Ways to Increase Productivity in the Office

Employees are the backbone of your business. Without a productive, goal-oriented team, your business will struggle to grow and succeed. However, there are only so many hours in one day, and only so many hours your employees can devote to their job without getting burned out. Instead of requiring your employees to work longer hours, it is important to find ways to increase productivity in the office.

Tips:

1. Encourage Frequent Breaks

This may seem counterintuitive, but taking frequent breaks while working actually increases your productivity. Workers return to their tasks with a renewed outlook and positivity. If you expect creativity from your employees, taking frequent breaks to get fresh area or a snack will boost their cognitive thinking abilities.

When you are looking for an office space to rent, make sure there is a nice sized break room and an outdoor space. Stock the break room with snacks and drinks. Taking a walk outside is a great idea, so don’t require your employees to stay in the office building for their whole shift. Your team will thank you.

2. Provide Consistent Feedback

Giving feedback to your employees on a consistent and regular basis is a target for management teams. Without feedback and the knowledge that you are paying attention to their productivity, employees are more likely to slack off. Now, not all feedback has to be positive, but the purpose is to encourage, not discourage, your employees. However, be sure to provide frequent encouragement and correction as needed.

3. Get Involved

You want to be your team’s role model! It is a good idea to show them how much you value hard work by getting involved directly with projects. You don’t want to interfere or override your employees, but working with them on an advisory or executive level is a great idea.

4. Set Goals

The chances of your employees working at a quick and effective rate is slim if they don’t have a goal motivating them. Don’t hide your goals. Tell them your plans, big and small. Let them understand what direction you are trying to steer the company. This lets your team know you trust them enough to get you to that goal.

5. Allow Flexible Hours

While the average work schedule is 8 to 4 or 9 to 5, this is not always the best hours for your employees. With the increased variety of ways for teams to communicate, it opens up the possibility of allowing more flexible hour.

Some people are morning folks; they may think the clearest at 7 or 8 am. Other employees may work their best starting in the midday. Allowing your employees to have more flexible hours allows for them to figure out what hours work the best for them. This increases the mood of your employees and their productivity.

6. Cut Back on Meetings

While meetings are a great way to get everyone on the same page, there is no need for a daily meeting. You can group email or send out messages when you have a quick update for your team. Any staff member can directly email questions to you or other co-workers. Strive to limit meetings for only the most important reasons.

7. Working from Home

The ability to work from home is one of the most desirable features young professionals desire. From the flexibility to the benefits for family life, there are a lot of reasons why this option is available. While it may make you nervous, there is no reason why your business cannot give it a trial run.

There is a lot of studies that show how productivity increases for those who work from home. Mothers may have more time in the morning to help get their children off to school, which in turn puts them in a better mood as they prepare to get to work on their next deadline.

If you want to increase productivity, the best step is to stop focusing so heavily on increasing productivity. The most important step is working towards a better working environment for your employees. Naturally, this will lead to an office that is productive.