A satisfied workforce is a productive one. Happy employees can communicate more effectively and make better decisions, reducing overall stress levels. They allow the business to increase its efficiency and grow easier.
After all, the goal of every business is to increase productivity, and this can be done by increasing cooperation levels.
Improving productivity sometimes isn’t one thing, but it might require you to adjust how you work. This article dives deeper into this to see the most effective strategies for increasing workplace productivity.
The primary reason employee productivity drops
Workplace productivity decreases due to numerous reasons, and they are usually the following:
- Ineffective business processes
- Lots of distractions
- Lack of development opportunities
- Low motivation levels and moral
- Poor management
- No team collaboration
- Inadequate level of technology and tools
- Lack of or poor internal communication levels
10 Ways for increasing workplace productivity
1. Use an event staff scheduling software
When running a business, it isn’t easy to manually set up your busy schedule and reach out to your staff simultaneously. An event staff scheduling software allows you to run events much smoother and instantly see what people need.
Some of the primary reasons business managers will use the software are to avoid losing time by manually setting up schedules. Especially when you are unprepared, it’s even more time-consuming.
Each software has a pricing plan, so you might need to pay monthly or annually. Most software you use will give you a discount when you pay annually.
2. Minimize all of your distractions
Modern-day technology has negatively influenced our concentration rates. To increase performance, you need to remove all distractions. Each employee faces a different set of distractions, whether it might be too much social media scrolling, too many meetings, emails to answer, etc.
Therefore, communicate with your team, so you can equip yourself with adequate knowledge and minimize distractions by moving forward. 40% of workers don’t work with full focus, which is a concern at the workplace.
3. Invest in your employees
You need to invest in their growth levels to get enough contributions from employees. There’s no better way to increase employee productivity than to invest in their personal and professional development.
Employees will learn 70% of their abilities at the workplace. Employers need to help employees set goals and to create strategies for helping them achieve them. After, they should provide adequate opportunities for their training & development that will help them achieve their personal and professional goals. After all, when employees can achieve these goals, they can also help the business grow.
4. Avoid micromanagement
Micromanagement is the enemy of productivity. Roughly 60% of people have been micromanaged by someone in their career, and almost all claim it not to be a pleasant experience. You must trust your team and give them the freedom to work independently. If you continuously monitor what your team is doing, they might feel restricted and not do their best.
To substitute micromanagement, try doing the following:
- Go for dinner or lunch: It’s not always a good idea to only talk about work at all times but to encourage teamwork outside the workplace. This shows good care for your team and allows you to come closer to your team.
- Do puzzles: Puzzles are a great way to make our minds think strategically. During your free time, encourage yourself and your team to do puzzles. It might help them connect their way of thinking with work.
- Scavenger hunts: Makes teams work together and allow them to find many items on the list.
It takes some brainstorming to substitute micromanagement and to encourage collaboration amongst teams.
5. Encourage internal communication
It’s simple and complicated at the same time, but the truth is that most people aren’t great at communicating. It’s shameful because communication is mandatory in a business, and if you don’t, you face issues that might not be there in the first place.
As much as you would love information to flow around your team effortlessly, you must allow it to happen automatically. Things might get missed, but the most important part is not losing communication effectiveness.
There are two ways to see this:
- First way: To schedule one-on-one meetings regularly and catch up with people. It would be best to encourage them to be honest and open about how they feel about the business. Escalate where necessary and represent interests in other parts of the business.
- Second way: Not everyone might feel good about presenting their issues to you, so you should make them feel comfortable enough to do so. This can be done by winning your employee’s trust and always standing up for them. Listen more than you speak and commit to solving all of the issues you are undergoing.
Finally, you can consider creating a feedback and suggestion place where people show their concerns and ideas.
6. Hand over ownership to your team
The best leaders out there grant ownership to their team members. Giving ownership lets your team make decisions and be held accountable for everything they’ve done.
When team members are held accountable for their work, they will start to perceive their work differently and make better decisions because they’ll know that it’ll impact their overall performance.
Giving out ownership results from leading a project, handing out responsibility, and allowing your employees to be held accountable. It shows your team that you trust them and their skills to help you and your organization.
7. Catch up with your team’s weaknesses and strengths
A manager must lead his team and identify the team’s strengths and weaknesses. Knowing their skill sets is the backbone of setting up a successful, productive team.
For example, there may be a teammate that is great at brainstorming but finds it harder to work a 9-5 job. Therefore, you should always find a balance for everyone.
8. Incorporate flexible work schedules
Flexible work schedules are now becoming the future of work. Many organizations are incorporating hybrid work schedules instead of forcing people to work from the office daily. 72% of employees claim that they always prefer a hybrid remote-office model over being on-site.
This started becoming a trend after the COVID-19 pandemic. Many people started getting used to the remote working age, creating a shift in working culture. Therefore, it’s important to adapt to what your team wants, so you can ensure they are giving full effort at the workplace.
9. Give out rewards
Employees will work harder when they know they’ll be rewarded for it. Monetary rewards are probably the best rewards your employees will accept when they do good work. They want their efforts appreciated, especially from a higher power like you.
53% of employees claim they’ll most likely stay at a company longer if they feel appreciated. These rewards can be cash rewards, vouchers, paid vacation, more days off, lunch/dinner, or something else. You must show your employees you care about their well-being and personal growth.
10. Offer help
Helping your team members is highly important if you want stability in your workplace. As a team leader, you must encourage your team to approach cases based on their concerns. Observe your team closely by seeing who’s meeting deadlines and who is struggling with them.
Overall, here are a few ways you can offer help and increase team productivity:
- Communicate consistently
- Actively listen to what your team has to say
- Use your experience to recognize good work and help struggling employees
- Try to build relationships with your team and be aware of professional boundaries
- Encourage positivity by maintaining a friendly attitude
Follow these steps, and it’ll be easier for your employees to realize you’re trying to help them.
The whole point of team coordination
If you want to increase productivity at your workplace, you need to optimize team coordination. Without the right level of collaboration, you can’t effectively increase productivity, which might be an issue for you and your team.
After all, if productivity is low at the workplace, it can create long-term issues and directly affect your business’s growth.