By Michael Zhou
The amount of output your business receives from its employees depends heavily on how productive your workers are. Productive employees drive profitability in a business by simply getting more done in the hours they are paid for. On the flip side, employees who are not doing their best can lead to high staffing costs and unhappy customers.
Consider the entire picture around employer productivity
There are several factors to take into account when it comes to the topic of employee productivity, addressing a single issue alone will not be a cure-all. Here are the sevenmost important points you should keep in mind when thinking about employee productivity.
Provide feedback to your employees
Employees question their value in your business if there is no feedback on their workplace performance. Workers, who feel undervalued, underperform in the belief that their efforts make no difference to business outcomes. Providing encouraging, constructive feedback to employees helps themimprove their performance and indicates that the effort they put in is highly valued.
Develop incentives that everyone benefits from
Incentives in the shape of cash, share options or other perks motivate employees to work harder, but such incentives should be applied to employees across the organization wherever possible. Though rank and file employees may not make a dramatic difference to profitability on an individual basis, small incentives such as weekends away for top performing employees can boost the overall productivity of a team far beyond the cost of the incentive.
Create a pleasant working environment
A drab, untidy office or workshop will hamper productivity because your employees will place a low value on your organization as a whole. Also, bewareof offices with poor environmental controls – an office that is too hot or cold will lead to low worker output. It is always a good idea to create as pleasant a working environment as your budget and type of business allows, whether it is an office designed by a professional interior designer, or simply a tidy office for the desk-based positions in a manufacturing firm.
Look after your employee’s health
A healthy employee is a productive and regularly attending individual. There is a range of health benefits you can offer your employees, starting with full medical insurance. Also, consider free perks such as STD Testing – Health Testing Centers can quickly weed out any health issues before they result in downtime, whether by means of STD Testing or screening for other health problems that might be lurking undiagnosed. You can greatly improve attendance and productivity by detecting and suggesting treatment for any employee illnesses before they become serious.
Train your managers
Getting the most out of workers that have average performance requires excellent management skills. Most workers do not have their compensation directly linked to their output, and for those workers, the style of management under which they are can make a significant difference to their productivity. By thoroughly training your management team you will be able to institute a management style which brings the most out of each and every worker.
Root out motivation killers
Every workplace has negative aspects that will reduce the motivational level of employees. These range from abrasive colleagues to a lack of vision across the organization. These factors are not always obvious to leaders, and it is important to engage with your employees to find out which issues are negatives. Motivation killers can often be addressed without spending much in the way of money or effort, especially when addressed quickly.
Invest in the skills of your employees
Professional development is a huge motivator for most people, but workers commonly decide against taking further education courses due to the costs involved. That creates an opportunity for employers who are willing to invest in their workers. Paying for training courses to develop the skills of your employees results in a boost in productivity for two reasons: first, workers possess improved skills, and can, therefore, make a bigger contribution. Secondly, workers feel their employer is investing in their welfare, which also creates a heightened inclination to contribute.
Boosting productivity requires organizational and leadership effort
A high level of employee productivity is always achievable, but it requires a concerted effort across your business and requires significant input from leadership teams. However, by addressing the points above in a consistent fashion, in the long run your business will experience higher output and higher growth, while also benefiting from this, not aninconsiderableadvantage: a happier workforce.
Michael Zhou is a Senior VP of Business Intelligence Development and has assisted the Fortune 1000 company with expertise in the web as a whole, including ground-zero marketing efforts that benefit both consumer and vendor. He is also contributor on Esprittoday.
