Managing your employees is a job in and of itself. At first glance, it seems easy to put a price on each member of your workforce and what they contribute to your company. After all, shouldn’t it be equivalent to their salary? But the truth is that the true contribution of most employees isn’t just about paychecks. And the contrast between a team member who’s working at full capacity and one who is just limping along is striking.
How can you ensure that you’re giving your employees the tools they need to be most productive and to help your company grow and thrive? Here are some ideas.
Incentivize Good Work
The most productive employees are not always the ones that ask for raises and toot their own horns. However, it’s important for you to show recognition to the people that are demonstrating the traits that you want to encourage most in your employees. Do you want your office culture to work towards being team players who all pull together to get things done? Do you value harmony and communication? Innovation and proactive thinking? Do you most of all want your employees to meet deadlines and be reliable? Make sure that you’re noticing those things and giving rewards accordingly. Not only does this send a message to the employee that’s demonstrating the model behavior that they’re on the right track, but it can help others at the office know how they can best contribute and what they can work towards.
Streamline the Bureaucracy
The larger a company gets, the less flexible it is. It seems that each level of hierarchy in an office adds another month to any project’s deadline. Do whatever you can to ensure that employees have to jump through less hoops in order to get things done. Learn to delegate. Communicate your company goals and mission so that you can trust your employees to stay consistent in those values. Make sure there are a few people you trust in place and give them enough authority to have the final word.
Create a Comfortable, Professional Office Atmosphere
Numerous small things you do to manipulate the environment of your office can have a dramatic effect on your team’s work. For example, according to one study, having greenery in the office can improve worker productivity by 15%. It can also boost morale and encourage creative thinking more often. Sounds like an investment worth everyone’s time!
Other design and decor elements can determine whether people can focus, collaborate well, and stay positive. Just the color of the walls can matter. For example, yellow can increase creativity and optimism. Green strikes a good balance of helping people stay calm but focused. When you’re planning the decor and layout of your office, remember to consider the color scheme, the lighting, and even the air circulation to make sure that everyone is comfortable and alert.
You can also increase worker productivity by giving everyone the appropriate level of isolation. Some workers can’t stay focused unless there’s quiet. Others thrive when they’re collaborating with others and able to take quick conversation breaks often. Learning about what each worker prefers and what their tasks call for can help you make the right call.
Utilize the Right Software
Remember back when we kept everything in filing cabinets and Rolodexes? Technology has made it so much easier to be organized and productive at the office. On the other hand, it can be an impediment in itself. Constantly learning new software, and learning how to protect the security of your data, can sap your resources and cause major setbacks in your company’s efficiency rates. That’s why it’s important to do your research and make sure that you’re providing your employees with proper task management and data processing software. It may be useful to look into cloud-based programs that stay automatically updated and keep your information secure.