Productivity has been a concern for a while now in many workplaces and continues to be an issue that can cause stress and impact workplace relations. A well-managed workplace that encourages employee engagement can help improve low productivity and make the most of people’s skills – this seems obvious, but what are the ways to do this while still saving time?
First of all, as a manager, you can’t be afraid to delegate. While you might want to oversee everything yourself, that’s what you employ people for, to help you and for you to check over every little detail yourself can waste everyone’s time.
Make sure you know your employees strengths and weaknesses and match them to the suitable tasks – even if this means moving things and job roles around. Playing to people’s strengths maximizes efficiency and knowing that your employees aren’t going to be great at everything is a realistic approach which will make you and your business more efficient. Think to yourself, is this the best person for this job? If not, find someone else who is.
Your employees are the key to your productivity, so as well as knowing their strengths and weaknesses, putting a little extra time into recruitment will also save you a lot of time in the future. For example, if you implement employment screening, then you will save time on having to rehire if it turns out that you’ve hired the wrong person and you also shouldn’t lose too much productivity in the initial stages of their employment.
While productivity will always be less when someone is new to the company as they learn the ropes, training and development are one of the most important ways to increase productivity. While many companies reduce training or cut it all together when they want to save company time and money, this often has the opposite effect. Instead of hoping that your employees will accomplish a task with zero guidance, if you take the extra day to teach them the necessary skills to do their job, then they can begin to perform them on their own, and won’t waste your time in the future asking you simple questions or needing you to correct avoidable errors.
Communication is another thing which helps to create a productive workforce. Encouraging quick meetings or phone calls can often mean a faster resolution to a problem than hours of back-and-forth emails.
Also, keep your employees informed and focused on the company’s as well as their personal goals. It’s difficult for people to be efficient if they don’t have a focused goal to aim for. So try to make sure that your employees know exactly what they are working towards and that their goals are as clear as possible.
Finally, not only good for employees but for everyone, including pets – incentivizing works wonders for productivity. It is one of the best ways to encourage people is to give them a reason to do something. Recognizing your employees for doing a good job will make them feel appreciated and help them to continue increasing their productivity.
