Top tips for improving employees’ productivity

HR professionals deal with a lot of challenges on a daily basis, but at the root of it, the primary goal is to maintain a high level employee retention and productivity.

According to TLNT.com, there are human capital managers everywhere searching for ways to make their organisations more productive. Jean Martin, talent solutions architect at CEB, says that from speaking with thousands of executives this year, she’s realised part of the problem involves speed. Companies are striving every day to work faster, but they also don’t want to sacrifice quality of work.

“CEB staff hear some version of the same refrain again and again – ‘It seems more difficult to get stuff done, we just feel really slow,‘” Martin noted. “The size and complexity of firms, and the need for managers to collaborate with so many people, has slowed everything down. A lot of managers think that if they want to speed up decision-making they must be prepared to make worse decisions. In short they must trade ‘fast’ for ‘right.‘”

The real question is, how could you improve employee productivity? Her are some tips:

Gather more workforce data
If you’re not sure whether your staff is achieving enough, gather some data and figure it out. Find out what your people are capable of and how close they are to maximum potential. Use analytics to solve the puzzle.

Empower leaders to achieve more
The managers on your staff are the key to your company’s success. Each team leader should be acting in the best interests of the company, and that means pushing employees to achieve more. Make sure everyone is on the same page in this regard.

Nurture your employees’ potential
If you have some high-achieving employees that you’ve identified, you especially want to focus on getting the most possible productivity out of them. Develop them, identify their greatest strengths and put them in positions that maximise their value.

Sharpen your learning and development focus
Every organisation wants to invest in learning and development to help employees get better, but you also don’t want to waste time over-teaching. Find the right balance by teaching people only the essentials and nothing more.

Address employee needs with EAPs
If your employees are battling issues with anxiety, stress or any other aspect of health and wellness, you can improve the situation by providing resources to help them. Investing in an employee assistance programme could be a great way to do this.