New statistics show productivity fell consistently throughout 2017, as employees are now producing less output per hour worked than they were a decade ago.
Productivity is calculated by dividing labour output by labour input, and the report from the Office for National Statistics found productivity had fallen by 0.1% from quarter 1 to quarter 2. This follows a 0.5% fall from Oct-Dec 2016 to the first quarter of 2017 - which marked the first fall in productivity since 2015.
The Telegraph pointed out this means productivity is now 20% lower than it was expected to be, had the economic crisis not occurred. The reason for the downturn, could be more businesses taking on staff rather than investing in the systems, processes and technology their business uses. In fact, unemployment is now at its lowest rate since 1975. Yet productivity in the UK is now 15.1% below the average of other G7 countries such as the US, Canada and Japan.
So, looking ahead in 2018, what exactly can companies do to boost the productivity of the employees they’ve worked so hard to recruit?
How to boost productivity in your business
Aside from plying your employees with endless caffeinated beverages, there are a couple of other workplace tips and tricks you can use to increase your team’s productivity. Introducing Unified Communications technology is a tried and tested approach to improving efficiency across an entire workplace.
While you may long for the days of physical answer machines, hard-copy documents in filing cabinets and face to face meetings, the fact is the world has changed. The digital era has brought with it the ability for businesses to speed up processes immeasurably. However, modern technologies are only truly time saving if they can work in synchronicity with one another. Unified Communications brings all your communications tools, plus documents and data, under one roof.
Up your productivity with a unified approach
Unified Communications combines telephony, mobile solutions, voice connectivity and applications like web conferencing and instant messaging. For many businesses, time is money. And the time saved by Unified Communications tools could be the difference between meeting a deadline, securing a deal or hitting a target.
For example, if one employee needs an urgent response from another employee who happens to be out the office, they can use one system to contact them via a variety of different methods. This means the employee can get the information they need, potentially within minutes. And if the answer is more complicated? Unified Communications makes it simple to set up a web conference at the click of a button. No more navigating between numerous different applications.
Create an environment for productivity
Taking a fresh approach to productivity is about more than the technology you invest in. Productivity is a mindset too. By giving your employees the latest tools for engagement and innovation, you’ll also boost their enthusiasm for getting the job done.
Removing perceived blocks to work can work wonders for workplace morale. For example, a report by Atlassian found that 47% of workers named meetings as the number one time wasting activity in the office. Unified Communications makes it fast and simple to hop on and off an audio, video or web conference when needed.
Since Unified Communications incorporates smartphone and tablet technology into the mix, you can also rest assured your newer Millennial employees - a demographic who expect access to the latest technology - will be able to work productively.
Isn’t it time your business started to buck the productivity downward trend? With Unified Communications the only way is up.
