Did you know low employee productivity costs U.S. businesses $1.8 trillion every year?
As a business owner, you understand the importance of having employees who put in a proper shift every time they come to work. You strive to provide the best workplace environment for nurturing productivity. Unfortunately, regardless of your best efforts, your employees’ productivity can still drop.
If you’ve done all you can but productivity levels seem to be declining, you might be wondering what you’re doing wrong.
In this article, we’re unpacking the common reasons that could be behind your employees’ poor productivity.
- Lack of Skills and Training
It’s a no-brainer that assigning certain tasks to a worker who doesn’t have the requisite skills is not a smart move. This is why you recruit employees who have the relevant qualifications for the role.
So, how come a lack of skills is one of the biggest reasons for low employee productivity?
You see, you might have hired a properly qualified candidate for a job, but as technology advances and job roles evolve, their skills gradually become obsolete. The employee will struggle to get the job done and their productivity will slump.
As an employer, it’s essential to invest in regular employee training. This helps you upskill your employees and address skills gaps in your organization.
- An Organization That Lacks Purpose
There is a strong relationship between an organization’s core values and employee performance. The modern worker has values, and they want to work in a company with similar values. Research has shown such employees often record high levels of job satisfaction, which is key to their productivity.
Most of your current employees probably accepted your job offers because of your organization’s mission and values. However, if the company doesn’t practice those values or shows little commitment to its mission, your employees could feel shortchanged. This negatively affects their morale and hurts their productivity.
- High Employee Turnover
It’s normal for employees to quit their jobs and find new ones in other companies. However, when most of your employers leave after staying on the job for a short time, there’s cause for concern.
Of course, you can always replace an employee, but at what cost?
First, there is a direct financial cost, to the tune of about 30% of their annual salary.
Second, a high employee turnover rate isn’t good for staff morale. It becomes difficult for employees to make friends and build a sense of togetherness and family in the workplace.
You don’t have to be an HR specialist to know that workers won’t be productive in such an environment.
- Using Ineffective Methods to Track Employee Productivity
Every organization needs to have a strategy for tracking employee productivity. Otherwise, it will be hardly possible to determine whether your employees are underperforming or meeting productivity expectations.
Some employers fail to improve staff productivity simply because they’re using ineffective methods to monitor and analyze productivity. Or perhaps you’re monitoring the wrong key performance indicators.
For example, if you’re still using spreadsheets to record employee hours, you are making a big mistake. Although spreadsheets are handy, they aren’t foolproof. A malicious person can edit the document or feed in inaccurate data, and as a result, you will have an inaccurate picture of your employees’ performance.
Today, there are modern technology tools that make it easy to capture all the relevant data. They will even crunch the numbers and give you valuable insights you can act on.
If you’re in the market for the best timesheet software, read more here.
- Poor Compensation
Employers are at liberty to set wages for their employees, just as long as they don’t violate the minimum wage law and other relevant regulations. You might be compensating your workers fairly, but the big question is whether you’re compensating them competitively.
Wages have an impact on employee satisfaction, happiness, and morale. All these bleed into their productivity.
It’s easy to know whether your pay structure is a possible reason there’s a productivity decline. If your organization is among the lowest payers in the industry, your employees are certainly aware. Don’t expect them to strive for excellence.
Keep in mind that your wage isn’t the only thing employees care about. There are other monetary benefits that can be tied to a job, such as bonuses, paid off days, and health insurance.
So, your organization could be paying an attractive wage, but if the extras are lacking, your employees could still feel they’re being compensated poorly.
- Poor Work-Life Balance
Work-life balance is central to employee wellness, so much that 72 percent of workers consider it an important factor when assessing job offers.
If your company isn’t known to support employees in their quest to balance life and work, you aren’t just making it hard to attract talent. Your current employees are probably feeling burnt out, demotivated, and unproductive.
Yes, there are several factors that affect work-life balance and some are out of an employer’s control. But in the workplace, there’s a lot you can do to boost employee work-life balance
For instance, offering flexible work schedules or even the option to work from home permanently, can go a long way to helping your employees achieve a great work-life balance. And they’ll reward you with improved productivity.
Understand What’s Causing Declining Employee Productivity
It’s frustrating when you’re seeing a decline in employee productivity and nothing you do seems to remedy the situation. It’s time to pause and figure out what’s behind the decline. Only then will you be in a position to implement solutions that work.
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