編輯嚴選

如何增進員工生產力？

Many business advisors suggest that the performance of staff has a significant impact on the success of a company. Hence, to increase staff productivity seems one of predominant tasks for every manager to achieve from day-to-day work. However, it may be argued that corporate profits and shareholder returns are directly linked to labour productivity growth.

In general, labour productivity is often calculated by measuring the efficiency relative to employee working hours. Many believe that time management is a prerequisite for staffs in the workplace. If employees fail to prioritize their tasks and have an unclear working schedule, it might cause redundant routines and decrease company performance. With the development of digital technology, there is a tendency that many workers cannot focus on their jobs and spend too much time on personal affairs, such as browsing on the Internet, shopping online or posting on Facebook. As a result of these, one solution is to arrange meetings so that managers could carefully monitor employee progress. However, the issue of meetings is effectiveness. Some people argue that confusing objectives, ambiguous agenda, late arrivals, and off-topic conversations affect the productive time-spent. In addition, a hostile working environment may influence staff collaboration. As an old saying said, “unity makes strength”. If a staff member is self-centered and does not have a team spirit, it might also have an impact on working performance. Finally, the output of productivity not only relates to staffs, but also is relevant to the optimization of working process and investment of machinery.

Some solutions in improving employee performance could be three-dimensional, corporate level, management style and staff empowerment. First, at the corporate level, most companies would rather generate maximum profits and at the same time decrease any possible cost spent. Yet, with business growth, out-of-date machinery, aged working process, and incomplete human resources planning would strongly affect the efficiency of productivity performance. Therefore, investment tools, such as IT solutions, advancement of equipment and improvement of working procedures, would prevent the employees from unnecessary waste of time.

Next, managers should be aware of being role models in their departments. Their managerial style would benefit in team building and increase staff productivity. For example, employees should not be allowed to use smartphones at the meeting to minimize distraction. In addition, managers would track individual progress for better understanding of workload measurement. Training is essential to help staffs finding problems and developing solutions. When employees become more productive at their work, a good rewarding system would motivate the engagement and empower other personnel to raise their productivity.

In conclusion, productivity simply refers to how much work is done over a specific period. This idea of measurement came from Industrial Revolutions. In the 21st century, since the working environment is changing thanks to technology development, it could be argued if employees shall be seen as a component of machinery by calculating their output based on time spent. It is crucial to perceive staffs’ value contribution rather than number of tasks to be done in a short time.