Struggling to Boost Productivity in Your Workplace?

Financial incentives are not guaranteed to increase the productivity of employees. Yes they can certainly work in many circumstances but they are not long term resolutions to potential underlying barriers.

Barriers to Workplace Productivity

Boosting workplace productivity is something every manager should aim to do, however, this isn’t always easy. Sometimes, no matter how attractive the incentives are, productivity may not improve. This is because there are often underlying barriers which impede productivity boosts. Ensuring these barriers are removed will allow for increases in productivity and often a more engage and happy workforce. Here’s just a few of the most influential barriers:

1. Environment

This varies between jobs of course but is especially relevant for office based workers. Harris Interactive’s research found that some 27% of office workers felt they would work better in an open plan office than one filled with cubicles and boundaries. There are a number of pros and cons of open plan offices but an increase in productivity in a commonly evident benefit.

2. Multitasking

Some employers would like to think dumping their employees with numerous tasks makes for an increase in overall productivity as individuals do more tasks each. This may be the case but the chance of these tasks being done well is minimal. Only a tiny percentage of people can actually multi-task effectively and research suggests multitasking can reduce productivity by up to 40% for most workers. Different research suggests multitasking shrinks the brain and costs the global economy £278 billion annually.

3. No “one size fits all” set of policies

Inconsistent policy enforcement can seriously impede productivity. If there is not a clear and fair set of guidelines and rules for everyone in the company, or if these guidelines are not consistently enforced, individuals may become demoralised or feel unfairly treated. This can instil worry and suspicion among workers. As a result productivity can drop and discontent can follow.

Addressing these barriers can be a combination of costly, difficult and complex but the results are definitely worth the investment as an increase in productivity of your workers can have a direct positive impact on growth, profits and quality of customer service.

For regularly advice on keeping your workers productive and ensuring they want to come to work and work hard when they are there, sign up to our fortnightly newsletter here.