The success/ Performance and productivity of a organisation/business are inextricably linked to the productivity of its employee. If you want to achieve your goals, set higher targets, and gain traction, you must ensure that your employees meet their targets and contribute to the company’s productivity and performance.
The organisation must monitor employee productivity and work to increase the performance. As employee needs have evolved significantly over time, it has become critical to meet those needs and provide a conducive work environment in order to boost productivity and performance.
Employee engagement has always been critical in determining an organization’s employee productivity and performance. If your employees are genuinely committed to their jobs and look forward to reporting to work each morning, they are more likely to give their all and work extra hard to boost productivity. On the other hand, dissatisfied and disgruntled employees tend to be sluggish at work and reduce productivity.
This is why an organisation must monitor employee productivity and implement strategies to boost it over time. Although there is no standard procedure for measuring employee productivity within an organisation, the following is a simple approach that will give you an idea of your employees’ productivity.
The most frequently used method of determining employee productivity is to compare an employee’s performance to the cost they incur. The objective is to ascertain the value provided by an employee in relation to the amount spent by the company behind them.
If you want to quantify an employee’s productivity, you can begin by clearly defining the performance standard against which you will measure their productivity. Then, determine the total number of dedicated hours or minutes spent by your organization’s employees. For instance, if your employees work five days a week for eight hours each day, they will work 40 hours or 2400 minutes per week.
After calculating how much time your employees spend at work, subtract the hours or minutes they do not spend, thereby increasing their productivity. This time period includes lunch breaks, meetings, vacations, short office breaks, and other unscheduled time.
For instance, if your employee spends 30 minutes on lunch, 30 minutes on other short breaks, and one hour on meetings each day, you can deduct 500 hours from the employee’s weekly time spent working. This implies that your employee works for 1,900 minutes per week.
The productivity of an employee can be calculated by dividing the net minutes worked by the total work time available in a week. Using the same example, your employee’s productivity would be 79 percent.
Now that we’ve discussed quantifying employee productivity, here are some of the most important tips toward making your employees more productive at work.
1. Providing seamless employee support
Employee productivity is highly dependent on the support provided by the employer. Employees frequently encounter issues while at work; ensure that they are resolved in the most efficient manner possible. If you want to boost employee productivity, ensure that your organisation has a modern service desk.
The modern employee service desk is a one-stop shop for resolving a variety of issues that arise for your employees. AI-powered, it comprehends the context of your employees’ problems and provides them with solutions that are customised for them. Unlike traditional service desks, which confuse employees with a manual ticketing system, the AI-powered alternative hides the ticketing system, allowing employees to self-resolve their issues.
When your employees receive prompt and personalised responses to their concerns, they will be more focused on the task at hand, thereby increasing their productivity. Additionally, integrated employee support instils a sense of value in employees, which results in increased engagement.
2. Effective onboarding of employees
The first few weeks are always formative for both the new employee and the organisation. This time period lays the groundwork for your employee’s journey with your company. It is always critical to effectively onboard new employees in order to maximise their productivity.
Allow sufficient time to plan the onboarding process and divide it into distinct phases. Always ensure that new hires feel at ease in their new work environment. Employees will perform at their best only if they feel at ease with their new teammates.
A significant portion of employee onboarding is focused on providing an exceptional welcome to your employees. Ensure that you extend a warm welcome to them (either personally or via email). Send a personalised email containing their login credentials for the platforms on which they will work, information about their colleagues and leaders, company policies, and expectations of them.
Always ensure that new hires are equipped with the necessary tools and resources to get started on their first day. Configure their laptops and desktop computers and optimise them for ease of use. Train new hires during their first few days and weeks with the company.
3. Delegating authorities and responsibilities
It is common for entrepreneurs and management in startups and small businesses to want to perform a variety of tasks independently. Delegating responsibilities and authority is one way to boost employee productivity.
Assess your employees’ capabilities and empower capable employees to take on the responsibilities of managing a group of subordinates. Divide the work into teams led by specific employees who excel at specific tasks. This frees up core management from performing multiple processes and enables the organisation to manage business processes more effectively.
4. Being well-versed with the skills of your employees
Always assign tasks to employees that are compatible with their abilities. Employees will perform well naturally if they are performing tasks they enjoy and are competent at. As with allowing a single employee to perform a variety of tasks, forcing employees to work outside their comfort zone or skill set will result in decreased productivity.
5. Focusing on effective communication
The root of the majority of evils is a breakdown in communication. Ascertain that you have sufficient provisions for management to communicate with employees and for employees to communicate with one another. Create dedicated channels of communication, whether personal, via phone calls, emails, or video calls.
From communicating with employees about their work to encouraging casual conversations, it is critical to establish effective communication across your organisation in order to bring out the best in your employees — even more so if they work remotely.
6. Have well-defined goals
Unless and until your employees are aware of the specific goals and objectives to be accomplished, they will work in a disorganised manner and will fail to deliver the desired results. Always communicate the objectives you wish to accomplish to your employees. This will motivate them to work harder and improve their work quality.
7. Provide adequate incentives
Providing the right incentives to employees will genuinely motivate them to work harder and improve their productivity. However, it is important to understand that incentives should not be limited to monetary rewards. Here are some effective incentives that you can offer to your employees:
- Paid time off
- A handwritten note of gratitude
- Flexible work hours (on specific days)
- Access to workplace wellness program
- Dedicated trophies
8. Avoid overworking your employees
When employees are overworked and exhausted, their productivity suffers — regardless of the amount of time they devote to work. Always encourage employees to work only during their designated work hours and refrain from assigning them tasks that exceed their capacity.
9. Train your employees well
One of the most effective ways to increase employee productivity is to provide extensive training. Arrange specialised training sessions, webinars, and workshops (online/offline) to assist your employees in acquiring new skills and enhancing existing ones.
10. Giving honest feedback
Finally, ensure that you are completely candid and transparent with your employees when providing feedback. Appreciating their accomplishments encourages them to work harder, and pointing out their errors assists them in improving their work.
