Productivity is a hot-button issue in the workplace. On one hand, you want to make sure that your employees have all the tools they need to succeed. On the other, you need to be sure that they are using the tools to get their work done and remain as productive as possible. How can you be sure that your employees are staying on-task and focused? It starts by understanding their motivations and their long-term goals.
Understanding the Employee Perspective
What’s in it for your employees? Depending on who you ask, you’ll get different answers to this question. Some are in it for the money, while others might be using the experience to learn and move on to a different workplace. Some might be in it for the long haul, and they might see themselves at a business for years or even decades. Regardless, understanding your employees’ hopes, dreams, and aspirations will make it easier for you to motivate them in the direction of productivity.
To this end, you’ll need to give employees reasons to invest in your company and do their best. Keep in mind that doing the job for the sake of doing the job might not be their ultimate goal; they might be trying to develop certain skills, learn about industries, etc. You should do what you can to help them foster the skills they want to develop (within reason, of course), because it might make or break their experience with the company. Plus, if you stifle their personal growth, you might inadvertently stifle your business’ growth due to decreased motivation and productivity.
Augmenting Productivity
Productivity is required in order to maintain operations without a loss, so you should do your best to establish principles and guidelines for your employees to follow. We’ve established a couple of ways you can augment productivity, but before we dig too deep into these, keep in mind that the following could have the exact opposite effect if you fail to address the above, which is the last thing you want.
- Establish KPIs for friendly competition: Key performance indicators can help you establish metrics for whether employees are completing tasks on-time and on-budget. However, rather than advertise it as a minimum guideline for productivity, market it as a chance to establish competition between departments or workers. If they are working to one-up others in the company, they will surely reach your established goals. Plus, if they are more aware of their own performance, they can address issues as they become known.
- Implement a content filter to keep folks on task: We all know the Internet has all of the content in the world, and it’s easy to become distracted with websites like social media and YouTube around every corner. While self-policing is always encouraged, there might be certain problem employees who can’t seem to keep themselves away from these websites. You can implement a content filter to help them stay focused during the workday.
Macatawa Technologies can help you implement technology solutions to keep your employees focused and on-task, boosting productivity in the process. To learn more about what we can offer your organization, reach out to us at 616-394-4940.
