22 ways to improve productivity in the workplace
Introduction
It’s no longer enough for businesses to cruise along with employees who come into work just to get their pay cheque at the end of the month.
Today there’s ever increasing competition from challenger companies, and research consistently shows that employees perform better if they feel like their work is valued.
This means it’s important to keep productivity high by motivating and supporting employees to push your business to achieve more. Remaining productive is not just the responsibility of individual employees; it’s the employer’s duty to create a supportive work culture and environment. It’s much more cost-effective for an organization to make current employees want to stay, rather than training new employees every time someone leaves for greener pastures.
As a small and growing business, we’ve been thinking a lot about the best ways to increase and maintain productivity, while making sure that staff are motivated, happy and engaged, which leads to consistently developing the best products and providing excellent service for our customers.
With this in mind, we’ve put together a list of helpful ways to help you keep your workforce happy and productive...
1. Make everyone accountable
Employees need to know that they are accountable for any tasks they take on. The best way to achieve this is to make sure that they know exactly what’s expected of them and that they feel comfortable asking if they have any questions at the beginning. This empowers employees to take full responsibility for their role and not deflect accountability onto colleagues if a deadline is missed.
2. Avoid micro-management
While employees need to be given direction, micro- managing every single detail of their jobs is never helpful. While leaders should give instruction and paint the bigger picture, when it comes to the day-to- day nuts and bolts of a task, this should be left to the employees themselves. Employees often have their own way of working towards the end result which may differ from but be just as good as their boss’s preferred method. Allowing employees to work in their own style also encourages them to learn and think for themselves, benefitting the company.
3. Work agile
Many modern companies, particularly in the technology industry, are adopting a method of working known as ‘agile’. Small teams of employees plan a ‘sprint’ of what they will work on over the next week or fortnight, allowing some spare time for ad hoc tasks which arise. This method reduces the need for endless meetings as everything is planned in blocks at the beginning of the week. The team can keep an eye on how well they are meeting their set objectives via a progress graph, adding a ‘gamification’ element which gives workers an even greater incentive to fulfil set goals.
5. Provide training
Everyone loves to learn something new and interesting so you should encourage employees to go on courses or to seminars and exhibitions related to skills they’re eager to learn. This need not be expensive for the company and could even consist of employees learning from each other or attending a free talk.
Employees keen to use their newfound skills will apply their knowledge to new tasks, adding further value to their role at the company. Employees will also feel more well-disposed and grateful to the company for investing in their career growth.
4. Regularly give employees insights into other roles
Even the most dedicated employee will get bored of performing the same task over and over again. If possible, and if the task is not too specialized, allow
employees to swap roles occasionally and try out new duties. This also gives businesses the added benefit of allowing employees to gain a broader view of the company and its wider objectives. It also facilitates learning and employees’ individual development, making them better, more well-rounded and motivated staff.
6. Set realistic targets
If an employee feels completely overloaded, this will often lead to procrastinating and putting things off due to the overwhelming and unrealistic nature of the task. Employers need to set achievable goals so that employees feel motivated, with a sense of accomplishment. Some employers may feel that
stretching employees to rise to a challenge is a good idea, but in the long term employees will become stressed, burned out and ultimately unproductive.
7. Don’t keep employees chained to their desks
- Recognize and encourage employees’ good work
The health risks in sitting down all day, not to mention sitting in front of a bright screen, are becoming well- documented. And ill or fatigued employees are not productive employees. Ideas to give employees some variety and encourage them to stay healthy include: standing desks, allowing staff to work from home occasionally — saving an often stressful commute, or providing gym membership or fitness classes.
Studies have shown that recognition from your boss in the form of a few genuine words of praise can often mean more to an employee than financial reward or other material incentives. Although, of course, an extra day off or a box of chocolates can also be a great way to reward exceptional work. Never just criticize when something goes wrong; make sure you seek out employees when they do something great too, rather than taking the positives for granted. If an employee feels unappreciated or unvalued they won’t stay at your company for very long and will take their skills and talent to an employer that will give them the recognition they deserve.
9. Enforce regular breaks
Try not to let your company culture be one of constant stress, too much work and frequent long hours and late finishes. Encourage employees to go out for a
walk and get some fresh air during their lunch breaks. While employees will naturally take their own tea and coffee breaks throughout the day, it might help to enshrine a couple of breaks as standard, so that come the end of the day your workforce isn’t a mass of tired eyes, sore backs and bad headaches.
10. Ensure people enjoy their work
In every company, the best performing employees are happy employees who see reward and value in the work they are doing every day. Help workers see the interesting and exciting aspects of the work they are doing. It’s well known that employees even in traditionally dull industries can find nuggets of fascination if they are sufficiently motivated and informed about the more interesting parts of the job and how it adds value to the bigger picture.
11. Follow up on tasks
While micro-management is detrimental to employees’ progress, checking in throughout the task to check that there are no problems that you may be able to help with is a good idea. Employees also feel that their work is worthwhile if their employer is clearly interested in what they are doing and how it is helping the company long term.
12. Install instant messenger
It might sound like an idea that would make employees the very opposite of productive but, if you have a large team, a quick instant message to the group can be a quick and effective way to get an answer or feedback rather than sending emails back and forth or, if someone is working from home, waiting until they are back in the office. It allows information to be communicated quickly and succinctly, improving productivity among teams and the wider workforce.
13. Keep the office fresh and tidy
- Chat to your employees about subjects other than work
If employees are working in a messy or, even worse, dirty office it’ll be incredibly hard for them to be motivated and productive. If they can’t make a cup of tea without having to wipe up someone else’s spilled lunch, or if the carpets are stained, not only will it make employees reluctant to work, but they’ll be reluctant to even come into the office. It’s also important that employees have enough space in which to work so they don’t feel like caged battery hens. You should also try to make sure that the decor is stylish, comfortable and inspiring rather than dull and grey.
If your employees run out of the kitchen whenever you go in to make a cup of tea, then something’s wrong. Employees need to see you as a human who takes a genuine interest in their lives outside of work, acknowledging that they’re not just one of your business assets but an actual person with hobbies, families and lives. Employees will be more likely to work harder for you if they like you and feel warm towards you as a person. You don’t have to be best
friends but at least learn the name of their partner or their favourite football team.
15. Arrange separate meeting areas for different kinds of work
It can be good to have an open plan office so employees can collaborate and get to know each other. But sometimes when working on something which needs deep concentration, it’s also a good idea to have somewhere more quiet and private where employees can go to focus. The same goes for adding a few quiet areas where teams can work and discuss ideas amongst themselves.
16. Share expertise
A good idea to get employees working more productively is arranging for employees with different skill sets to share their knowledge with other people or departments. It doesn’t have to be work-related, and could take the form of a regular morning session where different employees present on a subject they think will benefit others they don’t work with very often.
17. Hold fewer meetings
sizes. No longer is it acceptable to have a calendar blocked out with meetings from 9 until 5 every day. If an employee spends more time attending meetings, which often have only a tangential relation to them, instead of actually doing the job they were hired
for and for which they are paid, then they can’t be productive. This leads to tasks being forgotten or left incomplete, or employees becoming disillusioned and frustrated. If you do need to have a meeting keep it short, relevant, and to the point.
18. Build a team
Of course everyone isn’t always going to get along but if your team can get to know each other enough to feel comfortable asking each other for favours or opinions on work then everyone’s productivity will go up.
Sometimes it’s hard to break the ice so it’s worthwhile to organize lunchtime games or after work drinks to build relationships and team morale.
19. Hold fewer meetings
It can be good to have an open plan office so employees can collaborate and get to know each other. But sometimes when working on something which needs deep concentration, it’s also a good idea to have somewhere more quiet and private where employees can go to focus. The same goes for adding a few quiet areas where teams can work and discuss ideas amongst themselves.
20. Use time-saving apps
Every day there’s a new app on the market which allows you to cut a corner you thought impossible to avoid. There are apps for creating to-do lists, apps that correct your grammar, and even apps that collect your dry-cleaning. Do some research into which ones would be personally valuable to your business and ask your employees to get involved too.
21. Bring in tools and equipment to raise productivity
Your employees can’t do their best work if they don’t have the tools to do them. If your event manager needs a work smartphone so that they can work easier on the go, get it for them. Make sure your office internet connection is reliable and you have the facilities to back up important information so that employees aren’t twiddling their thumbs if something crashes and can’t be fixed quickly.
22. Treat employees as human beings
If you’ve hired trustworthy and hard-working employees and treat them well, then you know that if they need to take a day off sick, or go to the doctor or attend a family emergency, they’re being genuine.
Employees will be grateful and work even harder when they’re back at work if you agree to any requests for time off to do something personal that can only be done during work time. If you treat employees like robots then they’ll behave like robots, never going the extra mile or using initiative, or doing anything outside of the scope of their normal work.