Productivity is always a hot topic for company owners. It’s something that all employers want to increase and it’s something all employees hear about.
In this article, we’ll discuss how to properly maximize employee productivity and what may be factoring into lower productivity.
What is employee productivity?
Employee productivity is essentially how much work an employee can complete in a certain amount of time. Employees who are productive will put effort in when effort is needed and there will be little wasted time while tasks are being completed.
Employee productivity is crucial for a business because these efforts are what makes the business thrive.
So, how can you maximize efforts?
Employee environment.
One of the main factors when it comes to employee productivity is the environment. Is the environment conducive to work? Is it quiet? Are there few distractions? Is there a proper work area with the needed equipment?
If your employees work from home, ask them about their office space to get to know about the environment they’re in.
If your employees work in an office, ask them about what could be improved in the office to help with productivity levels. Things like standing desks, quiet hours, and headphones are all great productivity increasers.
Hiring people not resumes.
The second way to increase employee productivity is to remember that you’re hiring people not resumes. While a person could be a perfect fit on paper, they may not actually be right for your company.
Get to know people, their working styles, how they remain focused and this will help you understand their productivity levels.
On top of that, it helps to consider your culture fit for a new employee. Will they get along with everyone in the office? Is their dynamic similar to others? Will they be too chatty and then cause distractions?
There is so much to consider when hiring someone and it’s not just about what their workplace experience is.
Do not micromanage.
The third way to maximize employee productivity is to leave employees alone. Everyone works in different ways and when employers and managers micromanage, they’re sending the wrong message.
While you may be wanting to ensure that tasks get completed on time and are “just checking in”, to an employee, it can feel like a lack of trust.
Instead focus on employee empowerment.
Place trust in your employees and allow them to control their own tasks and when they get completed. You may be surprised at how much this will increase your productivity.
Employees don’t want to disappoint. But they do want to be given enough freedom to figure out what works for them.
Improve the onboarding process.
Finally, it all really comes back to when you hire a new employee. The onboarding process is what sets up a new hire for success. And, success to an employer is high productivity.
Glassdoor found that companies with strong onboarding processes improve new hire retention by an incredible 82%.
For so many businesses, an onboarding process is a loosely created plan that changes with each person and each position. Once you nail down a proper company-wide onboarding process, you will receive overall higher employee productivity while they’re filling the position.
Start paying more attention today.
Now that you can see how to maximize employee productivity, you’ll notice that it’s a lot of small things that can be put into place. Spend some time today planning out an onboarding process and send a message to employees about how to better the office environment to help with productivity. It could simply be having a pair of noise canceling headphones for each employee to utilize that could make all the difference for them.
If you’re looking for more information on increasing productivity, reach out to us today. We’d be happy to share more resources or discuss how different benefit options can also help increase in-office productivity.
