Let’s grasp the fact that business success can’t happen without employee engagement… Employee engagement is a timeless priority for any business, and when you’re able to get it right, the positive impact echoes across the whole organisation. The value of engaged employees has adapted to the effects of the global pandemic, economic uncertainty and even political anxieties. These workplaces have evolved to stay competitive and even thrive in challenging circumstances.

The world has been preparing for the digital shift for years, and the pandemic finally tipped the scale. There’s no denying it, the future of work is adaptable, flexible and involves the considered use of technology. Many organisations realise that their response to change will be vital in staying productive and relevant – and as a result, some clear digital workplace trends are emerging.

2020 threw a wrench in everyone’s plans and sapped productivity for months. This year, we have to make an effort to make 2021 a better year while adjusting to the new world of work. Some of the workforces have returned to the offices, but the majority still need to be productive where offices and homes blend into one.

2020 represented a turning point for most businesses, and the profound implications of Covid-19 lasted longer than many thought possible. Measuring the productivity of your company or department this year allows you to make operational changes, adding employees and equipment to meet deadlines specifically. Understanding the productivity level of your workforce allows you to gauge overall efficiency, and there are a variety of manners to measure productivity in order to achieve a higher growth rate.

Productivity growth is vital because more real income means the business can meet its obligations to customers, suppliers, workers, shareholders, and governments (taxes and regulation), and still remain competitive or even improve its competitiveness in the marketplace.

Productivity is commonly defined as the ratio between output volume and the volume of inputs. It’s not everything, but in the long run, it is almost everything. A country’s ability to improve its standards of living over time depends almost entirely on its ability to raise its output per worker.

Covid-19, coupled with technology enhancements, have worsened and disrupted our already fragile socio-economic and labour market systems, the infrastructure and business models, with a devastating effect. We need a change in nature and the future of work. There are numerous signs that the pandemic is aggravating existing conditions.  South Africa’s unemployment rate increased by 7,5% to 30,8% (11 million people) in the third quarter of 2020 compared to the second quarter, leaving citizens in poverty, and inequality reaching unprecedented levels and the highest by world standards.

The ability to be productive is necessary for everyone – for individuals, organisations and our country. It doesn’t matter if you’re an organisation’s chairman or the receptionist. Every job, task and responsibility require a productive mindset to achieve a positive outcome.

The holiday season is a challenging time for organisations to maintain status-quo levels of productivity.  South Africans fall into a pre-holiday slump with numerous distractions that keep them occupied such as Christmas shopping, parties and socialising. December is also the time for companies to celebrate their successes for the last year and employees to forge closer relationships with colleagues and clients at year-end functions, long lunches and gifts. All of these have an impact on productivity as it’s effortless for individuals to ‘check out’, physically and mentally.

If ever there was a need for a sit-down to dissect the productivity statistics of South Africa, it is now. There is no need to remind anyone of the challenges this year has brought upon the world, but especially South Africa.