Welp MagazineWhat are the ingredients to a successful and effective business? The recipe is flexible, but there’s no denying that good bosses, strong teamwork, competent skills, and productive staff are fundamental to achieve the best results. The right tools and strategies are key to work performance as well.
Improving efficiency within a workplace is truly about finding methods to work smarter—not necessarily harder. If you’re on the lookout for a few tips and tricks, here are some hacks for improving employee efficiency.
Balance Micro and Macro Management
Workflows can change due to the specific circumstances of a business, but it’s vital to have a set structure in place so employees know what to do and who to report to. They need guidance and support, but they also need to take responsibility for their own daily tasks and actions. Chains-of-command should be clear to avoid over-managing, enable good decision making, and establish trust. When employees are able to take more control, they can successfully dive in to their work and produce better results.
Hold Smarter Meetings
Properly evaluating if an interruption in current tasks is important enough is another top hack for improving employee efficiency. Meetings can become a force of habit and a sizable drain of profitable time. Time has a deep cost. Meetings are never meaningless—unless there’s information that could be easily sent over an e-mail or relayed through a phone call instead.
A leader must learn to run more efficient, practical, and smarter meetings. Sending out clear agendas prior to the meeting with realistically relevant goals to be met is just one way to do so. An effective meeting is valuable for employee productivity if executed responsibly.
Create a More Employee-Friendly Work Environment
A work environment has no minuscule impact on employee performance—it’s highly influential. While there are certain aspects of an environment that cannot simply change, a collective mayhem of disturbances, hazards, and interruptions can be better managed or improved for the benefit of the team. Consider how distractions tend to slow people down, drain their sanity, and stress them out, and how you can better promote wellbeing in the workplace.
Hence, workspaces should be designed for maximum employee productivity. Clean and decluttered work areas will look inviting, reduce stress, and simply make getting work done easier. You can adjust and optimize lighting to reduce feelings of lethargy, headaches, or eye strains. It’s also a good idea to hire an OSHA consulting company to ensure health and safety standards are fully met. When employees feel safe, happy, and secure in their work environments, they’ll reflect positivity back towards an improved work performance.
