As well as everything else that’s going on globally, UK employers are facing hikes in employment-related costs. There are increases coming soon in both taxes and the National Minimum Wage. As a result of these changes, leaders are facing even greater pressure to maintain the balance between profitability and rising (in this case, employment) costs.
So, what’s the best option when you’re faced with this sort of challenge?
Image: yankrukov, pexels
Like many leaders I saw in 2008/2009, you can take the ‘reduction’ route. That can mean cutting costs, stopping all investments and paring things back or restructuring (and ‘losing’ some payroll costs in the process). You could also increase your profitability by putting your prices up.
But what about taking a slightly different view and looking at this problem through another lens – one of productivity and happiness? Back in 2019, researchers from the Oxford University's Saïd Business School, working with BT, studied a potential link between productivity and happiness. That research showed that happy workers were 13% more productive. In this case, it meant that when workers were happier, they worked faster by making more calls per hour worked and converted more calls to sales.
If the happiness approach is a route you’d like to experiment with, what practical steps can you take to achieve this, when cutting back might feel like the ‘easiest’ option? Here are four ideas that could help…
Invest in your teams
As counter-intuitive as it feels, investing in learning and development when things are feeling wobbly can make a big difference. Obviously, there are all the benefits around improved expertise and potentially efficiency and effectiveness too. But perhaps most importantly, people feel more valued. That’s a very different feeling to the negativity, fear and concern that a ‘reduction’ approach can bring to your teams. This negativity can create a ripple effect when people – often your best employees – might consider moving roles. So, keeping people happier could help to maintain retention and keep recruitment costs down.
Invest in your managers
Managers can make or break team performance, team efficiency and effectiveness. When managers aren’t supported in developing the essential skills that can support positive working relationships like good communication, emotional intelligence and motivation approaches, it can have a negative impact on an entire team.
Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate
By encouraging cross-organisation teams to collaborate and work well together, things can speed up, the opportunity for greater innovation increases and solutions to problems are spotted - sometimes before they even appear. This approach also helps to build teamwork - people feel more empowered and engaged. And, as human beings, connection with other people is vital for positive wellbeing. Collaboration can support that.
Communicate more
However much you’re already communicating across your organisation, do more of it. When things are uncertain and change is on the horizon, it can create a sense of uncertainty in your teams, which can be distracting, disconcerting and disruptive. People’s wellbeing gets affected. But good communication can help to create clarity, giving people the chance to ask questions as well as exploring options and opportunities.
So, if you’re already undertaking the reduction route in your business for whatever reason, what could you lose by taking a chance on improving the happiness of the teams in your organisation? Trying just one thing might give you some of the productivity improvements you’re looking for.
If you’d like to navigate change positively to make it a better experience for everyone involved, get in touch.