Everyone wants a workforce of happy and productive individuals, but this can be more difficult to achieve than you might first realise. If you want to have a workplace that is the very definition of productive, you need to be doing your part to facilitate it as an employer. Here are some of the best ways to do so.
Flexible Working Days
Keeping people tied to the standard 9 to 5 working day is not always the best. Everyone works in a slightly different way, and this means that what works for one employee could be awful for another. By giving an employee the chance to set their own working day, they will be able to create a schedule that works for them, allowing them to tackle their own productivity head-on.
For example, you might have one employee who likes doing the standard 9 to 5, but wants to do it from their home office. Another might want to start at 8 AM but take a slightly longer lunchbreak to allow them to exercise, so their working day is technically 8 to 5 but with a longer break in the middle. These are two very different schedules but they should result in productive employees who are happy to tackle their working day, no matter how it might look.
Mix Work and Fun
Employees can’t spend all day everyday with their head down and working. Humans in general are distracted far too easily. You might find your concentration wandering, and you can quickly lose motivation to tackle even simpler tasks.
This is why it is important to mix your work tasks with fun activities that can help to revitalise you and help you to concentrate once more. Don’t think that such tasks have to be completely separate from your day at work! You could choose one of many team building activities out there – thus allowing you the chance to let everyone relax and unwind whilst still keeping things vaguely orientated towards your company. A connected team will always be able to work together more effectively, and this in turn will allow everyone to be more productive.
Streamlined Operations
When was the last time that you went through all of your operations to check if there was something that you could do that would be more effective? If you have outdated operations in your business, your employee can quickly become bogged down by protocols and operations that will take up too much of their time. By the time that they can move on to the tasks that should use most of their attention, they are running out of time in the day.
Conducting an audit or operations every now and then should help to get around this. It will allow your team to look into other options and tools that could be far more useful. If you discover a task or even a tool that is now obsolete in your operations, you should seek to eliminate it. With everyday tasks being streamlined or even automated, your employees will be able to tackle their days in a far more productive manner, with their attention focused where it needs to be the most.
Productive employees don’t just manifest overnight. You need to keep a close eye on them to establish whether their productivity levels are slipping, and what you can then do to rectify this. Take the time to establish what could make your employees more productive, and make sure that you work with them to create a structure and routine that works best for them. This might be a long-term plan that shifts and changes a lot, but doing so will always be worth it.
Bio – An avid sports lover and creative writer, Jodie loves nothing more than sharing her insight into her favourite topics. As well as rugby and football, Jodie also enjoys writing about business and translating complicated corporate jargon into digestible and insightful content.
