Traditionally, productivity simply means the output you are getting from your inputs. But there’s a lot more to the word productivity than just crossing things from your to-do-list. It is the measure of how efficiently the resources are being used.
This post will give you a detailed view of the terms and what it means for your business. It will also share ways to measure employee productivity and the tools you can use for it. Read on.
What is the productivity of your business?
The term productivity is relative and will change for every business. For instance, for a manufacturing line, productivity is the ratio of hours and the products made.
However, for a creative industry, it’s more about the quality of the work than its quantity. Some also like to relate productivity with the profits they attain with respect to the investment they make.
So, what productivity means for your business is entirely up to you. You can take the traditional approach and find it by dividing output by the input.
However, if you want to go with the modern approach, then being productive would mean producing more valuable and quality work in a short span of time. It will focus more on individual employees than the collectivity work, and you will need to measure each of their productivity.
What you need to measure and analyze in your team?
There are multiple parameters to measure the productivity of your team members. You can do it based on their performance, dedication, and even involvement in decision making. The following are some examples of the metrics that you can use to analyze them.
- Time Management: As stated, productivity is not about the time you spend working but the goals you meet. It means that effective time management is a must to have skill. So, you can always measure the amount of work your team member can do in the given time without compromising the quality.
- Customer Satisfaction: For any company, the main motive is to ensure client satisfaction. So, taking a review of your team member from the client they worked with is always helpful.
- Mistakes: No matter how good or qualified your members are, they will always make mistakes. Thus, your team members will make mistakes, but you should always find if they learn from the mistakes or not. Any productive team member will never repeat the same mistakes.
- Regularity: When you need to measure employee productivity in your team, noticing their regularity in work is always a great plan. Simply noting that they complete their work on time or not. If they fail to meet deadlines every time, they are not productive.
General methods to measure the productivity of your team
If you want to run your business successfully, then ensuring your team members’ productivity is a must. However, for this part, you need to first find the productivity of your employees. There are usually many different ways to find productivity, including the following.
- Recording Progress: This method needs you to keep a file of the deadlines, achievements, projects taken, and similar employee records. The file contains data on every project, and you can easily use it to compare employee performance. A more modern approach to this method involves the use of a time tracker application. This tracker notes the activity hours of the team member and also notes the time they are inactive. These applications also allow them to keep a record of the user data and compare them when needed. It can also virtualize the data to make it easy to read.
- Measure Employ Progress: You should always have a strategy to measure the overall growth of your team members. A daily or weekly check with your team and can help with this part.
- Feedbacks and Assessments: The way one approaches other members, contributes to problem-solving, and behaves is an important factor in measuring employee productivity in your firm. So, you should consider peer to peer feedback to know your team member’s performance. However, you need a free company environment for this part, as it’s the only way to get honest reviews. Using customer reviews can also come in handy here.
- Monitoring Time Taken: Traditionally, you can monitor time spent on a project or a task using a spreadsheet. Team member would enter their start and end of task timing in the appropriate columns. The monitoring applications are also a great option for this assessment. You can then compare the time taken for tasks to find if they are progressing or not.
What affects employee productivity
A productive workforce is the backbone of every company. Hardworking and dedicated employees can make even the most next to impossible task seem simple and achievable.
However, even the most productive employee can sometimes struggle to deliver optimal results. There are several factors that can cause this problem, like the few given below.
- Work Environment: the area of work drives employee mood and creativity. If they are in an unpleasant environment, they will lose interest and focus, which will eventually decrease both the willingness to work and work quality. Make sure the work area has proper ventilation, lighting, furniture, and other facilities. Maintaining a free and cooperative environment is also a must.
- Goals: Many times, employees put-in full effort, but they show no progress just because they are not clear with the objectives. Organizing meetings where everyone gets an equal opinion and a chance to clear their doubts can help in this part.
- Health: There is no way an unhealthy employee suffering from any mental or physical issue can focus on work. They will have to work harder to keep their head in the game, which will exhaust them and limit their capabilities to think. So, always encourage your employees to take care of themselves. If they are suffering from stress, try reducing their workload till they heal.
Wrapping up
Productivity has a different definition for different businesses. Some find it by comparing the input and output, while others may also consider employee progress, happiness, and work quality as a factor. Either way, you will always need to measure employee productivity to ensure growth in your business.
So, use the data you read to measure it and ensure that both you and your team stay productive.
