|
ARTICLES
|
04-01 |
IMPROVING EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY
Linda Gravett, Ph.D., SPHR, January 1, 2004 |
Competition in our global marketplace is keen. Our customers
want more, better, faster, now. If our employees aren’t fully
engaged and productive, we lose our competitive edge. In this
article, I’ll discuss ways to improve employee productivity -
without breaking the bank.
Employee Involvement and Productivity.
My research over the past 15 years has shown that there’s a
definite, strong correlation between employee involvement and
productivity. Other researchers have discovered similar results.
For instance, research by Roger E. Herman and Joyce L. Gioia found
that the opportunity to collaborate with coworkers and managers was
the top response when employees across the country were asked what
they want most in the workplace. As leaders, we must have
input from those who know the job best – those who are actually
doing the work. In order to feel connected to their work,
employees need to have a say in their work environment. Focus
groups, employee surveys, suggestion box systems, brown bag lunches,
and one-on-one discussions are all cost-effective methods for
soliciting ideas and suggestions for how to improve work practices
and productivity. Remember the concept of the service-profit
chain?
Employee Satisfaction = Customer Satisfaction = Profits
Remove Barriers to Productivity
Before employees can be productive at 100% capacity, they must be
willing and motivated to perform their jobs, have the skills and
abilities to perform their jobs, and have access to supplies,
technology and equipment to perform their jobs. As
organizational leaders, our role is to ensure all three elements are
in place.
We cannot motivate another person to enjoy their work; however, we
can create an environment that is creative, nurturing, challenging,
and fun. With employee involvement, we can assess how
successful work processes are now and brainstorm steps to help
employees improve work processes. Key tools such as Pareto
Analysis, Affinity Diagramming, and Quality Evolution Charting are
well worth teaching to every single employee. Before your
workforce can help you improve work processes, they must fully
understand them.
As a leader, you can demonstrate the importance of needs assessment;
that is defining the true problem before attempting to improve
productivity. When people aren’t fully productive, ask
yourself whether the reason is because of a skills deficiency,
behavioral issue, or systemic barriers? In my first Human
Resource Manager position, an executive asked me to send his new
secretary to “remedial” typing classes because her work wasn’t up to
par. I was surprised at this request, because my predecessor
who had hired the secretary was very “buttoned down” about typing
and other administrative testing. Sure enough, when I checked
the secretary’s employment file I found that she typed 80 words a
minute with no errors and had excellent scores on the spelling,
grammar, and vocabulary tests! Something else was the problem
besides her typing ability. I visited her in her cubicle and
within 10 minutes discovered the true problem. She had a
poorly working word processor, no soundproofing on her cubicle
walls, and phone calls for the entire department coming into her
phone instead of just her boss’ calls! We fixed those
problems, and within 24 hours her work product improved drastically.
Had I told her she was going to be sent to a typing class, she
undoubtedly would’ve quit, and the company would have lost an
excellent secretary.
Your Role in Maintaining Productivity.
If you want your organization to be productive, resilient, and
competitive over the long haul, there are leadership competencies I
suggest you add to your repertoire. I believe every manager
must understand and employ the key concepts of talent management,
instilling core values, continuous improvement, leadership
continuity, and customer focus. As a result of my interviews
of 2,000 employees across the U.S. between 1999-2002, I found that
workers want to be treated with respect and equity, have flexibility
in work processes, and ownership of their work product. In a
workplace that fosters innovation, calculated risk taking is
promoted and modeled; people at all levels are open to suggestions;
and artificial distinctions among people are removed.
If you’d like your workforce to be more productive, examine your
workplace. Are these factors in evidence?
- “Elbow Room”
for Decision Making
- Opportunity
to Learn on the Job
- Variety
- Mutual
Support and Respect
-
Meaningfulness
- A Future
If not, this is
your starting point for 2004!
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments about
this article.
Click here for contact form.
(Close this window)Close this window |
|
|
