Workplace productivity can completely change the way your business is run and how efficient it is on a daily basis. Productivity is the basis of any successful organization, and productive employees feel happier and more fulfilled with their work lives. From a business standpoint, your employees are an investment. To make the most of that investment, you should be providing them with the necessary tools to be able to do their job easily and seamlessly. If you notice that there’s a lack of productivity in the workplace, there are a few things you can improve employee productivity.
Give Them the Right Equipment
Imagine your staff trying to perform complex tasks and projects on laptops that are slow and outdated. Picture your team trying to print detailed proposals on printers that take over a minute per page. Bad equipment can stall even the most optimistic members of your team, and makes it take longer to complete your objectives and meet your goals.
Even if you’re on a budget and don’t feel as though you can commit to thousands of dollars for new equipment, there are several shortcuts that won’t hurt your bottom line or compromise your work ethic. For example, investing in manufacturer refurbished laptops is a great way to cut costs without cutting corners.
Stop Micromanaging
Micromanagement is a type of management style where individuals in management closely observe and facilitate the work of employees beneath them. This type of leadership style can be crippling for the workplace, and can therefore decimate the productivity in the office. As a manager, it might be difficult for you to recognize when your management style is the problem. On the contrary, you may be believe that you’re helping keep the business in order. Here are a few signs you’re micromanaging your team:
- You become easily frustrated if you believe you could have completed a task better than one of your team members
- You’re a stickler for fine details and find yourself constantly making corrections and alterations
- You consistently ask for updates
- You aren’t often satisfied with deliverables
- You ask to be CC’d on most emails
Micromanagement can be much more damaging to your staff than you realize. It creates a low company morale and makes your team feel as though they cannot make simple decisions on their own. It also creates a toxic atmosphere that permeates through the company culture and can lead to a high turnover rate.
Offer Remote Work Opportunities
Remote work has been proven to help people work more efficiently, be more productive, and be much happier. Remote work has also been linked to internal cost savings, too. For starters, because employees are being more productive, your team will be spending less time on tasks that don’t matter. And studies have shown that employees who work remotely are less likely to request time time off.
IBM is a great example of a company who succeeded with their remote program. Once launched, the program saved them $100 million for the year. With IBM as a leading example, you should consider starting your own remote work program. Remote work grants autonomy and independence, which allows them to take better ownership over their resources and time. And for many employees, this extra layer of freedom and versatility is the most important perk of all: one study showed that employees felt more motivated by the prospect by autonomy than by financial rewards.
Get Them Involved In Other Departments
Your team’s productivity can heighten if they have the freedom to mix up their schedules once in a while, and to also learn more about other departments in the company. The better they can understand how other team members contribute, the more-rounded their perception will be. They’ll be able to comprehend how different parts of the company come together to make one big, well-oiled machine. It can also make their work life less mundane.
There are several ways you can approach this. Evernote, the project management application company, runs an Officer Training program that allows employees to sign up to attend two meetings in any department per month. For example, as a developer who works on backend code daily, you would be able to attend a marketing meeting to see how the business works on the front-end.
Prioritize Company Culture
Your company culture is your workforce’s lifeline. Better company culture creates a more positive work environment and can significantly decrease the possibility of workplace-related stress. After all, the American Psychological Association found that, due to stress, the U.S. economy loses $500 billion and 550 million work days annually.
As you begin to build out your plan for a better workplace culture, talk to your staff about what matters to them. Create a list of feasible incentives, and take a survey on which are most important to your team. You can gain inspiration by researching some of the best company workplaces and learning more about how they run their businesses with culture in mind. Zappos, Google, SquareSpace, and REI are solid examples of companies who prioritize workplace culture.
