The challenge of many companies is finding ways to make staff more productive. This has to be done with balance as pushing too hard can have the opposite impact leading to problems with overall employee morale. The truth is that there are policies that can do a great job of helping increase productivity. The best part about many of these tips/policies is that it does not require a manager to be looking over an employee’s shoulder constantly. At times empowering employees is what needs to be done by giving them the tools to succeed rather than having them figure it out on their own. The following are policies and tips that can help company staff become far more productive than in the past.
Flexible Start Time
A flexible start time allows employees to arrive usually within a 2 hour window so from 8AM to 10AM would be a great example. This helps reduce the number of people walking around like zombies due to an early start time. Coming into the office at 10AM has a far different energy than arriving early at a little before 8AM. This gives people the ability to do errands that they might otherwise have to take a half day to complete. A flex schedule really helps out with this and the parents in the office will be thankful to no end as they have a plethora of obligations. Even posting tips on how to get better sleep in the office can help as some people do not know why their sleep quality is suffering nightly.
Company Provided Lunches
The frequency of an employee taking a longer lunch than allowed might be much higher than a business realizes. Company provided lunches can cut down on this as well as the bad dietary decisions that lead to a sleepy feeling after lunch. Providing healthy food can help people sustain their productivity rather than see a sharp falloff in work after lunch. Younger employees will see this as a great perk as affording a good lunch with loads of student debt can be tough.
Time Tracking Software
Time tracking software is one of the best things a company can do for productivity. The time wasted during a single work week would shock some employers as people tend to think it is within their rights to surf social media on company time. Time tracking software might be looked at as corporate babysitting but it can be far more than that. The top producers might be allocating their time much differently than those that might be struggling. This can help form trainings for struggling employees which can improve productivity as well.
Turn Productivity Into Competitions With Real Rewards
Turning productivity between teams in certain departments into a competition is more than wise. There are certain people that will take their work to another level as they have a huge competitive drive in them. The rewards need to be reasonable as well as a team that makes a company another $10,000 in extra profit deserve it. Adding work from home days can be the perfect reward as it costs the company no money due to people working hard from home in hopes it can turn into a permanent thing. Top producers being able to work from home not only will help retain these employees but also can attract top talent from elsewhere. The flexibility to work from home is seen by many as the ultimate perk and people would trade weeks of PTO simply to work from home daily.
Getting each employee to produce just a little more will make a huge difference in profits by the end of the year. Each employee is different so tapping into what motivates them might take time. A manager is constantly evolving so make sure to not sit back happy with the production staff has currently!
