It is essential to develop a friendly, yet productive working environment within your company. Happy employees are prolific and creative, and their engagement will exponentially grow once they are content with their work setting. Guest writer, Chris Richardson shares his seven productivity rules to ensure a smooth running workplace.
Of course, everyone has different preferences, so you are never going to please them all; but you could try fitting most of their needs – and that is all that matters. Once you have 80%+ people content with their work environment, you’ll win them. They are going to be loyal, careful about their tasks, and committed to their jobs.
Besides the environment, which plays a major role in your employees’ productivity, there are other ways to help them stay productive at all times. Here are 7 productivity rules you should definitely check out!
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Everyone has something to say
You must encourage your employees to listen. Work conflicts usually occur when one party does not care about the other’s point of view. That is a very big mistake, and it can lead to unwanted disputes. Being a good leader means teaching them to consider their colleagues’ opinions on internal matters.
If they do get in a conflict with someone, ask them to resolve it the right way. You can do this by setting friendly core values that makes them understand what is/is not permitted within the firm:
- Make sure the values are easily applicable
- Make sure they make sense, and stand for something big
- Be aware that values will not be respected unless you give your employees a good reason to do it
Social media policy
Internet is a big part of our lives nowadays. Of course, we avoid spending hours in front of the computer, chatting endlessly with our friends on Facebook – but checking notifications or even conversations from time to time is completely understandable.
Thus, if you catch your employees doing that, it doesn’t mean they stopped being productive. It means they are human, and can’t spend 8 hours out of 8 hours working.
Go easy on them! If this really bothers you, ask them nicely to check social media during breaks. But don’t be too harsh on them!
Flexibility is the key
If your company offers work flexibility, your employees’ productivity is going to increase drastically. Why? Because this is how the human mind works. Instead of focusing on spending a certain time at the office, workers are given the freedom to choose when they want to come in or leave.
That makes them focus more on results rather than on spending a certain number of hours at the office.
More than that, you want happy and satisfied employees! Work flexibility gives them the opportunity to rest when they feel like it. Therefore, your employees will be well-rested and ready to accomplish anything at the beginning of each day!
Don’t mess with their breaks
Breaks are breaks, you can’t take that away from them. Maybe you’d think: why would I anyway? Well, there are a lot of reasons why.
Maybe one of your company’s biggest projects is due the next day, and they should be working on it. Maybe you just feel like they are taking too many breaks. Whichever the reason might be, taking that away from them is unethical.
What you could do instead is keep them accountable for their actions. When they take a break, make them clock out; when they come back, ask them to clock in again. That way, everyone is happy, and you don’t have to worry about them spending too much time outside of work – if they do it, they do it on their own money.
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Ask them for feedback
As I was highlighting before, everyone’s opinion matters. Ask your employees for feedback constantly.
It demonstrates humility and open-minded behaviour. It makes them feel important – and that is a big plus towards increasing their productivity levels. Some of the question you might want to ask:
- Is the company meeting all of your needs? Describe why or why not.
- Are you happy with your attributes within the company, or do you think you’d fit better in another department? Why?
- If there is one thing you’d change about the company, what would that be?
- What is your favourite core value? Would you recommend adding a new one?
Help them help you
Let your employees know that you will allow anything within the office, as long as it makes them more comfortable and it does not intervene in another person’s personal space. Therefore, if they want to bring in comfortable bean chairs, pizza, pets, or their kids, let them do it! As long as it makes them more productive, there is no reason to interdict that.
If you help them feel comfortable, relaxed, and happy, they’ll help your company evolve. There is no way you can do all by yourself – employees are an extremely important factor when it comes to managing deadlines, or getting things done. Without them, your company might be at loss, so make sure you appreciate them daily!
Goals are important
Any company should have employees with goals. The goals must be S.M.A.R.T – specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timely.
Ask your employees to write down their goals at the beginning of each week, and make them track their own progress. Before the weekend, whoever achieved at least 90% of his or her goals should be awarded a nice, small gift. That will make them feel appreciated and loved!
In Summary
Keeping your employees accountable for their actions and providing a friendly work environment are two of the most important qualities to developing strong work ethic. These seven productivity rules should help.
Help them help you, love them, and care about them – that’s how stress goes down, and productivity goes up!
About Chris Richardson
Chris Richardson is an editor at essaygeeks.co.uk. He loves to write, learn new things, and meet new outgoing people. Chris is also fond of traveling, sports, and playing the guitar. Follow him on Google+.
