A company can get success when its employees are productive and engaging. If they’re not performing to expectations, the business is destined to suffer.
Productive employees are the most critical resource in any company. However, the Bureau of Labor reports that employee productivity has been decreasing for some time now. Especially since many employees have started working from home, they face countless distractions and the lack of communication negatively affects their performance.
So, if you’re an employer and your employees aren’t productive, why not try these eight strategies? Here’s a look into what employee productivity is, its importance and how to increase it.
What is Employee Productivity?
Employee productivity (also called workplace productivity) is the amount of output produced by an individual employee in a specific time period.
Depending on this assessment, employers can understand whether they need more or fewer employees for a project.
In other words, productivity is calculated from revenue. If productivity increases, revenue grows. If it decreases, the company will face a loss.
Certain factors affect an employee’s productiveness. Motivation, working environment, interest, satisfaction and pay structure are some of them.
Importance of Employee Productivity
A company’s success is directly related to its employees. The more productive they’re, the businesses can achieve more results with less time. Additionally, the more benefits they’ll get.
Here’re some long-term benefits of employee productivity that show its importance in a company:
- Employees who are productive complete their work on time or before the given time. So, they can do other work for the rest of their time. After all, who can forget that “Time is money”.
- When employees feel productive, they tend to be more willing to be involved in their tasks. Eventually, their workflow, skills and time for completing a task get improved.
- If your workplace is productive and employees are devoted to their work, success is sure to follow. Hence, your company becomes profitable.
- Productivity in the company ensures good customer service and relationship. Thus, the business will be able to fulfill customer demand.
- High employee productivity leads to increased competitiveness.
How to Increase Employee Productivity in the Workplace
To increase employee productivity in the workplace, you can apply the following tips.
1. Improve Office Environment
A good working environment can significantly increase employee productivity. To achieve that, here’re a few things to consider to ensure they work in the best possible conditions:
- You can maximize natural light in the workplace. Employees with windows and natural light in the office get a higher percentage of white light exposure in work hours and sleep 46 minutes more per night. This will make them healthier and more focused on their work.
- The presence of indoor plants in the workplace helps to reduce stress, enhance mood and consequently, increase productivity.
- Don’t paint the office wall colors white because it can hinder an employee’s effectiveness. Instead, try green (for motivation), red (for stimulating energy), yellow (for creativeness) or blue (for staying focused).
2. Optimize Work Emails
Data shows people spend 13 hours each week on emails. Now, if you multiply that with the number of workers in your office, you’ll know how much time you could spend more productively.
Here’re some tips to follow in this case:
- Use time blocking for the inbox to check emails only in the dedicated time throughout the day. Thus, your employees can stay focused on the task at hand with minimum interruptions.
- Advise your employees to keep their emails short, be specific to the questions and straightforward with the answers while writing an email.
- Don’t send late-night emails to the employees. This may increase their anxiety, stress them out and ultimately affect your team’s performance on the next day.
3. Avoid Micromanagement
While checking every tiny detail of a project is good, micromanaging can hinder work and ruin your workers’ confidence. It’s also vulnerable to human error on both sides. To avoid that,
- Be delegate and trust your employees that they can perform a task well. This will enhance their skills and leadership knowledge. Keep in mind that you’ve hired them for a reason, so let them prove it.
- Set clear expectations to the team so they can understand what you want them to achieve.
- Empower the employees to control their own assignments, experiment with their ideas and test new solutions to a specific problem.
4. Reduce Unnecessary Meetings
A study says employees spend almost 87 hours each month in different meetings, which costs companies $37 billion loss each year. Unnecessary meetings every day leads to pointless discussions and decrease employee productivity. To reduce it,
- Instead of calling a meeting, send a group email for shorter updates during the scheduled time dedicated to emails.
- Omit the number of meetings per day/week/month. Schedule meetings only for urgent and big discussions.
- Shorten the number of participants in a meeting. Not all staff are needed in every session. Instead, they can focus on their main work.
- A maximum of 15 to 20 minutes is sufficient for you to complete a meeting.
5. Boost Workplace Communication
Collaboration is a key to teamwork’s productivity and efficiency. A good collaboration is based on effective communication and constructive feedback.
- Build an interactive team. You will have to work hard to make an effective team. You can begin by throwing office parties and paintball matches, hosting get-togethers, rewarding the team members and making new employees feel welcome.
- Determine the best means of communication. You can personalize communication with employees by adapting the methods that work best for them. Some may respond quickest to Slack, some prefer email, whereas others are quick on answering their phones.
6. Train and Develop Employees
Training and development are crucial for learning specific skills and improving performance. When employees are well-trained in their field, it enhances their morale, making them more likely to do the job with passion and skill.
Effective training programs will also boost your employees’ knowledge, allowing them to hone their skills. Eventually, they’ll become more competent industry experts.
Here’re a few things you can try:
- Give hands-on learning and training. Such training allows employees to learn, practice and apply new skill sets in a safe environment.
- Opt for self-paced training. Instead of pushing employees into complex topics, let them pick the time to take training that fits their energy level and attention. Learning in their own space helps them test their newfound skills and increase scalability.
- Support employee development through individual guidance, seminars, workshops, courses or just by dedicating more responsibilities.
7. Give Incentives
The best way to make employees work more efficiently is to incentivize them. Giving workers special recognition provides real acknowledgment of their excellent work and motivates them to increase their productivity.
You can take many incentive programs that will boost employee engagement and retention. Here’re some incentive examples:
- Bonuses and raises
- Social recognition
- Profit sharing
- Referral programs
- Tuition reimbursement
- Gifts
- Workplace wellness program.
8. Give Valuable Feedbacks
Giving feedback on an employee’s performance is essential to show where they are standing out and where they need to be shored up.
- Feedback your employees on a daily basis. Daily feedback can be effective with the right amount of emphasis on both their strengths and weaknesses. This helps them improve in areas they might not have been good at initially, as well as appreciate their strengths.
- Ask for feedback as well. To improve the performance of your employees, their feedback about your work is also important. Doing this will help promote open dialogue, which can lead to continual growth over time.
Ending Note
Employee productivity can be accelerated through proper mentoring, motivation and constructive engagement with work. If you can implement strategies in the right way, the consequence will be positive.
The guide has mentioned eight ways to improve your employees’ performance. Now, it’s your responsibility to follow them up thoroughly to bring out the best result.