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Each firm is eager to maximise worker productivity, because it instantly interprets to higher enterprise outcomes. As such, productiveness is usually considered as one thing management has to handle.
Sometimes, this manifests in varied top-down initiatives and guidelines — executives get impressed by the most recent productiveness development or analysis and are fast to leap on the bandwagon, implementing it throughout their group.
Anybody who has gone via this course of (together with myself) will let you know that it hardly ever works. Why? As a result of productivity techniques and strategies are virtually by no means a one-size-fits-all resolution. Productiveness is a extremely particular person and context-dependent side of labor that varies from individual to individual and position to position.
So, quite than implement some blanket concept of what productiveness should appear like, I consider entrepreneurs ought to take the time to watch and perceive the working patterns of their groups and reply accordingly by participating with the individuals and catering to their strengths.
That is what I did — and listed here are 5 issues I realized about productiveness from my workers.
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1. Totally different individuals thrive at completely different occasions of the day
I am an early riser, and in my childhood, I used to be taught that it is a key trait of a tough employee. It is nonetheless a well-liked narrative that you will see plastered all over the place — from LinkedIn posts to inspirational posters.
However the reality is that individuals’s productiveness peaks at completely different occasions of the day, and whereas I may be at my greatest at 9 am, others might get most completed within the afternoon when I’m operating out of juice.
That is why I encourage each entrepreneur who can to make use of flexible working hours, particularly, permitting staff members to decide on after they begin and finish their workday. In our case, individuals can begin anytime from 9 to 11 a.m., and it has had a constructive impression not solely on general productiveness but additionally on worker satisfaction.
Forcing individuals into unnatural working patterns simply does not make sense.
2. Peak artistic hours? Lunchtime
At DeskTime, we provide free lunch within the workplace, so the canteen is likely one of the few locations the place the staff usually comes collectively. Work is never the primary matter of dialogue, however when it does come up, challenges get tackled in a much more artistic and candid approach than in any assembly room.
After all, it is not due to the meals itself however quite the casual setting shared with the prolonged staff. No hierarchy, no etiquette, and no stress imply concepts that may get stifled in a gathering can come out unabridged — they usually’re typically precisely what’s wanted to make headway with a present problem.
In different phrases, there are a lot of methods to maximise productiveness, and as a staff chief, it is best to be sure that productiveness prospers in all potential avenues.
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3. Clear expectations result in greater productiveness
Productiveness at work is the efficient use of time to resolve a problem. So, it is no shock that if workers need to spend a major period of time determining the duties at hand, then productiveness suffers. Merely put, if workers do not perceive their duties, they cannot do them successfully.
Therefore, one of many largest staff productiveness boosters is strong leadership paired with clear communication. When everyone seems to be aligned on objectives and expectations and totally geared up to realize them, the movement of labor turns into a lot smoother.
Regardless of how a lot you give attention to particular person efficiency, you will not have the ability to elevate it if the underlying system is damaged.
4. Common breaks increase productiveness
I realized this from my staff over a decade in the past after I noticed that the individuals who go for espresso each hour, play foosball, and usually take breaks carry out simply as nicely—if not higher—than those that do not.
In the present day, the science behind the value of taking breaks is nicely established. We even did a research at DeskTime that exposed that the best individuals work for 52 minutes after which take a 17-minute break, which led us to coin the viral 52/17 rule.
Regardless of this, I nonetheless usually encounter enterprise leaders hellbent on maximizing productiveness by maximizing time spent on the pc. That is simply not how people work.
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5. Watch out in selecting the instruments you employ
Just about each piece of enterprise software program guarantees extra environment friendly working strategies that ought to result in higher productiveness. It is simple to get caught up within the hype, always reimagining workflows and fantasizing about how you will leverage expertise to unravel productiveness and different challenges.
Do not get me improper — that is precisely what a pacesetter ought to do. However all the time keep in mind that your aim is to attenuate overhead and friction on your workers.
It takes time to be taught instruments and sources and combine them into present programs. Additionally, whereas the instrument may maintain some processes for the workers, the workers now need to maintain the instrument. Typically, it is a tradeoff that solely appears good on paper — if the workers hate utilizing one thing, it would backfire regardless of how a lot fats it trims off.
In different phrases, getting the staff’s enter on whether or not this productivity-boosting expertise is definitely boosting productiveness is all the time worthwhile. And if not — abandon it.