The typical 9-5 work day can seem long sometimes, especially in the hours after lunch. Often times, productivity can take a nosedive in the latter half of the work day. Other times, employees may find it challenging to muster up the motivation to fire away on all cylinders so early in the morning.
But without motivation, a workplace lacks productivity. So today, we’re exploring a few ways you can help your employees have a more positive start to their day, and thus a better chance at being productive.
Efficient meetings
This may sound counterintuitive, as many employees might agree that meetings can be a waste of time. But meetings get a bad reputation. When run efficiently, they can actually increase productivity. If your meetings run for too long, then you might want to re-evaluate the purpose they serve in your place of work. Are they hour-long sessions where you review every single update happening within the company? Updates can easily be sent out in email blasts, saving everyone time.
Better uses of meetings include:
-allowing employees to go through their accomplishments for the week (a great morale booster)
-and affording the opportunity for team members to highlight what they’ll be working on in the days ahead and what they might need help with.
The first use gets your team excited about the strides they’re making toward their goals. The second holds employees accountable to their projects and helps them create a schedule for the week that they can then focus on.
Flexible hours
Everyone has a set time of day where they are naturally more productive. There are those who are morning people and others who are night owls. Some hit their stride right in the middle of the workday.
If your workplace offers ‘flex hours,’ this is a great opportunity to loosen the reins on your employees and allow them more fluidity with their work schedule. Flex hours allow workers to alter their start and finish times (as opposed to adhering to the traditional 9 to 5 schedule). While flex hours are most common among remote workers, more and more companies are starting to see the benefit of providing employees with schedule flexibility.
For instance, perhaps an employee comes in at 11AM instead of 9AM, thus avoiding the rush hour traffic that typically puts them in a bad mood and makes it difficult for them to be motivated in the office. On this new schedule, the employee no longer has to deal with rush hour and gets to enjoy a more peaceful start to their day, which maximises their productivity.
If you manage remote workers, perhaps you find that they’re at their most productive in the evenings. So long as they’re meeting deadlines, allow them the flexibility to work at their peak times. You’ll often find that the quality of their work tends to be much better when allowed to create it on their own schedule.
Automate processes
It can be quite the time-waster to constantly have to do the same processes over and over again on repeat. And repetition can very often kill motivation and productivity in the workplace, not to mention drain energy. More importantly, little to-do’s add up over time, until they take hours away from an employee who can better use that time on more pressing projects.
What are some of the things you can automate in your office? Are employees spending too much time answering customer service questions on the phone? Consider installing a smart bot on your company’s website that answers those questions for you. If regular emails to new clients are keeping employees’ hands tied, consider creating an automation sequence through email marketing services such as MailChimp or MailerLite. CRM technology (customer relationship management) can easily shave off several hours a day from your schedule by performing lightning-quick data analysis, thereby letting you focus on bigger priorities.
What other ways can you automate processes in the workplace? Doing so can prove beneficial to employees, giving them more time to focus on the things at work that matter.
These are just a few ways you can keep your team motivated throughout the day. The higher the motivation, the more productive your workplace will be. Even better, your employees will have a better state of mind with a more efficient, flexible, and organized workplace. Which of the above strategies will you try out this week?