5 Tips to Improve Productivity in the Office
Have you ever compared the time your employees spend at their desks with the value they add to your business? Chances are that this comparison will yield surprising results and will make you wonder that the employees that seem to be the most productive are in fact one of the worst offenders in your team.
Loss of productivity is one of the major concerns of all businesses, regardless of their size and the industry they operate in. What makes it even more difficult for businesses is that there is no sure-fire way to boost productivity of employees. Instead, it depends on eliminating the source, which could be anything from excessive use of technology to poor management practices.
In this post, we are discussing some generic ways, which you can use to boost your employees’ morale, productivity, and work engagement.
1. Involve Employees in Decision Making
This basic principle of management is often ignored by managers who consider decision making to be a responsibility of the top-level management people only. Research suggests that involving employees in the decision-making process can improve employees’ attitude, reduce absenteeism, and increase their productivity.
2. Do Not Micromanage Your People
Over management often leads to poor management. Managers who manage their subordinates the same way they manage inventory are often faced with the challenges of poor employee attitude and productivity. The best way to avoid micromanaging is to assign projects and set deadlines and then let the employees work their own way to achieve the goals. Of course, it’s important to let people work things out themselves, but it’s also crucial that tasks don’t take too long as this can affect business productivity. To ensure employees are able to get on with their work, it might be worth using competency management software from ProSymmetry to assign work best suited to certain individuals. This can increase productivity and allow workers to get on with their work comfortably. It’s so important to let the employees do their jobs — leave them to do what they’re getting paid to do. Also, don’t commission employees to have to complete too many tasks which are beyond their defined scope of employment, so where they can perhaps clean up small messes or organise their desks to keep their working environment clean, for serious cleaning tasks, for example, you’d rope professional office cleaning services.
3. Relax on Technology Restrictions
While various workplace surveys consider technology to be the primary reason behind low employee productivity, overly restricting the use of the Internet and other technologies can actually reduce job satisfaction as well as employees’ productivity. The truth is that your employees can have zero productivity even with limited access to social media platforms and other distractions. What you need to do is to develop a policy that allows them to use these platforms during the lunch hour and for legitimate business purpose only. This way, you will be able to develop and retain super-productive, satisfied employees for your business.
4. Foster Strong Working Relationships
Studies suggest that businesses with highly engaged employees are more likely to attract the best talent and have lower turnover and high employee productivity. Therefore, it is important that you teach your employees the importance of building relationships with the co-workers. Don’t allow them to work in isolation all the time. Instead, make teams and assign projects to encourage teamwork and boost productivity.
5. Place a Plant at Your Employees’ Desks
Probably the easiest way to enhance the productivity of your employees is to make your office go green, literally. Adding more plants to the workplace will not only improve the quality of indoor air, it is also known to increase productivity, reduce stress levels, and improve job satisfaction of your employees.
Make these quick and simple tips a part of your management strategy and you are sure to notice significant difference in the performance of your employees.
