Doing More With Less

Sharlyn Lauby

9 Dec 2008

Last week, the Labor Department reported that productivity slowed over the summer months. While the overall indicator did increase (1.3%), the increase was smaller than Q2 (3.6%).

So what does this mean? Productivity is an important measurement – the more productive employees are, the more companies can provide in terms of wages (because the company’s sales will cover the payroll expense.) Simply put, the more employees produce, the more the company can sell, then the more a company can pay. As Homer Simpson would say, “D’oh!”

Anywho, we’ve got ourselves in a vicious cycle right now. Times are tough and companies are laying people off. So what are employees doing as a result? Could it be they’re hanging around the water cooler wondering if they’ve got a job next week or surfing the net to see who they can connect with on LinkedIn?

And, what does that do to employee productivity? Well if people aren’t giving work 100% of their attention then, of course, productivity will be down. That translates into companies producing less…which means they are selling less…which means they don’t have the money to make payroll. Bingo…you see where this is going.

As a result, it’s time we dust off that old cliché “doing more with less”. Now I know, some folks might say you can’t do more with less. But, the sad truth is we aren’t operating at 100%. Five employees operating at 100% can do more than six operating at 80% . . just do the math. Simply put, that’s doing more with less.

And since we’re all tightening our budget belts…then the statistical probability exists that, whatever we do, it will be with fewer resources. We just need to get creative.

It’s time for all of us to get 100% in the game of doing more with less. We’re asking our government to take action to improve the economy. We want businesses to do their share. Everyone needs to contribute. As employees, our contribution is productivity.