Increasing Staff Productivity
Increasing Staff Productivity
Increasing Staff Productivity
This document describes 14 simple but proven fundamental techniques that managers and prospective managers can use to increase staff productivity, reduce employee stress, and maintain staff morale and loyalty. The information presented in this article has supporting research data that has been omitted for brevity purposes. Readers are welcome to request supporting research data or verify the efficacy of these techniques with other managers that practice them.
The chronically overworked workforce
As companies reach new levels of productivity with the use of new technology, they also redefine new job demands to increase productivity. This revised set of job demands together with downsizing, global competition, 24/7 operations, and dual careers imposes on the worker an increasing demand to produce more. At times, the imposed job demands are expected to be met while still using the same (or less) resources used previously. In turn, the imposed job demands automatically increase the staff stress level. When job demands are not managed appropriately they can have a negative impact on the organization by causing staff turnover, burnout, and decreased productivity.
In 2005 the Families and Work Institute conducted an in-depth study and found that one-third of all USA workers are chronically overworked. A previous study conducted by the same institute found that stressful job demands (like long hours, shift work, unexpected required overtime and other job pressures) exhaust workers and drain their emotional reserve. Further, the study showed that these demands can have a significant negative impact on worker performance if the demands are not encompassed with good job quality (employee recognition, employee contributions, reward systems, and company culture).
Managers have the responsibility to maintain productivity demands without causing the staff to burnout. Managers can limit the negative effect that increasing job demands have on the staff by applying the following techniques.
These techniques will contribute to reducing the staff stress level while maintaining and increasing staff productivity.
Management tips to improve staff productivity
Discourage the staff from working excessively long hours and bringing work home whenever possible. Remind the staff that their personal well being is important to the organization. Remember that a rested employee can focus more at work and be more productive throughout the day. Exhausted employees cause costly or fatal mistakes, cause decreased productivity, and burnout.
Minimize nights away from home (for example, use virtual meetings). If possible, ask for a volunteer among the staff to travel away to a meeting.
Limit overtime (a good way to cut costs) and plan for it in advance. Give the staff enough notice if over-time is expected and communicate what the required work load will be. This will provide the staff enough time to plan around their personal time. Employees experience stress and resentment when they unexpectedly need to postpone important personal events to attend to work.
Accommodate personal preferences in shift assignments whenever possible. Work with the staff to accommodate personal requests for time off when possible. Be flexible to the staff's personal needs because it increases staff loyalty. Make use of any company flex time or telecommuting policies.
Make sure productivity expectations are reasonable and the staff has the necessary skills to carry out the work. Communicate clearly to the staff what is expected to be completed within a specific time line. Set clear goals and write them down on a page. Describe each goal in 250 words or less.
Use motivation, rather than pressure, to encourage your employees to meet those expectations. Remember to praise the staff for any accomplishments soon after they occur and try to praise the staff in public.
Provide proper workplace support to the staff (supervision, teamwork, and recognition). Research shows that workplace support diminishes the negative effects (high stress, burnout, resentment, low morale, reduced productivity, exhaustion) that job demands c an have on employees.
Make work more meaningful by applying the organization's core competencies in creative ways. Try using company facilities, services or products to help ease the workload of the staff (example: provide child care services while employees work, provide employee product discounts, make use of existing company resources to give back to the employees' community).
Effectively communicate to employees the mission and vision of the organization to ensure that all employee actions are contributing to the mission achievement. Have weekly meetings where everyone participates in discussing briefly the company mission. This reinforces the company mission in the staff's mind, reminds the staff that they are part of something great and reminds them that their behavior should be aligned with the company mission.
Link the mission and the job to the skills and aspirations of each employee. Ensure that the staff skills are aligned with the company mission. Managers should not expect an employee to meet productivity demands if the employee lacks skills or motivation to do the work. Match the employee skills and aspirations to the job.
Ensure that all employees have sufficient autonomy to deal with the challenges they face in their jobs. Assign task ownership and accountability. Restrain from micro-managing the staff. Let them know that they are trusted to get the job done. Be ready and available to provide the staff the resources needed to get the work done. Only request status reports to ensure that all progressing as expected. Once the tasks have been assigned to the staff, move out of their way and let them perform the work.
Reciprocate for the greater demands you place on employees. Make use of the motivational techniques listed in the article "Management Success Fundamentals - What Employees Want".
Always ensure there are multiple workers in the group with similar job skills. Having multiple people to work on a task can help to increase productivity and maintain good quality. This also alleviates the stress associated with meeting work demands within a short or unexpected deadline.
Practice the following management principles to further improve staff moral, productivity, and loyalty:
Be sensitive about the effects that work demands have on the staff's personal and family life.
Do not show favoritism when responding to employees' personal needs.
Be flexible to accommodate employees when they have to take care of personal or family business.
Demonstrate understanding when employees talk about personal or family issues that affect their work.
When employees bring up family or personal issues that can affect their work be sure to make them feel comfortable and show that you care.
In conclusion, managers are responsible to deliver productivity results to satisfy increasing company job demands. By applying the techniques listed in this article, managers will be able deliver the expected productivity results, maintain productivity, increase worker satisfaction and maintain staff loyalty. The final outcome will be a team of very productive, loyal and satisfied employees.
Written by Michael Grace
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