5 Tips for Boosting Workforce Productivity
Partnered Content.
Remote work has quickly become the norm in the global economy, particularly in the last year, but that was probably inevitable anyway – the pandemic simply accelerated the shift. This acceleration, however, has opened up a myriad of issues that must be solved to ensure future standards are met. One of these obstacles is productivity in the workforce. The home office situation requires workers to be disciplined and accountable in ways they haven’t done before. If your company needs home office productivity solutions, the tips below can help.
The Productivity Zone
Digital distractions dominate the world of work at present, especially with such a large portion of employees working remotely. It’s all too easy to procrastinate on the Internet or in the home during office hours. The productivity zone can help. Properly understood and put into practice, it can improve employee productivity and alleviate boredom and stress. The zone is a flow state used by athletes and artists to improve concentration in the moment. This is achieved using mindfulness techniques.
The 80-20 Rule
The 80-20 rule, otherwise known as the Pareto Principle, is an axiom primarily used for business productivity but can be applied to a range of habits and industries. It states that 89% of any output is directly achieved by 20% of the input. Since employees are destined to procrastinate, you need to identify the 20% of their productivity that’s variable for the output of your company. When you know this, you can prioritize those tasks for better, more consistent results.
Supporting Skills
You employees will have been hired or trained to perform certain specialized tasks in your company or industry. As well as this they will have a range of soft skills acquired with your own company, in previous jobs, or through personal interests. These might include typing, spreadsheets, coding, word processing, or anything else. If you want to improve your company’s productivity, consider supporting these soft skills too, perhaps by offering workshops and courses. These soft skills improve work efficiency and output quality.
Appropriate Planning
To improve efficiency in your company, it’s a good idea to group your processes together and plan for the long term. Suppose you know that you have products that need shipping semi-regularly. Why not set up the infrastructure early and save the transportation details so that any future products to that part of the country can be quickly and efficiently set up. See https://www.shiply.com/us/international-shipping for more details. In general, when planning your projects, try to see further down the line and identify possibilities for long term processes.
Energy Management
A final helpful tip to improve productivity in your workforce is to encourage energy management as opposed to time management. This means that when your employees consider their daily working commitments, they should think about when in the day they have the most energy to be productive. Is it in the morning? Or do they suffer from afternoon slumps? Ask them to perform the most important tasks when they are feeling most alert; in this way, you can optimize your workforce and gain better value from the 80-20 rule.
