Employee productivity is a crucial aspect of the success dynamics of a company and it takes more than the employee’s potential to increase productivity. Set capability aside for a moment, a number of environmental factors too play a role in determining whether a company’s employees are at their productive best. If you have two employees of similar calibre and commitment giving contrasting outputs, it would serve you to sit back and think what is going wrong with the non-performer. A work related factor may be troubling him or her, or the person might be struggling with lack of motivation at work.
To put the human aspect of an employee before the resource aspect works not just in the employee’s personal favor but in the larger interests of the company to ensure productivity is good as it will help cut costs, deliver on deadlines, improve the work culture and promote retention i.e. essentially meet all the larger objectives.
Knowing the employee’s strengths and weaknesses; playing to the strengths and ironing out the weaknesses and motivating the employees to learn and excel can work wonders. As an employer, you should encourage your managers to shed the cold, strictly professional attitude and throw in some warm traits in their interactions. It will help create a healthy, positive work environment.
Some of the key elements that need to be used are:
Delegate work, it helps build capacity: You may be a perfectionist; each mail that goes to your clients, every report that is compiled and each plan that is drawn shall be perfectly done according to you. However, if you keep the work concentrated in a few hands, the employees will neither learn nor take responsibility.
Delegation is not only a strategy to manage time and resource well, it also empowers. When you delegate work, you transfix greater responsibility to your juniors. In doing so, you also give them greater authority and control over their job. This also gives employees a lot of space to learn about the industry and discover their strengths.
The more an employee is responsible for, the more exposure she will get and the more chances of growth and development. If you repose your faith and trust in an employee and put responsibility on his or her shoulders, the person will certainly feel valued, confident and motivated. Delegating work also decentralizes work which results in faster and smoother processes directly impacting increase in productivity.
Offer regular challenges: An employee should never feel static in his or her job; there should always be scope for new challenges and excitement. Any new employee is naïve to the industry and it needs to learn the art of sailing with time and practice. But learning doesn’t happen when there is nothing challenging to do in a job.
Rather than restrict your employees to the monotony of mechanical jobs, make them a part of your challenges. Do not hesitate to put a project on a young shoulder. Guide them from behind, keep boosting their morale and tell them they can do it. A successful completion of the project would not only prepare them for future challenges but also whet their appetite and instill an unmatched confidence in them. The adrenaline rush that comes with a challenging job at hand is much like an addiction; it wants you to have more.
Encourage creative thinking: Fresh thinking and creative working is something that drives young employees like nothing. Rather than stick to the tried and tested formulae, give your employees a free hand to develop their own codes and procedures. Encourage them to think afresh and spring up out-of-the-box ideas. Make them feel a part of the company’s think tank. This will not only nurture their talent but also keep them motivated and hungry.
Help them build their capacity: Often, despite desiring to pursue further education and training, young graduates take up jobs to earn a living. An organisation’s framework and policies need to be encouraging towards pursuing advanced studies in today’s dynamic world so an employee doesn’t feel compelled to quit job to study further.
(The writer is VP-Human Resource, Sun life Financial’s Asia Service Centre, Gurgaon)