Why productivity matters
Productive companies get more out of what they’ve got, enabling them to increase their profits, pay higher wages and invest in their future. More productive businesses mean a more prosperous country. Discover why productivity matters below.
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People & Team
Article
Building a cost-effective training culture requires knowledge sharing
Developing an internal training culture is essential to keep employees engaged, motivated and productive. Be the Business spoke to three companies, each of which have taken different approaches to training staff.
Talent development
Sales & Growth
Video
Louise Fowler – Engaging your staff to deliver for your customers
Louise Fowler is chief customer and marketing officer at The Post Office. She explained the importance of your business focusing on delivering for customers.
Marketing & Sales
Leadership & Strategy
Article
A look at the management style changes made by successful business leaders
Whether they realise it or not, leaders in everything from business to sport have a management style. What separates the best from also rans is the ability to change this style as the environment around them evolves.
Leadership Behaviours
People & Team
Article
We keep our staff constantly intellectually challenged
Technical consultancy Amido has turned work down because it didn’t feel that it would keep its employees fully engaged or intellectually challenged, and makes sure staff are involved with client negotiations from the outset.
Motivation
People & Team
Article
We invest in learning and development schemes to see great outcomes
If you want results from your learning and development schemes, then you need to invest in them believes Stephen Oakden, director of BE Design.
Talent development
Planning
Article
How do you plan in a rapidly changing environment?
No matter what new rules or guidelines may emerge over the summer, Kristina Rowe is aiming to cover all bases with her forward-thinking planning efforts.
People & Team
Article
Be innovative to retain your best staff
Keeping talented staff members in your company means accepting that traditional working conditions and standards may no longer apply, believes entrepreneur Callum Negus-Fancey.
Talent development
People & Team
Article
Creating team leaders to maximise sales and profitability – stories from the beauty and hospitality worlds
As a business grows it gets harder and harder to stay on top of all day-to-day activities. Nurturing and empowering team leaders helps take some of the pressure off, as Be the Business found out.
Talent development
People & Team
Article
Meet the companies reinventing the lunch hour
It's a part of the day that unites us all, whether you work on a shop floor or on a building site, but shaking up the lunch hour has proved fruitful for some enterprising businesses.
Motivation
People & Team
Article
Using an alternative performance appraisal can help improve staff retention
Choosing an alternative performance appraisal method can help with more than goal setting – it can help with employee retention and wellbeing too.
Performance management
People & Team
Article
How to break the culture of presenteeism in a busy workplace
Presenteeism is soaring in British businesses. Leaders share their advice on to tackle the issue before it causes stress or burnout.
Motivation
People & Team
Article
Meet the businesses that pool employee evaluation
Regularly evaluating the performance of your staff can help a business better meet individual and collective targets. We talk to two companies developing new employee evaluation techniques to engage with staff about their tasks and expectations.
Performance management
People & Team
Article
Consider the effect of personal problems
If an employee is struggling at work, then consider that their personal problems could be a contributing factor for a drop in productivity says Julia Mitchell, Managing Director at Toast PR.
Performance management
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Practical operational changes made Start-rite 83 per cent more efficient
It’s a family-owned shoe brand that has been around since the end of the 18th century, but it took an outsider’s perspective to truly prepare Start-rite for the rise of ecommerce.
Leadership Behaviours
People & Team
Video
Chris Mayne of Forsberg Services says it’s your culture which delivers your strategy
Chris Mayne is operations director at Forsberg Services, an engineering company based in Lancaster which specialises in producing high-precision navigation solutions for businesses across a range of sectors, including automotive, container ports, telecommunications and defence.
Motivation
Planning
Article
Getting your staff interested in business turnover and profit
Financial indicators like turnover and profit can feel like abstract ideas to employees, particularly if they aren’t non-revenue generating. Yet every staff member has an impact on company performance.
Target Setting
Planning
Article
A successful CBILS application: Give banks as much info as you can
When Plastic Card Services set about applying for the government's CBILS funding pot, it knew overdelivering information would be the successful approach.
Leadership & Strategy
Article
A management structure that provides autonomy and empowerment
Launching a brave and new product meant taking a long hard look at Decoded’s management structure and practices – whatever positives or negatives that uncovered.
Leadership Behaviours
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Ceviche: A restaurant that goes so much further than food and drink
Ceviche founder Martin Morales has created a brand that brings together all the elements of Peruvian culture he throught the UK was missing out on.
Communicate vision and values
People & Team
Article
Staff motivation: Lessons learned from failed workplace perks
Perks and rewards are a popular way to boost motivation – but it takes time to get right. We spoke to business owners about motivating staff.
Motivation
Planning
Article
Coronavirus: Managing your business cash flow
The delicate balance between sales, creditors and debtors has been disrupted by coronavirus. Finding ways to manage cash flow has never been more important.
Leadership & Strategy
Article
A flat management structure can empower staff during rapid growth
A flat management structure gets rid of traditional hierarchies and empowers employees. We looked at the benefits and potential drawbacks.
Leadership Behaviours
Planning
Article
Your coronavirus cash conservation checklist
With so much uncertainty around how long the impact of coronavirus will last, cash conservation will decide how your business gets through the outbreak.
Leadership & Strategy
Article
I suggested to our competitors that we all suspend trading
At the start of the coronavirus crisis, Hattons Model Railways MD came up with a bold idea that had the power to help everyone – competitors included.
External Collaboration