The new year will soon be here, and you have big plans for your business. Whether you’re embarking on a new path for your business, or you’re maintaining momentum, growth is in the cards.
You’ve considered hiring, but you’re also wondering if you can help your current team become more efficient. Is there a way to help them finish their to-do lists faster?
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We rounded up some tips to help you improve employee productivity in 2020. You may still need to hire, but your team will be more productive and efficient with any one of these tactics.
1. Invest in the Right Tools
If you want to increase employee productivity in the new year, look at the tools you’ve given your team. There are many tools and software out there to help your team run efficiently.
If you’re still making them fill out forms and enter data manually, you may be able to improve productivity by upgrading. With the right tools, people can get more done in short order.
2. Engage Your Team
Employee engagement is crucial to productivity. If your employees are motivated, they’re often excited to come to work. They’ll give you their best ideas, and their best efforts.
So, how do you engage a team? There are many different tactics to try. Show employees you appreciate them. Offer perks, or even just say “thank you”. Offer constructive feedback, and help everyone feel like they’re part of the team. Let your employees know just how much you appreciate them.
You are less likely to have turnover in your staff if you consistently engage your team, and positively and openly communicate with them.
3. Hire for Cultural Fit
When you do decide to hire in 2020, make sure you’re hiring for cultural fit. Employees whose values align with their employers’ tend to be more engaged and motivated.
They also tend to stay with the company longer. Why? They share the same vision as you, and they want to accomplish the same goals. Thus, they’ll work harder to help the company achieve those goals.
4. Encourage Self-Care
It may seem counterintuitive to tell employees to take a sick day if you want to increase productivity. It might be one of the smartest moves you can make.
Employees who feel ill, or stressed out, aren’t in peak condition. If they’re constantly working overtime, or double shifts, your workers may be feeling fatigued.
Encourage them to take better care of themselves. You can offer wellness seminars, or healthy snacks in the break room. Maybe someone can lead a group fitness class at lunch time.
When your employees feel well, they’ll be ready to bring their A-game.
5. Offer Training and Development
Speaking of seminars and classes, have you helped your team upgrade their skills lately? You’re offering all the right tools, but nobody knows how to use them effectively.
Schedule some training and development. Not only does this help employees upgrade their skills and complete tasks the smart way, it also shows them you care about them. When you’re willing to invest in their careers, they’ll be more willing to invest in your business.
6. Communicate
The key to any relationship is communication. Employee productivity could be suffering if the communication channels in your business are jammed.
People aren’t sure how to complete tasks. Directions and policies might be unclear. Someone may want feedback on their work before they continue. If they’re not sure what they’re doing, they could complete tasks the wrong way, which increases the time spent on any job.
Good communication solves these issues, helping your team get more done the right way.
7. Consider Flexible Scheduling
Another interesting idea for boosting employee productivity is remote work and flexible scheduling. You might think employees will accomplish less if they work at home, or if they’re not working standard hours, but the truth is many will actually perform better!
Comfort and individual schedules play a big role here. People may be more productive at certain times of the day, so letting them work when it suits them best raises their productivity.
If you’re looking for some new hires to add to an already productive team, get in touch with Liberty Staffing. We can help you find the right cultural fit.
