5 Ways to Increase Productivity in the Workplace
Within the workplace, a productive team is a motivated one, and similarly, a motivated team is a happy one. Therefore, it makes sense that you should put your employees’ happiness first in order to guarantee that your team is working as effectively as possible and help you increase productivity. There are many ways to increase levels of happiness and motivation within the office environment, from corporate activity days to just a simple change of scenery. Following these top tips should be the boost necessary to give your team the best possible chance of success.
A Change of Scenery
Sometimes, falling into a regular routine can be the biggest drain on motivation, with the effects largely going unnoticed as you plod on through the same repeated actions day in, day out. You can increase productivity by shaking things up. Introduce some positive changes in the workplace to re-energise your employees and refresh the tone of the working day. Consider flexible working hours, or try to introduce more variety into the working day. Make sure to ask your employees if they have any suggestions, too – you never know what they could come up with!
Another simple change is to refresh the look of your office. Update the space by experimenting with switching around the layout and trialling something new. Try out some new furniture or add a touch of brightness to the office with a splash of colour.
Friendships
If your team aren’t bonding, then the chances are that they don’t feel comfortable enough around each other in order to gel and work together effectively as a team. Encourage your employees to chat and allow them to get to know one another – after all, friendships shouldn’t be too difficult to maintain when you see your colleagues at work every day.
The benefits of positive working relationships within the office are clear to see. Employees are far more likely to ask and offer help to each other, as well as ask for ideas which can help during brainstorming sessions all of which help increase productivity.
Business Process Management
Productivity and time management go hand in hand so you need to make sure all tasks, due dates and people involved are under control. BPM software like SaaS BPM does just that, by allowing organisations to monitor and track workflow from an easy-to-use centralized dashboard. Built especially for the needs of small businesses, BPM solutions are tailored to each and every level of your company – staff, executives, consultants, HR managers all the way to business owners and entrepreneurs.
Team Building Events
Corporate activity days are a quick fire way to boost morale. Team building events come in many different forms, from quiz nights to treasure hunts and much more besides, so it is easy to pick something to suit your team members.
Team activities carry many benefits, helping employees to get to know each other and promoting bonding within the team as a whole. Understanding one another’s strengths and weaknesses can do wonders for identifying areas for improvement as well, helping HR and management to put strategies in place to address these areas back in the office.
Goals and Targets
It is no secret that setting goals and targets for employees to achieve is a great way to tap into people’s inbuilt sense of competitiveness and also give them a bigger sense of satisfaction upon completion of each task. However, it is vital that these goals are realistically achievable. Expectations need to be attainable and not unrealistic, as setting unachievable goals will end up with the opposite effect.
The Sweetness of Success
Similarly, it is important to recognise successes in the workplace, both big and small. Show your employees that you appreciate all their hard work and the jobs that they do, as this will help to boost morale and make the team feel far more positive and freshly motivated when going about their daily tasks. Sometimes, something as seemingly insignificant as taking the time out to say ‘thank you’ really can go a long way.
Introduce these small changes to address the issue of falling rates of productivity within the workplace – your employees are sure to appreciate your efforts and motivation will be back up to its old level before you know it!