A productive staff is the foundation for your business’s success, so how can you boost your workforce's productivity levels to get the best out of them throughout the work day?
Whilst some of this rests with employees, there is a great deal employers and senior leadership teams can employ to help maintain a high level of, as well as improve employee productivity.
For more information on creating healthy workplace policy and culture, talk to a Croner HR advisor today on 0808 501 6651.
What factors affect employee productivity?
There are several core factors that have an effect on employee productivity, this can be broken down into a few main pillars, namely:
- Workplace/Environmental
- Defined and achievable targets
- Employee wellbeing
- Training and development opportunities
How these things are managed will ultimately define whether productivity is good or poor.
What causes poor employee productivity?
Isolated instances of low productivity can boil down to an individual employee's circumstances. If the issue is widespread throughout the team then you should analyse the situation more closely and take steps to address it. Commonplace issues that can cause low productivity are:
Excessive or limited workload
A repeated heavy workload can increase stress levels that can lead to employee burnout. In stark contrast a limited workload can disengage an employee through boredom. So striking a balance is key to getting this just right.
Conflict
Conflict can be a healthy thing if it is handled in the right way. However when it contributes to a general feeling of unease and starts to take a toll on the mental health of your workforce then it can quickly become toxic. Ensuring that you deal with any conflicts that escalate to a point where they become problematic is key to avoiding this spilling over and having a negative effect on productivity.
Low staff morale
A combination of personal, external and the aforementioned internal factors can all contribute to low staff morale. This can lead to employee burnout which is a real productivity killer. Ensuring a healthy workplace culture and work life balance can help combat this.
Ensure full training and onboard employees correctly
All new starters should be fully trained in the best methods to do their job, either through an induction or by shadowing more experienced colleagues. Be prepared to provide ongoing support.
Training shouldn’t begin and end at onboarding. One of the keys to improving productivity in the workplace is providing consistent access to education and training opportunities. This could include cross-training or supporting an external training course. For example, you could offer flexible hours while they complete a qualification.
Avoid micromanagement and empower your employees
Staff can respond poorly to being over supervised. By trusting employees to take more ownership in how they manage their own time and resources, you can help encourage their own personal development.
Micromanagement stunts employee productivity by making them feel like they’re not trusted to complete basic tasks. This could mean that they lose faith in their own abilities, which will negatively impact their performance.
As far as deadlines go micromanagement can seriously impact delivery times as things are chopped and changed on a frequent basis, meaning the employee cannot seem to make any meaningful headway into a project. This can lead to increased stress levels, disengagement with the project and even burnout.
Once a task has been delegated and a brief provided, it is a good idea to leave the employee alone to complete the work unless the individual requests support.
Set achievable and defined targets
Set clear targets for your staff to work towards and put rewards in place for achieving them to improve employee engagement. Employees are more likely to get a task done on time if there are incentives, such as a dress-down day or bonus.
Likewise employees can be left feeling demoralised and confused if they are being pulled from pillar to post with ever changing priorities. A good way to help prioritise an employee’s workload is to use a system like the eisenhower matrix. This helps break up priorities according to their urgency using the following criteria:
- Urgent and important
- Urgent but not important
- Unimportant but urgent
- Unimportant and not urgent
As an employer, ensuring your leadership team conveys targets and defines milestones effectively is key in aligning your workforce with the overall goals and targets of the company.
Knowing how to measure staff productivity is crucial to business success. Just make sure you aren’t too target-focused, as this can also demoralise staff. It’s also important that, when you calculate employee productivity, you don’t switch or alter the metrics. This will create an ever-moving goal post that can’t be hit, and will lead to disengagement.
Allow flexible working
Whilst the headlines might indicate that there is a global push back to office based working there are companies that moved away from the 9 to 5 bracket permanently, and some that opted for more flexible working hours. Offering flexibility can help staff maintain outside commitments and work during periods where they feel the most productive.
As well as this the addition of hybrid and remote work has expanded the scope for flexible working to locations where employees feel that they work at their most optimal.
If you want to boost employee productivity, you need to make sure everyone is working in the environment that best suits them. Some employees work best in their home office. For others it’ll be a mix of on-site and off-site work. For some businesses, this just isn’t possible. But, if there is a possibility for this, it can be worth exploring.
Provide opportunities for development
Employees are more likely to be engaged and work to succeed in their role if they can see potential for future opportunities. Provide ways for employees to develop their skills and knowledge, either through increased training opportunities or giving them more responsibility.
The basis for how to increase employee productivity is communication and finding out what the individual wants. Most staff will want development of some kind, whether it’s a promotion, more responsibility, or a change to their role. Have conversations with staff to find out what they want and help them achieve it.
Setting targets for career growth can be achieved using SMART goals. SMART is an acronym that stands for:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
Setting clearly defined targets with SMART goals for career progression, not only gives employees a sense of purpose, but can give them a good idea of where they currently rank and what steps they need to take to achieve the next step in their career development.
Incidentally you can also use SMART goals to manage employee workloads as well as measure employee productivity.
Contact a Croner HR expert for support
If you need support with employee productivity levels or conduct, speak to a Croner HR expert today.
With over 80 years’ experience in helping businesses with their HR, Employment Law and Health and Safety needs, we’re on hand 24/7 to assist you.
Call today on 0808 501 6651.
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