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Increase productivity by better understanding how work actually flows
Productivity is not just about working harder or checking off more tasks. In organizations, productivity emerges especially when employees know what is important, have sufficient energy, collaborate well, and don’t get stuck in unclear processes.
With a productivity survey from Deepler, you make visible where work flows smoothly and where time, focus, or quality is lost. This way, you not only discover whether teams are productive, but especially which circumstances help or hinder productivity.
- Discover where productivity in teams is hindered
- Measure focus, collaboration, priorities, and work processes
- Translate signals into targeted improvement actions
Productivity: what does it mean and how can you increase it?
Many organizations want to increase productivity, but immediately start with solutions: new tools, stricter targets, or more efficient processes. That seems logical, but without a good understanding of the causes, it often remains symptom management.
Low productivity can result from work pressure, unclear priorities, poor handoffs, too many meetings, poor collaboration, or lack of ownership. A good productivity survey helps make those causes visible.
In this article we explain:
- What productivity means within an organization
- How to measure employee productivity
- Which factors increase or decrease productivity
- How to recognize low productivity in teams
- How Deepler helps to improve productivity in a targeted way
Table of contents
What is productivity?
Productivity describes the relationship between what is invested and what it yields. In an organization, it’s not just about how many hours employees work, but especially about the value that emerges from those hours.
A team can be busy without actually being productive. Think of lots of meetings, many loose questions, lots of rework, or activities that overlap. Productivity becomes stronger when employees have clear goals, know what the priority is, and can do their work without unnecessary obstacles.
Measuring employee productivity without a control culture
Measuring productivity doesn’t have to mean controlling individual performance. In fact, it often backfires.
A good survey looks at the conditions under which employees do their work. Can they work focused? Is it clear what is expected?
Do processes connect smoothly? Is there enough room to deliver quality? This makes productivity a conversation about work improvement, not about mistrust.
Why is productivity important?
Productivity largely determines how much momentum an organization has. When teams work productively, goals are achieved faster, frustration decreases, and there is more room for improvement.
But when productivity is low, it often feels like everyone is busy while little progress is being made. That’s not only inefficient, but also demoralizing. Employees become exhausted from work that costs a lot of energy but yields little.
Increasing productivity provides organizations with various benefits
Productivity is influenced by priorities, work processes, collaboration, focus, available resources, and the way time and energy are deployed. Precisely because productivity is often linked to multiple factors, it’s difficult to steer on output alone. A productivity survey makes visible where employees experience obstacles and which aspects of the work environment need attention.
1. More results from the same capacity
In a tight labor market, additional staff is not always the solution. By better understanding where time and energy are lost, you can get more value from the capacity you already have.
2. Less time lost due to unclear communication
When employees don’t know what the priority is, lots of switching, waiting, and re-coordinating occurs. A productivity survey shows where unclear communication slows down work and where better agreements are needed.
3. Better collaboration within and between teams
Productivity often depends on others. If handoffs are difficult or teams work past each other, delays arise. By measuring collaboration in a targeted way, you see where coordination can be smarter.
4. Earlier detection of low productivity in teams
Low productivity in a team is not always visible in numbers. Sometimes you mainly see busyness, frustration, or declining quality. Research helps to recognize early where support is needed.
5. Better control over improving productivity
Improving productivity only works if you know which factors have influence. With clear insights, you can make targeted choices in processes, meetings, leadership, and task allocation.
Conduct your productivity survey with Deepler’s software
With Deepler, you investigate which factors influence productivity within teams. Employees easily provide feedback on focus, collaboration, work processes, priorities, work pressure, and support from managers.
The results are translated into clear dashboards, so HR, management, and leaders see where productivity is strengthened and where obstacles exist. This ensures the survey doesn’t get stuck in general conclusions, but creates a concrete picture of what each team needs.
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What are the benefits of a productivity survey?
A productivity survey gives direction to improvement. It shows where teams lose energy, where processes can be smarter, and where managers need to provide more clarity.
This makes increasing productivity not an abstract goal, but a concrete improvement process. The results help make choices: what do we tackle first, who owns it, and how do we measure whether work actually improves?
A powerful tool for better organizational design
Productivity is not a separate HR topic. It touches strategy, leadership, processes, collaboration, and work pressure.
That’s precisely why it’s important to investigate it broadly. A team that seems unproductive might actually be suffering from unrealistic priorities, poor tooling, or structural understaffing.
With Deepler, you map that context. This way, you prevent productivity from being reduced to individual effort, when the real solution often lies in work design.
What are the benefits of a productivity survey?
A productivity survey gives direction to improvement. It shows where teams lose energy, where processes can be smarter, and where managers need to provide more clarity.
This makes increasing productivity not an abstract goal, but a concrete improvement process. The results help make choices: what do we tackle first, who owns it, and how do we measure whether work actually improves?
More targeted steering on focus and priority
Productivity quickly drops when everything is important at once. Employees become fragmented, teams mainly react to daily pressures, and strategic goals fade into the background.
A productivity survey shows whether employees know what the priority is and whether they have enough room to work on the right tasks. This makes it easier to bring focus back into the organization.
Work more efficiently without pushing harder
Many organizations try to increase productivity by increasing pressure. This can work temporarily, but often leads to exhaustion, resistance, or lower quality.
Deepler helps make visible which obstacles limit productivity. Think of unclear processes, too many meetings, poor handoffs, or dependencies between teams. By addressing those causes, you improve the way of working instead of just increasing pressure on people.
More ownership in teams
Teams become more productive when they understand the goal and can contribute ideas for improvement. A survey gives employees language to indicate where work gets stuck.
This increases ownership: not only managers see what can be better, but teams can contribute to solutions themselves. This creates productivity improvement that is not imposed from above, but carried by the practice itself.
Trusted by small and large organizations
Ervaringen van klanten die met ons het verschil maken.
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Larren
Recruitment Lead,
De Selectie
“Recently, I used Deepler to arrive at an EVP. Great what they were able to achieve in a short time! In a period of two weeks, we collected information and were able to continue with our AMC plan. In any other situation, it takes weeks, if not months, to get this done. Contact is good, friendly and constructive. Very nice club to work with.”
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Douwe
Recruiter,
Securitas
“Ideal tool and company to gain more and better insight into the organization and employees as an organization! And especially with speed! For us, it was also the need to get tools for the topics of retention, to prevent future absenteeism or turnover. I also have experience with other parties and I sincerely value the speed of switching, follow-up and personal contact with Deepler. Absolutely recommended.”
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Jolanda
HR Business Partner,
Nedcargo
“Deepler is a great tool for continuously collecting feedback from our employees. This input is then centrally available for us as management, but also for managers who benefit from it.”
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Jonathan
Manager,
UWV
“What makes Deepler special is that it doesn’t get stuck in numbers. It helps you immediately understand where it is and what teams need. For us, this ensured that employees themselves came up with areas for improvement and took responsibility for them. The insights were sharp and useful, but most importantly: the conversation that started afterwards made the difference. Thanks to Deepler, we didn’t get a paper plan, but change that was supported by the people themselves.”
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Amadeus
COO,
OSRE
“The software has a positive impact on us as a rapidly growing organization. By better understanding what is going on in the workplace and what people offer as solutions for improvements, we can make more effective decisions. The platform helps us to gain real-time insight and to respond directly to it via the tool.”
Is a productivity survey mandatory?
A productivity survey is not legally required in the Netherlands. Yet it can strongly contribute to good employment practices and effective organizational policy.
Productivity touches on issues such as work pressure, work processes, leadership, and sustainable employability. When employees consistently get stuck or lose lots of energy to inefficient work, it can ultimately affect motivation, quality, and absenteeism. By carefully investigating productivity, you gain a better understanding of the conditions under which employees perform their work.
Is a productivity survey anonymous?
In a productivity survey, anonymity is important because employees might otherwise give socially desirable answers. Nobody wants to be seen as unproductive or create the impression that the team is not functioning well.
That’s why it’s wise to report results at group level and clearly communicate that the survey is about work factors, not individual performance evaluation. This creates more space for honest feedback about processes, priorities, and collaboration.
What about GDPR and privacy when measuring productivity?
When measuring productivity, you must handle personal data and traceable information carefully. Especially when feedback is combined with team, job role, or department data, it’s important that reports cannot be traced back to individual employees.
A good productivity survey works with clear objectives, minimal data collection, and reporting at an appropriate aggregation level. The goal is not to monitor individual output, but to make organizational patterns visible that affect productivity.
What is the role of HR, management, and leaders?
HR monitors survey quality, communication, and follow-up. Management determines why productivity is being surveyed and what strategic choices are connected to it.
Leaders play a crucial role in translating results to teams. They discuss the results, identify practical obstacles, and help refine priorities.
Employees provide input from daily practice. It’s precisely this combination of perspectives that makes it possible to not only measure productivity, but actually improve it.
Why do many organizations still conduct a productivity survey?
Many organizations notice that working harder doesn’t automatically lead to better results. There are meetings, coordination, reporting, and adjustments, but progress still lags behind.
A productivity survey helps break that pattern. It makes visible where work gets stuck, where energy is wasted, and which improvements have the most impact. This turns increasing productivity into a collective search for smarter work, not a demand to simply do more.
How to get more out of your productivity survey
Focus on work factors, not blame
Survey productivity from the question: what helps or hinders people from doing good work? This prevents the survey from feeling like an evaluation and increases the chances of honest answers.
Connect productivity with quality
More output is not automatically better. So also ask about rework, errors, clarity, and handoffs. Productivity only becomes valuable when speed and quality improve together.
Make improvements small and actionable
Don’t immediately opt for a large efficiency program. Start with one or two concrete obstacles per team, such as meeting structure, prioritization, or task distribution. Small improvements often deliver quick visible results.
Do’s of a productivity survey
A good productivity survey requires a careful approach. The topic can be sensitive because employees quickly link productivity to evaluation. Make it clear that the survey is intended to better organize work.
- Explain why productivity is being surveyed
- Ask about concrete work obstacles and conditions
- Combine results with team conversations
- Report at group level and avoid individual evaluation
- Translate insights into small, measurable improvement actions
Don’ts of a productivity survey
- Don’t use the survey as performance control on individuals
- Don’t measure only output without looking at quality
- Don’t draw conclusions without understanding the work context
- Don’t make productivity synonymous with working harder
- Don’t collect data you don’t need for improvement
What do you do with the results of a productivity survey?
The results of a productivity survey only become valuable when they lead to better choices in work. A productivity score alone says little.
The real value lies in understanding the causes: where do people lose focus, which processes take unnecessarily long, where is clarity lacking, and which dependencies slow down work? By carefully following up on the results, you prevent productivity from remaining an abstract management topic.
Converting insights into action
Now that you understand where productivity is being held back, it’s time to implement targeted measures. This doesn’t always mean major changes: often it’s about purposeful improvements in processes, communication or work structure. You focus on the bottlenecks that have the most impact and that your team can address directly.
The key to success is not to see this as a one-time project, but as part of a continuous improvement cycle. By regularly feeding back results to teams, clearly defining agreements and monitoring progress, you build an organization where work runs more effectively and employees can reach their full potential. We have identified 6 follow-up steps for you that you can implement immediately:
Wil je nog meer tips over hoe je een medewerkerstevredenheidsonderzoek (MTO) effectief op kan volgen? Lees dan ons artikel:
MTO Effectief Opvolgen: Waarom Is Dat Belangrijk?
Analyze where productivity is being slowed down
Don’t just look at average scores, but at differences between teams, functions, or processes. Look for patterns in focus, priorities, collaboration, and workload.
Determine which obstacles have the most impact
Not every bottleneck is equally important. Choose the causes that affect many employees or have direct impact on quality, speed, or customer value.
Discuss results with teams
Use the outcomes as a starting point for a conversation. Ask employees which examples they recognize and which solutions they think are feasible in daily practice.
Make actions concrete and measurable
Translate insights into agreements, such as fewer meetings, clearer priorities, better handovers, or more defined role allocation. Make it clear for each action who is responsible.
Choose focus instead of everything at once
Improving productivity doesn’t work if every bottleneck is addressed simultaneously. Start with the biggest energy drain or bottleneck and build from there.
Keep monitoring whether work is running better
Measure again over time whether employees experience more focus, clarity, and collaboration. This shows whether improvements actually have an impact on work practice.
Make productivity discussable with insight into daily work
With Deepler, managers and HR see where productivity is supported or hindered. Dashboards show which topics require attention per team, such as priorities, collaboration, workload, or processes. This creates a concrete conversation about working smarter, without it being about individual monitoring.
Organizational research without high costs
Stem je wensen af met ons Basic- of Plus-pakket. Wil je meerdere landen of organisaties vergelijken? Dan is het Enterprise-pakket de beste keuze.
Basic
€2.99
Per user/per month
The best for your team or smaller organizations that want to gain insights quickly.
- Maximum of 1 module
- Score segmentation
- In-depth analysis for Managers
- Unlimited number of languages
- Personal dashboard for employees
Plus
€3.49
Per user/per month
The best option if you want to survey multiple teams and SMEs.
- Everything from Basic
- 2 additional research modules
- Personal success manager
- Non-desk employees
- Custom questions
Most popular
Enterprise
On request
Per user/per month
The best for large organizations and custom modules.
- Everything from Plus
- Single Sign-On
- Custom modules
- Advanced Security
- Personal onboarding
Basic
€36
Per user/per year
The best for your team or smaller organizations that want to gain insights quickly.
- Maximum of 1 module
- Score segmentation
- In-depth analysis for Managers
- Unlimited number of languages
- Personal dashboard for employees
- Suitable for employees company email address
Plus
€42
Per user/per year
The best option if you want to survey multiple teams and SMEs.
- Basic
- 2 additional research modules
- Personal support from a Deepler expert
- Suitable for all employees
- Add your own questions
- Option to conduct surveys using QR codes
Most popular
Enterprise
On request
Per user/per year
The best for large organizations and custom modules.
- Plus
- Unlimited research modules
- Custom modules
- Unlimited number of languages
- Personal dashboard for employees
- Suitable for employees company email address
Frequently asked questions
What is productivity?
Productivity is the ratio between input and output. Within organizations, it’s not just about how much work employees do, but especially about how much value that work delivers. Good productivity means that people can spend their time and energy on work that contributes to clear goals.
What does productivity mean on the work floor?
Workplace productivity is about how smoothly work is executed. Think of focus, collaboration, clear priorities, good processes and adequate support. When these factors are missing, employees can be very busy while actual progress remains low.
How can you increase productivity?
Increasing productivity starts with understanding where productivity is being slowed down. Investigate where time is lost, which processes are sluggish, where priorities are unclear and which teams have a lot of rework. Then you can make targeted improvements in consultation, task distribution, decision-making or support.
How can you calculate productivity?
Productivity is often calculated by dividing output by input. In organizations, this is more difficult, because not all value is easy to capture in numbers. Therefore, it is wise to combine quantitative data with feedback on quality, collaboration, focus and work processes.
Can an employer measure productivity?
An employer may measure productivity, but must do so carefully regarding privacy, proportionality and purpose. Only measure what is necessary, be transparent about the purpose and prevent employees from being unnecessarily monitored individually. In organizational research, the emphasis is on improving work factors.
How do you improve employee productivity?
You improve employee productivity by strengthening the conditions for good work. Ensure clear goals, achievable priorities, good collaboration, appropriate support and processes that don’t unnecessarily slow things down. A survey helps determine which conditions need the most attention.
What are causes of low productivity in a team?
Low productivity can arise from unclear priorities, too much ad-hoc work, poor handovers, unnecessary meetings, poor collaboration, high workload or insufficient leadership. Often it is not one cause, but a combination of factors that reinforce each other.
What is the difference between productivity and workload?
Workload is about the experienced burden of work. Productivity is about what the work delivers in relation to the effort. They are related: high workload can reduce productivity, but low productivity can also cause additional workload because tasks pile up.
What questions do you ask in a productivity survey?
Good questions focus on influenceable work factors. Examples are: I know which priorities are important; I can work sufficiently focused; Meetings contribute to my work; Handovers between teams run smoothly; I have the tools to do my work well.
How often should you measure productivity?
That depends on the situation. With major changes, growth or low team results, more frequent measurement is useful.
In stable periods, productivity can be part of a broader periodic employee survey. What’s important is that you follow up on results before measuring again.
How do you ensure employees answer honestly about productivity?
Honest answers emerge when employees understand that the survey is not intended as individual performance measurement. Communicate clearly that it is about work factors, report at group level and show what improvement actions follow. Trust is essential on this topic.
How do you prevent productivity measurement from feeling like monitoring?
Make it clear from the start that the research is about circumstances that enable productivity, not about individual accountability. Ask questions about focus, collaboration, processes, priorities, and obstacles. Share results at group level and visibly provide feedback on which improvements are being implemented.
What role does leadership play in productivity?
Leadership has a significant impact on productivity. Managers partly determine how clear goals are, how decisions are made, how much space employees get, and how well obstacles are removed. Strong leadership helps teams maintain focus and direct their energy toward work that truly contributes.
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