Productivity (also known as employment productivity) is a measure of the efficiency of an employee or group of employees. Productivity can be measured in terms of an employee’s output over a specific time period. High workplace productivity indicates a healthy business and works culture. Productivity will rise when your employees are happy, supported, and have the right tools for the job.
Productivity increases profitability reduces production costs and improves customer service and business relationships. The more productive a company is, the easier it is to foster organizational growth and a positive work environment. Making minor changes to habits and equipment can significantly boost your company’s productivity and efficiency. Let us learn more about why productivity is important, its benefits, and how to improve productivity.
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Importance of Productivity in the Workplace
Productive employees help companies reach their goals. Productivity boosts morale, creates a great company culture, and leads to a better work environment. Incentives such as pay raises, bonuses, and health insurance are offered to employees if the company is highly productive and successful. When a company thrives, it motivates employees and advances their careers. In any business, workplace productivity is an important aspect that top management must understand to be successful.
Productivity When Working From Home (WFH)
A study by Upwork shows that working from home is more productive than in the office. On average, an employee who works from home spends 10 minutes less time on unproductive tasks and is almost 47% more productive than an employee who works from the office. They are also more consistent, work longer and get more done. As the world discovers alternative ways to work remotely, working from home may actually make you more productive.
Benefits of Increased Productivity
Benefits from increased productivity include:
- Effective use of resources leads to increased production and reduced production costs.
- Faster time to market, better quality assurance
- Reduced overhead
- Bring more benefits to stakeholders
- Increase in per capita income
- Helps achieve overall growth and prosperity for the company
How Can You Manage Team’s Productivity in the Workplace?
Leading a team at work is never easy. However, if you use it skillfully, you can boost your team to reach meaningful goals and take your productivity to a whole new level. As a leader, you need to give your teammates enough opportunities to grow, make mistakes and learn. Encourage them to collectively work together towards a common goal.
Practical Tips for Improving Productivity At Workplace
Small changes in habits and equipment can greatly improve your company’s productivity and work efficiency. Hence productivity is important for every business. So here are a couple of tips for improving productivity at work.
1. Limit unproductive meetings
Limit the number of meetings (if possible), as many meetings can be very time-consuming and unproductive. Only if you are scheduling a meeting on a topic that requires people to attend such as business strategy and important announcements save valuable time that could be spent on operational work. However, meetings can strengthen bonds between teammates and improve communication, so don’t ditch traditional meetings altogether. For example, if your company only offers remote work, regular town hall meetings on Zoom can help employees feel connected. Group communities can boost morale and increase productivity.
2. Encourage regular breaks
The recipe for disaster is to think of your employees as faceless robots that come and go. This kind of attitude wears out employees and leads to burnout. You quickly become unhappy and lose the urge to do a good job. But understanding their human nature and encouraging them to take regular breaks instead will make them more productive. Frequent breaks allow employees to recharge their batteries and approach work with more energy and “fresh eyes”. For example, a short walk outside to clear your head often results in the best ideas. Get some fresh air and let your team know it’s okay to step away from your desk for a while. Taking time to relax can greatly improve your productivity.
3. Limit personal distractions
We all check our social networks from time to time to see what’s going on, but for some employees, it can easily take up too much time that should be spent on work. Personal phone calls can also be a distraction that reduces productivity for many employees. However, banning mobile phones and social media outright is not practical. A better approach, therefore, is to encourage employees to check social media and make face-to-face calls during breaks instead. This prevents unpleasant factors from restricting employee freedom and privacy.
4. Use time-tracking software
Time-tracking software helps you monitor employee productivity. Time tracking software helps team members plan their day and easily see how long each task will take to complete. This gives you more control over your schedule, which can lead to increased productivity. Employers can use these time-tracking reports to see how their company is performing today and see if they need to make changes to make it more efficient.
5. Recognize and reward employees
Recognizing employees for good work can boost morale and make them work harder. By motivating and rewarding your team, you can foster a sense of accomplishment and make others more productive. For example, an internal communication system like Slack’s Cheers-for-Peers (which allows leaders and teammates to complement each other) can be used to announce work accomplishments. Offering individual raises or surprising employees with personal gifts can also motivate them to work harder.
6. Give ownership to team members
Let the members of the team make their own decisions and take responsibility for their own work. This instills in employees a sense of responsibility for their work and makes them aware that their decisions can affect the performance of the entire team. Your confidence helps boost the self-esteem of your team members.
7. Ensure proper communication
One of the key factors in improving team productivity is that effective communication must prevail within the team. Communication helps team members understand their responsibilities and reduces the possibility of confusion within the team that can affect overall productivity.
8. Identify team strengths and weaknesses
As a manager, you must understand your teammates’ knowledge, skills, and talents and assign tasks accordingly. When members demonstrate their strengths, the productivity of the workplace is greatly improved.
9. Provide constructive feedback
Introduce a performance evaluation and constructive feedback process to your team. There is no way to make your employees more efficient if you don’t know they are inefficient in the first place. Therefore, constructive feedback is essential to improve team productivity.
Conclusion
The above mention key factors are the main reason why productivity is important. Productivity management is key to driving business success and results-oriented goals. Done well, it can bring amazing benefits to the organization. Employee satisfaction and motivation are essential for any company that wants to improve productivity. Seeing and rewarding what your employees are doing on an individual level can increase personal fulfillment and productivity in the workplace.
