By Judy Hector

Productivity is all about getting the most bang for your buck. And that means making sure your staff, equipment, office space, and other resources in your agency are being used at their peak efficiency. Anything less than that is costing you time, money -- and maybe even clients.

"Productivity" is an idea that took off in the Industrial Age and is usually applied to manufacturing. But in creative businesses we still need to look at productivity as a measure of cost effectiveness, even though we're not lined up in a factory hot welding steel frames or snipping plastic widgets (although sometimes it feels like it). Just like in manufacturing, our own tools can become slightly "misaligned," whether from neglect, attrition or, in the case of human resources, personal growth. You can analyze your productivity by taking a hard look at the way your shop and staff operate.

Just looking, thanks

Inside your office, there are a myriad of activity, from runners to managers, each focusing on tasks that contribute to the final output. But is the process efficient? Is the best staffer assigned to the task? Does work get done on time, or is it consistently late?

With the many reports and tools built in to the software, Clients & Profits can help make your productivity analysis, well, more productive. Start poking around in the process of how work gets done, and you might be surprised at what your sleuthing uncovers!

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