A workforce is only as strong as its least productive member. Within any enterprise, there are people who pull their weight more than others. In some cases, waning job performance is directly tied to waning job satisfaction. Other times, workers simply lack proper guidance and encouragement. If any of your team members are exhibiting diminished performances, it’s in your best interest to nip this in the bud. Fortunately, there are a number of simple – and highly effective – ways to boost productivity and increase employee satisfaction within virtually any workplace.
Offer a Greater Degree of Schedule Flexibility
It’s no secret that many members of the workforce are dissatisfied with their respective schedules. More often than not, working a typical office job entails getting up earlier than you’d like, reporting to an office for eight or nine hours and repeating this process on an endless loop. Unsurprisingly, planning one’s life around their employer’s preferred schedule can lead to a fair amount of stress, particularly for people with children, people without vehicles and individuals with disabilities.
Although some business owners believe that working from 9:00 to 5:00 is an essential part of the work experience, this doesn’t have to be the case. As long as assignments are submitted at a steady clip and deadlines are consistently met, there’s virtually no harm in allowing your employees to their own schedules. Just keep in mind that this will be far more feasible for some individuals than others. After all, some people require the structure and routine that regular work hours bring. Still, a fair number of us work more effectively and efficiently when permitted to set our own schedules.
Not Requiring Employees to Remain at Work When Their Inboxes are Empty
As previously stated, some employers cling to the belief that workers should remain in their place of business for a predetermined number of hours each day. Although this concept has essentially been ingrained in our culture, it ultimately amounts to a waste of time for many members of the workforce. If someone has finished their daily quota and has no other projects with which to occupy their time, there’s no reason they should be required to stick around, as this is a pointless formality that only serves to frustrate.
So, even if you’re not on board with the idea of schedule flexibility, allowing workers to head out once their daily quotas have been met is an idea worth considering. This policy is likely to inspire your team members to tackle projects in earnest and waste the bare minimum of time. If your employees know that finishing their work in a timely manner can lead to time off, there’s a good chance you’ll see a noticeable increase in efficiency and productivity. Business owners who wish to get an accurate accounting of productivity levels should enlist the aid of dependable business intelligence solutions.
Embrace Telecommuting
As many business owners discovered throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, there are many benefits associated with telecommuting. For one thing, it helps protect workers from illness and curb the spread of the aforementioned virus. Secondly, it can lead to a reduction in employee stress, as well as an increase in productivity. So, if you’ve been regarding remote work as something that will end with the pandemic, you may want to put the brakes on. Having gotten an extended taste of remote work, many of us would prefer to continue working from home. In fact, some members of the workforce would rather quit their jobs than give up telecommuting.
There are myriad reasons for which employees exhibit less-than-satisfactory performances. In some instances, they can’t help but bring issues originating outside the office into work with them. In others, working conditions and/or lack of recognition are squarely to blame. Unsurprisingly, poor performances from your various team members can impact your business’s long-term solvency if they become a persistent issue. If your enterprise develops a reputation for churning out lackluster work, missing deadlines or failing to properly communicate with clients, you’re liable to have trouble attracting new business and hanging on to existing clients. Business owners looking to get a handle on this problem should take the previously discussed pointers to heart.
