The performance of a business is as good as the productivity of the employees. If your employees aren’t performing as expected, your company’s productivity level will ultimately suffer. Low productivity levels don’t just hurt your employee’s morale; these can still affect your profit margin and hinder efficiency.
As a manager or business owner, you are responsible for setting structures that improve productivity and a culture that drives success. Therefore, when it comes to addressing low productivity at the workplace, you have to find out the root cause of the issue before formulating a solution that can get your business on track.
1. Poor Supervision and Management
Whether your company structure is more fluid or you have implemented a top-down organization structure, there is a need to have effective team leaders and managers to improve efficiency and productivity. Most of the low productivity levels at work result from managers who fail to perform optimally or don’t have the leadership to motivate employees.
Some of the common causes of ineffective supervision and management include failure to reward a well-done job and inconsistent communication. Micromanaging to the extent that your employees can’t make a basic decision without your approval is still a sign of poor management and a cause for low productivity. The best way to boost productivity as a business owner is to ensure that your managers are trained on how to handle their employees.
2. Workplace Stress
Workplace stress can significantly decrease productivity in the workplace. In a recent study, about a million employees suffer from low-productivity as a result of stress, and this ultimately costs companies $600 per worker each year. If your employees regularly face workplace anxiety, they can easily get distracted. Resulting in the non-completion of tasks, which eventually leads to low productivity.
To improve employee productivity, you need to offer a risk-free environment where employees can express their concerns without worrying about retaliation.
3. The Lack of Acknowledgement
Acknowledging your employees for the great work they’ve accomplished is an excellent way to scale your productivity results. Most of the employees who aren’t valued for their work feel demotivated, leading to decreased productivity. When this happens, business owners are faced with a situation where employees aren’t paying attention to their work but are busy applying for different jobs.
4. Toxic Behavior at the Workplace
To improve the productivity levels at the workplace, you should encourage your employees to grow good behaviour. The common toxic workplace behaviours happen when people try to manipulate and sabotage the work environment. This can occur when employees try to advance their careers by climbing high on the corporate ladder.
Such behaviours can cause the affected employees to feel unhappy. Ultimately causing them to rethink their position at the company.
5. Insufficient Education and Training
Your business will hardly realize growth in productivity if your employees aren’t properly trained. Lack of proper training means that your employees can hardly attain crucial project milestones. Insufficient training can lead to decreased levels of efficiency because you will be forced to source high-performing employees to handle the untrained workers’ mistakes.
You can overcome this productivity concern by ensuring that all employees are well-trained. You can still improve your productivity by transferring non-performing workers to a different department, or you can terminate their employment.
6. Poor Food Choices
Your productivity at work has a lot to do with the type of food you eat at the workplace. Unhealthy food choices such as regular consumption of processed foods can take a toll on your productivity and output. Therefore, it is important to motivate your employees to stick to healthy food choices can go a long way in improving their workplace productivity.
You can even go a step further to inquire about the healthy food choices within your area and whether they can be delivered to your business. It’s also a great idea if you put up fliers on restaurants offering healthy food choices in break rooms.
7. Lack of Effective Communication
Effective communication works in two ways. If you establish great communication with your employees, they should be in a position to voice their concerns and opinions. Thus, to improve productivity, your employees should be aware of your business goals so that they can evaluate whether it can suit their needs. If you plan to downsize, but you’re afraid of letting your employees know, rumours fly, and with time fear sets in.
One way to streamline communication and improve productivity is by structuring a grievance policy, making sure that all complaints are handled fairly and consistently. The document should still provide detailed instructions on the contact person in case of a problem.
8. Lack of Effective Planning
The way employees approach a particular task can either break or make workplace efficiency. If a company’s management doesn’t provide a decisive way to approach a problem, employees may choose to handle it in their unique way.
The other aspect that can lead to decreased level of productivity is spending a lot of time working on an insignificant task. To problem solve, all you have to do is create a team and work out a structure to approach different processes.
9. A Poor Level of Fitness
If your employees aren’t in great shape, it can end up hurting your efficiency in different ways. If your employees are unproductive, they’ll have trouble concentrating on the task at hand. For instance, people who don’t keep fit tend to get sick more often – and sick days can significantly affect productivity. Ultimately you can approach this concern by getting your employee’s gym membership. If you don’t have a gym around, you can encourage your employees to take twenty minutes to walk every day.
10. The Lack of Social Moments
A community in the workplace goes a long way in improving productivity at the workplace. When employees talk and socialize in the course of their work, it helps in lifting their spirits. Implementing breaks during the day when employees interact and share ideas is still one of the greatest productivity boosts.
When employees don’t get time for social moments, it can lead to isolation and loneliness. This may end up demoralizing them and ultimately reducing their productivity.
Wrapping Up
Productivity in the workplace plays a critical role in helping any business or organization attain its goals. Therefore, a more productive workplace also means a sense of direction, harmony in the workplace, and room for personal growth. With the few causes of decreased productivity in the workplace highlighted in this guide, you should be in a position to make an informed choice on what to avoid if you have to remain productive.
Do you feel like your workplace isn’t as productive as it should? What are some of the things that may be the cause of low-productivity? Share your thoughts in the comments.
