When running a business, you should always be thinking of ways to boost morale within your staff and increase their productivity. It can be easy for staff to lose momentum and fall into a rut, so it is important to notice when energy is low and do what you can to bring it back up. Productivity is key to any successful business, so if you are looking for ways to boost productivity within your own business, use this as a guide to get you started.
Offer Educational Opportunities
One reason your employees may be feeling unproductive could be that their work is not mentally stimulating enough. It could be that they feel they need more challenging tasks or the opportunity to learn more to feel motivated. If this is the case, then it could be a good idea to offer your staff the opportunity for further education through an online course. Online courses can work well within a business because they can be completed without your staff having to leave the workplace. You can set aside time each week for your staff to complete their online training and encourage them to keep learning.
Educating your staff not only increases productivity but could also aid in the success of your business as your staff will be equipped with a new set of skills that they can use to push your business further. It is important as a business leader to see the potential in your employees and online courses are a good way to unleash their potential. Research online to find out more information about online courses and select a few you think will be the most beneficial for your team.
Encourage Breaks And Down Time
There is no quicker way to experience burnout than to push yourself too hard and give yourself no breaks. Burnout can leave you feeling physically and emotionally exhausted and often stems from having an unbalanced ratio between work time and personal time. While recovering from burnout can be difficult, preventing it is pretty simple. As a manager, you need to pay attention to your employees and recognise the signs so you can prevent burnout from happening.
There are many ways you can avoid burnout, but one of the easiest ways is to take proper breaks from your work. As a business manager, you should be trying to prevent burnout within your team, so it is important to encourage people to take breaks and switch off from work. If you are working in an office, make sure you have an appropriate space where people can go to sit and chill out during their breaks. Without a breakroom, you may find that people will just stay at their desk and work through their lunch instead of taking an actual break.
Allow Flexible Working
Due to the pandemic, working from home has established itself as a permanent feature in many businesses. Even after restrictions were lifted, many people found working from home was much more productive and lots of offices closed for good. If your business is still operating from an office, you may want to consider allowing your workers some flexibility when it comes to their preferred place to work.
However, this doesn’t mean you need to close the doors of your office for good. Instead, you could adopt a hybrid model of work, where your employees split their time between working from home and the office. In 2021, a study was completed on 9000 workers and it found that 83% of them would prefer a hybrid model of working. Adopting a hybrid model of work in your business can encourage productivity because you give your workers freedom to create their own schedules and trust that they will get the work done.
Review Your Technology
There is no greater way to slow down your workflow than to have your technology fail on you. Living in a digital age means we rely on technology for most things, including running a business. As a business manager, you should ensure that your employees are equipped with the proper technology they need to do their job. This could mean investing in new physical pieces of equipment like laptops or computers or ensuring your employees have access to the right online programmes.
Having updated technology is essential for productivity, so it would be a good idea to check in with your staff regularly and ask for feedback regarding the current systems. They will likely have a better insight into what is working and what needs to be updated. If you have employees who work from home, ensure that you have effective internal lines of communication, through digital chat programmes such as Slack or Microsoft Teams. Having this will mean people can instantly communicate with each other, instead of wasting time waiting for an email reply.
Set Realistic Goals
Setting deadlines and goals is an effective way to increase productivity. There is real psychology behind the power of a deadline, so as a business manager, take advantage of that and set your staff goals. When setting goals or deadlines, it is essential to remember to be realistic with them. You want your staff to feel motivated by them, and not discouraged by an unreachable target. Therefore, it may be useful to work with your staff and help them create their own individual goals instead.
Whether you are going for daily, weekly, or monthly goals, try and stick to the same pattern so your staff has a regular routine to work with. This can effectively boost productivity because your employees can align their routines with the deadline set. For example, if there is a goal to be met every Friday, work that deadline into their weekly routines to ensure it is always met.
Avoid Time-Wasting Activities
If you want your employees to stay productive during the workday, then try not to turn their focus elsewhere by making them participate in time-wasting activities. For example, avoid scheduling meetings during a busy period unless the meeting is absolutely crucial or relevant to the task at hand. Often, the information presented in a meeting could be communicated via email instead, so take this into consideration before arranging a meeting.
If you do need to have a meeting during a busy period, make sure that your meeting takes place in an appropriate time frame and that the meeting doesn’t run over with unnecessary conversation. You can set out the meeting schedule beforehand, so everyone knows ahead of time how long the meeting is going to take. That way, your employees can factor the meeting time into their schedule to stay productive and focused on their work.
Summary
Productivity is the key to making a business a success; ensuring your employees are motivated and inspired will drive your business further and push it above competitors. At times, you may find that your employees lack motivation, so it is important to always be looking for ways to boost productivity. If you are struggling with ideas on how to inject some productivity into your business, use this article as a guide.