How to Increase Employee Productivity: 10 Tips

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Employee productivity is one of the significant issues a company faces when facilitating growth and ensuring long-term success.

Well, whichever group you might belong to, optimizing your team will put you on better ground if you manage to make them more productive and efficient. This is very likely to assure quicker project turnaround, excellent customer satisfaction, and superior employee engagement.

Now, let's jump to the points which the professionals recommend to instigate the productivity increase within teams and departments:

1. Create Tickets from Emails for Better Productivity

Disorganized communication is the major time-wasting factor for employees. Campaigns and tasks of a high priority were not noticed, follow-ups were still left unoptimized, and time was wasted in searching for an item. Hence, a very effective way is to create tickets from emails. through

Your teams now have a tool to make emails into tickets that they can utilize to integrate the whole process of the email request to Suptask or Zendesk, in which email requests can be made in the form of a ticket. What this way offers:

  • Clear task ownership
  • Defined SLAs and priorities
  • Centralized tracking and updates

With the power of the new system, no request will be left open, and both the support and ops team can focus on the core of the issue without having to chase someone through phone and email.

2. Set Clear Goals and KPIs

Employees are more productive when their expectations are clear. Setting clear goals and measurable KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) points employees in the right direction and makes them responsible.

Whatever the kind of objective it is, sales goals, project deadlines, or customer satisfaction scores, firm targets let the employees know what is required of them, and, in addition, it makes it easy for the managers to supervise the progress made efficiently.

Utilize OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) frameworks or SMART goals to understand the high-level business targets better and to be able to manage them.

3. Encourage Time Blocking and Deep Work

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Everyone sometimes thinks that they are getting more done by doing several things at a time, but that is rarely the case because it often results in superficial concentration and a poorer quality of work.

The solution is to instruct staff on how to focus by adopting a time-block planning method, which means they assign select hours when they concentrate on the most important tasks without being disturbed.

The practice is in favor of deep work, which is the title of a successful book by Cal Newport and represents the state of a person who is wholeheartedly involved in the task that requires mental work. This way, the time spent on tasks is shrunken, and the efficiency of the work is raised.

4. Invest in the Right Tools and Technology

Outdated or inefficient tools can significantly hinder productivity. Consider investing in:

  • Project management software
  • Collaboration tools
  • Knowledge bases and document repositories

Choosing tools that integrate with each other can eliminate manual work and ensure seamless workflows across departments.

5. Offer Flexible Work Options

After the pandemic, employers observed that the company can hardly benefit from this arrangement if the employees are given flexible work options, which is now a necessity.

It has been found that a majority of employees choose hybrid or remote work because it gives them the freedom to manage their environment and time, thereby making them more productive and reducing the possibility of burning out faster.

According to research, one of the most common results is that employees are often more likely to perform their jobs better, be more satisfied with their current position, keep a job over time, and many more, if they are allowed to work more autonomously, as reported in the article of Harvard Business Review.

6. Automate Repetitive Tasks

Automation is no longer for the IT team only. Plenty of repetitive tasks can be automated from HR to finance to customer service. For example:

  • Common customer inquiries can have automated responses
  • Solutions and benefits of automation in HR systems
  • Ticket routing and escalation rules in support software

Spot the activities that eat up a lot of employees' hours and the tasks that automation tools such as Zapier, Make, or the functionality in your SaaS platform can do for you.

7. Prioritize Employee Training and Development

Business team discussing project with laptop, Gantt chart, and coffee.

Workers are most productive when equipped with the skills and knowledge to carry out their tasks. The culture of continuous learning can be established in this way:

  • Online courses and certifications
  • In-house workshops
  • Mentorship programs

The benefits are increased performance, high morale, and retention, as employees realize that their company is committed to their development.

8. Foster a Culture of Feedback and Recognition

Feedback is an exceedingly crucial part of the management process, and it should be regular, constructive, and two-way. Managers should be encouraged to provide regular performance check-ins, and a platform for employees to share their opinions with leaders should be set up as well.

Moreover, recognition is seen as one of the most critical motivation factors, both formal and informal.

9. Optimize Workspaces for Focus

Offices and homes are two places where one can work, and the setting there generally has a strong impact on productivity. The office layout must be such that it can boost both teamwork and individual performance. It is a well-known fact that peaceful corners, proper lighting, ergonomic chairs, and uninterrupted space will contribute to the effort.

In the case of virtual teams, it may also be worthwhile to consider giving stipends for the purchase of home office equipment or conducting ergonomic assessments to ensure the comfort of your employees and enable them to work effectively.

10. Regularly Review and Refine Processes

Productivity is not a fact but rather a moving target. What was working wonderfully six months back may now be the most unproductive way of doing the job. So, it is highly recommended that regular reviews and improvements of internal processes, tools, and workflows be planned to illuminate the areas where all the bottlenecks are.

Even small process changes, such as adjusting onboarding flows or polishing meeting agendas, can significantly improve team performance.