Invest more in people

“Productivity isn’t everything, but in the long run it is almost everything,” -Paul Krugman.

Invest in wages, time and energy to reinvigorate productivity:  

Wages - Higher investment in wages does not need to come at the expense of customers and shareholders.  

Time - Time is incredibly scarce. On average, managers have fewer than seven hours per week of uninterrupted time to do deep versus shallow work. Start treating hours like dollars, with a real opportunity cost, and systematically eradicate organizational drag. Giving managers more time to do deep thinking can unlock innovations that can have a significant impact on productivity.  

Energy - Perhaps the most transformational thing a company can do for its workforce is to invest in creating jobs and working environments that unleash intrinsic inspiration. An inspired employee is more than twice as productive as a satisfied employee and more than three times as productive as a dissatisfied employee.

Inspired by: Harvard Business Review - The Case for Investing More in People, by Eric Garton