HR leaders and companies are continually thinking of ways to increase productivity ⬆️ of employees and make the workplace more efficient. A smart hack to achieve this is by targeting employee engagement and making team members innately happy 😀 and interested in their job.
However, this is easier said than done. There are several factors that go into achieving employee productivity and complete workforce efficiency. Let us understand how to increase productivity in the workplace 🆙 and get the best results.
🎯 What Is Employee Productivity? 🎯
Employee productivity also referred to as workplace productivity, is one of the biggest factors that go into the success of an organization. It can be defined as an assessment of the value that is generated by an individual within a given period of time.
While improving productivity in the workplace, it is important to understand what it means and how one can measure 🧮 it. In this sense, you can say that employee productivity cannot be achieved or calculated in a vacuum. It is directly tied to business outcomes and return on investment and hence both influence each other.
It is further important to understand that employee productivity is not related to the volume of work done, but instead, the quality of tasks completed.
Even if an employee does one or two important tasks 📃 a day, what matters is that they are performing it to the best of their abilities ✅ as this will further dictate the quality of the entire process at large.
Let’s understand the various ways to improve productivity in the workplace.
READ MORE: 10 Workplace Wellbeing Initiatives To Increase Productivity
📈 How To Increase Employee Productivity In The Workplace? 📈
Now that we have a fair understanding of what employee productivity means, let’s understand how to motivate employees to increase productivity and create a productive work environment. We’ve curated a list of 10 tried and tested 👍 ways to improve workforce productivity.
1. 📍 Identify areas of improvement
Measure employee productivity across all sectors at work and identify areas that need the most improvement.
Instead of pushing employees to perform the same tasks in the same ways, understand if you need to re-work the current strategies/approaches so you know how to improve employee productivity in the workplace.
You can do this by rolling out surveys 📝, hearing one-to-one feedback 🗣️ from employees, and conducting impact assessments. It is key to innovate novel ways of working every now and then and set an example for other team members to follow suit.
2. ⚕️Promote employee health and wellness
A healthy workforce is a happy workforce 😊 and one with higher productivity levels. It is therefore essential to promote the health and wellbeing of employees in the workplace. One way to do this is by purchasing a holistic health plan 📜.
3. 🥳 Create a positive workspace
An office is not just a place with desks and chairs 🪑. It is a space where employees come together to collaborate and work towards the achievement of a common goal 🥅. To increase motivation amongst teammates, it is essential to create a welcoming and positive workplace.
Choose decor that’s bright and airy 🪟 with ample amounts of natural light ☀️. Create open spaces with break-out areas and meeting rooms to enable healthy collaboration and socializing amongst employees.
Don’t forget to check on the comfort of employees with ergonomic furniture, stocked pantries, and more. These are simple ideas to improve productivity in the workplace.
READ MORE: How To Drive Culture Change In An Organization
4. 🏓 Work on team building
It’s one thing to work independently but another to work in isolation 🏡. Don’t let employees feel like they are alone when it comes to doing a task. Create a cohesive team where one can reach out to the other for help and work in unison 🤝.
When you organize team-building activities or offer perks such as team lunches 🍕, offsites, group dance 💃, wellness sessions, etc. employees can get to know each other better and achieve better productivity as a team.
Now you know how to improve employee productivity with non-work-related tasks.
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5. ✍️ Conduct regular reviews
Another best way to improve productivity in the workplace is to keep on top of the team’s performance regularly. It’s important to set goals 🎯 for your teammates and discuss those in review meetings and one-to-one discussions.
This can also help you understand the challenges they face, and how you can help them overcome hurdles. To this end, start off setting weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly catch-ups as required.
6. 🎁 Offer recognition and rewards
So, how to boost employee productivity with rewards and recognition? It’s simple, appreciate employees for their hard work, so they feel seen and heard. This further encourages them to do better and keep on improving.
When it comes to motivation strategies, offering rewards (both monetary 💵 and non-monetary ✈️) can work like a charm.
Some of the most popular recognition and rewards include bonus payouts 💰, competitive appraisals or pay hikes, positive feedback 🗞️, gratitude notes 🗒️, employee-of-the-month or other 🏆 trophies/awards, etc.
LET’S DO IT: 3 Steps To Build An Employee Recognition Program That Works
7. 🪴 Provide skill-building and training programs
Employees suffer in the mundane. When they don’t get enough opportunities to grow at work, they lose the zeal to perform their best. To avoid stagnancy and lower productivity levels that come with it, consequently, it is important to invest in employee growth.
Delegate more work to your trusted employees and give them a chance to step up to the next role. Additionally, you can also offer educational and skill-building programs at work, including subsidies for higher studies.
8. 🔮 Extend the requisite guidance and tools
Motivated employees are often the ones who feel supported and appreciated at work. On the other hand, those who perform below par lack a sense of belonging and do not receive the required guidance where needed.
Let’s look at how to improve productivity in the workplace in this context. Create a solid managerial level hierarchy. Enable employees to seek mentorship and guidance from their managers. They should feel at ease while reaching out to leadership and discussing their problems.
Further, provide them with the right tools (including technological, social, and physical) to flourish at work and do their best.
9. 🚫 Avoid micromanaging
You wouldn’t like some breathing down your neck– would you? Well, it works the same for your team members. There’s nothing worse than micromanaging your employees when it comes to working responsibilities.
It can send out a message that you don’t trust them enough with the delegated tasks and therefore make them feel dejected.
So how to improve productivity and quality in the workplace without micromanaging? Give your teammates enough creative freedom and autonomy at work. This will enable them to feel motivated and give their best.
10. 🏢🏡Provide work flexibility
Long work hours are yet another reason employees lose their productivity. No matter how much you love your job, excessive time spent at the office can be a deal breaker. Further, mandating team members to report to/leave work at a fixed time can also make them feel controlled.
To answer your question - about how to improve productivity in an organization, it is important to provide employees with enough flexibility at work to help them bring forth their best 💯. Allow them to work remotely or flexibly.
Flexible hours or working from home can also enable employees to strike a good work-life balance and thereby contribute better.
🎯 Achieve Better Productivity In The Workplace With Loop 🎯
With the above-mentioned ideas to increase productivity at work, you can achieve an engaged workforce and eventually reach organizational goals, including higher revenues and an enhanced company image.
➿ At Loop, we help you achieve this with our holistic health plans. Our group health insurance schemes ensure employees and their families feel financially secure during health contingencies.
This allows them to feel more engaged at work and contribute efficiently. Further, our comprehensive plans focus on preventive care 💊 and even extend wellness 🧠 resources and 24/7 doctor consults 🩺 to enable employees to stay fit and perform their best.
To know more about Loop’s comprehensive health insurance offerings, reach out to our experts!