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“You see, in life, lots of people know what to do, but very few actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action.” – Tony Robbins
Are you facing trouble in improving your employee productivity? Have you ever felt like your employee productivity is stuck in a rut? You are not alone, and some of the best business minds have also struggled with this problem.
But don’t worry! This elaborative guide will help you to choose a concrete path to improve your employee productivity.
Improving productivity in your business is not an easy task, but it’s the very foundation of maintaining an above-average profitability rate. If you don’t keep your staff productive, your bottom line suffers, and if you don’t know how to measure your productivity, it can be hard to improve it at all.
Productivity in the workplace can be difficult to measure, but it can be a lot easier to sustain if you approach it correctly. Moreover, the key to sustainable productivity improvement is turning productivity measurement into a system.
This ultimate guide will help you turn productivity measurement into a system that doesn’t just help you increase productivity but keeps it up over time.
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Also read: 9 Effective Task Management Strategies For Higher Productivity
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But before moving ahead, you need to ask these questions to yourself.
- What is my current workplace productivity?
- What do I need to do to eliminate barriers?
- What additional support can I provide?
- And the original question: How do I go about improving it?
By knowing the answers to the above questions, you will understand the current level of your employees’ productivity.
Now let’s dive deeper into the blog to know how you can measure the productivity of your employees and turn it into a sustainable one to leverage profit in the long term.
How to Turn Productivity Measurement into Sustainable Productivity Improvement?
1. Identifying and Resolving Productivity Barriers
The first step is to identify productivity barriers. You must examine and identify the areas that are preventing them from being productive. These areas can include both internal and external factors. Internal barriers include management, goals, and workforce, while external factors include the environment, deadlines, and other work-related stressors.
Once you have identified the productivity barriers, you need to identify why they are happening.
Are they related to how employees organize their day? Are they related to the work environment? You now have an understanding of what needs addressing for your employees to be productive.
2. Focus on Prioritizing Actions & Responses
Source: TMetric
One of the most effective ways to resolve productivity barriers is to prioritize actions and responses. This will provide the resources necessary to help eliminate these productivity barriers preventing employees from performing at their best. Prioritizing actions and responses will help you stay focused on what needs to be done to improve productivity.
For example, if an employee is productive for one hour of their shift but not the other three hours, the company should work with management to find out why this is. Management can lead employees through exercises that may help them understand their priorities or that might help them manage their work more effectively.
3. Select the Most Practical Solutions for your Company
Source: TechNation
Organizations can work to improve productivity by improving the internal systems of the company. For example, companies can make their processes more efficient by streamlining them. This includes changing the way work is done or altering company policies to suit the employees better. A practical solution for an organization might be adjusting scheduling practices.
Moreover, firms must be flexible when choosing the most practical solution. For example, a company may want to create a new policy for their employees, but if they find it is not working, they will need to change it or alter its effectiveness.
4. Developing a Sustainable Productivity Improvement Plan
After identifying the sources of their productivity barriers, you need to create a sustainable plan that will eliminate these issues. The plan should be custom tailored for the organization, not just a one size fits all type of approach. When creating this plan, it is crucial to have a clear view of what success looks like.
With a clear image of what success looks like, firms can work to establish a baseline or a threshold. This will provide a clear idea of how productive the company currently is and where they want to go regarding productivity improvement.
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Also read: Top 22 Workplace Productivity Statistics You Can not Afford to Ignore in 2021
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5. Communicate Often and with a Solid Purpose
Source: Creative Tim
In order to have a sustainable productivity improvement plan, organizations need to communicate often and with a definite purpose. This includes being transparent in the organization’s time, resources, and efforts. It is also important for firms to establish a clear direction and vision for what they want to achieve.
Having a workforce that is motivated and focused on improving productivity will ensure that these efforts are successful. It is also essential for management to manage all employees equally without creating any resentment or frustration among them.
Individuals should have well-defined roles, accountabilities, and responsibilities. Roles should not be ambiguous or unclear because this will lead to a lack of accountability. When employees feel they have clear role expectations, it can improve their overall productivity by making them feel more responsible for the work that is expected from them.
6. Making Lasting Productivity Changes
Source: Nave
Once companies have developed a sustainable plan, they must stick to it and consistently work on it. It means that they will need to put more effort into maintaining the plan than in creating it. These changes will help increase productivity and performance while also reducing potential productivity barriers.
It will also allow for the organization to see what changes are needed or what is not working so that they can properly address these issues and change them accordingly.
One of the best ways to make lasting productivity changes is by implementing new procedures and practices. However, before any further methods are implemented, it is essential to understand their impact on employees and how it might impact their work productivity. An organization should always focus on making realistic goals for themselves concerning productivity, and this will help ensure that they can meet them.
How Workstatus Helps You Improve Your Employee Productivity?
Workstatus is an excellent productivity tracker that you can use to analyze your employees’ productivity. It provides insight into how your company performs on key metrics like responsiveness to customer service requests, employee time spent on emails, and employee availability. With this information, you can adjust your policies and practices for improved results.
Workstatus provides a wide range of workforce management features. It offers employees fast and easy access to their
- Employee Schedule
- Budgets
- Leaves/Absences
- Productive Works, and much more.
Moreover, the managers can track teams in real-time with engagement scorecards that analyze an entire team’s productivity to identify opportunities for improvement.
It also offers employee engagement surveys that can help identify top performers or areas for improvement.
Wrapping Up!
The workplace is changing, and it’s necessary for organizations to adapt their strategy accordingly. It can be challenging to meet today’s employees’ needs, especially when you don’t know where or how your organization currently stands on key productivity metrics.
Fortunately, some tools will help you get started assessing these areas with Workstatus.
It also provides a wide range of workforce management features to enable your employees to be more productive and successful in their respective roles or assignments.
This means less time figuring out how best to manage your team, which leaves you free for other important tasks like creating new opportunities.
Good Luck!
FAQs
1. What are some common productivity pitfalls that small businesses should avoid?
Small businesses often struggle with productivity due to limited resources, lack of clear goals, and ineffective communication.
To avoid these pitfalls, it’s essential to set clear and realistic goals, establish effective communication channels, and prioritize tasks based on their importance and urgency.
2. How can small businesses maintain productivity over the long term?
To maintain productivity over the long term, small businesses should invest in productivity tracking software like Workstatus to establish a process of accountability and continuous improvement, and regularly reassess and adjust their productivity strategies based on their changing business needs.
Additionally, providing a healthy work-life balance and recognizing employee achievements can help keep employees motivated and engaged.
