How to make employees more productive in 2021

Behind any thriving business is a hardworking, productive workforce. A 100% efficient team is every manager’s dream. Although this is fairly hard to achieve in the real world (we’re all human, after all) there are key tips for promoting engagement & productivity within your workforce. These include:
Improving your employee engagement strategy
Your employee engagement strategy is the driving force behind worker productivity. The more engaged your employees are with their roles, and your company culture, the better results they will achieve.

Identify your company’s most crucial values & benefits. Practise and promote these in your day-to-day management to instil a company culture that is shared by all of your employees.

It’s vital to recognise the faces behind your workforce; get to know your employees, including their likes, dislikes, wants, and needs. This will help you to create an engagement strategy that not only matches their desires, but adapts to their changing needs.
Analyse & adapt your EVP
Your employee value proposition (EVP) plays a huge part in employee engagement. These are the incentives and benefits given to your employees in return for their hard work. The more your employees feel these meet their wants and needs, the better they will perform in their roles.

It’s important to recognise that your EVP will change over time. Make sure to survey your employees regularly to find out which key benefits are popular/unpopular throughout your workforce. Adapt your benefits budget & strategy to fulfil these, and promote a new sense of engagement in your team.

Find out how to boost employee productivity in this useful employee engagement guide.
Setting SMART targets for your colleagues
Targeting is a crucial tool for both managers and employees alike. It grants you visibility over employees’ performance, and gives your colleagues a sense of structure to tasks and goals.

SMART targeting is a widely-practised, and often successful method of structuring formal targets. These targets are identified as being specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based.

By structuring employees’ targets in this way, you drive productivity by stating when, why, and how goals should be achieved. This helps your colleagues in planning out their day-to-day work, giving them a transparent method & timeline for the task at hand.
Holding regular progress reviews
Regular progress reviews are a crucial part of HR strategy – but they count for much more in practice. These give you an opportunity to find out what more you could be doing to engage your employees, as well tracking their long-term performance.

Sitting down with your employees to discuss their careers gives them the opportunity to stage any concerns, desires, or goals they may have. This gives you an insight as to how employees are performing in their roles, as well as allowing you to re-engage those who may be less connected to your employer brand – boosting productivity and retention.
Offer development opportunities
When conducting regular reviews, it’s crucial to consider personal development opportunities within your colleagues’ careers. Learning & development is one of the key aspects in staff engagement and retention; promoting this helps to inspire productivity and passion in your team.

Ask your employees about such opportunities; where do they see their career heading with your company? This is a great way to re-engage employees, and promote retention across the board.
In summary
A productive workforce is the key to upholding a strong, ambitious business. While it’s impossible to guarantee 100% efficiency in your employees, there are certain HR tips and tricks for promoting hard work & productivity. These include:

– Improving your employee engagement strategy & EVP
– Setting SMART structured targets for your colleagues
– Holding regular progress reviews to engage workers
– Providing learning & development opportunities to employees

By ensuring strong engagement, effective management, and a positive HR strategy, you can promote a workforce that delivers & excels.