Employees are the biggest asset of any organization. They are also the only asset that competitors cannot replicate. Hence, investing in your workers and keeping them healthy and motivated to perform efficiently can be your sustainable competitive advantage.
Healthy and motivated employees will excel at their jobs, contribute to a positive workplace environment, and drive business growth. Their health, passion, and productivity ensure your business succeeds in the short and long run. Here are some tips you can use to improve employee productivity:
1. Create A positive work environment
Creating a positive work environment is the first step to ensuring your employees stay healthy. To create a safe and positive environment, prioritize open communication, collaboration, and mutual respect. You should encourage brainstorming sessions so employees can share their ideas. This also helps build teamwork, shared responsibility, and inclusivity.
Take time out from your schedule and acknowledge individual and team achievements. It doesn't necessarily have to be something grand; you can reward them with a day off, a certificate of appreciation, or a small bonus. This creates a supportive atmosphere, and positive reinforcement drives motivation, ultimately leading to greater productivity.
Moreover, hire a professional with an MS in Applied Psychology under their belt. An organizational psychologist can provide valuable insights into improving employee well-being and help develop a productive work environment and culture.
2. Deploy the right tools
You must equip the workplace with the right tools and equipment to increase efficiency and boost employee productivity. If twenty employees only have access to one printer or scanner, there will be delays in the work. Hence, you must provide your employees with the necessary resources to perform their tasks efficiently and effectively.
Digitalization has made improving productivity and enhancing work quality much easier. Equipping employees with the right applications, software programs, and tools can boost their performance. It can help you streamline workflows and eliminate bottlenecks easily.
Investing in the right tools and equipment saves time, energy, and money in the long run. Employees can focus on their core duties and responsibilities without worrying about inconsequential things like their turn to use the scanner.
3. Minimize distractions
Distractions hamper productivity. Distractions like a redundant call from a credit card company or interruptions at the cabin door lead to annoyance and often de-track employees. Checking social media, the internet, and office gossip are also distractions that hinder productivity.
To increase productivity, you need to eliminate as many distractions as possible. For example, set some ground rules for employees; no social media usage during meetings, no use of the company's internet resources for recreation, etc. Moreover, be open to suggestions to eliminate distractions and seriously consider good ideas. By actively taking these steps, you create a distraction-free space for your employees.
4. Set SMART goals
Setting SMART goals is a powerful technique to enhance employee motivation and productivity. SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Applying this criterion to goal setting provides employees with clarity and structure. You increase the likelihood of their success.
The first step is ensuring that goals are specific and clearly defined. Unclear goals lead to confusion and lack of direction. Employees don't know where to start and often feel demotivated by it. For example, instead of setting a general goal to 'improve customer service,' specify a target such as 'improve customer satisfaction ratings by 10% in the next month.'
The second step is making goals measurable, i.e., quantify goals. This helps you track progress objectively. Establish KPIs; they allow you to analyze achievements from each project. For instance, set a goal to reduce the average response time for customer complaints to under 12 hours.
The third step is ensuring the goals you assign employees are achievable. While challenging employees is important, setting unrealistic targets can demotivate them. Consider their skills, the resources at their disposal, and their overall workload. This will help you assign work to them that you know they'll be able to complete within due time.
The fourth step is ensuring the goals are relevant to the individual's job responsibilities and duties and align well with organizational objectives. This helps employees understand the purpose and significance of their tasks in contributing to corporate goals.
The fifth and last step is setting a timeframe for accomplishing goals. Setting deadlines creates a sense of urgency and helps prioritize tasks. Break a task into small milestones so they can complete it in small chunks. It will also help reduce the chances of them procrastinating and delivering sub-par work at the deadline.
5. Avoid micro-management
Avoiding micro-management is an effective approach to increasing employee morale and aids in boosting workplace productivity. When you trust your team and empower them every step of the way, they take ownership of their tasks and are more involved and driven. The less you try to control them and how they do their work, the better the results they show.
Micromanagement is unhealthy in a workplace and leads to anxious and demotivated employees. Team autonomy and working independently allow them to showcase their skills. It also fosters a sense of shared responsibility when they can make decisions that contribute to the success of a project. It also encourages creativity and provides a workplace where they can trust each other.
Conclusion
You build a thriving workplace by creating a positive work environment, minimizing distractions, providing the right tools and equipment, setting SMART goals, and avoiding micromanagement. These are the key strategies that keep employees healthy and motivated. They help foster collaboration, trust, engagement, creativity, and productivity while enhancing job satisfaction and employee well-being.
Investing in employees always leads to long-term success. It is often a sustainable competitive advantage. Keeping your employees healthy and motivated is an investment that pays dividends for years.
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