Is Your Workplace Facilitating or Hampering Employee Productivity?

It’s no surprise that productivity has become such a buzzword today. Almost everyone is looking to maximise it one way or another. Whether it’s a college student juggling studies and freelance gigs or a full-time employee chasing their passion after-hours, we’re always looking for ways to get the most done in the least amount of time possible. 

In a professional set up, employee productivity is critical for every business. No wonder every company is paying so much attention (and investing so much money) into figuring out how to crack the code to productivity to make the best use of employee time as possible.

But first things first. What exactly is employee productivity?

To put it in the simplest terms possible, employee productivity refers to how efficiently your employees can achieve their individual goals and how that contributes to the company’s goals as a whole. It’s not just how much they’re accomplishing, but how long it’s taking them, the resources they’re utilising in the process, and how smooth the whole process is.

However, this article isn’t going into employee productivity as a concept. I want to talk to you about something that’s often overlooked in discussions about employee productivity - the work space you’ve created for your employees in your company. 

In my conversations with entrepreneurs, I’ve noticed that the chat invariably turns towards employee culture and the various practices we employ to encourage our employees to meet their goals. However, these are usually management fads (like having ping-pong tables at work) that dominate the industry without offering much long-term value to the overall work culture.

Now, don’t get me wrong. These initiatives are an essential part of employee experience, contributing towards employee satisfaction. But some things can do more harm than good when not implemented properly.

Take technology, for example. Adapting to modern technologies and solutions is a crucial aspect of managing a business in today’s times. Project management tools like Asana have made coordinating work in teams so much easier, while applications like Slack and Microsoft Teams help organisations communicate more efficiently.

However, blindly adopting these techniques and implementing them without understanding how they’re supposed to help, and not giving your employees any proper training to operate them is just a disaster waiting to happen. They can also sometimes lead to more wastage of time than anything by causing distractions or making employees spend more time trying to figure out how to work these tools than on the actual work itself.

What might be hampering employee productivity?

In my time managing a business, I’ve come to realise that, while there may be various factors that affect employee productivity, the biggest culprit is the workplace environment that employees come into every day. That’s right. Your work culture could very likely be the main reason why your employees aren’t able to deliver their best.

There are many elements that affect employee productivity at work. Among them, perhaps the most important are those distractions that come directly from the workplace itself. Below, I’ve outlined some of the ways in which your workplace might be hampering employee productivity.

Disorganisation

A lot of companies fail to organize their employee’s time well, leading to a major dip in their productivity. They’re often jumping from one task to another, which—while sometimes unavoidable—is usually the result of improper work planning. This multitasking doesn’t just affect their ability to complete the tasks they’re supposed to, but can also lead to uncertainty and even quicker burnout due to being overwhelmed. 

Let your employees organise and plan their own time to some extent. Let them bunch the tasks according to priority and deadlines. As long as they’re clear of the goals and the work they have to finish, they’ll maximise their productivity on their own.

Physical Environment

A huge responsibility that lies on the organisations’ shoulder when planning for maximum productivity is making sure that their environment is as comfortable and conducive to creativity as possible.

This doesn’t just mean making sure that their space is clean and empty of clutter. You must also take care of oft-missed details like the temperature and atmosphere in the workplace, ensuring proper ventilation and breathing space, and adequate storage to put away their clutter. Try and reduce distractions, give them enough space to move around and stretch their legs, keep coffee and tea (or cold press juice and protein shakes) handy, and watch their productivity improve. 

Mental Environment

It’s not just the physical environment that affects productivity. The mindset your employees have while working also plays a huge part in how productive they are. It’s unavoidable that there’s some amount of gossip and competition in your workplace but if it’s becoming unhealthy and toxic at times, then it’s time to intervene.

A healthy working environment with established communication channels where your team feels heard and appreciated is the key to reaching organisational goals. You must also emphasise on the importance of breaks within your team, as overworking is the quickest way to burnout. Keep employee motivation up, and you’ll see direct results on productivity.

Inefficient Management

It’s the management’s job to look after everything their team needs to do their work properly. Some managers go overboard in their quest to meet targets and start micromanaging, which often has the opposite effect by compromising the quality of work and creating friction. However, it’s also important to give employees proper direction so they’re not left lost and wondering how to accomplish their tasks.

Establish appropriate organisational structures that aid your employees rather than make their work harder. They should know who they should go to with their troubles and, most importantly, who they are and aren’t accountable to. Of course, it’s good to have an informal workplace atmosphere where everyone can go up to anyone, but it’s also crucial that this doesn’t become more confusing than helpful.

Often, in our quest to maximise employee productivity, we lose sight of the ‘why’. At the end of the day, if we expect our employees to give us their best, we should also do the same and make sure they’re taken care of while they’re working hard to achieve company goals together. As long as we keep employee satisfaction and needs at the forefront of our planning, we will surely be able to achieve the results we long for.