Factors influencing productivity
Your company’s success hinges on its productivity. Sometimes, your boss is always insisting you to increase your team’s productivity when your team is crippling to finish your project in time. Every company is trying to maximize the work output because this is the only way to fulfil company goals and visions. The more you’re able to produce per hour, the lower your production costs and the higher your bottom line. Many variations that affect the efficiency of labor don’t cost a cent, so these are great starting places if you’re ready to tighten up procedures.
There are too many factors that affect productivity, so if you want to increase your company’s productivity you need an integrated approach to solve your workplace problems and obstacles that hinder the smooth running. Some factors are socio-genic while some are psycho-genic. Further, increasing productivity means either lessening the number of materials and labor you’re putting into the operation or improving the level of output for the same quantity of input. That’s productivity in a nutshell.
Human factors affecting productivity
Your staff’s internal affairs and emotions may influence the amount of productivity. Family problems, quarrels between colleagues, work overload, management pressure, even the unexpected scenes at the street may hinder the productivity. Your staffs keep your business running, so their well-being and ongoing training are essential for maximum productivity and profitability.
Employee health: Healthy employees show up to work physically capable to do their works with focus and stamina. If your staff is feeling well, they’ll be better able to be involved and follow through on responsibilities. Spending on health insurance and employee wellness adds costs in the short term, but your company will likely gain the benefits of these expenditures with increased productivity and improved quality of work. If someone is always bothered about his health, he couldn’t able to produce things that you desired to get. If you give proper health insurance coverage to your employees, they feel secured and may able to make more productions.
Employee attitude: Employee’s attitude in the workplace can have a vital effect on the company or business. Whether for better or for worse, employee attitudes tend to have a drastic impact on the productivity of a business, both directly and through the effect on other job-related factors. Unless you give proper facilities for your employees, their attitude toward your business could be seen in the form of disgust and unresponsiveness. Negative employee attitudes can have a ripple effect. Reduced trust and goodwill toward colleagues will harm collaboration, decreasing productivity. If you can create a satisfactory work environment, their attitude will be positive and will give their maximum for your business.
Workers who enjoy their professions are likely to work well and creatively and even cooperate to find better ways to do elementary tasks. If you treat your workers fairly, they’re likely to stay with your business longer, allowing you to increase productivity by building competencies and a shared knowledge base.
Employee Education and training programs: if you give a strong impetus to your employees, they will perform well. Unless your employees are performing rote, entry-level jobs, their work and productivity will rally over time. You can reinforce this growth through ongoing onsite training, such as familiarizing staff with the nuances of your systems as their expertise grows. You can also capitalize on their education by supporting learning programs geared toward reasons that affect the efficiency of labor.
Ability to learn and coping with the situation: if you have given all the facilities and training programs, but noticed, employees are not going with the directed track, and then the time has come to change your strategy. Employee’s ability to learn and adapting the work environment have immense influence to create productivity. If you want to retain such employees, your company’s position remains as static. So, if an employee can’t learn your materials, it is better to terminate him.
Technological factors affecting productivity
Your business structure can also affect productivity. Equipment upgrades can be expensive, but slowdowns because of inferior equipment can be even costlier. These include the correct design of machines and equipment, appropriate location, layout and size of the plant and machinery, research and development, automation and computerization, etc.
Modern tools: Whatever your industry, there are probably standard tools such as electric drills or cutters that can increase workflow and also custom equipment tailored to your specific practices and products.
Right installation or erection: once you have got the right equipment’s, then you arrange or install it in ways that save time and space. Tools performing different steps in an order should be laid out so work can elegantly move from one step to another. Reduce disorder in equipment areas to evade unnecessary slowdowns.
Avoid old-fashioned or outdated equipment’s that may consume money and time and have reduced your businesses productivity.
Methodical issues affecting productivity
Even if you have created a satisfactory work environment for your employees, and your equipment is in well-designed, there may be systems factors that affect work and disrupt your efforts at improvement.
Supply chain issues: Every business and company will have backing mechanisms. If your distribution channel has failed to work, you won’t get the necessary ingredients that are essential for running your business or company. Even if you divert employees to other jobs, you’ll probably lose the efficiency that comes from performing tasks in the correct order. Develop strong inventory tracking mechanisms to avoid running out at inappropriate times, and build multiple sources for the same items in case of absences.
Chain of command: If your staffs are knowledgeable and empowered to make spur of the moment decisions, they’ll be able to make judgment calls and keep works rolling rather than having to stop and seek leadership. Likewise, if vital management staff members are accessible when needed to make high-level decisions, employees can get the information they need to continue. If the system lacks its information flows, your business may face issues related to decision-making.
Workflow rules: Some workflow rules or protocols are part of basic employee training, such as group refreshment programs before they packing from the office. Other protocols develop over time if your staff is involved enough to continue finding new ways to work well. Reward staff for effective innovations and boost them to share information that can increase productivity for the workplace as a whole.
Note: people are motivated more by autonomy than financial rewards.
Besides these factors, government rules and regulations, environmental factors, geographical factors, and cultural factors may affect an employee’s productivity.
Reasons for low productivity
Your employees are not only the sole causes of your low productivity. If you are analyzing deeply, you can witness some other issues behind low productivity.
Poor working condition: the poor working condition is one of the key factors that harm the maximum productivity. For example, inadequate space utilization, ineffective workplace technology, poor lighting, lack of workplace flexibility and balance, unmatched groups, and company culture includes in this category.
Low employee competence: if the workers are not technically sound, low productivity occurs. Companies are needed technically qualified or skilled employees to enhance productivity. High competition in business required well-equipped staff members to exist in the market.
Low morale of the workers: workers that are not motivated can never be productive.
Poor management strategies: hopeless management will result in low productivity.
You can’t increase productivity, only by supporting financial aids for the employees. Leisure and entertainment play an important role to increase productivity. Providing adequate leisure times and entertainment programs in the workplace itself will create belongingness among the staff members. In this staff-centred market, your best talent won’t put up with pitiable working conditions for long. Build the setting they deserve, and you’ll harvest the benefits for years to come.
