Every business owner wants employees to work like busy bees — never getting sick, taking vacation, or going to lunch, while being satisfied with their work and working with great enthusiasm and creativity. Of course, this ideal is difficult to achieve, but it is possible to increase employee productivity through fairly simple methods that either cost nothing or pay for themselves in a short time.
1. Minimize Distractions to Increase Employee Productivity
The first thing to do to increase employee productivity is minimize the number of things that distract from work. We are all familiar with situations when you just sat down to work, got focused, and then a phone call or email distracts you and forces you to switch to answering a colleague, client or supplier. At the same time, complex work (writing a report, creating a presentation) requires maximum concentration and quite a lot of uninterrupted time.
Why does an employee who is constantly distracted lose productivity? The fact is that our brain does not reach maximum performance right away. When you start working on a report, for example, the first few minutes your brain operates at half strength. Then productivity increases and remains at maximum for 40–45 minutes. If you get distracted, you’ll have to redo the mental tuning, and the time to complete the task increases. So how can we eliminate such harmful distractions to increase employee productivity?
To enhance productivity and mitigate low employee retention rates, adopt the following protocols:
- Phone calls should only be made to address truly important and urgent tasks. Every employee should know that calling may distract a colleague and thereby “steal” their time. So the first rule: ban phone calls to colleagues. Only important and at the same time urgent things can be a reason to call.
- Rules for working with email need to be introduced to increase employee productivity: review incoming messages twice a day, for example, in the morning from 9:00 to 9:30 and after lunch from 14:00 to 14:30. Notifications of incoming letters must be disabled.
- Introduce a ban on personal mobile phone conversations in the office to increase employee productivity. Accordingly, during working hours, mobiles should be switched to silent mode.
2. Create Conditions for Proper Rest
Lack of sleep and insufficient rest are among the main sources of low employee productivity. A person who does not get enough sleep and rest works at a level significantly below the maximum possible. It is difficult for such an employee to concentrate, they make more mistakes, take much longer and complete assignments less efficiently. With chronic lack of sleep and significant overtime, employees get sick more often, and the likelihood of resignation increases manifold. Of course, you can’t make employees sleep at least seven hours and rest properly, but the manager still has some opportunities to increase employee productivity.
With other conditions being equal, a work schedule from 10am to 7pm is preferred to increase employee productivity. First, you can sleep longer. Second, this schedule reduces commute time due to less traffic in the mornings and evenings, and increases employee comfort on public transport. After 9am and after 7pm there are many fewer people on the subway and ground transport.
Experiments have also shown fairly good results when employees are allowed to work from home one day a week or two weeks to increase employee productivity. This practice reduces fatigue, allows resting from morning commutes, saves time spent traveling to and from the office, and also provides an opportunity to work on priority tasks without being distracted by colleagues.
In order for an employee to be able to switch to communicating with family, friends and nonwork related matters after work, it is necessary to eliminate the practice of calling employees about work after the end of the working day, on weekends and during vacation to increase employee productivity. Also, important and large tasks should not be sent to subordinates at the end of the working day: don’t let them think about the “elephant” that fell on their head a minute before leaving work until midnight.
3. Cultivate a Healthy Lifestyle to Increase Employee Productivity
Good health gives a person more energy to increase employee productivity. A healthy employee is more creative, motivated, positive, and creates a positive emotional environment in the team. Such an employee does not take sick leave, copes with assigned tasks faster and reacts more positively to difficulties and troubles at work. Therefore, a healthy lifestyle and sports should be cultivated in the corporate culture to increase employee productivity.
To achieve this, Human Resources department will integrate targeted health and well-being campaigns into overarching HR marketing strategy. From on-site fitness facilities and wellness seminars to nutritional workshops, initiatives will encompass a holistic approach to employee well-being.
These health-centric incentives will be prominently highlighted in internal and external communications, thereby positioning the company as an employer of choice for health-conscious professionals. We believe that by advocating for employee health, we are investing in the company’s most valuable asset, securing both productivity and loyalty, while fortifying brand’s competitive edge.
As a rule, we spend 70–80% of working time sitting in a chair in front of a monitor in an almost motionless state. That’s why we need physical activity during the workday to increase employee productivity. Ideally, exercises should be done after every two hours of sitting at the computer. Moreover, it is better to introduce the practice of group classes. Many foreign companies practice workplace exercise to increase employee productivity. A simple set of stretching and fitness exercises helps boost employee energy levels, improve blood circulation, and supply the body with oxygen. Resting the eyes from the monitor is also important.
For example, if the work day starts at 10am, the first “approach” to exercise should be at noon to increase employee productivity. Exercises should take no more than 10–15 minutes, employees should not get tired. The second series of exercises takes place 2–2.5 hours before the end of the workday. Conducting exercise at the end of the workday helps boost employee motivation and tune them for active work at the end of the workday, instead of just sitting out the last working hours, as often happens.
If space allows, a fitness room can be equipped in the office to increase employee productivity. An exercise bike, a couple of gym mats for abdominal exercises, a pull-up bar, and a few sets of dumbbells are quite enough. And if you install a pull-up bar, compete to see who can do more pull-ups and reward the winner. Good physical shape should be encouraged to increase employee productivity. You can also reimburse employees for part of the cost of swimming or gym memberships.
4. Organize Proper Nutrition
When considering the term “proper nutrition” as a tool to increase employee productivity, several dimensions can be distinguished. The first is what we eat. If you provide team meals, then the task is simplified. You just need to monitor the balance and healthiness of what you order for employees to increase employee productivity. If not, all you can do is give a lecture on proper nutrition and set a good example.
What is in the hands of management is the lunch break to increase employee productivity. In 99% of companies, employee meal breaks are organized inefficiently. The only thing worse than a single one-hour break in the middle of the workday is no break at all.
Let’s look at what happens to an employee in terms of productivity with the usual work and rest schedule. At 9am the person comes to work. Drinks tea, eats a snack. At about 11–12 o’clock, blood glucose levels drop, a person starts to feel hungry. For an hour or two before lunch break, the body operates in a suboptimal state, the employee is distracted by thoughts of hunger, operating at half their capabilities. Some just wait for the break to eat, pretending to work. And here comes lunch break. The employee goes to a cafe and eats a business lunch: first course, second course, salad and compote — in a word, overeats. Now the body will take about an hour to partially cope with the large amount of food. During this period, energy will be directed to digestion, and the employee feels heaviness in the stomach, drowsiness. And again, until 2:30–3:00 pm the employee works at the minimum of their capabilities. In addition, this eating pattern creates the prerequisites for weight gain.
To maintain a roughly constant level of glucose and energy to increase employee productivity, you need to eat every three to four hours. And accordingly, there should be at least two meal breaks — half an hour each. The first after three hours from the start of the workday, the second — another three hours later. For example, at 1pm if the workday starts at 10am, and at 4pm. This eating schedule will help increase employee productivity by smoothing out energy levels throughout the workday.
Perfection, as we know, has no limit. The number of ways to increase employee productivity is endless. Try to apply at least those described. And then feel free to take the initiative and work in other areas to increase employee productivity. The main thing is that all employees understand the reason for the changes. Before starting to implement new practices, they must be announced to employees, make a “presentation”. Innovations are often perceived with distrust. Explain to employees the benefits that innovations will bring to increase employee productivity. And of course the leader should strictly adhere to the rules he has introduced, set an example for the team, be a supporter of productive work, healthy lifestyle.
Conclusion
With some simple strategies like minimizing distractions, promoting rest, incorporating activity, and structuring meal times, managers can make significant gains in increasing employee productivity. Small changes to operations that consider human needs and energy levels allow people to work at their full potential while staying engaged and healthy. Focusing on increasing employee productivity through work conditions, environment, and culture pays dividends.
Read also:
