Many managers need help with staff productivity, and this is a major problem. Staff is the lifeblood of a business, and if your staff’s productivity is low, it will cost you business. This may be a reduction in output, a lack of good customer support skills, or even a general lack of cohesion between teams in the workplace.
Thankfully, there are ways to improve productivity among employees. If you put the following five tips into action, then we are sure that not only will your employees produce more in the time that they are working for you, but you will also offer the best customer experience for your customers.
Ditch The Micromanaging
Micromanaging is a tool used by managers to monitor and control their employees. Instead of controlling them, it has proven to be detrimental to their production. Micromanaging reduces their morale and causes even your best employee to quit. There is no faster way to kill motivation and productivity among employees than to micromanage them.
If an employee feels that you will be breathing down their neck every minute, they just aren’t going to work. They will be afraid of messing up, and they may even struggle to gain the drive to do something without your say-so.
Ditch the micromanaging. It may be challenging, but leave your employees to their own devices. Let them get on with their work. If your employees are adequately trained, they will do the job. You should recognize your employees, appreciate the work they can accomplish, and reward their efforts when they complete tasks.
Invest in Training (Particularly Team Training)
Many businesses see employee training as a cost, but we see it as an investment. Employees will feel challenges while in the workplace. They will need the skills to be able to handle these challenges. Properly trained employees tend to work much more efficiently. They also have much higher morale because you have demonstrated that you believe in them.
Skill development will make your employees happier. Training will show employees that you are investing in them and it also allows them to grow with the company. You may especially want to focus on team training if you manage some big projects, and it will make the interaction between work teams much more coherent and allow them to bond as a unit.
Improve Workplace Conditions
Investing in the workplace may seem like an expense to most companies, but it is an investment in your employees and their productivity.
If your workplace is relatively sterile, your employees will feel uncomfortable. When they don’t feel comfortable, they will be less productive. There is a reason why massive businesses such as Google and Facebook go to considerable lengths to design their workspaces in the most comforting way imaginable.
Now, we are not saying you need to go out there and do the same thing as Google, and we can’t imagine you would have space to put in massive arcades, a cafeteria, and a basketball court. However, small changes can make all the difference.
Work on improving lighting in the offices. Get more comfortable chairs for your employees. Get better-performing equipment. Listen and implement any ideas your employees may have to help improve conditions.
You do not have to stop at workplace conditions. Encouraging social interaction, and implementing a work-life balance are easy and low-cost ways to improve productivity and the morale of your workforce.
Hire The Person
Whenever you hire an employee, hire for the person. Obviously, you want their experience to influence your decision a little bit. However, in our experience, finding the right personality to fill a role trumps the idea of finding somebody with tons and tons of experience, qualifications, etc.
If you want to improve productivity between employees, you want your employees to be on the same wavelength. They need to be able to interact with one another, and hiring similar personalities can assist with this. Hiring the wrong person could be similar to throwing a stick into the spokes of the moving wheels in your company.
When you hire the next candidate to fill an open position, ensure you hire someone that fits into your company and will bring fresh ideas in addition to the required qualifications.
Ditch Meetings
Or, at the very least, cut back on the number of meetings your business is running.
Most things can be accomplished via email, and they are far faster. Employees are more motivated because they don’t have to sit in meeting after meeting. You will also find that people tend to communicate far better via email. It is more casual, and people are likelier to bring up ideas and provide feedback.
Implementing meeting-free days on a certain day can help free up one day a week and give employees ample time to be productive on that day without having to worry about meetings. You should also remove or condense any unnecessary recurring meetings. These meetings may have started with a specific purpose and have lost their relevancy over time.
Cutting out meetings will help your employees be more productive and prevent them from becoming unmotivated and spending too much time away from their work.
Sure, these are some basic tips. However, they are tips that have improved workplaces all over the world.
Why not introduce a few of them to your business?
