We live in a time of productivity, where it seems like society will judge you because of every wasted moment. There are tons of books, articles tools, and apps that help to increase personal and employee productivity.
And using them does make sense. Every year we are asked to do more with less, so optimizing the way we work and live is vital.
For that reason, here are five tips to help you increase employee productivity and bring the performance of your company to a new level:
1. Encourage communication
How do you think employees want to find out all the most important news? Not with gossip, as you might have thought, but from you.
The communication between managers and employees is very important. If you share the news with the staff, they will do the same to you. If you ask them for feedback or ideas, they will do the same thing.
Communicating with your employees, you give them the feeling of importance and necessity. That’s why they will gladly work for the good of the company.
But equally important is communication between employees, so they can share experiences and build relationships. Let’s face it: a colleague can help you better than Google.
2. Find out the reasons for under and over performing
Do you know why and which of your employees are underperforming? If you don’t walk around the office or check employees’ work then probably not. However, determining the employees from both categories is important because:
- underperforming employees might be demotivated, disengaged and soon quit;
- underperforming employees might actually do their work faster that’s why they have too much free time;
- employees who overperform, i.e., stay after hours often, will burn out quickly, which decreases their productivity.
How can you find out which in your company is which? Use a work hours tracker. It gives all the necessary information about employee time so that you can find out the actual names.
After you got the names, have a personal talk to each. Carefully listen to what the employees got to tell you and make conclusions.
3. Create a positive work environment
If you want it increase employee productivity and maintain it on a high level – create a positive working environment. Employees have to feel important and want to spend time at the office.
There is nothing worse that sitting there for 8 hours waiting just to clock in and out.
Who’d like to work in the environment of permanent criticism? We bet no one. Now try to guess for how long the employees will stay at your company? Not long enough.
Destructive criticism is the worst way of treating a team. This way you will not achieve any improvements, but will only make the atmosphere more gloomy and sad.
That is why, criticise constructively. If there’s something you don’t like, give a hint on how the team can improve it. This way the employees will take critics much less painfully and even ask your opinion.
4. Have “Minute of humor” breaks
Being all serious is great, but having a good laugh is even greater. It can brighten up the gloomy atmosphere and help employees stay toned and awake.
To recap, laughing does these four awesome things to our body and mind:
- We feel relaxed: A good laugh relieves physical tension and stress, leaving our muscles relaxed for up to 45 min.
- It improves our immune system: because laughter decreases stress it allows to increase the level of immune cells and antibodies.
- We feel better: this is a no-brainer, but when we laugh we feel happier. All thanks to endorphins.
- Laughter protects our heart: people who laugh are at lowers risk of getting a heart attack. All because laughter improves the function of blood vessels and increases blood flow.
Make your office a fun place to be and employees will love to go to work every day.
5. Recognize employees’ work
As human beings, we need praise to stay motivated and love the job we do. In any form: money, bonuses, days off, promotion, etc. You will not find an employee who agrees to work with just his/her enthusiasm for years.
So, reward those who make the largest contribution to your company, who always offer interesting ideas and are happy to help. They are the most valuable asset.
But! Do not forget about those who are less productive and proactive. There is a type of people called “the performers.” They don’t usually generate ideas, but rather contribute to making them come alive. They are also a valuable resource and also deserve your praise.
So reward and say “Thank you!” to keep the staff engaged, motivated and happy.
Bottom line
Employees are the most valuable asset that any company can have. Simply because even of you get the most expensive equipment, it will not work for until employees make it work.
So treat your staff well, and they will pay back with high productivity.
