Most Aussies would say that a collaborative workplace is the sort of place they want to work. Most employers want this too, because collaboration can help employees share information, come up with ideas and reduce waste.

But what exactly is collaboration, and just how valuable is it? We decided to ask Deloitte Access Economics to calculate the value of collaboration to the Australian economy.

They worked the numbers and the results amazed us. Their report, The Collaborative Economy, shows that companies that actively encourage collaboration do better — by a lot. Companies that prioritised collaboration are:

• Five times more likely to experience a considerable increase in employment 
• Twice as likely to be profitable 
• Twice as likely to outgrow competitors 

But collaboration is about more than the bottom line — it’s about happier, more efficient employees.

• Employees who collaborate are ten times more likely to be satisfied with their job 
• Over a third of respondents said collaboration helps them work faster 
• And three quarters of respondents said that collaboration improves the quality of work they produce 

What’s the current value to Australia of all this collaboration? $46 billion. That’s more than the agricultural sector is worth. And that’s just today. If companies made the most of opportunities for employees to collaborate, we could add a further $9.3 billion to Australia’s economy.

But today, half of Australian businesses are leaving it to chance, with no dedicated collaboration strategy. There are plenty of things Aussie businesses can do to work more collaboratively — starting with the technology they use.

This first phase of research of The Collaborative Economy is available here. And to find out how Google can help your company collaborate more, visit the Google Enterprise website.