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
We reward hard work with an equity stake
Opinium has taken a different route rewarding its best performing employees with an equity stake in the business, believing it is a more effective way of recognising effort.
Motivation
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Making your company vision and values stick in the long term
There may be excitement and engagement early on in a venture’s life, but how's does a company vision and its values become engrained and future-proofed? Be the Business found out.
Vision & Values
People & Team
Article
Coronavirus: How to monitor staff wellbeing of remote workers
For owners and managers, perhaps the most important coronavirus question is how do you monitor staff wellbeing if you’re not in the same building every day?
Leadership & Strategy
Article
How to build a self-managing business
Pete Fraser has never been one for micro-managing and has built a self-managing business that let's him get his head out of the sound more often than most.
Improve your own leadership capabilities
Leadership & Strategy
Article
A look at why productivity really matters for UK businesses
While many in the small and medium-sized business (SME) community might associate productivity with manufacturing and "output per hour", there are a number of less direct contributing factors.
Leadership Behaviours
People & Team
Article
Getting the best out of a workforce means not pigeonholing staff
Giving employees specific titles, roles and tasks may be tempting from an operations point of view, but by not pigeonholing staff two particular businesses have unlocked creativity and cultivated a collaborative approach to working.
Talent development
People & Team
Article
Internal training schemes do not always need to be formal
Creating an internal training culture doesn’t have to be centred around formal, classroom-based schemes and courses knows Trusted Media.
Talent development
Planning
Article
How one founder is giving a helping hand where it’s needed most
When one of his clients ordered more work, Jublo founder Joshua Atkins saw the chance to do his bit in a time of crisis.
Leadership & Strategy
Article
How leadership skills programmes helped founders find focus
Two tech founders pursued executive education to improve their leadership skills. Learning from experts and peers proved to be an invaluable experience.
Leadership Behaviours
Planning
Article
The power of setting, hitting – and even missing – sales targets
Nikolay Piriankov, founder of engagement ring specialist Taylor & Hart, reveals how using sales targets has incentivised staff to give customers their happily ever after.
Target Setting
Planning
Article
Creating a scalable and reassuring back-to-work plan
From working out its maximum safe occupancy to creating an induction document,…
Digital Readiness
Article
Automating manufacturing to compete on a global scale
Despite a few false starts, midlands manufacturer JJ Churchill is committed to taking a gamble and making big investments in new productivity-focused strategies.
Digital Commerce
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Coronavirus: How to negotiate with your landlord during the outbreak
With coronavirus uncertainty, you may be thinking about the best way to negotiate with your landlord about future rent. Here's how businesses should do it.
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
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
Video
Ryan Anderson of Pendle Doors believes that company culture is central to business success
Ryan Anderson is operations manager at Pendle Doors, based in Darwen, Lancashire. Pendle Doors makes modern, contemporary doors, quality fire doors and custom doors for the construction industry.
Leadership Behaviours
Digital Readiness
Article
Customer insights showed us a new way of running business
Business owners often have a very clear idea about what they do and where they want to take their business – but customer insights can be valuable and prompting you to certain directs admitted Ann-Marie Rossiter.
Digital Commerce
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
World Cup productivity: Trust your staff now and reap benefits later
While it may be tempting to crack down on employees getting caught up in World Cup fervour in the workplace, adopting an approach based on trust and accountability can create a buoyant atmosphere that lasts beyond that final whistle.
Motivation
People & Team
Article
It pays to talk about underperformance
When underperformance has been identified then the best approach is to discuss with employees why they are struggling shares Sarah Penn, Chief Executive of Outstanding Branding.
Performance management
People & Team
Article
To furlough or not to furlough – how to make tough decisions about staff
Ccoronavirus has meant owners and leaders are facing some of the toughest decisions of their lives. Here's some help when it comes to your people.
Digital Readiness
Article
Don’t use outsourcing to hide from a problem
Outsourcing should never be used as a way to blindly hand ownership of a problem to someone else knows Dave Walker, director of technology at storage specialist Lovespace.
Digital Commerce
People & Team
Article
Lay the groundwork now so your staff can assume extra responsibility in the future
If junior members are staff are expected to eventually take a step up and start embracing extra responsibility then training and skill development must be part of their day-to-day lives, as Be the Business found out from three forward-thinking SMEs.
Talent development
Digital Readiness
Article
Ecommerce insights from Mountain Warehouse and Emma Bridgewater
Having left the world of consultancy to carve out a career in retail, Kath Brown shared with Be the Business the ecommerce insights she picked up while working for outdoor apparel business Mountain Warehouse and ceramics brand Emma Bridgewater.
Digital Commerce