Employee productivity is largely dependent on an organization’s culture and value system. The factors that might affect your employees’ motivation levels in one setting may be very different from those in another. Therefore, it takes a thorough analysis of a company’s internal workings to understand what might influence the productivity of its employees. However, there are a few aspects that apply equally well to almost any business. Ensuring that these aspects are adequately taken care of can help you a great deal in enhancing the overall productivity of your employees. Some of them include:
1. Conducive Working Conditions
The kind of physical working conditions that employees are given are the biggest determining factor affecting employee performance. A number of studies have been conducted to analyze the performance of work groups in different environments. These studies aim to quantify the variation in productivity with change in lighting conditions, temperature, and number of work hours, etc. The results show that comfortable working conditions and ergonomically designed tools help employees perform for longer hours with lesser stress levels. On the other hand, physical discomfort can cause employees to lose interest in their work, so much so that they can’t even meet their base output requirements.
2. Money Doesn’t Always Motivate
Money is certainly a big motivational factor, but it has been proven time and again that the increase in productivity brought about by increased monetary compensation is very short-lived. After a certain period of time, employees tend to fall back to their old ways. Since it is rather impractical to always keep increasing the monetary benefits, this strategy is not very effective if you are looking for long-term solutions for improving and sustaining the productivity levels of your employees. However, one also must be very careful that the monetary part always remains significant. If neglected, it can even cause a drastic drop in the productivity of your employees. For example, low earnings, unclear salary expectations, and lack of participation are often linked with poor interest and lack of motivation in employees.
3. Flexibility
The system should be flexible enough to accommodate individual needs without compromising on the output. For example, you really cannot expect an employee to work most productively if he or she can’t pick his child up from school or daycare on time because of stringent office times. As long as the number of useful working hours remains the same, a company shouldn’t have too many problems in granting their employees a little flexibility when it comes to in and out times. This could relieve your employees of a lot of stress and help them achieve a better work-life balance.
4. Use Competition Wisely
Oftentimes, people are motivated solely by outperforming others and themselves, as opposed to being motivated by rewards. Constantly challenging high-performers with more engaging or demanding work can bring out the best in them. One way of doing this is to create a healthily competitive environment in teams. Caution must be exercised because severe competition can be unhealthy as it can cause rifts between employees. Such highly competitive settings will improve the productivity of only one employee or a group of employees at the cost of another.
5. Variety in Work
Even though it is not always possible to assign new or different types of work to employees, there are ways of bringing in some change and novelty in their day-to-day activities. A lot of companies adopt the rotation method, in which an employee works in different parts of their department from time to time. This not only helps avoid a stale feeling with everyday work, but also helps them thoroughly understand the various functions of their department. Similarly, employees can be made to shift teams, switch to another office location, or occasionally attend related conferences and meetings. For more details and ideas, check out our recent post on work roles and job rotation.
6. Create Dynamic Teams
If the company is going to operate in teams or departments, it’s important to choose the right mix of people. Having an exclusive bunch of introverts, extroverts, or disturbing elements in a team can adversely affect their performance. Every team or department should ideally have employees with different personalities so that they can learn from each other and work on their interpersonal skills too. The teams should also include creative and inspiring leaders who know how to lead by example.
7. Training Is Essential
In times when even the latest technologies become obsolete in a matter of a few months, continual training is indispensable in order to stay ahead of the competition. Learning how to use new software tools, operating newly brought in machinery, and keeping abreast with the latest advancements that can concern an organization in anyway are of utmost importance. Have a look at our employee training programs post for more ideas on how you can implement this in your organization.
8. Guidance and Supportive Leadership
Employees should be mentored, guided, and educated when in need. They should be able to relate to role models within the organization — such helpful and motivating input can come from true leaders. Employees must know whom to approach when they need assistance. They should also know that they can fall back on their leaders or mentors, and that it is alright to make mistakes.
9. Rewards Program
Rewards and recognition should directly be linked with performance and serve as a positive reinforcement. However, they must not be used for routine tasks or expected performance, and should be saved for exceptional productivity. Moreover, the rewards should be specific, immediate, sincere and consistent in order have the best impact on employee productivity. Along with the rewards system, some measures must also be taken to curtail negative behavior from poorly performing employees. Although not a lot of managers agree to it, the fear of punishment can force people to perform at a level sufficient to avoid that punishment.
10. Quick Grievance Addressing
When an employee has a problem, he or she should be able to reach out to the right people or have access to some kind of feedback channels that can help them voice their issues. Besides setting up these channels or systems, it is also important that the grievances are addressed as quickly as possible. If there is something that is preventing an employee from working productively, the issue must be resolved immediately.
These are just a few tips you can use to increase employee productivity in your organization. Do you have a tip you can share? Let us know in the comments. And feel free to subscribe below or check back often at the Resource Center for the latest tips, tricks, and techniques.
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