How to Do More With Fewer Employees
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major effect on businesses all around the country - and there’s still no end in sight. Many businesses were forced to close their doors to the public for months, taking their operations remote so employees could continue working safely from home. While these changes have been successful for many, we can all agree that some businesses have been affected for the worst unfortunately, and will now be looking at potentially trimming their workforce going forward.
Some companies, like Salesforce, have reportedly decided to preemptively trim their workforce despite experiencing nearly record-setting quarters. Whether it’s due to existing financial strain, in anticipation of a coming financial downturn, or to temporarily appease stockholders, cuts are unfortunately coming and businesses are going to have to learn how to get more done with fewer employees. This means identifying areas of need within your business to ensure you don’t cut back on an already struggling department, as well as recognizing exceptional performers and those who may be in need of some assistance in order to succeed.
Using productivity intelligence to guide you through these uncertain times
Cutting employees isn’t something your business should do lightly - trimming your workforce without any insight into what each member of your team is actually contributing and how well they stack up against the rest of the team is a recipe for disaster. There’s too much at stake to make major decisions blindly. Doing so can have considerable consequences for several departments across the company, making it critical that these decisions are well-informed. The best course of action is to use productivity intelligence to give you the full picture of what’s going on within your organization.
In many businesses, the most productive employees are often the least visible. Without productivity intelligence to help inform your decisions, these employees may be let go without management ever realizing just how valuable their role is. Making uninformed decisions can set you back dearly, and could very well cost you employees who are essential to your day-to-day operations, saddling you with underperforming employees who are great at ingratiating themselves with management - and not great at doing their jobs.
To do more with less, you need to identify the strongest members of your team and know which areas of your business could use some help. With productivity intelligence, you’ll be able to better identify the hidden gems, as well as those who may be overburdened, and see which departments are being overworked, and which employees may be working less productively than they appear to be.
How productivity intelligence can help you do more with fewer employees
Productivity intelligence solutions like Prodoscore give you unparalleled insight into how your workforce is operating, using non-invasive technology that works to streamline the employee experience. Each member of your team is given a productivity score™ based on their activity in common workplace solutions like your office suite, CRM, phone system, and other staples of your workplace tech stack. These scores allow you to better understand employee productivity, engagement, and accountability, and make it easy to directly compare the performance of employees and take a deeper dive into the needs of teams and departments.
With insight into how your team members are working and what the needs of your departments are, you’ll be better prepared to make major decisions regarding your workforce. If employees within a particular department are at capacity, that department may require a transfer or a new hire rather than any cuts - if employees are only working to 50% capacity, that department may not require every member of the team in order to function. With visibility into how your workforce is really operating, your departments can finally receive the attention they deserve and, over time, improve performance as well as employee satisfaction.
Productivity intelligence also gives management the chance to better assist employees in need. If team members are consistently receiving high productivity scores but are missing deadlines, they may require help in order to catch up, and they may be on the verge of burnout. If an employee consistently receives below average scores and still isn’t able to meet deadlines, they probably aren’t working at a high enough capacity and may require additional coaching or attention before you decide to cut them from the team. Put simply, productivity intelligence means enhanced insight for your management teams, leading to better decision making in times of crisis.
While the near future undoubtedly holds many uncertainties, your business doesn’t need to go blindly into the dark. Harnessing the power of productivity intelligence means that you’ll be able to make informed decisions about the future of your workforce that set you up for success. Recognizing exceptional performers who previously went unseen and underappreciated, identifying opportunities for enhanced coaching, and reallocating resources are a good place to start. Productivity intelligence powered by Prodoscore allows you to identify and learn from the most important members of your team, plus keep them for the long term, letting you thrive even in times of uncertainty.
