Understanding exactly how to make your employees more productive can be tricky. Many businesses blame distractions like Facebook, smartphones, and a general lack of motivation. But you don’t have to ban websites and overload your employees with extra work to get them to be more productive. Instead, consider solutions that give them more confidence, a better understanding of their roles, and incentives to do well. Your employees will flourish in a goal-oriented, positive work environment.
Provide Ongoing Training Opportunities
Many times employees are unproductive because they feel frustrated by a task or a certain aspect of their job. They may not be up to teaching themselves new software, or they might find new projects and roles a bad fit for their existing skill-sets. That’s why continuously training employees, offering extra training opportunities, and continuing to go over current knowledge bases is so important. Webinars, online classes, and on-the-job training opportunities are all great ways to provide new skills and knowledge. Give your employees the tools they need to do their jobs, and they’ll approach tasks with greater confidence.
BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)
Implementing a BYOD policy can be a bit of a problem if you have sensitive information that can’t leave the office. But once you’ve worked out your strategy, BYOD is great for employee productivity. Employees already understand their own devices, so there’s far less of a learning curve, and they feel comfortable using them. For example, the Samsung Galaxy Note5 has several features, like SideSync and the S Pen, which make it ideal for office work. Plus, your employees already use their devices in creative ways, and now you’re inviting that creativity into the office.
Set Goals
Having clear goals in place gives your employees something concrete to work for. Perhaps it’s a sales goal, a new-client goal, or a social media campaign goal. Whatever part of the business you need to push hard right now, make it into a goal for your employees to work toward. If a team needs to get a large project done, consider breaking it into several smaller goals to increase the sense of accomplishment.
Celebrate Achievements
Once your employees meet the goals you’ve set, be sure to acknowledge this and celebrate their successes. This doesn’t mean throwing a party every Friday, but it does mean giving your best performer a $15 gift card or some other kind of acknowledgement every so often. Acknowledging job performance gives your employees an incentive to continue those achievements.
Keep It Equal
Don’t show one employee, or a small group of employees, clear favoritism. That creates an atmosphere of competition and resentment, and other great employees may feel that doing their best is a waste of time because they’ll never be a favorite. Celebrate individual achievements, but make sure it’s based on performance and merit. Otherwise, treat everyone the same so that all employees know they’re valued.
Offer Down Time
Whether it’s letting an employee zone out for a few minutes after a long morning of hard work or giving people more opportunities for vacation, if you offer your employees time to rest and recharge, they’ll come back from that time with great ideas and more enthusiasm. Flexible schedules are also a good way to show your employees that you value their lives outside of work. Parents, students, and those with second jobs greatly value being allowed to leave early or complete work from home every so often. Life gets in the way, after all, and giving a few hours of down time to compensate will leave you with employees who aren’t distracted and stressed.
Not every employee is going to be productive all the time, but with these solutions you’ll see an overall increase in productivity in the office. Good management techniques and the right approach to technology are great places to start when you want to boost employee productivity. Make it a long-term goal rather than a quick fix and watch your office become a more productive place.
