Finding ways to increase workplace productivity is a task that can be both frustrating and time consuming. As someone who is in a leadership position, you know that the ability to motivate and get your employees work efficiently in order to increase their output is critical to your company's success. This is especially true during times of economic downturn.
The benefits of increasing productivity in the workplace are more than enough to make it part of your company's objective on a month to month basis. Most companies out there are producing half of what they are capable of. This is mainly due to lack of organization, inefficient procedures, and lack of employee motivation. There are other factors that are involved but these are the three that if enough attention is put on and enough action is taken to improve these areas, the increased productivity will have a huge effect on the bottomline.
In many situations, workplace productivity can be improved with just a few minor changes. Many owners and managers think that a whole company restructuring would need to take place in order to bring productivity to a high level. Although this may be true for in some cases, in general, a few simple changes is all that is needed to make this happen.
Another misconception many managers have is they have to make their employees work harder. They believe if they can use tactics such as awards or even result to micromanaging their people, they will get them to work harder. You see, it's not about working harder. You can have someone work 10 times as hard trying to cut down a tree with a hammer, but you will never get the kind of productivity that can be achieve by someone cutting a tree with an axe while only working half as hard.
When it comes down to it, in order to increase workplace productivity, you have to be able to make things work more efficiently. It's all about working smarter, not harder. You can have your people work extra hard and in the short-term, you will have increased productivity, but in the long run, you will just cause them to wear down and stress out. As you know, when this happens, work output dips.
This site will give you ideas and strategies to enable you to structure your company or team to work at an optimal level. You will be provided with ways to increase workplace productivity by simply increasing the efficiency of everything from business procedures to individual employees.
Showing posts with label increasing productivity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label increasing productivity. Show all posts
Productivity In the Workplace
by Tom B.
In order to increase productivity in the workplace, you will need to find out what motivates your employees. Working for a paycheck can only get someone to do so much. Working for something deeper, such as a personal goal or dream is much more powerful. I'm sure you run your company the best you can not purely just for money but also for personal pride as well. The reason why business owners are more productive than employees, generally, is because they building the business is their personal goal. With employees, their personal goal could be to spend more time with their family. If that is the case, perhaps setting up a schedule or create some type of vacation benefit for better performance can help increase productivity.
Increasing productivity in the workplace can sometimes be as simple as making the work environment more fun by doing something like adding some music for example. You need to realize that most people are just content with their jobs and that if something better came along, they would jump ship. In order to get them to be as productive as possible, you need to give them a reason to do so. Even a bigger paycheck won't do this for some people. It just depends on what sort of employees you have as well as what type of work environment you have created for yourself. Take the time to find out more about your employees. Find out their goals, dreams, and hopes. From there, figure out a way to help them achieve those things that will link to them being more productive at work.
This may be something that you will probably only want to consider taking the time to do for employees who are there for the long term. Once you are able to have more motivated employees, you will be able to create a more productive workplace environment as a whole. When that happens, it becomes a standard. When it becomes a standard, any new employee who comes on board will automatically want to work hard just to keep up with the standard. If you notice, workplaces that are full of unproductive people will breed more unproductive people usually. Workplaces that are full of highly productive people will breed more productive people.
So in order to improve productivity in the workplace, you will need to first work on getting the key employees to increase their productivity. The more people you have working at a highly productive level, the more pressure there will be for the other people to not slack off. Having better productivity in the workplace comes down to testing. Try out different things and see what works best. Having good workplace productivity is definitely important in increasing the bottom line.
Increasing productivity in the workplace can sometimes be as simple as making the work environment more fun by doing something like adding some music for example. You need to realize that most people are just content with their jobs and that if something better came along, they would jump ship. In order to get them to be as productive as possible, you need to give them a reason to do so. Even a bigger paycheck won't do this for some people. It just depends on what sort of employees you have as well as what type of work environment you have created for yourself. Take the time to find out more about your employees. Find out their goals, dreams, and hopes. From there, figure out a way to help them achieve those things that will link to them being more productive at work.
This may be something that you will probably only want to consider taking the time to do for employees who are there for the long term. Once you are able to have more motivated employees, you will be able to create a more productive workplace environment as a whole. When that happens, it becomes a standard. When it becomes a standard, any new employee who comes on board will automatically want to work hard just to keep up with the standard. If you notice, workplaces that are full of unproductive people will breed more unproductive people usually. Workplaces that are full of highly productive people will breed more productive people.
So in order to improve productivity in the workplace, you will need to first work on getting the key employees to increase their productivity. The more people you have working at a highly productive level, the more pressure there will be for the other people to not slack off. Having better productivity in the workplace comes down to testing. Try out different things and see what works best. Having good workplace productivity is definitely important in increasing the bottom line.
Workplace Productivity Tips 4
by Tom B.
This is Part 4 of the Workplace Productivity Tips.
16. Get people to use your inbox
Instead of being interrupted with questions while you are in the zone, create an inbox where people can just submit their questions or suggestions to you. You can opt to just have them email you but this will depend on how much email you actually get. If most of your email are from clients, then it's probably best to have them put their suggestions or questions in your box. Once you have time, you can go through them and answer them with more care. These questions should only be ones that they couldn't find out by asking others by the way. Create a environment of openness almost like a helpful forum.
17. Eliminate useless meetings
If the point of having a meeting is because it's something you do every week or month, elminate it. Meetings need to have a strong enough purpose to be pulling people away from their work. Many meetings conducted around world are seen as a waste of time. Some employees actually like these meetings since to them, it's a time to kick back and relax and not have to work.
In order to have effective meetings, everyone involves needs to know the objective and the agenda before hand. If you are the one running the meeting, be prepared. It's a waste of time to spend the first 5-10 minutes of the meeting preparing for the meeting. If the purpose of the meeting is just to announce something news, unless if it's really important, just email it to everyone. If the meeting is to solve a problem, everyone coming into the meeting should know what the issue is and be prepared to give any solutions they may have. If you find that your meetings not very productive, eliminate them or at least lessen the frequency.
18. Praise immediate, specifically, and publicly
One great way to increase employee productivity is by praising an employee of a job well done. Most supervisors know this but to do it effectively, you must also do it specifically. Instead of merely saying, "You did a good job", you want to tell them exactly what they did that you think was good. When you praise an employee for doing a good job, they are more likely to keep up the good work or even do a better job. Now if the compliment is vague, they won't know what to continue doing. Give them the specifics.
Another thing you want to do is my your praises public. This will depend on the level of work of course. If it was just something really minor then it may not be necessary. One of the things that almost all employees want is to know that what they do matters and is being appreciated by the company. By giving them praise publicly, this will boost their confidence and esteem and will help them perform even better. Always remember to be sincere with your praises. Don't compliment just to get people to do a better job. It's just wrong.
19. Create a fun environment
People work more efficiently when they enjoy their work. When people hate or are bored with their work, they won't put much into it. Some employers think that creating a fun environment will slow efficiency and this may be true. It really depends on what type of employees you have. If you have a bunch of low paid workers who could care less about their job, then this may not be the best idea. However, if you have a lot of highly skilled professionals, it may be just what they need. Take Google for example. They are known for creating a fun work environment as well as being one of the leading companies in the world. Yes, work can be fun and productive at the same time.
20. Hire the right people
Take time to examine your potential employees. Learn how to pick and choose the best ones for the job. Remember that just because someone has a college degree it doesn't mean that they are better suited than someone who doesn't. It will come down to experience and level of passion for the job. There are many resources out there that can help you improve your employee hiring skills.
16. Get people to use your inbox
Instead of being interrupted with questions while you are in the zone, create an inbox where people can just submit their questions or suggestions to you. You can opt to just have them email you but this will depend on how much email you actually get. If most of your email are from clients, then it's probably best to have them put their suggestions or questions in your box. Once you have time, you can go through them and answer them with more care. These questions should only be ones that they couldn't find out by asking others by the way. Create a environment of openness almost like a helpful forum.
17. Eliminate useless meetings
If the point of having a meeting is because it's something you do every week or month, elminate it. Meetings need to have a strong enough purpose to be pulling people away from their work. Many meetings conducted around world are seen as a waste of time. Some employees actually like these meetings since to them, it's a time to kick back and relax and not have to work.
In order to have effective meetings, everyone involves needs to know the objective and the agenda before hand. If you are the one running the meeting, be prepared. It's a waste of time to spend the first 5-10 minutes of the meeting preparing for the meeting. If the purpose of the meeting is just to announce something news, unless if it's really important, just email it to everyone. If the meeting is to solve a problem, everyone coming into the meeting should know what the issue is and be prepared to give any solutions they may have. If you find that your meetings not very productive, eliminate them or at least lessen the frequency.
18. Praise immediate, specifically, and publicly
One great way to increase employee productivity is by praising an employee of a job well done. Most supervisors know this but to do it effectively, you must also do it specifically. Instead of merely saying, "You did a good job", you want to tell them exactly what they did that you think was good. When you praise an employee for doing a good job, they are more likely to keep up the good work or even do a better job. Now if the compliment is vague, they won't know what to continue doing. Give them the specifics.
Another thing you want to do is my your praises public. This will depend on the level of work of course. If it was just something really minor then it may not be necessary. One of the things that almost all employees want is to know that what they do matters and is being appreciated by the company. By giving them praise publicly, this will boost their confidence and esteem and will help them perform even better. Always remember to be sincere with your praises. Don't compliment just to get people to do a better job. It's just wrong.
19. Create a fun environment
People work more efficiently when they enjoy their work. When people hate or are bored with their work, they won't put much into it. Some employers think that creating a fun environment will slow efficiency and this may be true. It really depends on what type of employees you have. If you have a bunch of low paid workers who could care less about their job, then this may not be the best idea. However, if you have a lot of highly skilled professionals, it may be just what they need. Take Google for example. They are known for creating a fun work environment as well as being one of the leading companies in the world. Yes, work can be fun and productive at the same time.
20. Hire the right people
Take time to examine your potential employees. Learn how to pick and choose the best ones for the job. Remember that just because someone has a college degree it doesn't mean that they are better suited than someone who doesn't. It will come down to experience and level of passion for the job. There are many resources out there that can help you improve your employee hiring skills.
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