The success of small businesses typically depends on the productivity of their employees. When the employees are productive, the business can thrive and grow. To ensure this, the business should focus on making its employees happy since it will result in better productivity for the business.
Better productivity is important for the business to avoid the fate of other businesses that closed during the pandemic. Here are some tips that business owners can take into account to improve the productivity of their employees.
Create Realistic Goals
One issue that many employees have to deal with is the goal their employers have set for them. Some of these goals are not realistic. For instance, an employer will require employees to call 80 to 100 numbers an hour to sell the products of the business. Calling a hundred numbers in an hour is not easy to achieve unless they limit each to less than a minute each.
So, business owners should make sure that the goals they set for their employees are realistic and achievable. The business owner should also set their expectations for their employees and clarify them whenever necessary.
Provide the Right Equipment
Another way to improve productivity is to provide the employees with the equipment they need to perform their tasks. When the employees do not have the equipment and tools, their performance will suffer since they have to look for ways to accomplish their tasks.
If the business owner asks his employees to work from home, he should provide them with the things they need for their work. The equipment and tools will include computers, an internet connection, and software they need for their work.
If the business is a small manufacturing company, it can install an industrial conveyor on the production floor to facilitate the movement of the components or finished products. Providing the equipment and tools that the employees need can increase productivity to a considerable degree.
Improve Working Conditions
If the employees have to work on-site in the middle of the pandemic, the business owner should make sure the workplace is safe. The business owner can check the guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for businesses that have on-site employees.
Aside from requiring the employees with masks, the business owner should also provide hand sanitizers and sanitizing stations within the workplace to reduce the risk of infection from Covid19. Even with the decreasing numbers of cases, it’s still important for the business owner to implement measures to protect its employees who are working on site.
Use Positive Reinforcement
With all the stress people are dealing with, business owners can use positive reinforcement when dealing with their employees. Business owners can encourage and motivate their employees. They can also reward them for good performance.
Positive reinforcement is a better option when a business wants to increase the productivity of its employees. With positive reinforcement, the employees will have a better feeling compared to negative reinforcement.
If business owners use negative reinforcement, the employees will feel demotivated and stressed. In these situations, their productivity will suffer, and it will hurt the performance of the business in the market.
Eliminate Distractions
One of the biggest things that hurt productivity is the use of social media. The business owner can opt to ban the use of mobile phones at work. While this may reduce distractions in the workplace, the policy may not be consistent with the focus of the business in providing positive reinforcement for its employees.
To deal with the issue of distraction, the business owner can give them some breathing room when it comes to the use of mobile phones in the workplace. The business owner can encourage them to turn off the phone while working. They can take regular breaks to allow them to check their mobile phones. This strategy allows the employees to maintain their productivity while having some freedom in checking their phones during their breaks.
Encourage Efficiency
The business owner should also encourage efficiency among its employees. While being productive is the main goal of the business owner, he should also consider the efficiency of his employees. Business owners should not set aside efficiency while at work. Productivity and efficiency go hand-in-hand.
For instance, a writer who can produce a 1,000-word article within an hour is not efficient if the article needs at least three hours of editing to make it ready for uploading on the business’s website. On the other hand, a writer who takes three hours to produce a similar article that does not require any editing is more productive than the previous employee.
Business owners need to implement several measures to improve the productivity of employees while at work.
