Many studies have suggested that around a quarter of the working day is lost per employee every day. If you have multiple employees, this is a huge waste of time and a loss of positivity. For small businesses, this loss can have a major impact and result in lower output, increased mistakes, and a drop in customer satisfaction.
If you’re concerned about a loss of productivity in your workplace and want to reduce or eliminate time wasting, these tips can help.
Examine Current Processes
One way productivity is often impacted is due to inefficient processes put in place that limit employees’ abilities to do what they need to do. It might be that newer processes have been put in place that don’t work well with older methods or that your whole system needs overhauling to make things more efficient so employees can work easier and faster. Review what you have in place, ask employees for feedback on what is and isn’t working and look at how you can change things to make life easier for everyone.
Reduce MicroManaging
Micromanaging can introduce many unnecessary steps that will impact productivity and employee morale. If you or another member of your management team is very hands-on, breathing down employees’ necks to monitor what they’re doing or requiring every little thing to be checked and signed off, this is likely wasting copious amounts of time each day. Instead, take a step back and allow employees more autonomy to make decisions and do their jobs. Give them avenues to explore if they need help and points of contact to refer to or take things higher up the chain if required. But taking a hands-off approach can lead to increased productivity.
Use the Correct Equipment and Tools
If your employees don’t have the right tools or equipment to carry out their job roles, then chances are they will be wasting time trying to find workarounds for this. For example, if you are using old or outdated equipment, chances are things will take longer to complete. If your chemical pumps are not as efficient as they need to be, this will reduce your output, and if the pump you use is incompatible, it could lead to failure, again impacting productivity levels. Regardless of what you do every day, make sure you have the appropriate tools and equipment on hand to help your staff get the job done easily, safely and efficiently.
Training
If employees aren’t trained or have gaps in their knowledge and skill set, then you need to address this as a matter of urgency. An inability to find the resources they need to complete the job or not having the know-how to do the job at all will result in wasting time, making more mistakes and needing to find others to assist them. You can eliminate this by adopting a training programme that covers all aspects of your company and each person’s job role that equips them with the skills and knowledge to do their jobs properly. Regular ongoing updates, skills training and refreshers can help you to ensure everyone is up to date on all the latest information and practises for their job.
A loss of productivity can impact your business in many ways. However, you need to look at how and where time is being wasted to help you find the cause of the issues and make changes to rectify them.