The foundations of productivity—Lessons from the UK
Are you reading this blog mid-morning, perhaps after spending a few minutes (or more) making a cup of coffee? Or perhaps you’re reading in the late afternoon, with one eye on the clock ticking towards home time? If so, you’re probably not alone...
Recent research from the UK suggests that many workers feel they could be more efficient and effective at work, with nearly a quarter rating themselves as “unproductive.”
Building on a previous report from the London School of Economics, Vodafone UK conducted a survey of over 3000 workers from a variety of fields, with the aim of discovering what might help workers feel more engaged with their work, and consequently improve employee productivity. The answers? Evaluating and improving management practice, embracing the latest technology, and creating an agile, flexible workforce.
For many C-suite executives with an eye towards best practice, these answers may seem obvious. But among the day-to-day challenges of running a business, how can you find the time and space to make sure you are doing everything you can to help improve employee productivity? Business Process Management (BPM) can help!
Evaluate and improve management by automating repetition
Vodafone’s research showed that 51% of workers point to their business processes as reducing productivity, with an additional 47% blaming too many meetings. By providing a tool to visualize the way things actually get done within an organization, BPM enables you to identify unnecessary or redundant processes, offering the information required to make immediate improvements to workflow.
This includes automating the repetitive tasks that take up workers’ time and reduce their overall productivity. In addition, making sure all staff members know how, when, and why a particular process is used means a few of those “too many” meetings can be removed from the calendar!
Embrace the latest technology by implementing cloud-based solutions
Close to half of workers surveyed said poor technology is stopping them from being as productive as they could be. Conversely, 80% of the workers who rated their productivity highly said they had the right technology available for their work. So, the link between access to the latest technology and productivity is pretty clear—and the same goes for BPM. A BPM solution that uses up-to-the-minute technology to combine the design, automation, and analysis of business processes, while also operating remotely and remaining accessible to all staff within an organization, is a solution that makes best use of the capacity of the cloud. In other words, it enables businesses to make better decisions, faster.
Create an agile, flexible workforce by supporting collaboration and teamwork
An agile and flexible workforce is one that can come together quickly to solve a problem collaboratively—not always possible when technology allows a workforce to be spread across the world! Even so, Vodafone’s research showed the high value workers place on their workplace culture, with 74% of Gen Z workers and 60% of baby boomers suggesting their team is the most important factor in making them more productive.
Reflecting this importance, effective organizations offer as many opportunities for collaboration as possible, no matter the distance involved. Often this relies on technology, from tele- and video-conferencing, to supporting staff to work from home, to the specialized online collaborative workspaces that some BPM systems can offer. In every case, technology acts to amplify the existing skills and abilities of an organization’s staff, using the wisdom of the crowd to identify and overcome issues as they arise.
Putting it all together
In short, workers feel most productive when their tasks are efficient, not redundant; when their technology is up-to-date, not obsolete; and when their workplace offers flexibility, not restriction. Combined, these three factors offer a strong foundation for an engaged workforce—where their cups of coffee fuel productivity, not replace it!
If you’d like to know more about how BPM can improve productivity in your business, visit www.signavio.com. Using the latest technology, the SAP Signavio Process Transformation Suite offers everything you need to evaluate and improve your business processes and support your workforce to be more productive. Sign up for your 30 day free trial now!