Your employees are your company’s greatest asset. The success of your business depends a lot on your teamwork. Therefore, if your team is not as productive as it should be, it creates a ripple effect throughout your business operations.
When your team works productively, your business can achieve great things. As businesses compete in more and more challenging market conditions, it becomes more and more important for companies to operate efficiently. High levels of productivity are essential to keep your business running efficiently, and one step ahead of your competitors.
If you feel your business is not reaching the level of productivity it should, then it is important to take action. The first step to controlling productivity levels is assessing your business’ current performance. Evaluating your current position will help you identify areas where productivity levels are lower and the actions you need to take to improve them. It is all the time a good idea to get feedback from your employees to gain insight into the obstacles they face trying to fulfill their roles. If you notice recurring themes popping up, then you know this is an area that needs addressing.
Choose the Best Software for Your Business
Productivity is usually seen as a ‘people’ problem, and executives often view their staff as the source of productivity-related problems. While this is occasionally true, it is also important to consider that your system could be part of the problem.
Your business processes and the systems you use can have a robust influence on the overall productivity of your workforce. If your technology is no longer fit for purpose or your processes are complex, productivity is likely to suffer.
Before jumping straight to employees as the source of productivity problems, it is wise to consider the impact of the systems they use. Your employees can only work with the tools you provide, so productivity suffers if it does not fit the job.
Use scheduling software is a solution that will help you solve many productivity problems. If you currently use multiple spreadsheets to monitor your workflow, you will find that scheduling software provides a better alternative. The software allows your resources to be used in the most efficient way, making sure that you’re fully in charge of your workload and can allocate appropriate resources to each task.
Performance Review
Monitoring the performance of individual team members is the best way to maintain high levels of productivity. Performance reviews allow you and your employees to discuss any issues related to productivity and performance and let you find solutions to fix them together.
Employees will feel motivated to work harder if they know their efforts recognized. If employees barely receive feedback, they may think that it makes no difference whether or not they work hard or not, because their efforts go unnoticed.
To increase the level of productivity in your workforce, you need to recognize the individual efforts of your team members. When employees feel that they’re valued and their hard work is noticed, they’re much more likely to work even harder.
Create a Productive Workplace Environment
The work environment can have a significant impact on your team’s performance. When employees work in spaces that provide everything they need to do their jobs, they’re more likely to be productive. If your office is not fit for purpose then this can have a direct impact on your employees. The office environment needs to make it easy for your employees to do their job, not hinder it.
The physical features of your office are critical to making it a productive environment for your staff. Keeping your office at the right temperature, with snug lighting levels, and enough space to work can make a big difference for your employees. Your workforce spends most of their time at work, so it makes sense to provide them with the best environment in which to spend that time.
Working in a pleasing office space will help your employees reduce stress, and can have a positive effect on their wellbeing. Improved employee well-being can lead to fewer sick days, which in turn means increased productivity.
Rest
Do your employees take regular breaks? Otherwise, this can hurt their productivity levels. While many people believe that working longer hours and skipping lunch is important when your workload is high, that’s not necessarily the case. Working all the way through lunch without taking a break is in fact counterproductive. While this may mean you spend more time sitting at your desk, this time is not all the time used to get more work done.
riveting regular breaks very important if you want to do your best work. Stepping away from your desk and getting a change of scenery is important. Spending hours chained to a desk from morning until it is time to go home is a recipe for exhaustion. Taking a break is like hitting the refresh button on your mind, and you’ll return to your desk with a clearer mind and a fresh perspective.
Taking breaks is a habit that you must show your staff by your own behavior. Often, employees worry that they will appear lazy, or be accused of not working hard if they leave their desk to take a break. This attitude is usually ingrained in the company culture, and folks feel that they need to be at their desk nearly 24/7 in order to be noticed by the boss and to get a better promotion. By taking breaks yourself and inspiring your employees to do the same, you are demonstrating that they will not be penalized for taking breaks and you believe it will increase their productivity rather than hurt it.
Offer Employees a Path to Progress
Offering your staff opportunities for training and continuing professional development is important if you’re to build a productive workforce. Providing your staff with further opportunities for advancement and developing their knowledge and skills will help you retain your most hardworking and talented employees. Often it’s the most productive and skilled team members who will leave if no opportunities are available to them to advance their careers. These are the workers you want to keep, so it makes sense to offer them the opportunity to further develop their skills and advance within your company, rather than losing them to competitors.
Providing your staff with opportunities for further training is also an incredible way for them to bring fresh ideas and new ways of doing things back to the business. Ultimately, fresh ideas are critical to driving productivity, and for the continued success of a company.
Lighten Workload
Is your team spending too much of their working time tackling time-consuming tasks, such as data entry or updating the company website? If so, why not lighten their workload and let them use their time productively. Outsourcing Repetitive or time-consuming tasks are an incredible way to release your employees’ time and let them use their skills. By removing time-consuming tasks from their workload, your staff can focus on the most significant aspects of their role without getting bogged down with work that can be easily outsourced.
Nurture Your Company Culture
In its most basic form, productivity is about ‘getting things done’. This may seem easy enough, but in reality, increasing productivity goes beyond simply telling your employees to work harder. There are many factors that contribute to how productive (or not) your employees are. As you have seen above, some of these factors come from individual employees, but, in many ways, productivity is a broader issue. Increasing productivity involves equipping staff with the right systems and tools to do their job to the better of their ability. It is also important to create a workplace that offers a snug and appropriate place for workers to carry out their roles. An employee’s individual productivity is also greatly influenced by the behavior of their colleagues and whether or not they feel valued by the manager. Each of these factors feeds into the overall corporate culture. A positive company culture makes employees feel involved with the business and are motivated to work hard to help it succeed.
The workplace culture of a corporation is basically derived from the relationship between employees and management; and, most significantly, how each perceives the other. If you treat your employees with indifference and have little interest in providing the systems and support they need to perform at their best, then productivity is likely to become a significant issue in your company. Equipping your employees with the right tools for the job, and showing that their hard work is appreciated is key to increasing productivity, and should not be disregarded.
