Methods of Increasing Employee Productivity

Business owners and managers are always looking for ways to boost productivity in the workplace. A company can’t succeed unless everyone is motivated and willing to work hard to achieve shared goals. Being hyper-critical and micromanaging your team often backfires and makes employees feel more stressed and resentful.

Instead, you should work toward creating a happy workplace, relaxed environment where everyone feels valued and appreciated. Happiness and productivity are known to go hand in hand. So, if you want to see revenue increase and goals met at a faster pace, don’t just look at the bottom line but also consider the attitudes and mindset of your team. Here are a few tips to help you do so.

Give Colleagues Positive Feedback 

When a colleague does something that makes your day, be sure to let them know. Everyone loves to feel appreciated, yet far too many people neglect the simple acts of kindness that make others feel like their effort is being valued. It could be work-related or any simple gesture that helped you out. They may have offered to chip in on a project to help you meet a deadline or met their work goals for the month. Any positive action, no matter how small, should be acknowledged with positive feedback to encourage similar behavior in the future. If it’s something small, a simple thank you may suffice, but if it’s more significant, you may consider sending them a card or a modest gift. Just be sure to be specific about what they did and how it affected you.

Congratulate Colleagues on Their Wins

In addition to providing positive feedback, you should also congratulate colleagues on any wins or achievements. No one wants to feel like their hard work is going unacknowledged, especially in the workplace. So, take the time to give recognition for employee achievements – large or small. Maybe they exceeded their monthly sales goals or brought in a new client.

No matter what the victory, make sure to acknowledge it and encourage them to keep it up. A simple email may suffice, or if possible, congratulate them in person. You may even consider hosting a regular meeting to acknowledge staff accomplishments. But don’t sandwich it in between feedback and requested improvements – let the kudos stand on their own and find a different way to address improvement if necessary.

Create Shared Plans

Humans are social creatures, and we thrive when working in groups. So, make an effort to create shared plans and communicate goals and expectations. Employees can quickly become frustrated and stressed out if they feel they need a clearer sense of what is expected from them, or they can’t effectively communicate with colleagues and management. So, creating shared plans helps to ensure employees aren’t wasting time trying to figure out how to best serve the company or team. It also helps encourage teamwork and collaboration so that no one feels isolated or left out of the decision-making process.

Encourage an Open Dialogue

Communication is essential to a happy, productive workplace, so encourage open dialogue between employees, management, and other key partners. Have regular conversations about the team’s progress and get feedback on what works well and what can be improved.

Set aside time at your regular staff meetings to answer a few questions:

• How can we help each other use time more efficiently
• What are our biggest time wasters as a group? (Email, chatting?)
• What types of breaks are essential to help us focus longer?

Keep in mind that email and conversation are essential aspects of a healthy work-social life, but too much socializing can reduce focus. Also, remember that breaks are scientifically proven to improve focus in the long run. However, you must be strategic about when and what types of breaks you employ to improve productivity and avoid creating unnecessary distractions.

When creating this open dialogue, try to center it around how the group can improve and not single out particular individuals. That will make it easier to provide constructive criticism without feeling like you’re chastising anyone in particular.

Set Clear Goals for Productivity AND Happiness  

Finally, you should also prioritize discussing goals for productivity and happiness in the workplace. While it’s essential to set objectives related to earning or completing tasks to keep everyone on track, this shouldn’t be your only concern. Also, discuss ways you can improve the workplace’s overall happiness and comfort level by eliciting feedback from your staff.

You could set a goal of hosting one pizza party per month or regularly recognize one person in the office for their hard work. Once you realize that happiness and productivity go hand in hand, you’ll start making a consistent effort to improve the mindset and well-being of your team. Everyone will be more productive if they feel their personal source of happiness is being recognized and fed.

The article was originally published on ReadWrite.