There is so much talk about productivity, efficiency and streamlining operations. It’s imperative to operate at a peak productivity and efficiency level in today’s fast, technologically-driven marketplace.
Unfortunately, what so many business leaders still don’t realize is there are things they’re doing that are killing employee productivity and ultimately organizational productivity.
If you want to improve productivity, start with employees. The following are some of the biggest ways many employers and companies are inadvertently killing employee productivity.
Time-Consuming Manual Processes
With today’s technology, there is no reason for employees to be burdened with time-consuming manual processes, most of which are administrative.
One example are expense reports. Employees hate expense reports, and they also destroy financial team productivity.
Employers can introduce new technology and an expense report app and eliminate this employee headache. They’ll see not only productivity increase but satisfaction will as well, while human error will decline.
Employees Aren’t Motivated To Do Better
Employees need to feel motivated in order to be productive. Yelling at employees isn’t a motivation tool. Motivation also doesn’t have to come in the form of a raise.
What employees do need is recognition when they perform well. Employees should also feel like there are opportunities for development and advancement, which will push them to be their best including in terms of productivity levels.
Too often there is the sense there are no opportunities for advancement or sometimes even worse, the wrong employees are being rewarded, and the right ones are being overlooked.
As a side note here—rather than providing bonuses to everyone, think about actually providing bonuses to only the top performers and the employees who have proven they deserve them. Let bonuses serve as a true motivation, rather than a given.
Distracting Workplaces
In recent years there has been a trend toward open, collaborative workspaces. That can seem great and modern, but is it really?
Sometimes these workplaces are breeding grounds for too much communication as well as conflict, both of which can diminish productivity.
Employees crave less chaos and more privacy in the workplace, so don’t go overboard trying to create collaboration to the detriment of productivity.
Another way employers kill productivity are meetings. This goes along with the ideas of collaboration that can seem so modern and forward-thinking, but in reality, it’s just squashing productivity levels.
Not Investing in Effective Onboarding and Training
Too often businesses will view onboarding and training as checking the boxes, but not having any real business value. This couldn’t be less true. If employees aren’t on-boarded thoroughly at the start of their time with a company, and they’re not regularly trained and offered development opportunities, it’s going to diminish productivity.
Onboarding and training are essential to not just educate an employee on their job role but also on how things should be done, and more subtle elements of employment such as corporate culture. Being well-versed in all things related to the company is going to ensure employees are as productive as possible. There won’t be room for misunderstanding or uncertainty, both of which are the enemy of productivity.
