Post-Covid-19, we have all learned a lot about the proper way to wear a face mask, how to clean our hands effectively, and a whole host of quarantine protocols. Also important, we have had to learn – or at least refresh – good productivity habits to minimize the inevitable constraints on our work.
For some businesses in particular, productivity has been found wanting, requiring some dramatic changes. For some, the lessons – particularly the value of remote working – have been eye-opening. Leaders who already favored remote working have seen other businesses catch up with them, confirming what they already knew. Wherever you stand on employee productivity and the different ways to achieve it, we can all do with a little more.
According to Gallup
, the US loses between 500 and 600 billion dollars to unproductivity every year. How to combat this? The best incentives for employees boost their engagement with your business. Here are 13 things you can do to increase employee productivity in 2022.
1. Be Flexible
Increasingly, employees value non-monetary perks, such as the ability to work from home or non-standard hours. This has been one of the main takeaways of how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected workplaces worldwide. Most of us have seen that people can work remotely and do so effectively. It can also increase employee satisfaction by giving people some autonomy and improving their work-life balance.
Even with reduced restrictions, many businesses have opted to continue encouraging remote working. Millennials, in particular, value this freedom. Offering flexible working hours and trusting people to manage themselves is a great way to secure some of the brightest talents and promote productivity from your employees.
2. Encourage Autonomy
People work better when you don’t micromanage. Where possible, demonstrate that you trust your people. Discuss what is required and let them achieve these goals in their own way.
Defining every step of every task is a good way to sap creativity and initiative. Letting employees discover their own solutions, with or without gentle guidance, can keep them invested and engaged.
3. Provide Meaning
Employees need to know how they contribute to the big picture of what your firm does. According to a Gallup poll, only a third of US workers feel engaged. This is tragic considering how much time people spend working and how many are treading water.
To provide meaningful work, ensure that your branding and your company culture make it clear what your business is about and why you do what you do. Consider the story of three builders. When asked what they are doing, the first says he is laying bricks. The second says that he is making a wall. The third, however, says that she is building a hospital. Encourage your staff to see the big picture and take pride in their contribution.
4. Know Your Team
Take the time to listen and learn. Polls can help you understand what clients or customers think of your business, but don’t forget that your most valuable resource is your existing employees. Employees are more likely to be engaged with the firm’s mission if they feel like the managers, directors, and owners listen to them.
Understand that different people thrive in different conditions. These might be based on cultural and educational differences, age, sex, race, and much more. Knowing your staff will help you get the best from them.
Social media platforms can give you an insight into what makes your employees tick, but beware of spending too much time online. Ask them directly what they think and what they need.
5. Facilitate Two-Way Communication
Emphasize the free flow of communication between teams, departments, and hierarchies. Managers need to be accessible to their employees to ensure that everyone agrees on responsibilities, commitments, goals, and expectations. When people can reach out to their managers, businesses can discover solutions to otherwise unknown problems.
6. Demonstrate That Your Workers Are Important
You can use what you know about your staff to directly improve productivity. Encourage engagement in the workplace by showing your workers they are valuable.
One way to demonstrate the importance of employees, for example, is to celebrate their birthdays. Use Nuwber to verify employees’ birth dates, for example, and uniquely engage with them. You may also use Nuwber to discover other family details that may help you choose the perfect perk or gift.
7. Reduce Meetings
Unnecessary meetings are among the biggest time wasters in the business world. Therefore, only schedule meetings when it is essential that everyone contributes. Otherwise, other formats might be more useful.
When holding meetings, keep them focused on key points and minimize their length so that participants remain focused and productive.
Also, be flexible about how people attend. With today’s technology, people can attend meetings remotely via video, conference call, or instant messaging.
8. Reduce emails
Email is a massive part of how we do business today. Although there are alternatives, email is not going away any time soon. Used well, it is a valuable way of communicating with clients, customers, and staff. It can help us share information clearly and with a written record of communications.
Unfortunately, a lot of time each day is wasted sifting through emails. Optimize how your business uses emails by asking that your employees only send them when necessary. It will also be helpful for them to learn how to construct and write a concise email.
Improve employee productivity further by encouraging staff to handle email in a systemized way. This means acting on emails immediately when possible and then filtering or filing them efficiently.
9. Upgrade Software
A lot of time is wasted when staff uses workarounds to get things done. Simplifying your software will mean that you spend less time training. And if processes are quicker, your staff will also be able to get more done.
In 2022, it’s critical to ensure that your business is making the most of its employees by making the most of available technology. Software and hardware solutions abound. With an initial investment of time and money, a business can massively increase productivity and profitability.
Great technology is no longer restricted to big business. Software and hardware developers use cloud and mobile technology to help small and medium-sized businesses work more flexibly, securely, and quickly. And without the need for capital costs, being a part of cloud computing is a cost-effective way to improve your staff’s productivity.
10. Hire Better
Sometimes the best way to increase employee productivity is to hire the right employees. Make sure that employees are a good fit with your business culture, as well as having the right qualifications on paper. Having the right attitude and values can be more important than having the right skills.
Be sure to emphasize the company culture so that potential employees know what to expect. Recruitment is an ideal time to share your firm’s values, vision, ethics, and goals.
Try to employ people who will be valuable to existing teams, energizing and motivating others to work toward shared goals. With more accurate hiring, you can reduce staff turnover and lose less time training employees who do not stay.
11. Automate
Your employees can focus on more meaningful, more productive work by automating repetitive tasks. For example, you can automate sending reminder emails to clients. However, closing a deal with a customized offer might be performed personally.
Automated systems can handle frequently asked questions, follow up with leads, and enter data into spreadsheets and forms. Automating can take time and money, but the payoff – employees who can use their skills to fulfill needs that require a human touch – can be significant.
12. Keep Training
Make your staff more productive by helping them learn. Continuous professional development is a great way to keep your employees engaged with the industry and ensure that they are at its forefront.
Consider also that there are more opportunities for online learning than ever in 2022. Sites like Udemy and Coursera offer workers opportunities to learn many valuable skills in their own homes, at their own paces. Consider offering a choice of subjects from which employees can choose, which should enhance their skills, their investment in the business’s success, and their ability to be a part of that success.
13. Weed Out Unproductive Employees
Try to turn underperforming employees around, but if they don’t respond to the incentives noted above, you may have a problem on your hands. A negative employee can erode the motivation and performance of those around them. For this reason, identifying and, if necessary, letting go of an unproductive employee can be good for business.
Improving employee productivity in 2022 is about listening to what employees value. Fortunately, these are often the same things that are good for business. These tips should help any company improve productivity and profitability in 2022 and beyond.
