managers need the ability to adapt to a changing environment and implement organisational changes.  They also need strong interpersonal and communication skills and a capacity for continuous learning and development.

2.  Creating Productive Workplace Cultures

High performing workplaces are founded on a strong workplace culture in which motivated and engaged employees are willing to “go the extra mile.”

3.  Encouraging Innovation and the Use of Technology

Creating new products or services or just doing things better are vital ways to achieve growth and the appropriate introduction of advanced technology is linked with higher productivity.

4.  Investing in People and Skills

Upskilling your workforce can lead to more innovative behaviour and enable the use of higher levels of technology which, in turn, leads to higher productivity.

5.  Organising Work

Organisational structures and business practices need to support the overall business strategy and should be reviewed on an ongoing basis to ensure that they remain effective.

6.  Networking and Collaborating

There are significant productivity gains to be achieved by improving the exchange of knowledge, information and ideas through both formal and informal networks.

7.  Measuring What Matters

Good measurement and reporting practices are linked to an assessment of an organisation’s strategy and how to better achieve those strategic objectives.  There needs to be a commitment to measurement and to communicating the results in a transparent manner.

 Improving Productivity

A survey tool called the “Workplace Productivity Snapshot” can be downloaded from the Department of Labour website to help you to evaluate how your business is performing in the 7 areas mentioned above and identify opportunities to improve productivity.

 For more information, please refer to the Department of Labour website: www.ers.dol.govt.nz and click on “productivity.”