We all know you only ever get out of something what you put in, but how can you be sure that everyone on your team or in your firm is really pulling their weight?
Measuring productivity is one of the trickiest lines in business to walk, no matter your position in a company hierarchy. It can lead to tension and stress and, in worst-case scenarios, can end up reducing output.
Figuring our productivity benchmarks can be crucial to deciding if you need an extra pair of hands, so let’s take a look at five ways you can measure your product, without causing a riot:
The Daily Check-up
It would be wonderful if every employee leapt out of bed in a morning, greeted the day with a hearty “yippee” and rolled up their sleeves, ready to get stuck in. The reality is most people drag themselves to their desks and spend at least the first half hour of their shift waking up.
Some business owners and managers use a daily get-together, either virtually or remotely to get a handle on what the day has in store and how people propose to get it done. For some, it’s the kick-start they need but for others, it can feel as if Big Brother is watching.
Using Customer/Supplier Feedback
One way to measure your productivity is by listening to what your customers and/or suppliers are saying. If they’re dealt with in a swift and professional manner, then the chances are your productivity will reflect that.
If, however, there are delays or roadblocks, then it could be there are processes that need streamlining, or a member of staff – perhaps even a small team – isn’t firing on all cylinders. In both situations, we can help. Offloading admin tasks to us could give you the time to examine what’s not working, fix it and improve productivity, all without missing a business beat.
The Target-Based Approach
Many business owners live and breathe targets. They can be motivational, inspirational and – above all – generate lots of lovely revenue. But they don’t work for everyone.
One person’s gut-busting goal is another’s weight on their shoulders, so it pays to know your staff inside out. If you are going to have performance-led targets, personalise them as much as possible and always take into consideration your employees’ mental health. A little competition can be great for productivity and business, but it can also store up trouble for later.
The Team-Based Approach
Micro businesses often rely on their strong internal bonds to get work done, and those relationships can also be used to help maintain and improve productivity – if done carefully.
Regular round-table style meetings, in which everyone discusses everyone else’s strengths and weaknesses can be hugely helpful as long as personal feelings are firmly set to one side. Broader group feedback can help avoid that, and this strategy has the added extra of putting everyone on the same page when it comes to company goals, transparency that can be absent in other firms.
The Social Media Monitoring Strategy
If your staff is messing around on Twitter or Instagram on the company dime, they can’t be 100% productive, right? You’d be hard-pressed to find a single worker who hasn’t dipped into their social media when they shouldn’t, but keeping an eye on such behaviour can be challenging and potentially cause more harm than good.
Not every employee will appreciate their time is your money, and a hard-line approach to online activity could breed resentment, which won’t do your productivity levels any good at all. That’s why so many business owners come to us. They know when we work for them, our attention is 100% focused on their needs.
If you want expert help without needing eyes in the back of your head, Virtual Assistant Whiz offers vital admin support on an ad-hoc or regular basis. Contact us at info@virtualassistantwhiz.co.uk and let’s get started.
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