When it comes to business, every employee counts. Irrespective of the size and the industry domain of an enterprise, each employee is a vital resource who contributes to its success or failure. However, to ensure the continued success of a business and to stay relevant in the market with the changing times is an uphill battle. It requires constant upskilling of employees and adopting new technologies, tools, and business strategies.
If you are an entrepreneur with a vision, surely you’ll adopt new tools and technologies, but then you will also have to ensure that your human resources are adequately skilled to wield them. This is the reason why it is crucial to invest in employee upskilling to improve their productivity and performance.
What Is Employee Performance?
The term “Employee Performance” refers to how well an employee fulfills his/her day-to-day duties to contribute to the bigger picture – company goals and vision – while upholding the standard professional ethics in the workplace. In essence, employee performance denotes the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of an employee’s output.
It also evaluates an employee’s value in an organization. Since each employee is an investment for a company, they are expected to bring in a substantial return on investment for the company as well.
On the other hand, Employee Productivity is a measure of the output an employee generates for a business or organization. Usually, companies monitor and measure employee productivity quantitatively, such as by tracking time and costs and compare it against the output to understand how productive an employee is in the workplace.
Read: 4 Inspiring Ways You Can Improve Your Employees
If trained right, human resources can become the biggest strength for your business. Here’s what Business Insider found about the revenue that top companies make through each employee:
How To Improve Employee Productivity?
Every team leader or manager must assess and evaluate employee performance to find out where there is room for improvement. In fact, even employees should track their own productivity and performance quotient to hone their professional skills and climb up the promotional ladder within an organization.
So, how do you boost employee productivity? Here’s how!
Read more: 4 Inspiring Ways You Can Improve Your Employee
1. Identify underperforming resources
Every day at work isn’t the same. It may so happen that the monotony of work may catch up with many of your employees, thereby hampering their enthusiasm for work. You need to communicate with your employees, understand their pain points and hurdles they face in the workplace, and try to alleviate the same.
It is essential to find out the root cause of underperformance. Maybe your employees don’t have the right tools, or perhaps they lack the proper training to synchronize with the new practices at work, or maybe they do not feel appreciated in the workplace. All such reasons could significantly dampen the spirit of your employees, causing them to not put in their best.
2. Equip your employees with the right tools
While it is true that employee skills are one of the most critical driving factors determining the success of your business, the tools your employees use also play a massive role in the same context. When your employees use the right tools, it not helps to streamline the business workflows, but also helps to lighten their workload to a great extent.
For instance, collaboration tools, like Slack and Trello, promote teamwork, and simplify things in the workplace. Similarly, time tracking apps and communication apps help employees to track their progress and communicate with team members seamlessly, no matter where they are.
Learn more: Tips For Productively Work From Home
3. Invest in employee training and upskilling
Most companies train their employees during the onboarding process. However, what they don’t understand is that employee training does not stop there – it is an ongoing process. As new technologies and business practices emerge, your employees must stay updated with these to maintain their competency in the organization while also upholding the company’s position in the market.
This is why you should invest in ongoing training and development programs for your employees from time to time. It will help boost their professional skills and knowledge base while also increasing their productivity.
4. Promote autonomy
While managers may cringe on hearing this, it can be one of the most effective tools to boost employee productivity and performance. Often employees feel smothered under the constant watch of managers – they feel like they cannot work freely. This eventually hampers their willingness to work.
However, if managers take a step back and let employees take charge of their responsibilities, it’ll be a welcome change in the work environment. Employees will learn how to manage their time and resources. They will become a part of a self-correcting process wherein they will operate independently and take responsibility for both their successes and failures. By doing so, managers can focus their efforts on strategic thinking instead of having to micromanage continually.
5. Instill the mantra of self-care in your employees
Your employees can only give their best at work when they are mentally and physically fit and healthy. The American Institute of Stress maintains that “occupational pressures and fears are far and away the leading source of stress for American adults.” The same goes for professionals all across the globe. Excessive workload and toxic work environments can lead to stress, which eventually leads employees to burnout. They no longer remain productive.
So then how do you tackle this problem at work? By encouraging your employees to take care of themselves. As a leader of an organization, you must put effort into creating a positive and healthy work environment for your employees. This means that you need to keep the communication channels open for them (so they can reach out to you); offer constructive feedback to them; offer plenty of opportunities for your employees to grow, and establish clear parameters of success.
Also read: Remote Work: A Win-Win for Employer and Employees
6. Boost job satisfaction
Yes, as an employer, it is your prime responsibility to look after your employees. You must ensure that they enjoy maximum job satisfaction. Tech giants like Facebook, Google, and Apple are highly employee-oriented. They provide a host of perks and benefits to employees to keep them satisfied and coming back to the workplace.
Job satisfaction isn’t only about offering a pay raise – it is also about showing your employees that they are valuable and treasured assets of your company. For instance, little perks like complimentary drinks, movie passes, nap pods, and game rooms could fo a long way to keep your employees happy and satisfied with their work.
Concluding Thoughts
By taking these six simple steps, you could create a positive and productive workplace for your employees. You know you have succeeded when your employees cannot wait to come back to work!
The lockdown is an opportunity to upskill your employees with latest technologies. Checkout upGrad’s top courses in Data Science, Machine Learning, Digital Marketing, MBA & Full Stack Management.
If you want to utilize this lockdown time to upskill your employees, check out our enterprise upskill page for more information.
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