Shivani is a content writer at InviteReferrals, which provides referral software that allows businesses to attract new customers from existing customers through referral campaigns.
One of the biggest challenges that firms across the world are facing is improving employee productivity. The recent shift to a work-from-home framework and the rigorous adaptation of advanced technologies have an impact on productivity.
More activity doesn’t imply more productivity. The fine line between being “busy” and being “productive” needs to be busted. Employees need to be taken care of mentally and physically to boost work-life balance, lower stress, and promote productivity.
In this blog, we’ll discuss some of the best ways to improve employee productivity in 2022.
11 Effective tips to improve employee productivity
Go through our below-given ideas on improving employee productivity to make the most of your employees and investment.
1. Focus on employees’ mental health
Stress makes employees less productive. Eliminate unhealthy stress in the workplace by creating a mental-health promoting workplace via-
Offer flexible work hours or workplaces to suit the circumstances of individual employees.
Conduct wellness programs for your employees and attend those yourself.
Allow employees to take a break when when they need it.
Free them from all sorts of work-based communications when they’re off from work. Let them unwind and relax.
2. Provide meaning to their roles
Not all workers in your firm are engaged with your brand. This is because they are not clear about their share of your organization. Your employees' lack of knowledge about the importance of the role they play in your firm’s success can lead to lower engagement and productivity.
Only when they get the bigger picture, will they feel engaged with you and find meaning in their job. This will help them take pride in their contribution to your firm. Further, make them feel important by giving them gifts or perks on their special days. This could be done through an orientation program that will help them figure out their exact place in the company. Companies are often working on obtaining a DiSC Certification so they could better understand their employees and help them become more productive. Assessing, and understanding your employees' behavior and needs is key to a successful business.
3. Set the right physical workplace environment
The working environment has another crucial role to play in employee productivity. Here are certain things you can do in this regard-
Make sure that the workplace gets a good amount of light.
Have some indoor plants to bring in nature, and thus, improve employee’s mood.
Ensure that the temperature is appropriate and consistent.
Get your walls painted in the right colors. While blue stimulates productivity, red creates a sense of urgency, yellow boosts creativity, and green renders calmness and reassurance.
4. Set the right mental workplace environment
The mental workplace environment matters as much as physical conditions. Ensure that employees are given the roles that they’re capable of doing efficiently. Also, provide them with adequate training to handle their roles efficiently. This way, they won’t be stressed or less productive.
Additionally, train managers not to micromanage their subordinates who work best with limited supervision and ignore employees who seek extra guidance.
5. Optimize team meetings
In the business world, the biggest time wasters are unnecessary meetings. So, schedule meetings only when everyone must contribute. Else, other formats like emails will do.
And when you schedule meetings, keep it short by sharing only the key points. This will help participants in staying productive and focused. Further, incorporate flexibility by allowing members to attend meetings remotely via conference calls, video, instant messaging, etc.
6. Promote automation
Outdated technology and slow-paced operational management can lower your employees’ motivation and productivity. Take advantage of current advancements and tools to automate their regular tasks. This will help them accomplish things even before the deadline. Some of the things you could automate for your employees are-
When your staff is in a position to use workarounds, they end up wasting a lot of time. By simplifying your software and upgrading them periodically, you’ll save a lot of time. This will also help them get more done.
With cloud and mobile technology getting more and more affordable, small and medium-sized businesses can get easy access to these. These can not only help your employees become more productive, but also your business to work more securely, quickly, and flexibly.
8. Increase employee engagement
Employees become happy at work and become productive when they feel engaged with your company. You can increase employee engagement in the following ways.
Aligning their work with your company’s goals, values, and missions.
Establishing a culture of recognizingand celebrating employees for their achievements.
Investing in your employees by providing them with career development opportunities.
9. Incorporate more flexibility
When the recent pandemic forced many organizations to let their employees work from home and at non-standard work hours, they were surprised to find increased productivity. This taught firms across the world the valuable lesson that employees value autonomy and flexibility as it improves their work-life balance.
Now many organizations are continuing with remote working even after the pandemic restrictions have been lowered. So, give your employees the freedom to manage themselves to promote productivity.
10. Ensure job security
One of the factors that can boost employee productivity is job security. When employees are in constant fear of being laid off, they become stressed, and this harms their productivity. So, promote job security so that they’re encouraged to keep their job.
Regardless of this, if some of your employees choose to leave you at some point in time, they’ll leave on good terms. So, they’ll only spread a good reputation about your company.
Wrapping up
Employee productivity matters a lot for any business. In this blog, we’ve discussed 11 tips to improve employee productivity effectively. Most of these do not require any monetary investment but just goodwill and some effort. So, start using these right away to boost employee productivity and revenue generation quickly.