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It's no secret that running a business requires a lot of time and effort, but money counters keep workplace productivity on track.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, productivity in the nonfarm business sector is down 0.6 percent as of the first quarter of 2016 alone, even as hours worked increased by 1.5 percent. A little over half a percentage point may not sound like much, but building on a 2.2 percent decrease in the fourth quarter of 2015, productivity is on a negative trend. With this in mind, business owners are right to take a closer look at their productivity practices and tools.

Creating a productive environment

Leaders with strong management skills are an important element of a productive workplace. That said, maximizing employees' potential actually requires managers to take a step back every now and then. Research by Ethan S. Bernstein, a Harvard University Business School assistant professor, suggests that a hands-off approach may actually promote productivity because it empowers workers to solve problems themselves without wasting time on discussing the issue before it gets resolved. In fact, Bernstein's research indicated that simply creating a physical division (a curtain) between workers and managers increased productivity by 10 to 15 percent.

Another tool to foster productivity is time management, James Clear asserted in an article for Entrepreneur.com. Clear identified "half-work," or allowing distractions such as email or social media to interrupt tasks that require sustained concentration, as a productivity killer. Bouncing in and out of a task, particularly a detail-oriented one, prevents complete engagement in the work and, consequently, the task at hand takes more time to complete, Clear pointed out. Instead, he suggests, stick to a schedule and check off one item at a time rather than trying to multitask or complete a task in pieces.

How cash counters help

Retailers, for example, may not be able to give their employees the flexibility to work from home (another productivity technique suggested by Stanford University's Kathleen O'Toole), but investing in money counters offers a less logistically complex way of boosting efficiency. Cash counters are an easy, efficient tool for productivity-conscious business owners. Able to count and denominate up to 1,600 bills per minute, these machines are easy to use and optimized for no-nonsense efficiency. With four levels of memory and fraudulent currency detection capabilities, cash counters are also a secure investment in both senses of the word.