Over the past two years of the pandemic, watching the workspace grow and evolve has been fascinating. Never has the world moved so quickly and workplaces adapted accordingly. However, there have also been studies that point to decreasing employee productivity over the last few years.
One of the main concerns of companies now is how to retain an employee while also saving time, revenue, and effort. Here are some ways an employer can maximize the engagement and productivity of an employee.
Emphasis on boosting culture
In a recent study by SHRM, employees admit that if their money requirements are met, then culture is what keeps them in the company. However, company turnovers have been affected by $233 billion over the past few years owing to the company culture. Being informed about what drives the employees, how to actively keep them engaged, and how to get them to feel attached to the work they do is extremely important.
Companies should also feed a sense of purpose in their employees, and by doing so, they help people connect to the work and make them feel like they’re furthering the company’s purpose.
When people feel like they’re doing purposeful work, they are 27% more likely to stay with the company in the long run.
Focus on growth and training
Yes, training in the initial stages is important. No, not every employee is trained when they initially join. Through a survey conducted amongst L&D professionals, it was seen that at least 10 percent of the knowledge they gain is through formal training sessions. This helps boost their morale and also helps them avoid making corrections and changes once they do start working.
It is also important to let employees know the importance of continual growth at a job. In the same survey, it was seen that 70 percent of the skills are picked up through the skills acquired at jobs. Better training also lowered attrition by 53 percent, a significant number for a company irrespective of the size.
A lot of the growth of the company is dependent on the manager. It is not reasonable to delegate tasks through one head, which is why it is important to have an able manager. Nearly 70 percent of the growth can be credited to the manager and how effectively they're able to communicate with the team. Here are a few small, but significant ways to strengthen bonds between employees and managers.
Give them good incentives
Strengthen bonds between the people by having interactive sessions, passes to take breaks together, getting them to use coworking communication platforms, and so on.
Host a healthy space for feedback
By keeping each other in check and making the space healthy, there is a good flow of feedback and check-ins.
Promote a collaborative environment
Management and employees can engage in open dialogue by working together and this helps build trust and closer bonds between people.
This can also be improved by getting people to work on the same work channels, making use of collaborative work messaging, implementing a step-by-step process of how people can be involved in each task, and so on.
Right people for the right work
Often, people’s talents are wasted away when they’re assigned jobs where their skill sets don’t match. Not only is this a waste of potentially great skill, but this can also be discouraging to the person as they’re not being used to their fullest potential.
When unmotivated by their role and work at a company, employees tend to leave within the first 90 days of the job. This is also expensive for the company, as an employee leaving can cost the company double the amount in losses.
Communicate effectively
Workplace statistics point to better productivity amongst office workers when there’s effective communication. Nearly 86 percent of employees say that their workplace failures can be chalked down to ineffective communication. Good communication also saves time and boosts engagement.
According to a Harvard Business Review (HBR) report, about 28 percent of the employees’ time goes into answering emails. This is why investing in coworking apps and making inclusive spaces is so important to honing the best in the people. This also ensures the free flow of work, as it makes it easier to relay work and criticism, and feedback to the people.
One can also make free-flow workplaces by setting up 1:1 sessions, where honest communication is fostered.
Healthy employer-employee relations, a good environment, and many other factors are important to make sure employees do their best.
Edited by Anju Narayanan
(Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of YourStory.)