As a business owner or manager, it is your responsibility to ensure that your employees are always at the top of their performance. While many use monetary incentives as a conventional technique to increase employee productivity, there are other ways to inspire them and put their best foot forward every time.
By setting clear expectations about the job description, and compliance with company guidelines and policies, you can reduce frustration and proceed to business as usual. Here are some of the proven techniques on how to improve their productivity without necessarily having any monetary reward:
- Encourage Self-Care
Stress in the workplace can be debilitating and might lead to major health problems. By encouraging your employees to take care of themselves, it will increase their motivation and workplace productivity.
Here’s how:
- Provide healthy options by making nutritious snacks readily available, such as Healthy Vending Office Snack Delivery
- Set 5 to 10 minutes as “exercise time” to inspire your employees in living a healthy lifestyle
- Encourage Autonomy
Most employees are more strongly motivated by exercising their autonomy rather than getting financial rewards. Managers should trust their people in daily operations and provide coaching necessary work instead of doing it for them. As you learn to let go, they can take control and become independent which will spare you from the typical vicious cycle of disappointment and despair.
- Foster Employee Engagement
Employee engagement is a key ingredient in the productivity of the workplace. A disengaged employee can influence others and drags companies down. That’s why successful companies ensure they have a solid foundation of it..You can also do the same.
Here’s how:
- Positive Work Culture. Creating and introducing a work culture that highlights the mission and vision, core values, and principles of your company (e.g., celebrating foundation day, initiating community services, or team building nature adventures)
- Skills and Training. A workplace can become dull over time, so one way to improve productivity is to challenge and excite your employees by learning new things and acquiring new skills through training and seminars, such as great ways to fund business purchases.
- Clear communication
Communication is the crux of most business issues. Whether it’s related to productivity or employees.
When it comes to productivity and execution, consider communication tools that can streamline communication instead of managing through email, countless documents, and outdated technologies. Zipline is a great option for retailers as it can help align store communications and task management. There are many other communication and collaboration tools out there like Slack, Basecamp, and more. Do some research and consider one that can help your business.
When it comes to employee communication problems, instead of assigning the blame, seek first to understand. Spend time listening. Then discuss positive solutions, options, and future possibilities. Focus your mind on the future and avoid rehashing past issues. In short, learn from the mistakes of the present, and approach negative situations more optimistically and productively.
- Transparent Assessment and Evaluation of Employee Performance
Everybody wants to be treated equally, and so as your employees.
Be a role model of fair and objective employee performance assessment and evaluation. By doing so, it will not only increase your credibility as a person with authority but also help your employees know their strengths and weaknesses without involving much of their emotions that usually generate doubt and frustration.
That’s why a transparent employee performance evaluation increases efficiency and improves workplace productivity, which can be objectively measured through the following strategies:
- Self-Evaluation. Let your employees fill out self-evaluation form and questionnaire with and essay-type and multiple-choice answer, or by using graphic scales to rate behavioral elements, noting the performance of a particular task (e.g. “always,” “occasionally” or “never”).
- Checklist. An easy and quick way to identify employees with deficiencies in different performance areas, which also helps you identify those who need additional training.
- 360-Degree Feedback. Another strategy is taking an account of the opinions, assessments, and feedback of employee performance, including the negative and positive similarities and trends. It is usually conducted by a dedicated team from the company, which is referred to as the 360-degree feedback to help identify critical areas that need additional support and measurements.
- MBO. Many managers and employees adopt the Management by Objectives or MBO strategy, which is also called “management by results.” In this process, the management and the employees jointly determine the objectives of every employee, to ensure they align with the goals of the company. In short, the employees are given a clear understanding of what the company expects, allowing them to participate, fostering better communication, and increasing motivation.
- Comprehensive Reviews. The measurement of an employee’s performance is a snapshot of work performed at a given period. It is best to conduct comprehensive performance reviews based on the average measurements taken and compiled over time, such as continuous appraisals and regular feedback.
Conclusion
Employee productivity is significantly improved with a clear understanding of the expectations between a company and its employees as early as the recruitment process. Once expectations are laid and established, the workload, procedures, and guidelines become part of the daily routine without feelings of pressure or “too many” responsibilities. Perks, rewards, and incentives are merely extras or bonuses that should be used sparingly so your employees will always perform at their best whether or not they get something more in return.
