For any business, productivity is the key to unlocking profits. While people like to talk about rising sales or growing production, the major factor in the success of any business is profit margin on each sale; and the greatest way to expand profit margin is through employee productivity. Time is money in the world of business, and the more a productive a business can be in a given hour or day, the better it’s bottom line.
Just as productivity is the lifeblood of profits, a company’s people are its greatest asset. After all, on whom else is a firm’s productivity going to rely than its people? They are in the ideal position to help or hinder this important aspect of a business. Driving employee productivity to expand profits is a delicate, long-term game of giving and take. However, managers should first consider the following as good ways to start working to improve productivity.
1. Implement regularly-scheduled breaks for each employee and manager. People need to regularly take time away from work to gather their thoughts or relax for a moment. Studies have shown that employee productivity drops off dramatically after working for a sustained 40-minute period, but even a 10-minute break can reset the clock. Allow people to rest for a few minutes, make a personal call, socialize, or even run a quick personal errand. Not only will you be leveraging the science of productivity, but also boosting employee satisfaction with work and taking a major step toward engendering company loyalty among your staff.
2. Encourage employees to take a little time for active thinking about their work. Your employees are the best people to identify opportunities and new efficiencies in your business. After all, who better to identify holes or inefficiencies in operations than the people doing the operating? To implement this tip, it can be helpful to schedule regular meetings with individual employees or group sessions to foster brainstorming. In either case, it’s critical for managers to listen to suggestions and understand the full impact of employee observations or ideas. Not every piece of advice will be implemented, but you will be well-served to show employees that their feedback is valued and ideas are worth exploring. After developing ideas and vetting them fully, implement those that seem worthwhile. This is how best practices are not only made, but updated. Don’t fear the changes that can come from these exercises; instead, relish the opportunity to improve your business.
3. Help employees to segment their days. Having employees structure their days and weeks, dividing time into compartments for various activities, can drastically increase productivity. To show the truth of this, just consider the corollary: constantly jumping back and forth between activities hinders productivity. This being obvious, you will do your employees and your business a tremendous service if you can help your people to structure their days so that they aren’t constantly jumping back and forth, but instead using segments of time for dedicated work on various job functions. Breaking each day into segments can help accomplish this, as can grouping together activities so employees can focus on fewer things at once.
4. Encourage employees to schedule quiet focused time. Since working with interruptions or with the threat of interruptions also hurts employee productivity, you should try to find ways to help employees find dedicated work periods during which unwanted interference can be eliminated. These periods should be times when employees are less likely to encounter interruption from coworkers, clients or even managers, allowing them to focus on specific tasks or items from their to-do lists. Separating them from possible interruption will allow employees to handle tasks quickly, quietly and efficiently. Some may prefer to come in early for this time, while others may prefer to stay late or stagger their breaks so that they work while others are away. A few may even prefer to work whole- or half-days when others aren’t working. This step works best if employees are active in selecting and scheduling their productive time, so be sure to involve them early in the process.
5. Foster workplace flexibility. If employees can do some or all of their work remotely, allow them to do so on a regular basis. Also, consider letting them work during atypical hours or on weekends if they request it. Be open to suggestions. Employees have vastly different family situations and home lives, which generate different demands on their time and individual work preferences. To really give employee productivity a boost, help your people to create a work schedule that’s beneficial for them. This will not only engender loyalty to your company but will also help to make sure you are employing your people during the most productive time in their day or week. There may be a limited amount of flexibility for employees in certain roles, such as customer service, but allowing employees as much flexibility as possible – even if it means changing roles within the company – can have a tremendous lasting impact.
Just as productivity is the lifeblood of profits, a company’s people are its greatest asset. After all, on whom else is a firm’s productivity going to rely than its people? They are in the ideal position to help or hinder this important aspect of a business. Driving employee productivity to expand profits is a delicate, long-term game of giving and take. However, managers should first consider the following as good ways to start working to improve productivity.
1. Implement regularly-scheduled breaks for each employee and manager. People need to regularly take time away from work to gather their thoughts or relax for a moment. Studies have shown that employee productivity drops off dramatically after working for a sustained 40-minute period, but even a 10-minute break can reset the clock. Allow people to rest for a few minutes, make a personal call, socialize, or even run a quick personal errand. Not only will you be leveraging the science of productivity, but also boosting employee satisfaction with work and taking a major step toward engendering company loyalty among your staff.
2. Encourage employees to take a little time for active thinking about their work. Your employees are the best people to identify opportunities and new efficiencies in your business. After all, who better to identify holes or inefficiencies in operations than the people doing the operating? To implement this tip, it can be helpful to schedule regular meetings with individual employees or group sessions to foster brainstorming. In either case, it’s critical for managers to listen to suggestions and understand the full impact of employee observations or ideas. Not every piece of advice will be implemented, but you will be well-served to show employees that their feedback is valued and ideas are worth exploring. After developing ideas and vetting them fully, implement those that seem worthwhile. This is how best practices are not only made, but updated. Don’t fear the changes that can come from these exercises; instead, relish the opportunity to improve your business.
3. Help employees to segment their days. Having employees structure their days and weeks, dividing time into compartments for various activities, can drastically increase productivity. To show the truth of this, just consider the corollary: constantly jumping back and forth between activities hinders productivity. This being obvious, you will do your employees and your business a tremendous service if you can help your people to structure their days so that they aren’t constantly jumping back and forth, but instead using segments of time for dedicated work on various job functions. Breaking each day into segments can help accomplish this, as can grouping together activities so employees can focus on fewer things at once.
4. Encourage employees to schedule quiet focused time. Since working with interruptions or with the threat of interruptions also hurts employee productivity, you should try to find ways to help employees find dedicated work periods during which unwanted interference can be eliminated. These periods should be times when employees are less likely to encounter interruption from coworkers, clients or even managers, allowing them to focus on specific tasks or items from their to-do lists. Separating them from possible interruption will allow employees to handle tasks quickly, quietly and efficiently. Some may prefer to come in early for this time, while others may prefer to stay late or stagger their breaks so that they work while others are away. A few may even prefer to work whole- or half-days when others aren’t working. This step works best if employees are active in selecting and scheduling their productive time, so be sure to involve them early in the process.
5. Foster workplace flexibility. If employees can do some or all of their work remotely, allow them to do so on a regular basis. Also, consider letting them work during atypical hours or on weekends if they request it. Be open to suggestions. Employees have vastly different family situations and home lives, which generate different demands on their time and individual work preferences. To really give employee productivity a boost, help your people to create a work schedule that’s beneficial for them. This will not only engender loyalty to your company but will also help to make sure you are employing your people during the most productive time in their day or week. There may be a limited amount of flexibility for employees in certain roles, such as customer service, but allowing employees as much flexibility as possible – even if it means changing roles within the company – can have a tremendous lasting impact.
Employee productivity is the key to success in any business. Looking at the points above, it’s easy to see that, when taken together, they go a long way toward helping to shape your company culture – because that’s exactly what you’re doing. The most successful companies are those that have learned to create a culture which allows them to leverage their greatest assets: their people. Not only will these steps help to improve individual employee productivity; they’ll also encourage loyalty to your company. After all, employee turnover can be one of the biggest hindrances to productivity. Recruiting and training new people is also time-consuming and expensive.
By following the time management techniques above, not only will you be helping to keep your people happy, but you’ll also be making sure that you have them working for you when they’re most productive, rather than when they’re distracted with other things. You’ll help them to focus their efforts on certain tasks, and also have them working for you to help identify and implement new efficiencies, as well as potentially eliminating redundancies in your operations. In doing so, you will make the most out of every working hour and every sale, vastly improving your operations and your profits.
By following the time management techniques above, not only will you be helping to keep your people happy, but you’ll also be making sure that you have them working for you when they’re most productive, rather than when they’re distracted with other things. You’ll help them to focus their efforts on certain tasks, and also have them working for you to help identify and implement new efficiencies, as well as potentially eliminating redundancies in your operations. In doing so, you will make the most out of every working hour and every sale, vastly improving your operations and your profits.
Article Source: http://rmagazine.com/time-management-tips-to-help-improve-employee-productivity-for-better-long-term-profits/
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