One of the main jobs of any entrepreneur is to ensure that your employees are able to be as productive as possible with the resources that are available to them. However, finding the means to increase productivity is going to mean something different for each company. Moreover, all of your employees are individuals who work at varying degrees and speeds.
There are, however, a few key things that you can do, and processes that you can implement, that should work to help improve productivity in most workplace environments. Sometimes increasing productivity comes down to the equipment your employees are working with, and other times this might mean finding out the source of dissatisfaction in the workplace. It is important that you take the time to evaluate your employees and the work environment that you have created in order to decide exactly what measures you should take in order to increase productivity.
Here are a few things that you can do that should help you in your efforts to help your employees to be as productive as they can be when they are on the job.
Give Them the Right Tools
When you notice that your business isn’t operating in as productive a manner as possible, the first thing you should do is make sure that the resources and equipment that you have provided for your employees are up to the challenge. After all, you can’t expect your workers to be productive when the tools and technology at their disposal aren’t sufficient.
Take the time to inquire with your employees about how they are getting on with the equipment in the office. You might need to consider bringing in some reliable IT support from a company like Integrated Computer Services in order to ensure that all tech in your offices continues to work and run as it should. In the end, if your employees spend more time trying to troubleshoot some IT issues themselves, you are all losing out on the potential to be more productive.
Evaluate the Workplace Environment
From time to time, it is important that every entrepreneur seeks out the opinions and thoughts of their workers in regard to the workplace environment. Aside from the fact that you want people to be excited about coming to work every day, there very well might be something going on under your notice that is inhibiting your workers from being as productive as they can be.
For instance, if there is one employee who has turned out to be more of a bad apple, this might be causing your other workers to be less productive. If your other employees are being forced to pick up the slack of someone who isn’t performing at the level they should be or because they have to constantly redo incorrect work done by that person, it can make productivity levels tank. Conduct an anonymous employee survey and check in with the employees you trust to try to find out if something of this nature is going on.
Tips for Creating Employee Survey Forms
Employee survey forms help improve employee satisfaction by allowing them to voice their opinions and concerns. When employees feel their views are respected and valued, it increases job satisfaction and motivation. Before crafting your survey form, here are some things to consider:
1. Purpose of the Survey
What do you want your survey to achieve? Do you want to measure employee engagement? Or do you have an employee process to improve? Once you’ve identified it, you’re good to go. Unfocused survey research serves no one. Start by setting clear goals and move on.
Further, set the appropriate indicators in line with your survey goal. With your end goal in mind, identify what needs to be measured for improvement. This will help you develop a targeted action plan to improve your results.
2. Survey Tool
Choosing the appropriate survey tool can make or break your target goal in assessing your employee’s status. It will do all the heavy lifting, such as valid questionnaires, collecting data, and generating reports, so choosing the best tool to suit your purpose is crucial. Make sure your tool will not compromise data privacy and the freedom to express with anonymity. Many online survey tools are available, such as Google Forms, SurveyMonkey, and Typeform. The trick is to choose what’s best for your employees, all tailored to your purpose of conducting the survey.
3. Creating Survey Questions
One important consideration when creating survey questionnaires is the establishment of forms of anonymity. When employee surveys are truly anonymous, employee feedback is genuine and open. You may be reluctant to provide information if you do not believe the study is anonymous. This may be due to fear of the boss, repulsion in evaluations, etc.
Also, conducting the survey questions should be clear, concise, and relevant to the survey’s purpose. When it comes to the type of questions, you can use a mix of open-ended and closed-ended questions. Group similar questions together and create sections for each topic. This will help make the survey easier to navigate and complete.