Across all business verticals, disengaged employees have been known to drag their companies down. Allowing these employees to do the bare minimum can be detrimental to your company’s financial success. On the other hand, it’s no secret that engaged employees show up to work, stay longer, and are more productive overall than those who are detached. However, what is less well known is what parts of your company you need to update in order to change these disengaged employees’ attitudes.
Your business might recognize that having engaged employees is the ultimate goal, but you might still be wondering how to get there. Luckily, there are many different changes you can make to your workplace that will allow you to engage employees and maximize their productivity. If you’re looking for a place to start upgrading your company’s productivity, consider these tips:
1. Improve workplace conditions
One of the first things you can do to make your work environment more conducive for focusing is improve the physical conditions. From temperature to furniture, a workspace can make or break your employees’ productivity. Simple changes you can make to kickstart this improvement include:
- Setting the temperature between 68-70 degrees fahrenheit
- Investing in ergonomic desk furniture
- Adjusting your lighting to mimic natural light with blue-enriched bulbs
- Providing stations of soft seating and standing desks
- Installing white noise machines
2. Have the right tools & equipment
In order for employees to get their work done efficiently and easily, they’ll need the right tools and technology. Working with high-quality, modern programs and equipment makes a big difference to your company’s processes and success. Having the right technology saves both time and effort by streamlining everything that you do. Ensuring all of your tools are connected to the internet makes choosing, installing and working within them simpler. You increase your employees’ flexibility by using internet-based tools for email, instant messaging, video conferencing. Today’s technology even offers advances on the ways you can productively make phone calls. This kind of phone line, known as VoIP, enables your employees to send and receive phone calls through their computers and reduces your need to purchase and install physical telephones and lines.
3. Practice positive reinforcement
An effective way to get employees excited about work is by encouraging, motivating and rewarding them. Be sure to tell your employees when they are doing a good job and give constructive criticism when they are not. Many employers have found that the best way to bolster productivity is by encouraging your employees to take ownership of managing their own time and resources. After all, if your employees are able to operate independently and make their own decisions, they’ll feel more connected and dedicated to their work. When they’ve gone above and beyond their everyday responsibilities, offer personal incentives such as a free lunch or extra hours of PTO.
One of the great parts of increasing employee motivation is that you don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on high-end perks to foster the kind of environment necessary to foster success. What you do need to do is put yourself in your employees’ shoes and look at what improvements your culture needs. If you put in some time and effort—and start with the tips explained above—you should start to see employee productivity rise.
