4 Ways to Increase Employee Productivity

Editor's Note: Take a look at our featured best practice, HR Strategy: Job Leveling (26-slide PowerPoint presentation). Job Leveling is a disciplined approach to gauge the value of work for individual positions across the organization. It entails ascertaining the nature of work done by each position, authority levels, and the effect of each job on business results. Jobs that are configured inadequately bread [read more]

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Are your employees using their time to the maximum potential? Your staff are your most valuable resource, so it’s up to you to ensure that they are working in the most productive ways that they can. Considering that we spend more time at work than we do at home, it’s vital that your work environment is happy, successful and above all, efficient. By providing motivation and following a few simple techniques, it’s possible to make certain that you are getting best possible work effort at all times. Your staff are there to work, but that doesn’t mean you have to stand behind them all day making sure that they are constantly doing everything they should be.

The right tools for the job

Although it may feel like good business practise making sure that you always have the latest software, you may find that your employees are happy with older programs. Of course, change is inevitable, but if adding something new offers few or no tangible benefits, then there’s little reason to commit to costly updates that may require time wasted on learning useless functions. Talk to your staff and decide exactly what they need to perform the role they were employed for, only making changes that are beneficial.

Celebrate

Small victories or large, nothing expresses heartfelt praise to your team than celebrations when they do well. Whether it’s landing a new sale or a marked increase in social media activity, praise is never wasted time. By making your employees feel appreciated you’ll find that they’ll recognise that you appreciate all of the work that they do, and will commit to working harder and more efficiently.

Provide Perks

Whether it’s a monthly sales contest, a free supply of snacks or a coffee machine to boost energy levels, it’s often the little things that go towards making the team happy. You might believe that paying for the services of a coffee provider, such as office-coffee, will not pay off, but you’ll notice quickly how the benefits of a happy and energised staff are a boost to the day-to-day output of your work environment.

Talk

Even if it’s simply a ten-minute morning meeting where everyone can lay out their tasks for the day, discussions about work are useful to every boss. By finding out what your staff are prioritising, you’ll quickly be able to ascertain if they have become sidetracked by a less-than-important task, or if they’re working so well that they need to delegate extra work to someone else. Communication is key, even if it can sometimes be difficult due to generation differences. However, it is only by finding out where your staff are at and what they are working on that you’ll have a clear picture of how your business is running on a daily basis. It also gives you a chance to find out how the people around you feel about their roles and offers you a chance to reallocate work as you see fit.

These are very easy and low-cost ways to ensure that your business is running at optimal levels at all times, meaning that you can concentrate on the more important elements of your working day.

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The purpose of Human Resources (HR) is to ensure our organization achieves success through our people. Without the right people in place—at all levels of the organization—we will never be able to execute our Strategy effectively.

This begs the question: Does your organization view HR as a support function or a strategic one? Research shows leading organizations leverage HR as a strategic function, one that both supports and drives the organization's Strategy. In fact, having strong HRM capabilities is a source of Competitive Advantage.

This has never been more true than right now in the Digital Age, as organizations must compete for specialized talent to drive forward their Digital Transformation Strategies. Beyond just hiring and selection, HR also plays the critical role in retaining talent—by keeping people engaged, motivated, and happy.

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