How to Boost Employee Productivity

In the business world, productivity is key to prosperity. Maximize your accounting and finance team’s efficiency and output with the following productivity-boosting strategies:

Be liberal with praise. Compliment your employees whenever it’s warranted. And don’t worry that frequent praise will lead to complacency. Most people respond to positive reinforcement by working even harder and smarter. On the other hand, workers who give it their all but feel unappreciated are likely to cut back on their efforts, assuming management doesn’t care about or even notice their contributions.

Individualize responsibility. The more people share responsibilities on a project, the longer they typically take to complete the assignment. While teamwork is an important dynamic in the workplace, make sure the individuals within the group have clearly defined responsibilities.

Publicize company goals. Your staff should understand the short- and long-term goals your organization is striving to achieve. Highlight these strategies in company publications or on the employee bulletin board. Moreover, ask individual departments to set objectives and encourage buy-in by involving employees at all levels in the process.

Offer guidance. One of the most common and frequently overlooked reasons for low performance is poor direction. When you make an assignment, provide as many details as possible. Keep in mind that team members may be reluctant to ask questions for fear of appearing uninformed or incompetent.

Criticize with care. When employees are doing substandard work, it’s the manager’s job to let them know. But be tactful. Never criticize an employee in front of his or her colleagues, and focus the discussion on performance — not the person.

Solicit input. Don’t assume that your staff will voluntarily voice their concerns. Instead, actively seek comments, observations and suggestions for improving processes. Maintain an open-door policy to make it easy for employees to talk to you.