Have you noticed a decline in your employees’ productivity? Or do you just want to continue to improve the existing workflow and grow your business in 2022?
Today, we’ll share some foolproof tips for increasing workplace productivity — covering all the reasons why things might have slowed down, and how to get back on track.
You’ll learn about:
- Possible productivity blockers and how to remove them;
- Making your employees happy, inspired, and eager to work;
- A hybrid working model and how it boosts productivity for the workers.
1. Remove the Blockers So People Can Work at Full Speed
Some workplace productivity blockers can creep up and ruin productivity, even when it seems everything is in order. That’s because some of the most common blockers sneakily mask as hard work!
Are you guilty of forgetting to onboard the new hires, scheduling countless meetings, or stubbornly sticking to the workplace organization that doesn’t work anymore?
It might surprise you just how much it hinders workplace productivity. ⬇️
Faulty (or non-existent) onboarding process
Their first impressions will impact the way they work, and their feelings towards work, for the remainder of the time spent with you. It goes both ways: if they left a good impression, you should too — that’s why throwing new hires into the fire from day one is a bad idea.
New employees that didn’t go through a thorough onboarding process will inadvertently slow things down:
- Their superiors will waste time and resources correcting easily preventable mistakes new employees make;
- In attempts to work independently, they might spend too much time looking up the info you could’ve provided early on;
- They’ll ask tons of questions someone will need to answer so they can keep working — and that “someone’s” work will get interrupted each time.
So, start things off by preparing a rock-solid onboarding process that will answer even those questions they didn’t know they have!
Create a knowledge base and detailed documentation with compiled passwords, tutorials, and steps required for their scope of work. Give them a week (or more, if required) to learn the ropes, and you’ll prevent any future misunderstandings and blockers others need to fix.
Too many meetings
If it could be an email, make it an email.
Even better: if it can be a quick chat on Microsoft Teams or Slack, strike a conversation with the team and get things done faster. Pro tip: use the “huddle” option in Slack for a quick chat.
When a meeting is necessary, make it brief and productive — here are some dos and don’ts to remember:
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- Don’t demand the presence of people who have nothing to do with the meeting topic;
- Do send the meeting recordings to the absentees instead of rescheduling or scheduling new meetings;
- Don’t forget to schedule the meeting in advance, so people can organize their time accordingly;
- Do set aside a dedicated day for meetings if there’s a need for several meetings that week.
Work about work
Work about work consists of all those non-purposeful workplace activities that take away from meaningful tasks. There are tons of examples, and they mainly revolve around lackluster processes and job organization:
- Searching for information that should have been visible from start;
- Switching between different accounts and applications;
- Bad password management: losing passwords, resetting accounts, requesting access;
- Unsuitable task delegation.
Employee monitoring software is the one tool that can help you detect and fix all of these issues in the shortest time frame possible!
Simply take a look at how your employees spend their time at work, which tools they use the most, and what takes more time than it should. Then, you can address the issues and help them work smarter.
2. Make Sure Your Employees Are Happy!
Tired, uninspired, and unmotivated employees would rather flip through other job postings than give their best at work.
Are they overworked? Or underpaid? Do they suffer from toxic workplace culture, or receive no credit for what they do? Are they assigned tasks they’re not empowered to do?
If the answer to any of these questions is “yes”, an honest conversation in a safe environment is due ASAP.
Listen to their critique and concerns, and do your best to cater to them — if you want to keep them productive. Anonymous surveys will help as well, and make it more comfortable to voice their honest opinions.
3. Introduce Hybrid Working Model
Before the pandemic struck, a hybrid working model was only sometimes offered as a perk. Nowadays, more and more companies keep this as an option. It turned out that both employers and workers love it!
Businesses that allowed their employees to work from home noticed a substantial increase in productivity and employee satisfaction.
Working from home benefits employee productivity in multiple ways. Employees get more sleep because they don’t need to get up early to travel to the office — resulting in higher quality work and better ideas. Also, less time spent traveling means more time and energy for work!
Better time management at work means they’ll have more time for their personal lives and family as well, increasing not only their productivity but job satisfaction as well.
Finally, a hybrid workplace removes the relocation issues from the equation. Let the employees organize their schedule and workplace as they please, and you’ll get the best of them.
Conclusion
To make your employees more productive, be sure to:
- Keep an eye on productivity with employee monitoring software and eliminate the blockers such as unnecessary meetings, faulty onboarding, or tedious tasks;
- Create a healthy work atmosphere where their voices are heard and where they feel happy and appreciated;
- Introduce a flexible, hybrid work model — enabling employees to work on their own terms.
