A GUIDE TO INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY IN THE WORKPLACE

The core element of an organization is its employees. Any employee that is hired is required to produce value for your organization. Productivity has a significant relationship with an increase in revenue.

How do we increase productivity while helping our business to grow?

Well, if you have got a happy workforce, this would lead to an increase in productivity.

But how do we know what to do to make our employees happy?

It can be a difficult task to know what makes employees happy. However, it sometimes may require only a few small changes to make a huge difference.

Read on as we guide you through some useful tips and measures that you can put in place to increase productivity in your workplace.

1. Train your employees

It is crucial for organizations to provide training opportunities for their employees. One should map out the best and efficient training programmes for employees to ensure consistency in the organization. This is because, people commonly learn job or tasks from other colleagues who may have in turn, also learned it from another colleague. This may not be the best practice as they could be passing on poor work practices to their peers which may lead to inefficiency and decrease productivity. With the implementation of a proper training programme, changes in existing policies and procedures, the existing affected employees could stand a chance to learn and improvise while marching towards an effective and efficient work routine. (E.g., LMS) ¹

2. Invest in productivity boosting apps

There are multiple applications that are designed to foster productivity rates. This is achieved through improvised teamwork, collaboration, time planning and management. Utilization of these applications should be made as a practice as it would help organizations in boosting productivity among employees by managing time and staying focused. (E.g., Forest App) ²

3. Delegation of task

While increasing responsibility is a good way of improving job satisfaction and optimism, there are elements of risks that are involved in the delegation of varying tasks. This can be overcome if employees are provided with opportunities to enhance their skills and experience. Delegation of tasks is a way of increasing productivity but managers, quite often cannot let go of the tasks they have given to others. This leads to micromanaging

4. Encourage autonomy in the workplace

As mentioned, it may seem counter-intuitive, but micromanaging employees could possibly have opposing results to what you may intend to achieve. Employees may become resentful as they might feel the lack of trust and feeling of being valued. Constant supervision may cost employees their faith in their abilities and they would not be able to work effectively. To achieve a satisfactory and highly productive workforce, be sure to (1) manage expectations and requirements. If you are looking for a specific outcome, provide guidelines to your employees and communicate your expectations. (2) Upon delegating, leave the room. Allow your employees to feel independent and confident in their skills and work.

5. Workplace Environment

The physical environment in a workplace greatly affects an employee. However, working conditions are quite often overlooked as a prominent factor in improving employees’ performance. A temperature that is too hot or cold, will impact the concentration levels of employees as they may be occupied looking for ways to combat the feeling of being too cold or too hot. An organization has to ensure optimal working conditions for employees to sustain the productivity rate.

Here are some tips on how you can achieve an optimal work environment (Kojic, 2019)^3:

• Make sure there’s plenty of natural light in the office. Employees who work in an office with windows and enough natural light have a sleep of 46 minutes more at night. This leaves them feeling more rested and increases their focus in the workplace.
• Include plant life in the office. Green offices make employees more comfortable, and thus more productive with their work.
• Don’t leave your wall colors white. Employees make more errors when they work in offices with white walls. Opt for colours such as red for detail-oriented tasks, green for motivation and blue as creativity booster!

Alchemy Resources, as an HR consulting firm, places high value on these practices and has implemented them in our workplace. We have held training sessions for employees and managers with regard to these topics using Learning Management System (LMS). At ARSB, we have helped our clients by providing consultancy and training on employee wellbeing and needs. Reach out to us should you need more assistance.

Contact us at enquiry@alchemyconsultancy.asia to find out how we can help you improve your company performance.

References:

1. https://learning.motivare.com.sg/
2. https://trees.org/sponsor/forest-app/
3. Kojic, M. (2019). 8 Fast Ways to Increase Employee Productivity in the Workplace. Retrieved from https://clockify.me/blog/productivity/increase-employee-productivity/