7 Ways to Improve Employee Productivity

Saving time is just as important as saving money. Currently, many employees spend a lot of time working overtime. Hence, it is essential for business leaders as well as managers to come up with new ways that can improve office efficiency. Therefore, here is a list of things that you can do to increase the productivity of your employees.

1.Have Focused and Clear Goals

Your employees will not be productive unless they have goals and objectives that are clearly defined. Also, these goals must be achievable to make your employees more productive. Hence, make the assignments that you give your employees clear. You can also make them as narrow as you possibly can. Additionally, your expectations about tasks and the impact that the assignments have on the company should be made clear. You can use the SMART method to make goals clear and focused. SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely.

2.Communication

If you are a manager, you know that the key to a productive workforce is communication. Productive communication does not mean that you rely on available technology such as email. A study determined emails to consume up to twenty-eight percent of the time of an employee. Instead, use social networking tools that are specifically made to make team communication quick. A quick meeting or a phone call can also be a fast method of settling an issue without taking hours.

3.Remove the Excess

You will increase the productivity of your employees if you remove any unnecessary tasks. This will especially be effective if your team is focused on other significant goals. Hence, assess the routine of your employees and consider if there is something that can be removed or changed to give your employees more time to work on assignments that have priority. For instance, implementing anonymous guest printing will reduce the time taken to access the printer for all employees. This type of guest printing will also save time on setting up access for all of the employees which will save your IT department some time as well.

4.Match Tasks to Skills

A simple way of maximizing efficiency is knowing the skills as well as the behavioral styles of your employees. For instance, if you have a creative and extroverted employee, you can use them to pitch ideas to your clients. Such an employee might find it difficult to hand a detail-oriented and rule-intensive task. Hence, give assignments to the employees that are best suited to perform them effectively because they have the skills and the style that match your needs.

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5.Incentivize Employees

Give your employees a reason to be efficient. You can do this by recognizing your employees if they do a good job. Recognition builds appreciation and encouragement towards continued productivity. To make the reward more fulfilling, consider the individual needs and preferences of your employees. For instance, while one employee might prefer public recognition, another might prefer additional paid time off work.

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6.Delegate

This obvious tip is usually the most difficult to implement. You can still maintain the quality of the work done without checking every minute detail yourself. Also, monitoring every aspect will waste your time and the time of your employees. Therefore, share responsibilities to the employees that are qualified. Trusting that they will perform the tasks well will give your employee’s leadership experience and more skills that will benefit your organization.

7.Training and Development

Expecting your employees to learn new tasks and work effectively without any training can give you an uncertain outcome. Your employees require occasional guidance so that they can gain the necessary skills to work on their tasks. When you train your employees, you can have the confidence that they can accomplish their skills independently. This will also save you the time that you can spend answering questions and correcting any errors. Therefore, encourage continued training so that the skills of your employees can be harnessed and in turn, your workforce will become more advanced.

Conclusion

There are many things that you can consider to be time wasting, but they could present a significant amount of advantages in the long term. Therefore, before dismissing something as a misuse of time, consider how it will impact your business in days to come.

About The Author

Kevin Faber has been in the commercial finance and banking industry for most of his professional life. He graduated at UC Davis with a B.A. in Business/Managerial Economics. His experience in credit analysis, finance, and management led him to be the founder of Silver Summit Capital. He enjoys working in the financing industry and building connections with industry leaders.