9 ways to increase employee productivity
Whether working remotely or in the office, follow these top tips for getting the most out of your employees.
Why You Should Care
We all want to be productive, but sometimes it feels impossible.
Here are 9 tips that can help maximize your time.
Will you begin taking these ideas on board?
1. Encourage your employees to prioritize
Employees should aim to complete top priority tasks that add the most value first. Encourage your employees to constantly evaluate and re-evaluate their priorities on a daily basis to ensure that everything is in the right order. Depending on unexpected circumstances and situations, priorities can change in the blink of an eye. In order to stay productive, it is important to always revisit the list of priorities to ensure that the proper tasks are being completed on time.
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2. Encourage delegation
When an employee piles on too much responsibility on himself without delegating some of it elsewhere, they’re going to end up burnt out. Their work will not be completed at its highest quality standard because they won’t be able to give their 100 percent to everything. Encourage your employees to delegate, and ensure each employee has the support he or she needs.
3. Communicate thoroughly
Most people only communicate the things that they consider most important without seeing a project from a wider perspective. It’s important to communicate thoroughly. When employees communicate ideas or project information to others, encourage them to try to get out of the habit of focusing only on the certain aspects that they find important. Focus their communication on all of the details – even the ones that don’t seem important.
4. Reduce reaction time
The most productive members of any team are always on top of responding and reacting. Constant communication and a fast response time are comforting for all parties involved and it lets everyone know that they are a priority and they haven’t been forgotten about.
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Reducing reaction time doesn’t only have to do with communication, but with reacting to everything from conflicts and trends to new programs and processes. The most productive employees are the ones who don’t get too stressed out or overwhelmed to react quickly to anything and everything that comes their way.
5. Teamwork makes the dream work
When working with a team, it’s important to understand that one unproductive member has the potential to drag everything and everyone else down. There is always a reason behind a person’s lack of productivity, and it’s important for whoever is in charge of delegating tasks to take a good look at the least productive employees and figure out what’s dragging them down. How can you help them to increase productivity? If this means switching roles or reassigning tasks, it’s important to change whatever needs to be changed to fix the cog in the pipe.
6. Minimize distractions
Help your employees to minimize distractions in order to stay focused on the tasks at hand – such as by restricting access to personal email and social media. The more time your employees waste procrastinating and getting distracted, the less value is created. Otherwise, a 90 hour workweek will be no more productive than a 40 hour one.
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7. Work smarter, not harder
Maximizing time is one of the most productive things a person can do, and there are many ways to achieve this. Keeping priorities constantly in check is a good start, but there are other ways to maximize time. Keeping a schedule is one, because when an employee sleeps on time and maintains a schedule, they can keep their energy levels up and be able to focus better. Making sure they are comfortable is also important – get the best office chair and desk for your employees, so they feel comfortable working long hours in them. Scheduling less time for tasks is a nice trick too, because they will force employees to get things done more quickly, leaving less time for distractions. It’s also important to spend a reasonable amount of time on planning tasks instead of jumping straight into the execution of things.
8. Avoid overworking
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No one likes to be forced to do something against their will. If a person is forced to do something that they don’t want to do, they will naturally meet the situation with resistance. The same goes for work. After working really long hours, the mind reaches a point where it will naturally resist working more. At this point, although your employee may feel productive, they will actually begin to take longer to complete tasks and start to procrastinate. Avoid this situation by avoiding overworking your employees. Schedule their time reasonably and stay focused at work to avoid wasting time during long hours later.
9. Encourage vacation days
In order to have the energy to stay focused on work throughout the week and be super productive, it is essential to schedule at least one day to completely disconnect from everything related to work. Encourage your employees to do this. During an off day, the employee will get the chance to unwind and recharge, improving their focus when they get back to work. They will be able to accomplish a lot more. Relaxation and indulgence every once in a while, is completely necessary for maintaining sanity, energy, and focus.
