6 Secrets to Improving Employee Productivity

There’s no denying the fact that increased productivity is associated with increased earnings. When your employees consistently produce excellent work in a short period of time, your clients are more likely to remain satisfied with your company and you’re more likely to experience growth and remain well above the red line. The problem is that most workers can’t keep up with exceptionally high work standards when they’re pressured to complete each task as quickly as possible.

Research has shown that constant stress to live up to expectations will take a productivity-killing toll on even the best employees. When you ditch the high-stress strategies and embrace some of these more positive approaches to employee relations, you can see productivity soar without dealing with high turnover rates due to burnout.

1. Base company morale on a shared purpose.

Just as you feel more satisfied with your life when you have a sense of purpose, your employees will enjoy greater satisfaction with their jobs when they know that they serve a valuable purpose. Identify ways that your company helps the surrounding community, contributes to charitable organisations or help customers make positive life changes.

Use that information to encourage employees to remember the impact they’re making and the reasons why they do what they do. With a strong sense of purpose, most will want to work harder to make the magic happen.

2. Implement management software.

The right workforce management software will help your employees organise their day, without wasting a lot of time or stressing over certain matters. You will always have at least one employee who struggles to block out distractions or work at an accelerated rate for a longer period of time, but the job becomes much easier when they have a system to track their use of time. Employees feel supported and appreciated when their employer provides tools that make their job easier to manage, and this is one of the best tools you can offer.

3. Encourage personal projects that benefit the company.

If you have creative and ambitious employees, there’s a good chance that they’ll come up with ways to advance their careers within your organisation or to contribute beyond their job descriptions. One person may come up with a special project that will eventually make work easier for their department while someone else wants to adjust their work hours so that they can go back to school at night.

One way to keep your workers happily producing at a high level overall is to give them the satisfaction of taking on those extra roles. When their passion comes into the workplace, they’re going to become much more productive.

4. Create comfortable community work spaces.

There are times when your employees need to sequester in their cubicles or office to get things done, but most employees also benefit from easily communicating with others. You can encourage a positive work environment and make it easier for productive collaboration to happen by offering comfortable open spaces within the office. These are areas where individual employees can spend time when they’re feeling cooped up in their personal space, but it’s also the perfect impromptu meeting space. Investing in break room amenities, such as coffee services for the office, are also a great way to keep employee attitudes high.

5. Make company-sponsored training routine.

The most productive employees are often the best trained employees. Don’t assume that your workers will keep up with their industries on their own, and don’t underestimate the power of boosting the confidence of lower-level employees through education. When you provide continuous opportunities for personal improvement, you naturally increase productivity for employees participating in those opportunities.

6. Keep your equipment up to date, and listen to feedback.

You can’t really complain that your employees aren’t productive when it’s the company-maintained equipment holding them back. Find ways for workers to make suggestions for upgrades and improvements that will allow them to work faster, and then follow through with as many of those suggestions as possible. Also make sure that you fix glitches and breakdowns quickly to eliminate down time. The best employees will always find ways to work around a problem, but doing so slows them down.

You may find that you have to invest considerable time, and maybe even money, into motivating your employees. But, you have to invest in your employees in order to get more back from them. Productivity is essential in every work place, so if you’re employees are struggling, try following these 6 secrets to give them the boost they need.