7 Proven Ways to Boost Employee Productivity in the Workplace

In today's fast-paced business world, employee productivity is a key driver of success. However, distractions, poor working environments, and lack of resources often hinder employees from doing their best work. As a result, organizations struggle with decreased productivity, lower morale, and higher turnover rates.

To address these challenges, workplace teams can implement several strategies to unblock employees and enable them to churn out their best work. Here are seven proven ways to boost employee productivity in the workplace:

1. Remove Workplace Obstacles

Employees often waste valuable time trying to find the right resources to do their jobs, such as searching for available meeting rooms. To combat this, workplace teams should:

• Manage workplace capacity to ensure employees have access to the workspaces they need
• Set clear guidelines for using meeting rooms, such as establishing minimum occupancy for larger spaces
• Use room scheduling software to prevent overbooking and underutilization of workspaces

2. Build a Connected Workplace

According to Asana's Anatomy of Work Index 2021 report, employees switch between an average of 13 apps 30 times a day, fragmenting communication and reducing efficiency. Integrating workplace technologies helps employees do more work and ensures your organization operates with more agility. To achieve this:

• Collaborate with your IT team to integrate new workplace technologies into your existing tech stack
• Audit existing technologies to avoid spending money on redundant, underutilized tools
• Evaluate your tech stack at least twice a year with input from IT and employees

3. Provide Your People the Best Technology

Accessible and reliable technology is a significant reason people choose to work on-site. However, when technology is hard to use, it can be frustrating and time-consuming. To maximize the ROI of your technology purchases and encourage adoption:

• Create a culture of training employees to use new technology
• Hold quarterly tech trainings to empower people to use the workplace to the fullest
• Consider holding monthly office hours to answer questions about workplace technologies
• Keep a book of best practices in each meeting room for easy self-service and troubleshooting

4. Create the Optimal Physical Environment

To enable employees to do their best work, build a range of space types into your workplace. This way, whether people are on-site for collaborative or heads-down work, they'll be able to find the optimal environment for their needs. Additionally, thoughtful space management will help employees keep a safe distance while working on-site and focus on their tasks. Consider:

• Asking employees how they want to use the workplace and matching appropriate space types to their needs
• Providing a mix of spaces, including collaboration areas, informal meeting zones, and quiet spaces
• Deciding whether to assign permanent or temporary workspaces, such as hot desks, or a mix of both
• Incorporating designated team zones and huddle spaces

5. Give Employees More Autonomy

Studies have shown the link between autonomy and productivity. One of the best ways to provide people more autonomy is by giving them a say in when they're at the workplace. While it may not be realistic to let employees set their own schedules, you can create workplace schedules that offer flexibility in where people work. This way, when they do go into the workplace, they're more intentional about how they spend their time.

6. Support Employee Growth

Opportunities for personal and professional growth keep employees motivated and engaged at work, which are important factors in boosting productivity. The workplace can be a hub for activities that help employees maximize their potential. To support employee growth:

• Collaborate with HR to empower your people to use the workplace in ways that support them beyond work
• Create an active workplace where people can participate in company-wide skills workshops and regular one-to-one skills exchanges
• Encourage participation by reminding employees about events in all-hands meetings and on Slack

7. Create a Transparent and Feedback-Oriented Culture

The best way to know whether your workplace is meeting the needs of your employees is by asking them. This will help your team understand what it can do to build a workplace people can go to do great work. It'll also engage your team and get them more excited about developing solutions for your people. To create a feedback-oriented culture:

• Formalize a process for collecting employee feedback
• Provide more than one method for people to share feedback
• Give employees clear direction on the kind of feedback you need
• Remind employees on a regular basis to share feedback
• Read this blog post on how to create an employee feedback system

By implementing these seven strategies, your team can build a workplace experience that supports employee productivity, morale, and retention. Remember, a productive workforce is a key driver of business success, and it's up to workplace teams to create an environment that enables employees to do their best work.

To learn more about creating a people-centric workplace, read our ebook, How to build a people-centric workplace experience, and discover how to develop a flexible workplace that puts your employees first.