Has productivity taken a dive in your workplace recently? If productivity drops, you can’t move forward. If your business can’t commit to the work it already has, it can’t take on any more.
Sometimes boosting productivity is simply about boosting morale in the workplace. Employees need a reason to become more productive and there are some simple methods you can try to motivate them. Take a look at these tips.
Hire Productive Workers
It all starts in the interview room. Many managers make the mistake of hiring what’s on the resume above the attributes of the person. There needs to be a balance when it comes to hiring the right candidates.
The people you hire should have equal amounts of qualifications or experience and enthusiasm for the future. Is this a career that your candidate wants to progress in? Will your candidate offer innovative ideas in the workplace?
Excitement about the job is a great way to be sure that your candidate will be as productive as possible.
Time Management
Higher production levels don’t always come from more working hours. In fact, the more your employees are working, the more tired and less focused they’ll become. It’s important to do all you can to keep your employees feeling healthy and fresh.
This means making sure they have an adequate amount of time off work and plenty of breaks throughout the working day. Shift planning tips for managers can help you plan employee working hours so you can clearly see where an employee needs a break.
Team Communication
Productivity is always going to grind to a halt when employees aren’t communicating well. If one team is always waiting for communication from another, nothing will ever reach the finish line. As an employer, you can champion communication in your workplace.
Give your teams examples of communicating well and ask them to work through communication exercises. If an employee isn’t communicating well with others, it could be time to give some constructive criticism.
Team Collaboration
It may go without saying but teams need to work as teams. They need to collaborate to get the job done. What one person can’t do, another should be able to help with.
People who are good at working in a team are often good at solving problems. So, should a problem arise, there should be plenty of people who can offer solutions. Every member should be willing to ask for help and every member should be willing to offer help.
When teams work like this, it means that none of the productivity is lost. The production line will continue at a normal pace, no matter who is taking over for who.
Employee Training
It’s vital that you continue to offer your employees training while they work for you. Industries change so quickly as technology advances and it’s important that your employees understand the changes in your industry. The more employees you train with new technology, the more productive your business will be.
This could mean allowing your employees to take courses during work hours or paying them to travel for training outside of the business. The knowledge that comes back with them will then trickle down to other employees so production can be boosted as a whole.
Get Feedback
You should adopt an open door policy in the workplace. Your employees should feel comfortable enough to come to you and discuss any issues that will affect their work. This could mean struggles they’re facing outside of the workplace or anything stopping them from working well in the workplace.
Getting feedback from your employees is a great way to iron out any difficulties and make sure that everyone has what they need to reach their full potential.
Drop Micromanaging
You can’t oversee everything. Your employees should have total responsibility over their share of the work. If you’re sticking your foot in every door, your employees will start to think you don’t trust them.
Let them know you do trust them and you’re willing to invest in their skills by letting them try new things and letting them be accountable for any mistakes they make. If you have a long term vision for your business, you need to be able to let your employees get on with what they do best.
Appreciate Your Employees
Do your employees know they’re appreciated? Many employers make the mistake of thinking their employees know they’re valued without actually saying it. There are lots of ways you can show your appreciation to your employees.
It could be something as simple as a personalized email or a face-to-face chat to compliment an employee on the work produced. Or, it could be a small reward as a token of your thanks. Perhaps you could treat your team to a team day out.
This not only rewards them for hard work but also encourages team building which boosts good communication in the workplace.
Run Competitions
If you have several teams in your workplace, you could think about running team competitions. Offer an incentive to each team so they know what they’re competing for. The team that is the most productive wins the incentive.
Talk about this with team leaders so you can offer an incentive that will make your employees enthusiastic. Boosting productivity means you have to make it worth your employee’s while. Whether it’s a gift for each member of the team or a team reward, it all helps to motivate your employees to do more.
The Right Tools
You should always set aside a budget for purchasing the latest tools and equipment. Often, an employee is only as good as the tools he’s working with. If you’re asking an employee to speed up production with old tools, you aren’t going to get results.
Make sure your employees are working with the latest technology so they have a much better chance at being more productive when you need them to be. Keep abreast of industry innovations by attending networking and industry events.
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