As the world adapts to new normal in living and working, improving productivity is the biggest challenge organizations are facing worldwide. The hybrid work model and an ever-evolving company tech stack have made it hard for employers to manage employee productivity during the pandemic. Productivity Management can help individuals and teams improve productivity. In this article we will discuss Productivity Management, why it is important, and effective tips to help you create a successful productivity management system.
As the world adapts to new normal in living and working, improving productivity is the biggest challenge organizations face worldwide. The hybrid work model and an ever-evolving company tech stack are making it harder for employers to maintain employee productivity. This is where productivity management comes in.
In this blog, we will talk about the basics of productivity management, why it is important, and practical tips to help you create a successful productivity management system.
What Is Productivity Management?
Productivity management is an organizational setup or framework that helps individuals and teams improve productivity. Productivity measures how efficiently an organization or its employees convert inputs, like labor and capital, into outputs, like goods or services. Managers use goals, incentives, development, and communication strategies to enhance employee performance and help them increase their productivity.
This productivity maximizes the business’ gains either directly – through improved productivity and quality – or indirectly – by retaining the best talents, upskilling them, and providing additional responsibilities.
Well-managed teams come out with increased productivity. On the other hand, poor productivity management can be one of the biggest reasons for lackluster employee performance and engagement.
How Does Management Affect Productivity?
Studies show that good management can significantly boost productivity, increase market value and growth, as well as the ability to withstand adverse situations like a recession. The action of managers and the enterprise can decisively influence the realization of productivity of the business.
Managers play a vital role in improving and maintaining productivity levels in their teams. A Gallup study points out that as much as 70% of the variance in employee engagement can be attributed to management. A good manager will have a clear understanding of the skill levels of each team member, their strengths and weaknesses, and work with them to ensure the best output from each of them. Managers also consider teams. Stress levels and mental well-being and extends support when needed.
Importance of Productivity in the Workplace
Highly productive employees help a company achieve its goals. Productivity boosts morale and creates a company culture of excellence, resulting in an improved workplace environment.
When a company is highly productive and successful, incentives like pay hikes, bonuses, medical insurance, etc., are made available to the employees. It motivates employees and advances their careers as the company flourishes.
For every company, productivity in the workplace is an essential aspect that the top management must understand in order to enjoy success.
Productivity Working From Home (WFH)
Studies by Upwork show that productivity in WFH is higher than in working from an office. On average, employees who work from home save 10 minutes less on non-productive tasks and are nearly 47% more productive than those working in the office. Plus, they are more consistent, work for more hours, and manage to get more done. With the world discovering alternate ways of remote working, productivity can actually be better working from home.
Benefits of Increased Productivity
Following are the benefits that can be derived from increased productivity:
- Effective utilization of resources results in increased production volume and lesser cost of production.
- Reduced time-to-market, better quality assured
- Less overhead costs
- More profits to stakeholders
- Higher per capita income generated
- Helps achieve overall growth and prosperity of the business
How Can You Manage Your Team’s Productivity in the Workplace?
It’s never easy leading a team in the workplace. However, if handled tactfully, you can make your team accomplish significant goals and take their productivity to a whole new level.
As a leader, you need to give your teammates enough opportunity to grow, make mistakes and learn. Encourage them to work in unison towards a common goal.
Practical Tips for Improving Team Productivity
Let’s discuss how to empower your teams to be more productive:
Give Ownership to Team Members
Let your team members make their own decisions and make them accountable for their work. This instills a sense of responsibility in employees regarding work, making them aware that their decisions can affect the performance of the entire team. Your trust can help build your team members’ self-esteem.
Make Proper Communication
One of the key factors that improve team productivity is effective communication must prevail in a team. Communication helps team members understand their responsibilities and reduces the chances of confusion within the team, which can affect overall productivity.
Identify the Strengths and Weaknesses of Your Team
As a manager, you have to know the knowledge, skillsets, and talents of teammates to allocate tasks accordingly. Making each member use their strengths will improve workplace productivity significantly.
Use Project Management Tools
Numerous project management software are available that play an essential role in boosting teamwork and productivity. Selecting the right project management tool can help effective work management and increase collaboration between teammates.
Reward Your Employees
Employees work best when their efforts are appreciated and they are given incentives. Implement incentive programs in the form of cash, free vouchers, lunch-outs, paid holidays, etc., to keep your employees motivated.
Give Constructive Feedback
Introduce performance review and constructive feedback process in the team. There’s no way employee efficiency will improve if the employees do not know they are being inefficient in the first place. Hence, constructive feedback is essential to improve team productivity.
How to Create a Successful Productivity Management System
Many managers find difficulty defining job responsibilities, leaving employees with vague ideas about what’s expected of them and how to be most productive. To get an accurate measure of your team’s efforts, you need to look at various factors in addition to time and effort.
Consider focusing on the following:
Quality
Whether your employees produce tangible or intangible assets, align their work with performance metrics so that there’s a distinct way to assess their work quality.
Impact on the Organization
Some projects might not have any particular metrics; however, they produce intangible results that positively impact your company. These impacts can be an improvement in employee engagement, helping other employees work better, and improving public awareness of your company.
Insights Gained
Often, the failure of a project can yield unexpected insights that your team can utilize to make rectifications in their approach as they move ahead. These kinds of failures should be considered productive in helping your team reach its goal of producing innovative work.
Types of Errors Made
Mistakes can deter progress. However, instead of being judgmental, you should assess whether the teammate made mistakes out of being careless or dealing with a complex task where they could not clearly figure out what was the right thing to do. Reprimand your employee if it is the former, especially if the mistake’s repeated. But, if not, discuss the decision-making process with your team and help them come up with ideas to avoid similar situations in the future.
How Independently They Worked
Everyone’s time in the organization is valuable. If an employee keeps on asking questions and seeking detailed feedback before making any constructive effort to solve their problems themselves that can negatively affect others productivity.
Consider each of these factors and other relevant ones to create a performance evaluation sheet of your teammates where you can assign a point value to each factor. Assign weights to each factor depending on its priority level. Find each employee’s productivity score by applying the weight of the point for each metric; this will reflect your company objectives.
Conclusion
Productivity management can be your key to driving business success and result-driven goals. When done well, it can bring incredible benefits to your organization. Understanding productivity is an integral part of project management. Learn how you can easily improve your company’s productivity with Simplilearn’s PGP in Project Management. This program will help you boost your career to the next level by understanding the key principles of project management, productivity management, and how you can help your company become more efficient.
