The Three Biggest Problems that Affect Employee Productivity and How to Correct Them Quickly

High employee productivity is what sets successful companies apart from others. At the heart of a business are its people. Employees are the people that provide the services we sell and ensure that operations run smoothly. If your staff are highly engaged and motivated their productivity will increase, but getting to this point is sometimes difficult. In order to increase the output and efficiency of our workers, we first need to understand the main issues that affect their work and how we can correct these. Today we look at the top three problems associated with low levels of productivity and what steps can be taken to help rectify them.

Problem: Lack of Motivation

A lack of motivation in the workplace is a serious problem in terms of productivity. When a person is not motivated they lack the energy needed to complete tasks in a professional or timeous manner. These unmotivated employees are not concerned with any consequences or the effects that their behavior has on the company.

Every person is motivated by something; it is the driving force which pushes us to complete tasks to reach a goal. As people managers, we often fall into the trap of believing that employees are all motivated by the same goal; that is to earn money. Yes, most people do need to work to earn a living, however this is not necessarily what motivates them. Some staff members are motivated by their desire to achieve success and recognition while others may be driven by a desire to impress clients. The point is that we should not assume that we know what motivates our staff.

How do we turn it around?

There is only one way to uncover the motivations of our staff – we need to ask them. Our people managers and team leaders need to spend some time with each person and determine why they are there and what their motivation is. When doing this they need to read between the lines, a person may tell their manager that they are only there to earn a living, but once more conversation has taken place it may be uncovered that this wasn’t entirely true. Perhaps the employee has a new baby and he needs his job to support the baby. Money is not his motivation; the true driving force here would be caring for his family.
Once we have uncovered these motivations we can adjust our approach to the employee. The new father may be rewarded with an afternoon off to enjoy with his baby and the overachiever may be granted some new responsibilities. When our staff feel that we care about them and their goals, they are more likely to work harder so that the company may also reach its goals.

Problem: Issues outside of the workplace

Everyone has a life outside of the workplace and from time to time we will all experience issues that will affect us in the workplace. As hard as we try we may not always be able to leave our problems at home.

When a staff member is having a crisis at home it will impact on their ability to produce quality work because the thoughts of the dilemma are overwhelming. These issues can vary, but may include relationship issues, problems with children and quite commonly, financial difficulties.

How do we turn this around?

As employers, we need to rethink our approach to our staff and ask ourselves how we can assist them with these issues. Yes, there may be a cost involved, but the cost of having troubled and unproductive employees is far greater. We need to look at the resources we supply and ask ourselves if they are sufficient and whether they are truly addressing the staff requirements.

Programs that help staff to budget and plan their financial future are highly recommended, as are initiatives that target mental health and legal issues. Again, we need to consult with our staff members to determine what kind of services to look at. Another good example is that of a company that expected its workers to put in long hours. To make this possible they offered a wide array of services on site, such as a doctor, laundry service, errand service and a hairdresser. The less outside issues they had to deal with, the more motivated the staff were to put in longer hours.

Problem: Lack of Recognition

Employers often feel that the only recognition that they need to provide to their employees is a monthly paycheck. This is a huge mistake. While some staff are not concerned with recognition in the workplace, the majority of them are. A person may provide stellar work, but if they are constantly overlooked for promotion or awards they will gradually lose interest.

How do we turn this around?

Recognition comes in many forms. It can be in the form of a promotion, but it does not always have to be. Employees often appreciate awards and prizes as well as certificates and commendations. But it can also take other forms as well. Just praising an employee in front of others is often all that is needed. A person that feels that their work is appreciated is likely to continue to be productive. Others who wish to attain the rewards or recognition may put more time and energy into their work to achieve them. Many good employees leave businesses because they are never credited for their work. Once again we need to gauge our employees to see what type of rewards will be the most appreciated.

In conclusion…

Looking back on these reasons for poor productivity we can start to see a trend and that is that we need to engage more often with our employees. We need to understand them as individuals and we need to understand their motivations and concerns. If we wish to have staff that are high performing we need to treat them accordingly, making sure that we address their issues and praise them where appropriate. Staff who feel valued and are correctly motivated will consistently strive to achieve the goals that we set in place for them.

I’ve you enjoyed this article or have any thoughts about it, feel free to leave me a comment! 

If you’d like to read another article like this why not try 3 Ways to alienate your staff (let’s rather not) next?

It’s just my finger – Part One (Another excerpt from “Ambulance Girl”)

If I thought for a moment that the blood splash incident would be my first and last injury on duty I was sorely mistaken.

I was lucky enough to land a job with a large private ambulance service shortly after I left college. I was assigned an ambulance and settled into a new routine based around the shift roster. I worked twelve hour shifts for two days followed by two twelve hour shifts at night. After this I had four days off before I began again. It was not a bad rotation to be on and the hours were reasonable but the problem was I hardly ever had the four off days as there was always so much overtime needed. Despite this I was very happy and had even found time to start dating a really nice guy.

A couple of weeks after I started working I received a call late one afternoon for a medical house call. My BLS partner and I had been really busy that day and I felt my heart sink a little when I received the call. It was really close to the end of my shift and I had been hoping to leave on time.

The dispatcher told me that the call was for a lady with bedsores.

“I’m sorry, for what?” I replied.

“B-E-D-S-O-R-E-S,” she said slowly as if she was dealing with a naughty child.

I was very confused about how bedsores could be a medical emergency that required an ambulance. Little did I know then that my career would be littered these kinds of call outs. There would be calls for sinusitis, wisdom tooth pain and even once a call at 2am for an ingrown toenail. Believe me I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried.

So off we went to deal with the bedsores. It wasn’t easy getting there as the address was across town and it was rush hour traffic. I was quite frazzled by the time we arrived at the small white house. We parked in the driveway and I took my bag and a small oxygen cylinder and knocked on the front door. I told my partner to leave the stretcher for a moment as I first wanted to assess the patient and their level of mobility.

I waited outside for a good few minutes before an over-tanned middle aged woman opened the door. I greeted her and introduced myself. She didn’t greet me back. Instead she seemed to observe my partner and I closely and then then said, “Is it just you two?”

“Yes ma’am,” I responded chirpily, “But if we need more help we can call for it. Would you like to show me to the person who needs help?”

“Well okay,” she said, not sounding very convinced.

I didn’t need this degree of attitude. I was bone tired but the hospital was only about 3 kilometers away. I just wanted to load up the patient and go so I could also go home.I followed as she clattered down the tiled passage in her chunky heels until we came to a room with a folding door. She stopped and glared at me.

“She’s in there,” she said, pointing with her thumb.

It was apparent that she was not going to open the door so I did so gingerly. The room was dark inside and it took a minute for my eyes to adjust. I fumbled for the light switch and a florescent tube above my head flickered on.

My heart sank as I cast my eyes over our patient.There lying on a double bed in front of me was the biggest woman I have ever seen. She was laying the bed absolutely full, in fact it looked a bit small and uncomfortable for her. Her eyes were closed and she was making deep grunting snoring sounds. Asleep apparently. I checked her airway, breathing and pulse.

Then I walked out of the room and back down the passage. My partner was still standing close to the front door and I went to him and motioned that we needed to talk. I explained in my most confidential whisper that we were going to need assistance and I wasn’t talking about just a senior paramedic…

Read part two by clicking here.

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Difficult Staff Members: The Fighters

If you are a people manager of any kind you will surely have suffered with seemingly impossible staff at some stage. We would like to just ignore them but the reality is that we need to take action as early as possible. Not only do they add to your burden but they can also alienate other members of your team and generally make the work environment unpleasant.

In this series of posts I deal with the types of difficult employees I have managed and my strategies with each.

The Fighters

These are the employees who relish in arguing with others and no issue is too small for them. They generally have an aggressive nature which they hope will intimidate others into doing things their way.

Under no circumstances should you allow them to intimidate you. The fastest way to deal with them is by having a frank one on one discussion (don’t forget to document it) with them. In your session explain how their current behavior is unacceptable according to your company rules and what will happen should they choose to continue this way. Be prepared for them to deny their actions or blame others.

Remember that as a leader your responsibilities is to do what is right for the organization and the team that you manage. If you have a person who is contaminating your work environment with hostility you have a duty to address it.

This type of one on one meeting will have one of the following outcomes:

• No improvement. In this case you need to continue with the action that you advised them would follow (for example: written warning.)
• Some improvement. In this case continue to have follow up sessions with the employee and do acknowledge their efforts.
• Definite improvement. Sometimes all an employee needs to see is that you notice their behavior and you won’t stand for it.

I always try to keep in the back of my mind that people who are aggressive in the workplace (and even in life) are generally vulnerable and scared people who desperately need control of their environment and those around them. Sometimes if you are able to get to know the employee better you may be able to find out what the root of the problem is and work with them on that.