5 Ways to Identify Reasons for Low Productivity in your Organization

Five Ways to Identify Reasons for Low Productivity in your Organization

One of the most common problems in workplaces is low productivity. According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace,  85% of employees are often disengaged at work, which results in about $7 trillion lost resources. Not only this, but low levels of efficiency can affect your workers’ output and morale, which can lead to a toxic office environment.

Here are some reasons for low productivity that can directly impact a business:

  1. A lack of creativity and motivation.
  2. Setbacks and delays in projects.
  3. Lower team morale.
  4. Failure to utilize the workforce’s skills and abilities.
  5. High employee turnover rate.
  6. Overall workplace toxicity.
How Low Productivity can Affect a Business

There are ways to solve low work rates, but managers must first determine the underlying causes. Listed below are a couple of tips on how to identify the reasons for low productivity in your organization.

Determine the Output

You can track your employees’ production rates by giving them quotas per day or week. Compute the number of tasks that they can finish by the end of the week and keep track of it. Moreover, managers can also set KPIs that the staff can aim for.

Here are other ways to measure your team members’ output:

  1. Implement a business process automation to aid with visibility, business agility, and efficiency.
  2. Set standards that need to be measured.
  3. Measure the tasks instead of the hours.
  4. Pay attention to the benchmarks and targets that are being hit.
  5. Check your task-tracking apps at least once a week.

Keeping track of your employees’ tasks through an app or a tool can help speed things up, especially for bigger companies.

How to Measure Your Employees’ Output

Ask for Daily and Weekly Updates

Asking for daily updates will help improve transparency within the organization. Not only this, but reports can also motivate employees to reach their goals and be productive. Make it a goal to set meetings where everyone can catch up on each other’s progress. You can set the gathering by the beginning of each week – preferably during Mondays, to keep the spirit high and motivational.

If physical meetings are not possible, then consider using a messaging app that everybody in the team can install.

Set Regular Evaluations

Regular evaluations can aid you with tracking employee productivity metrics. Performance reviews help team members and managers to communicate clearly and should be done annually or semi-annually. Make a list of the things you’d want to discuss with your workers and get a detailed review of their KPIs and achievements.

Here are some of the things that you need to remember during employee evaluations:

  1. Set the meeting in advance.
  2. Avoid getting defensive, as this can make the staff member feel anxious.
  3. Prepare your questions early on.
  4. Gather each team member’s data and numbers.
  5. Delve into the employee’s strengths and weaknesses and offer solutions.
  6. Ask how you can help them increase their productivity and create a development plan.
  7. Set milestones and goals and keep a timeline for each one.
  8. Let the individual know about your plans and expectations for them.
  9. Learn to be an active listener.
  10. End the review on a positive note.

The more transparent you are with your teammates, the more they will feel like they can open up to you regarding their challenges at work. Doing this will help the individual feel a lot more comfortable, leading to higher employee efficiency and fewer reasons for low productivity.

Things to Remember During Employee Evaluations

Take a Look at Your Profit and Sales

Determine your annual profit rates and see if you hit your goals for the year. If you are not reaching your desired numbers, then chances are your employees are not hitting their quota and are putting out low productivity in the office.

Moreover, you can also look at the number of sales that your company produces each month. Again, set an exact number that the staff member can reach and see if they meet these allocations by the end of each month.

Provide Customer Satisfaction Surveys

One great way to determine if your employee is producing low productivity rates is by asking your clients about it – if possible. Consider giving out customer satisfaction surveys and asking whether they were satisfied with your agent’s support. Doing this will not only improve the workplace’s efficiency, but it will also drive your employees to work harder and better. 

Here are a couple of different surveys that you can choose from:

  1. Net Promoter Score or NPS Survey.
  2. Customer Satisfaction or CSAT survey.
  3. Post-Purchase Survey.
  4. Customer Effort Score or CES survey.

You can choose to provide multiple-choice or open-ended questions when giving out these surveys. However, note that customer satisfaction surveys are not always applicable for every industry. Determine if your business type will benefit from this before you proceed.

Fortunately, these reasons for low productivity can easily be fixed through a few tweaks that you can apply in the office. Start by using business process management software to increase workplace transparency, improve communication within the organization, and attain better employee productivity metrics. Here are a couple more tips on how to improve employee productivity in your firm:

  1. Make an effort to create an optimal working environment. The office should be somewhere that your employees will feel safe, motivated, creative, and comfortable. Let the natural light in, create bigger spaces, and place some plants to make the workstations look inviting.
  2. Keep your meetings short and straight to the point. Try only holding an appointment if needed – if it can be done by email or through app messaging, skip the physical assemblies.
  3. Allow your team members to have flexible schedules. Some people work better during the day, while some are at their most productive during the afternoon. However, it is a must to set a time where everyone can catch up on timelines and projects.
  4. Provide training and seminars on time management and productivity.
  5. Stop micromanaging your staff, as this can lead to issues regarding mistrust.
  6. Delegate the tasks to the right people.
  7. Hire enough workforce.
  8. Set specific goals and give your employees enough encouragement.
How to Improve Employee Productivity

Conclusion

Implementing the right plan and strategies can help combat low productivity within the workplace. Determine what is beneficial for both the company and your employees and work towards pulling each other up. Give your teammates the support they need, keep your doors open, and be open to suggestions, and you are on your way to higher efficiency rates.