Increasing productivity is crucial for small businesses because not even multinationals are immune from the requirement to boost their productivity. Toyota recently announced the redundancy of 350 jobs at its plant in Melbourne plant due to a decline in its competitiveness. Other well known companies, such as Heinz, are also relocating manufacturing plants overseas due to poor productivity.
To improve productivity, small businesses can:
- Encourage employees to become more creative and to generate new ideas;
- Review systems to eliminate unnecessary processes;
- Improve skills and focus on management effectiveness;
- Use more technological processes;
- Retrain older skilled workers;
- Rotate job tasks so employees do not become bored; and
- Provide incentives for the best performers.
Tips for Improving Small Business Productivity