As a business owner or as a manager it is your job to improve the performance of your company or of your branch. So, you need to make sure your workers are motivated and that they appreciate their working environment and respect their co-workers.
There are various ways that you can do this, and these methods largely depend on the type of business you are in, some are effective if you have an office, and others are more effective for door-to-door salesman. The following article will give you some suggestions on how to improve the productivity and efficiency of your workforce. Here are eight ways to improve productivity and efficiency in your company.
Table of Contents
IMPROVE WORKING ATMOSPHERE
The first thing you need to do is enhance the quality of an overall working atmosphere in your company. You can do this by making sure everything looks good, that your office is clean and has enough fresh air. You can install good air-conditioning system to keep the place pleasant during the summer, and floor heating to keep the place warm during winter.
It is essential that your employees have quality equipment as well, and that everything functions smoothly. Remember to balance out the degree of seriousness and friendliness in the office. It needs to be inviting and positive, but it also needs to have a dose of seriousness and professionalism, in order to maintain the level of productivity.
TEAM BUILDING EXERCISE
To allow your employees to get to know each other, and to give them some time off, you need to use team building exercises. This is an opportunity to unwind, have fun, become friends, and to see how people behave outside of the office. There are various team building exercises you can use, and each of them has their own benefits.
You can organize your workers to play paintball. It’s an amazing and really fun team activity, and you get to see just how your workers act when they are out of their comfort zone. Paintball requires agility, quick thinking, and tactical precision. Moreover it requires that your employees cooperate and to rely on one another.
Another really good form of team building exercise are escape rooms. These started to pop up all over the world recently. The exercise itself is lots of fun, and also you get to see which one of your workers are leader, which one are problems solver, who is a good team player and who wants to be a show off etc. You and your employees are locked in a room and in order to get out you must solve a series of puzzles. The catch is that you really need to work together if you are to pull it off.
You can also have team building activities during breaks, for example you can play pool, or darts or video games depending on which one you want to get for the office. This is really good, because not only do your workers have a chance to bond, but they will also love the workplace that has a game room. If they have such a room and love their jobs, they will work harder in order to keep advancing and to solidify their position in the company.
USE BETTER TOOLS
People love when everything is organized and optimized, especially if you use technology to help you out. Many companies use all sorts of software to help them with customer service, sales, financial management etc. If you are running a big company, then you can really benefit from enterprise software, since they are specially tailored to meet these demands.
The only problem is that there are many different providers, and some of these tools do not have a user interface that you can easily navigate. It would be for the best to go over reviews of enterprise software, and find the one that other users liked the most. Alternatively, you can try any software with free trial period, and see which one you personally prefer, but on the downside this can be very time-consuming,
With these tools you can manage your workers, you can have a more efficient task distribution, perform some of more complex calculations etc. As mentioned, a lot of business, both big and small, use these tools, so if you haven’t made the switch yet, you should do it as soon as possible.
EMPLOYEE BASED INCENTIVES
There is nothing that motivates people more than a reward, which is why employee incentive programs often facilitated by OKR software still exist and are one of the most efficient tools for increasing productivity. You can use different methods to motivate your workers.
For example, you can create a point system that allows them to gather points that they can later cash in for a price or money, you can allow them to pool the points together, or to accumulate them over time, but make sure the points are only received if they put in extra work.
In other words, you need to calculate what a daily contribution should be, and then anyone who exceeds this daily limit is entitled to the points. It is also important that prizes themselves are inspiring and motivating, like a new TV or new suit, or a travel arrangements etc. Something that people would buy in the first place if they had extra money.
CELEBRATE YOUR VICTORIES
It’s crucial that your workers feel good about themselves and their achievements. You need to use positive reinforcement in form of a small celebration. So, whenever you reach a particular milestone this will show them that you respect them as a team, and they will be motivated to reach new heights. Moreover, whenever a new milestone is nearby, everyone will work a bit harder just to get there sooner and celebrate.
CUT DOWN ON THE UNNECESSARY BUSINESS MEETINGS
Business meetings are very useful, but at some point they become redundant. So, when this happen you can skip some of the mandatory meetings, because there is nothing useful to discuss; they only reduce the time that could be otherwise used for work, or for team building. If something unexpected comes up, you can always have an emergency meeting. In other words, cut down on unnecessary practices in general, because at one point you achieve optimal efficiency that shouldn’t be messed with.
BLOCK CERTAIN WEBSITES
Lastly, you need to reduce the number of potential distractions like Facebook, YouTube or Pinterest etc. These sites might be essential for some types of business (social media marketing agency), but as far as other businesses are concerned they can only be a waste of time. So, you can easily block these sites, and no one will even complain because they weren’t supposed to be on social networks in the first place. It is true that we are all grown-ups and that we can manage our impulses but, when it comes to social networks people easily give in, and say –“I’ll just look at it for one minute” which very often becomes 10 or even 15 min. All things considered you should block these sites.
There you have it, eight ways to improve productivity and efficiency. Some of these tips are universal, others can only be applied in the office, and again you can use those that you think will resonate the most with your employees.
