If you want to increase worker productivity, they need to find enjoyment in their jobs.
“Pleasure in the job puts perfection in work” – Aristotle
It’s not hard to figure what Aristotle meant by this quote, for your employees to perform well and deliver for your company, they should feel satisfied with their jobs. The first thing that might come to your mind in regards to increasing your employees’ job satisfaction is to give them financial rewards. However, it might not be as satisfying as you may expect it to be.
Today, job satisfaction depends more on non-monetary rewards. When employees feel like a part of a team and that their contribution is being appreciated, they will want to do more, deliver more.
For instance, I always like it when I have put in a lot of time on a project and get nice and appreciative feedback from my partner or employer. Sometimes, it doesn’t matter how much you are being paid. If your boss or working associate is recognizing and valuing your efforts, you know you have done something worthwhile.
17 Tips to Increase Worker Productivity
If you are a manager or a business owner who is looking for some simple ways to keep your employees happy, motivated, and productive, here’s what you can do.
1. Give Them Recognition for their Growth
Constructive criticism and appreciation, both, if done in the right way, can help guide your employees in the right direction. By acknowledging your employees’ efforts and performance, you can give a great boost to their self-confidence. Show them verbally that you are aware of how far they have come and what their true potentials are.
2. Team Building Activities
Team building activities that are completely separate from the work can help build a welcoming bond between your employees. Activities such as a small get-together can be quite an effective way to bring together your employees working at different departments and positions in the workforce and lift their team performance.
3. Showing Trust in Employees
Showing faith in the ability of your employee to their job perfectly is an effective way to motivate them. You can delegate your work responsibilities or projects to your subordinates or employees. But avoid micromanaging everything. Discuss with them how they are going to approach any particular task and allow them to fulfill their work responsibilities and complete the projects in their way.
4. Maintain Better Communication
Communicating with your employees is the key to building a successful relationship with them. Make your employees feel like a family of the company. Discuss with them about your company’s future goals and include them in the bigger planning works. You can also ask for their input or ideas regarding how to resolve the company’s issues such as lack of performance, target failures, the decline in business growth rate, etc. This will make your employees feel appreciated and respected. Moreover, it will also show that their efforts are contributing to the company’s overall growth.
5. Ask Employees What They Need to Elevate Their Performance
With time, you are going to notice weak areas in your business that will require improvement. You can use this opportunity to ask your staff about their advice on how to improve the non-performing or less-performing areas. You can ask them if they’d like to learn some new skills to enhance their performance. By involving them in the decision-making process, you will be able to inspire them to work harder and complete their jobs successfully.
6. Clear Goals
Until and unless your employees have a clear set of goals, they won’t know what the right direction is. Ensure that you set a well-defined company’s goals so that your workforce can focus on that and work towards achieving them. This will encourage your employees to work together as a team and expand their team productivity by advancing individual performances. This will ultimately help your employees incorporate their personal work goals with the company’s goals.
8. Celebrate Milestones and Achievements
When your employees achieve a certain milestone or goal, celebrate their accomplishments. It will demonstrate that you appreciate hard work and their achievements towards meeting the company’s goals. It will make them feel a sense of recognition and belongingness.
9. Provide Perks and Breaks
Providing incentives such as free meals, match tickets, etc. to your employees for their hard work can motivate them to do better. You can also encourage them to take breaks for resting their mind and body and take a short respite from the day’s work. Coming back from breaks, they will be much more clear-minded and productive in their work. You can even have a napping retreat, snacks room, etc. for employees in the office.
10. Encourage Innovation
Innovative ideas can take your business a long way. Sometimes they will work, and at other times, they won’t. But don’t let this stop you from encouraging your staff to come up with new ideas of doing various jobs or tasks. Try their ideas, involve them in the process, and if it doesn’t work out, help them understand the challenges and encourage enhancement.
11. Learn about Your Employees
One of the most feasible ways to motivate your employees is to take an interest in who they are. Understand their strong areas, learn about their interests, and more. It will help you use your employees’ talents, expertise, and capabilities in growing your business and make them feel significant in the plans of the business.
12. Workplace Flexibility
Having a flexible working environment in the workplace is important. While it is important to show up at work on time and complete all the job responsibilities on time, employees also need some space to breathe and live their life. Employers should respect that their employees have a life to live outside of the work as well. Flexibility will help the employees create a healthy balance between personal and professional life. It will have a positive impact on their physical as well as mental health and improve worker productivity at the workplace.
13. Have Mentors for Everyone
Mentors can help your employees stay motivated and encourage them to learn new things. If your employees come across any problem that is hindering their progress or they have some new ideas, mentors can always lead them in the right direction and make the best of their abilities.
14. Don’t let Monotony Enter into Your Office
Boredom can bring a decline in the performance of the best of the work enthusiasts. Ensure that your employees don’t start to feel monotony in their daily work duties and tasks. Keep things stimulating, such as changing schedules, switching jobs to increase your employees’ work experience, having short celebrations for annual occasions, etc.
15. Job Security
It is almost impossible for any business owner to provide 100% job security for his or her employees. However, job security is one of the leading factors why an employee can perform to his or her true potential. Something you can do is to create a work environment so that your employees won’t feel insecure about their jobs. Keep your employees happy at work and maintain clear communication channels between management and employees. Increase worker productivity by listening to their opinions and share a well-established continuity plan with them.
16. Friendly Competition won’t Hurt
It won’t hurt your business to encourage friendly competition amongst the employees. It will inspire worker productivity. The staff will work together in teams, group their strengths, work on their weaknesses and work towards achieving team goals with complete dedication and focus. But make sure that the competition stays friendly, and the staff does not start feeling pressure because of it.
17. Outdoor Trips
You can organize nature exploration trips for your employees. Spending work-free time between exquisite flowers, plants, water sources, etc. will help them create a better understanding and relationship amongst themselves and also enjoy a happy, healthy day.
All these points can help you extract higher productivity and performance from your employees. Nevertheless, keep in mind that communication is an important part of a relationship between employer and employees. Communicate with your employees clearly and tell them what you expect from them in order to increase worker productivity.
