The success of a company depends on its people. But if even one is unproductive, unsatisfied, and unhappy with their job, this can already influence your brand’s success rate. This is why tons of articles talk about how one can invest in their employees.
Investing in your staff does more than just satisfy their needs and keep them loyal to your company. This can also help boost workplace performance, making it a win-win situation. To help your staff worker smarter, here are some strategies that you can consider.
Find Ways to Limit Distraction
Did you know that it takes about an average of 25 minutes to refocus after getting distracted? This means every time your employees encounter a workplace distraction, you are already losing up to 25 minutes’ worth of productivity. Imagine how much time is wasted just because you failed to help employees limit their distractions.
There are many things that can distract your staff from doing their jobs. The problem is, different employees can have different distractions. Knowing more about their triggers will make it easier for you to determine which project you can invest in.
For instance, your workers work in a factory or warehouse. Did you know that extreme temperature distracts your employees, especially women? Men are less bothered by warmer working environments than women in colder workplaces.
If most of your workers are women and you want them to be more productive, then consider turning up the thermostat. Better yet, you can upgrade to ceramic infrared or radiant gas heaters. This way, you can ensure that your employees can enjoy a more comfortable indoor temperature while working.
If you find that your employees are distracted by your regular meetings, consider toning it down. You can change once a week meetings to twice a month. This will give your employees more time to focus on their project and avoid getting distracted from meetings which memos you can easily send via email.
There are also people who get easily distracted by noise or clutter. You can provide your staff with a quiet place to stay, and place a quiet zone sign. This way, those who really need to work in a quiet work environment can get their jobs done.
Allow Employees to Take Mental Health Breaks
Businesses are now rethinking their worker’s mental health after millennials voiced their concerns. Millennials are more vocal when it comes to telling their employers about their stress and workplace burnout. To retain millennial employees and improve workplace productivity, many employers now made policy changes to better accommodate what the younger generation needs.
Many businesses now allow their employees to use their leaves for mental health breaks. Others even allow flexible schedules and offer time for remote work. If you can do the same, update policies to make way for better employee mental health.
Note that not all employees will require a few days’ vacations to take a mental health break. Some only need a few minutes, while others can require a single day. Mental health breaks will be different for everyone.
When you allow such perks, they will have the chance to focus on their mental health and come back refreshed and more productive. They can find time to work on personal matters instead of thinking about this and getting distracted while working. They will love their jobs and the company more and will do their best each day.
Simplify Their Jobs
The right investments can help make your staff’s job easier, faster, and safer. When you invest in things that will simplify your employee’s jobs, they can work at a quicker and more efficient pace. You will worry less about their safety and even solve problems that are stopping them from staying productive.
Evaluate your business needs and consider upgrades that can help you accomplish your goal. This could mean buying better equipment, outsourcing certain specialty tasks, or investing in different tools to automate your staff’s job. This could also refer to certain strategies you haven’t considered before that are now relevant in your industry.
Take digital marketing for your manufacturing business as an example. You may have tons of customers thanks to client referrals and prefer physical transactions instead of online. But if you ignore online marketing, you are already missing out on the opportunity to grow your brand and widen your reach even further.
You can also consider rethinking the annual performance reviews, like what Accenture did in 2015. They got rid of their annual evaluation process in exchange for timely feedback. This helps eliminate time-consuming paperwork and gives employees real-time improvement.
You may be busy running your business. But you should always make time for your employees and their needs. Without them, you will have a hard time running and growing your brand. Be an employee-centric business and you can boost their work performance. This, in turn, will help you accomplish your business goals with their help.
