How to Manage Employee Productivity During the Pandemic
Before the pandemic, teleconferencing was a meeting between managers and staff submitting weekly reports, daily morning briefings, idea-generating marketing campaigns, or just a remote way of introducing senior staff members to the rest of the team on the other side of the globe. Businesses would take advantage of this technology for its convenient form of bringing people together at a distance.
Now, of course, the new normal has altered the way this method of communication. It has become an essential form of communicating and connecting with employees who have to social-distance themselves from their workplace to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
And as this new way of working may become a longer-term prospect, it’s necessary to look at how you can better manage the productivity of your employees in the best way possible, to enhance employee well-being and reduce productivity losses.
Provide Reliable Infrastructure
The most important part of the new normal is communication via the internet and through video conferencing. To improve communication efficiency and its effectiveness, remote-working employees must have a reliable working computer, a stable internet connection, and secure account access. Not to mention the contact details of tech support personnel, who can assist in solving their problems as quickly as possible.
Allow Flexibility
Implementing a policy of flexibility to employees working from home can improve their well-being and job satisfaction. According to a study in Germany, businesses that supported trust-based work practices or time that is self-managed demonstrate increased self-motivated productivity and higher worker effort. A case study at a call center in China revealed that “home working led to a 13% performance increase, of which 9% was from working more minutes per shift (fewer breaks and sick days) and 4% from more calls per minute (attributed to a quieter and more convenient working environment).” Bearing in mind that these results can differ from industry to industry.
Team Motivation and Employee Accountability
Thoughtful consideration of your employees’ home life can bring about a better understanding of their work-life balance and may help to improve their mental health and well-being. Creating opportunities for employees to take short breaks and encouraging healthier habits, such as exercising and getting adequate sleep, can foster a sense of self-motivation for employees who may feel helpless that the state of global affairs is beyond their control.
Learning about how your employees live at home shows that you care for their welfare and can elevate their job satisfaction.
Establish daily morning calls. Managers should implement a routine schedule for their employees and communicate goal expectations often and clearly to avoid misunderstanding. Remembering to send a “shout out” to employees who’ve made achievements in a week or a month will also help give your team a sense of feeling valued.
To further enhance team communication, team leaders can encourage frequent interactions with their members by organizing time for non-work subjects that include hobbies and special interests. That can enhance productivity by building camaraderie among team members.
An additional method of elevating team motivation is through virtual staff training where employees and managers can learn specific techniques and skills, as well as interact and participate with members of their team. This can create a natural question-and-answer and feedback session and can improve their retention and understanding of the topic at hand while bonding as a team and learning about team support and collaboration.
The health crisis has forced some businesses to shut down. Although working remotely may carry the stigma of shirking responsibility, employees now have little choice but to work from home, and managers have to rely on their interpersonal skills from a distance. They should also trust that their employees have the self-motivation to complete their tasks as they would if they were physically in the office.
The new normal may have disrupted the way managers can monitor how employees are progressing with their work. Still, it has given rise to innovations and management software that are now more accessible than ever, and are being used to keep track of the progress of tasks and projects from remote working employees, making it difficult to shirk their responsibilities.
Managing employee productivity is no easy feat in the time of the pandemic. But adopting a few changes in line with the new normal, employee well-being and job satisfaction can be improved, and so will productivity. The benefits of managing employee productivity while working remotely can reduce the cost of hiring office space and its resources, and it will bring more financial benefits to help your business thrive in these trying times.
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Ken Boyd
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