Your team is crucial to the success of your business. These people carry out your operations on a daily basis and so it is essential to do what you can to ensure things run smoothly.
Taking steps to increase your business productivity can help your teams in conducting their day-to-day activities. In turn, this helps to keep morale high and ensures all team members are happy in their role.?
On an individual level, you can ascertain team members’ skills, looking to see where you can adapt operations in-line with particular strengths. Also mapping out a journey of each individual's task list allows you to determine how you can improve each stage. For instance, what can be done differently to make things more accessible??
For operations as a whole, are there any changes you could make that would minimise movement for your team? Improving the efficiency of your processes can involve less walking and fewer awkward movements for your team - this reduces fatigue and the risk of repetitive strain injuries.
Here are just a few examples of how process improvement has helped teams in the different sectors we work in:
- Retail - Convenience retailers are offering more services to drive footfall. Parcel pick-up and drop-off has been growing in popularity, both for retailers’ own Click & Collect operations, and for third parties such as Evri and Amazon. Optimising parcel storage so that it is close to the hand-out point reduces the need for colleagues to walk far and saves them from having to rummage through piles of parcels. This also benefits customers as they can collect their parcel without enduring a long wait. Discover more about our work in retail
- Hospitality - Many food and drink outlets perform the same tasks multiple times a day, whether it be making a coffee, building burgers or plating meals. Swapping chilled storage within a kitchen meant the dessert fridge was next to the work station, reducing time that was previously spent walking through a busy galley area. Not only did this create a quicker turnaround for the customers’ desserts, it also meant team members’ feet weren’t as tired by the end of the shift. Smaller scale changes to a burger assembly station meant everything became closer to hand, saving the colleague from stretching to reach the sauce or bending for packaging. Discover more about our work in hospitality
- Warehousing and logistics - Time spent walking can account for up to half of the overall time within a warehouse picking operation. Implementing changes to reduce the distance travelled makes life easier for colleagues and reduces pick times. Moving from manual pallet wrapping, to using the tools and machines available reduces the amount of awkward bends and twists needed to wrap a pallet securely. Discover more about our work in warehousing and logistics
- Contact centres - Customer service colleagues spend a lot of time looking at screens. Making sure they are at the correct height and have access to two screens (to reduce screen switching) is good for colleagues and efficiency. Discover more about our work in contact centresFocusing on improving productivity within your workplace will help your teams in carrying out their roles, keep morale high and result in smoother operations.Want to find out more about improving your business productivity? Get in touch with me
