Your business won’t be successful without the help of a passionate team working toward a common goal. It is your responsibility to continuously check if they are still efficient and productive.
Conducting a gemba walk during operations is a good idea to observe how employees go about their day-to-day tasks.
Ask yourself these questions: Do your employees look tired and burned out? Do they deliver what is expected of them? Have they been provided the right tools?.
If you answered “no” to any of these questions, then there is a problem. Given this situation, what can you do to help your employees improve their productivity? Listed below are effective strategies you can employ.
5 Ways to Boost Employee Productivity
1. Set SMART Goals
This process allows employees to monitor their improvements, milestones, and success rate within the organization through targets and scoreboards.
Whatever their role within the organization is, It is ideal to let them know what is expected of them to set a clear direction and promote transparency.
Positive outcomes may vary depending on how you set employee goals, each one should be:
- Specific: Be particular when setting targets. It should be clear and unambiguous.
- Measurable: Give criteria on how a target should be achieved.
- Acceptable: Ensure targets are attainable using the provided resources.
- Realistic: Ensure targets are relevant to an employee’s specific role.
- Time-bound: Set a specific timeline for each target.
2. Provide Relevant Training
Training is vital to every organization to help employees achieve a common goal. It gives employees a better understanding of their role and an opportunity to acquire new skills. Awareness on new technologies can streamline company processes and boost employee productivity.
Knowing what your employees’ training needs are will reduce training turnaround and cost. Conducting training evaluations and gathering feedback helps identify training gaps and areas for improvement.
3. Ensure Clear Communication
Effective communication builds good relationships within the organization. It helps define and clarify company objectives and boosts employee morale as they feel connected with each other and to the mission of the organization.
Maintain open communication and loop all employees with updates and important announcements. Being aware of what’s happening in the organization makes an impact to employee productivity.
Open communication makes it easier for employees to express themselves during meetings and brainstorming sessions. It allows them to collaborate and strategize freely, knowing that their ideas will be heard and considered.
Companies are encouraged to use online tools like Slack, Intercom, or Google Hangouts to provide support to teams in different work sites.
4. Promote Work-Life Balance
An employee who spends too much time in the office or who brings work home is at high risk of developing an unhealthy and stressful lifestyle.
A balance between work life and personal life is needed to avoid burnout. Setting achievable targets and suitable workloads, proper delegation of tasks according to their roles, and following manageable timelines can promote work-life balance and make a positive impact on employee productivity.
HR teams can conduct work-life balance activities such as team building, social gatherings, and outreach programs to stimulate employees’ sense of worth.
They can also offer flexible working hours and opportunities to work remotely. HR teams should also encourage employees to take advantage of their leave credits and use them to take a break from the daily grind.
5. Organize Employee Reward and Recognition Programs
Employee reward and recognition programs encourage employees to improve their work habits and key behaviors. In order to reinforce this mindset within your organization, consider these key factors when developing a reward program:
- Identify employee strengths and weaknesses;
- Set achievable targets which will reflect on their scorecards;
- Provide guidelines to determine appropriate rewards; and
- Communicate information to targeted employees.
There are 2 types of reward programs you can provide to your employees.
i. Macro-Recognition Program
This program typically recognizes employees by providing financial or material incentives such as spot, quarterly, or annual bonuses.
ii. Micro-Recognition Program
This program provides informal recognition in the form of casual pats on the back or verbal praise given by managers when employees hit their targets.
Recognizing employee contributions to the business uplifts employee morale and boosts productivity. It keeps them motivated to go above and beyond what is expected of them.
Implement programs that boost employee productivity while also ensuring that employees don’t get too exhausted or burned out.
Ensure that you set SMART goals, equip employees with the necessary training, and appreciate their effort through recognition programs.
Make an effort to communicate these measures to your employees to help them understand their roles better. Promote a healthy work-life balance in addition to a safe working environment to instill a positive outlook and ensure higher success rates.
More Read:
- How to Boost your Office Productivity?
- 13 Best Productivity Tools That You Must Definitely Use
- How Will Motivating Your Employees Enhance Your Company’s Productivity?
- How Can You Encourage Employees To Be Healthier
Author Bio: Jona Tarlengco is a content writer for SafetyCulture, a software company that enables businesses to perform inspections using digital checklists.
