Improving Productivity


If you have employees, here are three great productivity enhancers.

1) Free coffee. When coffee is provided for free, staff rarely "go for coffee" or take breaks. If they have to take a break to "get coffee," they are likely to take the full time allotted.

If the coffee is provided for free, they simply walk to the coffee machine, pour a fresh cup and return to work, not taking a formal break, greatly increasing productivity.

(I've seen companies take this a step further and provide things like instant noodles, soups, crackers, or even microwave pizza. Rather than go for lunch, staff will rise to the occasion when required, and continue working when a quick "hunger stopper" is provided.)

2) It's not about the money. Money satisfies needs, but does not motivate people to work harder. If you give someone a raise, they are likely to work harder, but usually for less than a week.

Praise and recognition for achievements are the greatest motivators, and most likely to increase productivity. They'll be remembered for weeks or even years, especially if you give the praise in front of the rest of the staff, or have an event, like a special award.

(The exception to this rule, is a sales person earning a percentage of gross sales. Money is in direct correlation to the effort.)

3) Outdated equipment like slow computers. People using fast computers (two years old or less) are able to get their jobs done, and move on to the next task much faster.

Modern software and the files they generate are huge, way bigger than they used to be a couple of years ago. They require more RAM, hard drive space and computing power.

So if your staff are singing while they work, they might not be as happy as you think. They might just be trying to stay awake, waiting for their five year old computer to finish its task.

So what are you going to do next year to improve productivity? Pay your staff more or hire more people? Chances are... neither will won't work.

Praise and recognize your staff's achievements (even the small ones), provide them with snacks, coffee and decent equipment, and your office will be a whole lot happier and productive, without paying more wages or hiring more people.


by Michael Campbell

Author of Internet Marketing Secrets

Posted: Sat - April 9, 2005 at 03:17 PM          





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