Canadian Productivity Gap?

A recent study published by Statistics Canada found that Canadian small businesses aren’t as productive as their American counterparts.

As all small business owners know, every so often, a company goes through a sales drought. Perhaps soon after the holiday season, consumers pull back on spending to conserve money or maybe the company produces seasonal items or services, prompting slow patches during other times of the year.

At this time, a business tends to slow production. After all, why continue making merchandise at a rapid clip if it’s not flying off the shelves?

However, a recent study published by Statistics Canada revealed that this might be a national issue. The information found that small businesses here aren’t as productive as their American counterparts. How can Canadian company owners remedy this situation?

Small business sector takes a hit

The paper explained that when American and Canadian businesses with similar metrics are compared, Canadian companies seem to be at a significant disadvantage, resulting in a productivity gap of up to 60 per cent.

As The Wall Street Journal reported, this is a major issue because Canada’s economy relies more heavily on the small business sector, which makes up a large part of our gross domestic product. This gap, then, has larger implications on how Canada competes on a global scale.

What can business leaders do?

There’s got to be something Canadian company owners can do to promote more productivity in the workplace in order to tighten the gap.

The Globe and Mail reported that while many business leaders are critical of this study, explaining that their startups have seen a lot of success and are very efficient, community manager Crystal Henrickson stated that they have to be ready to adapt to changing markets or other elements.

“If you actually have something that you want to change, say, adopt, adapt, you have a voice,” she told the source, explaining that there are a lot of advantages to running a small business, like being able to influence immediate change in the face of studies like this.

Plus, the news provider noted that there are plenty of small changes that can be made on a business-to-business scale, like adopting the latest technologies to promote efficiencies, like 3D printers or accounting software for instance.