Surprising Ways To Make Your Team More Productive

Looking for some ways to make your team more productive? Below are a few surprising methods that could be worth trying.

Provide more breaks

Many employers equate more breaks with less work. While it’s true that offering extra breaks will result in employees working for shorter periods, you could find that they get more done. As this article by Brandon Gaille states, 71% of surveyed employees found that breaks have an impact on their productivity. Further studies back this up by stating that humans generally start to lose focus after 90 minutes – encouraging short breaks every 90 minutes can help employees approach tasks with full concentration, resulting in better accuracy and faster output.

Cut down on regular meetings

All those meetings that you’re holding could be reducing your productivity. Research on employee productivity found that a group of employees were 70% more productive when meetings were reduced by 40%. The truth is that while meetings can be important sometimes for getting people on the same page and communicating urgent information, most meetings are simply a ritual that ends up largely being a waste of time. If you start every morning with an hour long daily meeting, consider whether it could be time to cut back. Putting more information into group chats and sending it by email could allow employees more time to work without having to sit in meetings. Similarly, try to avoid unnecessary meetings with clients. 

Allow working from home

There are many benefits to allowing employees to work from home. But are remote workers really more productive? While working from home can be an excuse to work from one’s bed and not get dressed, many studies have found that employees are actually more productive when working from home – about 13% more productive to be exact. This could be due to the fact that workplaces can often be full of distractions such as chatty colleagues, phone calls and visitors. Working from home can be a chance to get away from these distractions.

Embrace diversity and inclusion

Building a diverse and inclusive team may also impact your company’s productivity. A survey by GoodHire on workplace diversity found that 72% of respondents found a diverse workforce to be more productive. How does diversity fuel productivity? One likely reason is the fact that a diverse workforce brings people from all different backgrounds, which encourages more creative problem-solving. Employees are also more likely to be proud of a company that champions diversity. 

Hand out chewing gum

Do you have a policy against chewing gum in the workplace? You may want to reconsider this. One of the most unusual productivity boosters discovered in recent years is chewing gum. One study at Science Daily found that chewing gum during tasks can help to improve concentration. Next time you need your employees to knuckle down on a task, why not consider handing out some gum? Of course, it may not always be appropriate for client-facing roles as not everyone finds chewing gum to be professional.

This is a contributed post.