8 Effective Strategies for Boosting Employee Productivity

How productive is your workplace? 

Employee productivity is crucial when it comes to business success. Are your employees reaching their full potential? 

Many employers think that the key to increasing productivity is pushing employees harder, but this isn’t the case. There are plenty of ways to improve employee productivity that will keep your employees happy.

Not sure how to get started? We have a few ideas. Keep reading to learn a few tips and tricks on how to make employees more productive. 

1. Allow Free Seating Arrangements

Too many employers make the mistake of assigning seats as though it was a classroom. This is the way things are always done, so what’s the problem?

Consider the following.

Your employees work together like gears in a machine. Different departments collaborate to get the results that you need to advance your business. Are these collaborations going to work as well if employees have barriers in their communication?

Poor communication between departments results in projects taking longer and the results not being as smooth as they could be. Allowing free seating lets your employees work where they need to, regardless of what department they’re in. 

2. Get Some Natural Light In the Office

Did you know that natural light is a great way to boost productivity and morale? When people work in confined spaces with harsh indoor lighting all day, they don’t get the opportunity to have any contact with the sunlight. 

If you’re able to, try to keep windows open and allow more natural light into the office. 

How does natural light help with productivity? 

Natural light results in a drop in headaches and eye problems in the office, both of which reduce productivity levels. 

It improves employees’ overall health and wellness and encourages more alertness via the body’s natural circadian rhythm. People placed near windows in the office are reportedly 2% more alert and productive than those who are elsewhere.

3. Automate Tedious Tasks

Are your employees responsible for things that could otherwise be done by a computer?

Automation in the workplace is a real worry for some people, but letting apps and computers take care of tasks that just take time away from important projects is a good thing.

How much time do your valued employees spend creating invoices or sending confirmation emails? Did you hire them for that, or did you hire them for their specialized skills in other areas?

Every tedious task that your employees have to do takes away from the useful and fulfilling work that they could be doing otherwise. 

4. Encourage Brief Power Breaks

Too many employers discourage breaks, but is this the best idea? 

Frequent, but brief, breaks aren’t the norm in the workplace. Many employers allow for one longer break for lunch.

Research says that the human attention span and capability for peak productivity may only be 45 straight minutes (though some estimate that it’s closer to 90). After this, taking a brief break (5 to 15 minutes, but no longer than 20) is a good way to “reset” and allow your brain the rest that it needs to get back to work. 

You may feel as though employees are wasting your time and money, but when their productivity improves as a result, you’ll find that it has a positive effect on your business. 

5. Teach Time Management

Many employees don’t intend to be unproductive, they just don’t know good time management skills. So how do you fix that?

Instead of scolding or reprimanding, try giving your employees tools and help with time management. It’s a great idea to provide planners and to delegate tasks on helpful planning apps so they know specific timeframes that they’re aiming towards. 

When a task is made visual, it’s easier to allocate a time slot to it. Help your employees schedule out their days and they’ll end up more productive as a result. 

6. Improve Training

Speaking of teaching, when was the last time you took a look at the training materials that you give to new employees?

There’s never a bad time to revise employee training. As you gain and lose employees, you can see what’s working and what needs updating. It may also be helpful to poll current employees about which areas they feel could have used more work. 

Better training results in employees who are better prepared for the job. Prepared employees are more productive as they don’t have to spend as much time guessing or asking for help. 

7. Encourage Good Communication

Remember how we talked about free seating arrangements and improved communication? Good communication is crucial for a productive workplace and happy employees. 

Communication should be part of your employee training. It’s also important that you use good communication skills as well.

Encouraging honest and open communication leads to a workplace that’s less stressful for employees. They should feel safe when asking for help or advice instead of feeling like they’ll be reprimanded. 

Employees should also be encouraged to communicate with each other. Beyond the free seating arrangements, it’s a great idea to have a group webchat system so employees can ask each other questions throughout the day.

This keeps projects going smoothly without the need to get up and ask questions or put things off until employees can seek you out. 

8. Lead By Example

Your employees look to you as an example when they’re in the workplace. If you’re in charge, you can’t only talk the talk. You have to walk the walk as well.

It’s a good idea to update your own training as a leader every now and again to make sure that you’re able to help your employees more effectively. If you want to encourage good communication, make sure that you model it. 

You’re in charge of keeping your workplace working like a well-oiled machine. Employees who see that their employer isn’t displaying the behaviors that they expect from others won’t feel as inclined to comply.

Employee Productivity Starts With You

You’re responsible for your employees’ productivity levels, at least at the beginning. While you can’t control their actions, you can improve the workplace and offer tools to help them reach their full potentials.

Remember, a happy workplace is a productive workplace, and a productive workplace is one that makes a business run well.

Are you looking for employee productivity tools that will help you out? We have solutions for you. Contact us to learn more about our helpful features and tools so you can amp up workplace productivity today.