The average office worker in the U.K. is productive for only 2 hours and 23 minutes on an average day. And that means that for most companies, there’s a lot of room for growth in terms of increasing performance and daily output.
But finding ways to make your employees more productive is more than just about motivation. While it plays a key role, you also need to figure out how to put your team members in a position to succeed with the help of the right tools, information, and support.
To help you get better at identifying the best ways to improve employee productivity, let’s go through some of the best practices used by forward-thinking companies across the globe.
#1. Start from Day One
Habits can be hard to change in any situation. But that can be especially true in a work setting. Once an employee develops a routine that they feel comfortable with, getting them to switch their approach (even to one that’s more effective) will cause friction and resistance.
Therefore, your best bet for implementing the right productivity practices in your organization is to start on the very first day. And that requires you to utilize an onboarding training program that not only makes employees feel comfortable but also informs them of everything they need to understand to succeed in their position.
Using onboarding training, you can leverage the best onboarding practices from other companies, tailoring them to your unique situation and business goals. Going through this process will ensure that you create a consistent onboarding experience for all new employees and that each onboarding encompasses the most critical touchpoints your new team members need to thrive from day one.
#2. Make Information Easy to Access
One of the biggest bottlenecks for getting through tasks and projects quickly is employees having to go for help from their colleagues or superiors multiple times per day. And that’s why another crucial part of boosting your team’s productivity is to make the information they require easy to access at all times.
The best way to streamline the process of accessing information is to implement internal documentation in your daily company workflows. With the help of internal documentation, you can systematize a database of helpful resources that employees can use whenever they have a question or need to complete a task they’re unfamiliar with.
Internal documentation can include best practices for various processes, updates on projects, information on company policies, technical documentation, and more. When properly implemented, having the documentation can help maintain consistency across the company and help each employee approach different situations in a way that produces the best outcomes.
#3. Be Available
Even though many of the most important situations can be addressed using internal documentation, that doesn’t mean managers and leaders can check out and leave employees to oversee themselves. In fact, the best leaders should be proactive in engaging their employees and looking for ways to help.
While you should micromanage every project, you need to clearly establish that people should feel comfortable coming to you (or other leaders within the company) for advice.
Taking this approach offers two-fold advantages. On the one hand, you can quickly address issues that employees aren’t able to deal with on their own. And at the same time, you will be able to identify common problems and develop better processes or training to deal with them on a larger scale.
#4. Measure Performance
The only way to make consistent improvements in your company’s productivity is to have a way to measure your results. And that includes tracking what your employees are doing every day and measuring the results they achieve.
While providing employees autonomy in the way they work is essential, you should also implement processes that help them become better in areas they aren’t as comfortable in. By tracking time, you can identify where some team members are lagging behind others and address the issue.
You should also look at how your teams are moving through projects and look for bottlenecks preventing the tasks from being done faster. Sometimes, the problem might be a lack of skill or experience. Other times, a tool or automation can help streamline the process and reduce the time your employees need to invest.
#5. Reward Excellence
Your employees perform best when they know that their work is valued and appreciated. But on top of that, you should also consider offering incentives and rewards for those who excel at their job and are willing to put in hard work consistently.
The important thing to remember when establishing rewards or incentives is that they should be clearly defined upfront. You want every employee to have a shot at being recognized and rewarded. And for that to happen, they need to know what needs to be accomplished and how the person being awarded will be chosen.
Bottom Line
Boosting your team’s productivity is one of the fastest ways to increase your company’s performance and revenue. If each employee can perform even a little better, the compounding effects can completely change how your organization operates.
With the tips above, you should not only put each team member in a position to succeed but also ensure that everyone is motivated and knows precisely what they need to accomplish.
