5 Ways to Boost Employee Efficiency

Business leaders and managers all work toward the same goal of improving the efficiency of employees. Many people mistake this process for saving as much time as possible. But saving time doesn’t do your business any favor if your workforce doesn’t know what to do with that time. This explains why some businesses still fail to reach their objectives even if the workers exceed the standard 40-hour work week. The following are some tips on improving employee efficiency:

1) Match Tasks to Skills

What did your employees go through before getting hired? A job interview, right? This interview is meant to learn as much as you can about prospective workers. It’s not all about reading their resume and looking at credentials. You should take the time to know the skills and behavior of your employees so you can match them with the appropriate tasks. For instance, an out-of-the-box thinker may be the best person to pitch unique ideas to clients. But giving the same person a detail-oriented task could end up catastrophic.

2) Introduce Telecommuting

Afraid of letting your employees work from home? This can prove to be a scary thought for anyone who hasn’t tried it before. Interestingly, many studies show that those who work from home are more productive than those who are stuck in the office. It’s high time to embrace telecommuting. Voice-to-voice communication may be traditional, but it beats chatting and exchanging emails especially for urgent concerns. Setting up a virtual phone number can be an excellent investment. You can get yourself a 029 number, for example, to increase the reach of your business while using the virtual phone system to streamline communication within your team.

3) Delegate Effectively

After learning the skills and work styles of your employees, it’s time to figure out how you can delegate tasks effectively. A lot of managers think this is easy at first, but effective delegation proves more difficult than it sounds. There’s also the constant thought of your employees not living up to expectations. You might end up going over the same tasks you have given them just to double check. But this wastes so much time. It’s important to trust your employees. You hired them after all, so provide them the opportunity to boost their skills and acquire leadership experience.

4) Give Incentives

In Economics 101, we learned that people respond to incentives. Sometimes, it’s not enough to tell your employees to be more efficient. You have to give them a reason to take action. This doesn’t necessarily equate to a raise. You can offer them a paid time off, a free meal, or even a simple “thank you” note. When you recognize their efforts, your employees will feel more compelled to work efficiently.

5) Exchange Feedback

There are cases in which employees do not realize they’re being inefficient unless you tell them. If you’re not doing performance reviews, then you’re probably wasting countless hours. These reviews are important to let your employees know about things they excel at and the areas they need to work on. It’s also beneficial to hear from your team. Ask them what you can do in helping them improve. This allows you to formulate an effective and immediate strategy based on what your employees actually need.