Improving Employee Productivity

Improving employee productivity is a critical goal for today’s organizations. Increasing employee output, decreasing costs, improving quality, and reducing absenteeism have a direct effect on the bottom line. Companies seeking to improve employee productivity need to ensure that they have highly able and motivated employees and that obstacles to high performance are removed.

Ensuring that employees are motivated and able begins with the company’s recruitment and selection practices. Finding and promoting the right people, and placing them in jobs that interest and challenge them, is key to high productivity. During recruitment, employees should be oriented to the type of work they will perform and the type of culture in which they will work. To select employees, organizations should use reliable and valid assessment tools, such as structured interviews, work samples, assessment centers, and personality inventories.

Companies can also improve productivity by giving employees clear and specific descriptions of their job, roles, responsibilities, performance expectations, and job requirements. When employees are left to ask, “What am I supposed to do?” then productivity will likely be low. For employees to improve productivity, they need to first know what is expected of them and for what outcomes they will be held accountable.

Within the health care industry, new insurance practices and regulations, new diseases and viruses, new medicines, new equipment and techniques, and changing customer expectations have created a situation where change is the only constant. For employees to increase their productivity in this environment, they need to receive continuous training and development. In-service training, projects and assignments, professional seminars, coaching, and mentoring are activities that can improve an employee’s abilities. [Page 284]For current employees whose performance has slipped because their jobs have outgrown them (as was sometimes the case when computer technology revolutionized the way people work), further skills training is essential to improve productivity. Otherwise, alternative job placements may be necessary to improve the productivity of a once-productive employee. Many companies also use performance management systems to evaluate employee performance and provide feedback. Regular, ongoing feedback is a tool that employees can use to gauge their efforts and target activities to improve their productivity.

Companies also make several types of efforts to motivate their workforce. Current employees who are bored or complacent can be given new assignments, increased responsibility, more challenge, or a new position. Assuming they are qualified to handle the changes, such changes can reignite employees’ motivation, increasing their productivity. Another way to increase productivity is to create a more satisfied workforce. Employee opinion surveys and focus groups can help companies measure employee satisfaction and identify solutions to improve satisfaction.

Managers often use goal-setting techniques and programs, such as management by objectives, to improve employee productivity. Setting challenging, relevant, and achievable goals has been shown to increase efforts and results. Companies also use reward and recognition systems to increase productivity. Rewards may include salary increases, profit sharing, incentive pay, bonuses, plaques and trinkets, extra vacation days, and letters of recognition. Supervisors should not underestimate the power of regular praise and positive feedback for motivating employees. The underlying assumption behind the use of rewards is that desired behavior (good performance) is strengthened when paired with a desired consequence (reward and recognition).

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