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Let’s admit it; improving employee productivity is the ultimate goal of any business that is serious about results and profits. Indeed, low productivity among employees is one of the surest paths to failure.
With that said, it’s critical to identify and implement strategies that can help keep your employees productive in the long term. But what works and what doesn’t?
In this post, we explore seven ways you can enhance productivity in the workplace.
Delegate
Delegation gives employees a sense of responsibility. Rather than making your employees jacks of all trades, you can enhance their productivity by allowing them to work on tasks they’re well versed in.
By delegating tasks, you’re enhancing specialization and consequently maximizing productivity in all areas of the business. You can then use the performance data to analyze who works best on what tasks.
However, since familiarity can breed boredom, provide other avenues for your employees to learn new skills and try out other tasks to help them grow.
Invest in good tools and equipment
This could range from productivity tracking software to simple office appliances like printers. The right software can help you reduce the workload of your employees by automating regular tasks such as sending emails or recording sales.
You can effectively create more time and space for your employees to work on more productive tasks by automating simple regular tasks.
Additionally, well-functioning office tools such as printers can reduce the strain and time wasted trying to get the appliances to work or get work done.
Finally, the right tools and equipment can help you streamline your operations, making the entire workforce more effective and efficient.
Set realistic goals
Every business has goals to achieve. However, some of these goals are often too bombarding and overwhelming for employees.
You can change this by simplifying your goals to smaller and achievable milestones. For example, if you want to increase your customer base by 1000, rather than make that number the everyday goal, you can simplify it to about 10 new customers every day or week.
Think of it as building your business one customer or one goal at a time.
Acknowledge excellent work
As an employer, make a point to keep your employees motivated by acknowledging their work. What’s the point of scoring an A if no one recognizes it and tells you good work or keep it up?
Acknowledgement can be done in many forms, such as giving out rewards, bonuses, promotions, or a ticket for two to the Bahamas.
Regardless of how you do it, make sure your employees know they are valued and appreciated.
Even non-productive employees make a point to offer good criticism and encourage them to do better. Employees are likely to up their game when they know they’ll be rewarded for it.
Streamline your management team
One of the killers of workplace productivity is poor management; it makes everyone too comfortable and ultimately slows down growth.
Ensure your management team is not sleeping in their job as an employer. Employees should be well supervised as this can also help you stop inconsistencies in their work or input.
Poor communication can also result from poor management. Employees need to voice their concerns and be informed on time of any changes to occur.
Eunice Paris, in her book, ‘Be a Silo Buster’ says, ”people need to feel safe to be who they are—to speak up when they have an idea, or to speak out when they feel something isn’t right.”
Poor management and communication can breed laxity and unrest, and this ultimately impacts employee productivity.
Reduce the number of meetings
Interestingly, most businesses spend more time in meetings discussing how to be more productive than actually being productive. Reduce unnecessary meetings and communicate via emails and memos.
If you discuss how to increase efficiency, give those strategies a chance to bear fruits without scrutinizing them every time.
Also, by reducing unnecessary meetings, you will also create more time for employees to get work done.
Prioritize employee health and wellbeing
With the way 2020 ended, it is clear that employers need to focus more on their employees’ health and wellbeing. Remember, every tip we shared above would be futile if your employees are not in the right state of mind or body.
That said, make points to create an environment where your employees are free to express themselves and listen to their concerns.
You should also try and encourage your employees to take their health seriously. This can be through taking breaks, not staying behind for overtime, getting enough rest, exercising, and going to therapy.
Regarding the workplace, make it conducive by ensuring that it is clean, well-ventilated, and with balanced temperatures.
Conclusion
Good work culture and environment are crucial in helping employees to put their best foot forward and remain productive. If properly followed through, the methods and tips we shared in our guide should be enough to help you build a productive, efficient, and effective business. Good luck!
