The overall performance of a business is tied to the level of productivity of individual employees. Highly productive employees help to reduce costs, increase profit and ensure not just the survival of the company but also make it thrive by satisfying customers’ needs timely and efficiently.
Importantly, organisational culture and leadership influence employee productivity. Therefore, this article provides insightful tips that can help managers and executives build, manage and sustain highly productive teams, using a variety of mechanisms.
What is employee productivity?
Employee productivity refers to the amount and quality of work completed by an employee in a given period of time. Productive employees make judicious use of time and help organisations achieve clearly communicated SMART goals, giving priority to key drivers of performance in the workplace.
Employee productivity is commonly measured by comparing the average outputs of employees performing similar functions and taking the quality and quantity of work done within a given time into consideration.
How to improve employee productivity
Below are 5 effective tips for improving employee productivity in the present-day workplace.
1. Set SMART goals
To build a productive workforce, the first thing to do is to set specific, realistic organisational goals and give individual employees the responsibility of realising those goals, in line with their skills.
In goal-setting, it is important that employees are not given targets that are too high or too low. Striking a balance will help to prevent unhealthy strains and constant fatigue in employees. Failure to do that could be counter-productive, leading to a decreased quality of outputs. In fact, unrealistic targets and deadlines demoralize employees.
Conversely, underworked employees experience boredom and deliver less to the detriment of the organisation. Therefore, striking a balance is highly recommended.
2. Consider delegating tasks
Delegating tasks to employees rather than trying to do everything is another way business leaders can increase employee productivity. It helps you to focus on a few tasks and deliver a thoroughly finished job, rather than combine too many tasks and deliver poor results. This equally gives employees learning opportunities and helps them use discretion as well as demonstrate critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
This approach eventually boosts the confidence of employees and prepares them for future leadership roles. Also, it helps to make judicious use of time.
When delegating tasks, it is also important that the specialist skills of individual employees are taken into consideration.
3. Communicate effectively
Communication is an essential aspect of business activities. And several studies have indicated that effective communication is key for robust employee productivity. Where a culture of ineffective communication exists among employees and managers, companies naturally experience a dip in overall performance and productivity.
Not only should managers establish direct connections with employees, but they should also give timely and sincere feedback. Employees should know what they are doing well and what they need to improve on. Similarly, managers should try to know what challenges employees are facing and how they can be supported to perform better.
A report by McKinsey also shows that overreliance on email communication eats up chunks of employees’ time and has a negative impact on employee productivity. Meanwhile, making use of social technologies like Slack can raise employee productivity by 25%.
4. Motivate and incentivize
There are many ways to boost employee productivity. But using motivation and incentives remains one of the best. This practice makes employees feel appreciated and justly rewarded and they would like to repeat the feats or even do better.
To be effective, incentive plans must take the needs of employees into account. And managers are expected to consider a wide variety of creative options. High performers can be rewarded variously with a raise, paid professional courses, gifts, paid leave, vacation, promotion, shopping coupons and bonuses.
5. Training and learning
A study by the National Center for Education Statistics finds that providing training and educational opportunities for employees is a major strategy for enhancing employee productivity by revealing a correlation between a rise in employee productivity and employers granting access to continuing education.
Regular training and mentoring keep employees abreast of industry trends and global best practices. This can be done by assisting employees with tuition support to enroll for professional courses and providing regular internal training, workshops and webinars.
Several reputable organisations, entrepreneurs and professionals are already experiencing appreciable growth in their productivity and performance after enrolling for online degree programmes and short professional courses offered by MSBM. Search our catalogue of courses to find a suitable one for your career goal and enjoy the benefits of flexible professional training while you keep your job.
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