Increasing your business productivity is an excellent way of boosting your profits. But if your employees are lagging, or you’re just not seeing the results you’d like, how do you turn things around?
Here are five ways you can help your employees be more productive — making both them and you happier:
1. Provide comfortable break areas and times – It may seem counterintuitive, but providing a relaxing area for employees to unwind a few times during the day can actually increase the amount of work they get done. People who feel chained to their desks all day can zone out, and their lowered productivity can affect morale, which can turn into a nasty cycle.
Set mandatory break times for all employees (even if they’re not all at the same time). Consider implementing short, office-wide breaks in which everyone gets up once an hour to do a few stretches. This can improve your workers’ physical comfort and give them energy boosts throughout the day.
2. Give them the technology they need to do their jobs well – These days, mobile devices are becoming more and more essential to running a business. If you can’t afford to provide these devices to workers in the office or field who may need them, encourage them to bring their own.
If you choose to let employees work from their own devices, make sure your business data is well protected with strong passwords, time-outs, and other security measures.
3. Provide flexible working options – Whether it’s telecommuting one or more days per week, offering a flexible work schedule, or another accommodation, creating a flexible workspace can have an enormous effect on employee morale and productivity.
Having everyone in the office has its advantages, making collaboration more convenient. But with ever-evolving technology, working from
home is becoming a more feasible and attractive option for many companies.
Worried that productivity will drop if you let employees telecommute? Numerous studies have shown otherwise.
A Stanford University study from February of this year found that in one company, out of 16,000 workers, those who were allowed to work from home showed a 13% performance increase over their office-bound colleagues.
4. Provide regular, constructive feedback – It’s hard to improve in a vacuum. Employees who aren’t sure where they stand, or who have formed inefficient habits, may need some help identifying areas to work on.
Give your employees encouragement for a job well done, or thoughtful advice for how to perform better. Delivering this feedback regularly will help keep everyone on track.
5. Keep meetings short and sweet – Conducting a meeting without an outline or agenda is a recipe for a long, unproductive session.
Instead, write up an agenda and identify someone to lead the meeting and keep conversations on track. You’ll also need someone to take notes to make sure no important points get lost. Keep the meeting focused on important points, and consider issuing status reports and minor updates in a weekly email instead of during meetings.
These are just a few of the ways you can help your employees be more productive and keep your office running smoothly.
Photo credit: techliant.com
About the Author: Freelance blogger Angie Mansfield covers a variety of topics for both individuals and small business owners. Her work addresses such things as health, social media, and how to remove information from online records.
