Studies by the Trades Union Congress found that four in 10 workers are now required to do more work in the same amount of time. A McKinsey survey found that 35% of workers leave their jobs due to unsustainable workloads — ranking as high as inadequate pay as a reason for leaving. With more to do, how do you ensure quality work gets done without burning out your workforce?
The answer is looking inward. According to Slack, business productivity is directly tied to how engaged a person is with their work and their employer. Employee engagement is one of the most consistent drivers of high turnover rates.
Below are four strategies that can significantly improve efficiency and build a culture of sustained performance. To get the most from them, you need a clear plan: what needs to happen, and how, to reach a specific goal.
Recognise employees' efforts
A study from Harvard Business Review shows that people work harder when someone is aware of their efforts and shows appreciation. The responsibility falls on managers and company leaders to create an environment that motivates people to do their best work.
Recognising achievements and showing appreciation — between managers and peers — encourages people to go further. It also promotes healthy work-life balance and mindfulness, which improves overall wellbeing and, with it, engagement and efficiency.
Atiom gives management a direct route to appreciation through the Appreciation Hall feature. It goes beyond management: it also encourages peers to show gratitude to one another, building a positive workplace culture that makes employees feel genuinely valued.
Look into employee wellbeing
Working closely with someone daily can make it easy to overlook their wellbeing. Employees do not stay at a company simply because it performs well or pays competitively. Today, it goes further. Employers who make their people feel genuinely cared for see a stronger effort from their teams — and it reinforces the company culture that holds an organisation together.
Some targeted changes that create large shifts in productivity:
- Encouraging regular breaks: Taking regular breaks improves productivity. Research shows that brief rest periods rejuvenate the mind, sharpen focus, and prevent burnout. Techniques like Pomodoro — focused work intervals followed by short breaks — lead to more sustained concentration across the workday.
- Creating a healthy feedback system: Atiom lets employees share feedback, opinions, and thoughts at multiple points — not just once a year in a survey — gathering more genuine responses that are genuinely useful for management. A healthy feedback loop makes employees feel appreciated, which directly feeds productivity.
Create an effective communication strategy
An effective communication strategy has a direct effect on productivity. Atiom gives management multiple avenues to share information with employees, creating a reliable channel of communication. Frontline workers often do not have company email or regular office access, which means they miss updates. Atiom's Newsfeed feature keeps them informed about company updates, initiatives, direction, and tasks assigned to them.
Some of the ways organisations use it:
- Company-wide, team-wide or interdepartmental announcements
- Congratulating teams on task completions and project milestones (which also feeds into recognition)
- Sharing company initiatives
The Events feature also acts as a personal calendar for each employee — useful for staff who are always on the move. Together, these tools help frontline workers feel more organised, informed, and valued, all of which improves their focus at work.
Invest in employee training and development
Giving your employees the right tools sets them up to succeed. A knowledgeable workforce is a productive one. Atiom supports continuous learning through the Study and Instant modules.
If you need staff to learn new safety procedures, generate the content in the Study or Instant Module. Employees can work through it and get quizzed on it via the Quizzes feature, any time. This applies across any content that management needs to reinforce across the team.
No more one-off onboarding sessions or multi-day training workshops with low retention. With Atiom, your content is always available for employees to return to and refresh. It fills the gaps employees may have about specific aspects of their role and builds productivity across teams, departments, and the whole organisation.
Read more on how Atiom's technology drives performance here.
Conclusion
Improving productivity at work is an ongoing process that requires strategic planning, supportive policies, and a positive work culture. These four approaches give organisations a solid foundation for sustained performance and a workforce that is more productive, more satisfied, and less likely to leave.
