Without your employees, your business wouldn’t stay afloat. However, just because you appreciate your employees and everything they do doesn’t mean you don’t want them to do better!
That’s especially the case when it comes to productivity.
Did you know the average worker is only productive for around three hours each day? That’s a lot of wasted time that they could be used to make your company even better.
The question is, exactly how do you create more productive employees?
Implement a Project Management Program
Don’t blame your employees for their lack of productivity just yet. It could actually be your fault!
There can be a surprising amount of confusion around who’s working on which projects, and exactly what is expected with each one. Employees may spend a lot of time speaking to other members of the team about updates. Keep things simple and increase productivity with a project management system.
BQE Core is a good example of a project management system that can streamline the entire process and help your employees be more productive. Dashboards enable you to see performance metrics, the status of projects can be updated with the touch of a button, and cash flows can easily be documented. With easy communication between team members, information can be sent in an instant instead of scheduling meetings or stopping by someone’s office.
Cut Back on the Meetings
There isn’t an office out there that doesn’t have at least a few meetings every once in a while. They can be a good way to ensure everyone gets important information, and they’re vital if it’s time to retrain employees. However, most offices have way more meetings than they need.
Meetings are a great way to kill productivity. Not only are employees unable to work on their projects while they’re in the meeting, but many meetings also offer very little value when compared to the work that could have been done if the meeting wasn’t scheduled. Not to mention, meetings can run long and encourage socializing among team members, both of which are bad for productivity.
Eliminate as many meetings as you can and you’ll undoubtedly enjoy a more productive team.
Get Rid of Distractions
Meetings are an office distraction, but they aren’t the only thing that can distract your employees from being productive. A few common examples include:
• Cell phones
• Browsing the internet
• Email
• Social media
• Coworkers
Some things are difficult to control, like cell phone usage, but there are plenty of other ways you can reduce distractions for your workers. For example, create separate offices to give each of your employees their own enclosed space. They will be less likely to socialize with coworkers, and they will be less distracted by the activity that is common in an open plan or cubicle-based office.
Encourage Autonomy
If you want to increase productivity among your employees, your initial plan may be to crack down on how they spend their time. You may be tempted to track their online habits and make them fill out work logs. Although these techniques sound like a good idea, they will backfire.
Giving your employees autonomy can make them happier, but it can also make them more productive. More autonomy means they have more ownership over their projects, and the more ownership they have, the more likely they will be to give the projects their full attention. Plus, it frees up time in your schedule that you would otherwise spend supervising, which means you can be more productive too!
Be Positive and Supportive
Just like you should give your employees more autonomy instead of ruling with an iron fist, so too should you use positive reinforcement over negative reinforcement. It really is the best way to motivate your employees to work hard.
Being supportive can ensure they’re more productive too. For example, if you know an employee is having a hard time focusing due to something going on in their life, suggest they take a little time off. They may not be in the office to work, but if they are distracted, they probably weren’t very productive anyway. With a little time off, they can rest and come back to the office ready to work.
Just filling chairs in your office isn’t enough. You have to make sure the people in those chairs are contributing in a positive way towards your business. With these tips, you can ensure the time they spend in the office is time well spent.
