What is the secret key to motivating employees? What triggers them to be more productive, more efficient? At the risk of sounding cliché, this is a topic any manager faces at a certain point in its career.
The financial packages no longer represent, for most of the employees, the decisive factor when it comes to being productive within a company. Additional measures are needed to make them feel accomplished so that they give, in return, productivity.
When facing low productivity, most managers will immediately resort to financial incentives, but this is, mostly, only a short-term solution. Since happiness treatments improve productivity by 10%–12%, here are several tactics to help you increase the employees’ welfare and improve your sales.
Financial Incentives: Most Approached Method, Yet Not the Most Efficient.
Money does not bring loyalty anymore. If the salary is the only factor that keeps an employee in the company, he will not hesitate to leave once a better opportunity or a higher salary arises.
The financial rewards are the most expensive motivation for a company, and yet only a short-term solution as approximately 75% of employees forget the value of the bonus or salary increase received after only 30 days.
The reason is that the employee believes that the amounts they receive are rightfully accountable for their work, so these do not generate motivation in the long run.
13 Effective Ways to Increase Workers Productivity
1. Ensure optimal working conditions.
Although this might seem quite obvious, it is often a neglected aspect. It is preferable to provide employees with a clean and enlightened working environment that enjoys an optimum temperature and is fully equipped with the latest technology gadgets.
To keep track of every task and get more done, make sure your employees are using an efficient team productivity tool.
2. Allow creative workplaces.
Burning out from overworking can be avoided if the work is developed in a comfortable space. Crowded, monotone offices are outdated as the design of the working spaces seems to have a powerful impact on the employees’ productivity and well-being.
Colorful, innovative and eccentric office designs might do the trick, change the overall mood of the employees and make ideas bounce around.
Allowing the employees to put their fingerprint on the office’s design, either by coming up with an idea or by bringing a personal object, will give them a sense of comfort and ownership. Investing in the ambiance of the working place will increase the efficacy and boost productivity across departments.
3. Listen to music.
Offering this privilege might be an easy step to enhance efficiency. As long as it does not become distracting, listening to music works great for most of us, whether employer or employee. It can put you in a good mood, energize you whenever you feel tired or sleepy, giving you a great dose of “today I’m getting things done”.
4. Fulfill their need for recognition.
This need consists of the employee’s desire to stand out, to gain recognition, to feel important in the eyes of others. When an employee does a good job, always praise the work results to motivate him to achieve more.
5. Create a strong culture.
One of the most important needs, that each employee tends to have, is the need for membership. People like to feel like they belong to a team, they like to work in harmony and collaborate with others. Working alone is among the top causes of stress at work and low productivity.
This is why successful managers should be in a permanent search for ways to create a strong culture within the company. Once they succeed, they will enjoy employees who will love their jobs, their team and who will be fully involved in contributing to the success of the company.
6. Implement participatory management.
Involvement of employees in the company’s organizational, and management activities can improve the working environment, give them a sense of ownership, thus improving employees’ participation in the work process and productivity.
7. Frequent breaks, the key to productivity.
Several studies have proven that humans progress from full focus and energy to physiological fatigue every 90 minutes. Therefore, encouraging employees to take short breaks every 90 minutes might give them a boost of energy and improve their productivity.
8. Shorten the work schedule.
Usually, during summer, the activity of companies drops. This is a good period to let employees enjoy the beautiful summer weather by shortening the Friday schedule with one or two hours. This is a great refreshment technique for which the workers will show appreciation by rising their working capacity.
9. Improve their skills through training opportunities.
Training and development programs greatly sustain both employers and employees. In performing daily work, employees need a set of relevant knowledge that they can apply. This can be maintained or improved through regular training sessions.
For managers, it is more cost-effective to invest in training programs than to suffer financial losses as a result of employees’ incompetence or decrease in the quality of work provided.
It is in the company’s interest that employees constantly improve or develop new skills in order to perform at their greatest capacity, and it is in the interest of employees that the work they submit is qualitative, bringing them fulfillment.
10. Think of interesting team building ideas.
The success of a business depends largely on the communication within departments. Beyond individual performance, the collective performance of the team is equally important.
For productivity to exist, there must be collaboration. In other words, a homogeneous team will boost efficiency and, implicitly, productivity in the working place. Managers can encourage employee interaction by providing interesting team buildings.
Communication across departments is also sustained by using the right tools. Here are some top-rated slack alternatives meant to boost your team’s productivity by ensuring errorless communication.
11. Offer the right wages and promotion opportunities.
In large part, work satisfaction is closely linked to satisfying salaries and promotion conditions. If an employee is not satisfied with the salary, his motivation will decrease along with his performance.
Therefore, most employees will be unproductive if they receive a small salary, no matter how promising the additional financial incentives appear to be, as most of them opt for a satisfying and stable salary in the detriment of bonuses.
Keeping a balance between employee’s performance, its salary and promotion opportunities can be vital to improve efficiency.
12. Get more work done, in their own styles.
Stress at work is a big downside for employees’ productivity. Each worker has its own way of reaching goals, and, sometimes, the strategies imposed by the company may not work for the employees leading to anxiety.
Agree together upon the objectives the employee shall reach, but give him the freedom to design the strategy to reach the established desired results.
13. Boost productivity with remote work.
If the nature of your business allows it, offer to each employee the possibility to work from home every week. One or two days of remote work can be a great opportunity to boost productivity as nothing is more pleasant and relaxing than working from your own cozy, personal space.
Final Thoughts
Employees’ satisfaction is often correlated with their productivity. To get insights upon their level of satisfaction, the managers can easily implement a Net Promoter System and check the employee NPS.
Productivity can be increased once managers choose to offer the right incentives. For these to be effective, the managers must know very well their employees, their habits and personalities, as the rewards motivate each individual in a different manner.
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