Factors affecting employee productivity in 2022

9 of August, 2022

As a manager one of your roles is to monitor and improve employee productivity. Productivity is a vital measure of how well your employees are performing. Whilst it is not the be all and end all of success, high productivity is a strong indicator of a healthy workplace. To understand the factors affecting employee productivity, read our blog post below and get to know ways in which you can improve employee productivity.

What factors affect employee productivity?

Employee productivity can often have a vague definition, so it is important you know what it really means and how it differs to efficiency. Productivity is usually equated with the efficiency of a business’s production process, but in the case of employee productivity it largely refers to the amount of output they produce over a period of time. This is also known as labor productivity. To understand how you can thus save time and your workers energy on the right projects, you need to know what causes a lack of productivity, and address it using productivity tools.

Generally speaking you can divide the factors that affect worker productivity across 4 categories:

• The human capital, which includes the skills the workers have. This can be evaluated using a skills matrix. 
• The work environment, which tackles issues such as the spatial environment, the working environment mood, the group of employees as a whole, and so on.
• Technology: Technology has been a key factor affecting productivity since the invention of the wheel! Having the latest technology, including time management and productivity apps, is a great way to improve your team’s performance.
• Managerial nous: this refers to how well you and your managers run the business and its various projects. Having a strong managerial team that evaluates where processes are too slow and where they can be improved is important. You also have the ability to implement your own methods and techniques of working that your employees can learn and benefit from.

You can add motivation to the managerial nous part. A more productive and satisfied workforce to be effective? That’s the goal. Their motivation is also as much your responsibility as it is theirs.

Technology influencing employee productivity

Technology is now an important part of staff productivity. There are multiple facets to the technological dimension of employee productivity. The most basic one is the tools your workers have, including their PCs, that they need to do the job. Technology can also have negative effects on productivity though. Excessive distractions have show to lower staff productivity levels in the workplace.

More abstractly, technology also influences the communication and processes between a line manager and their directs. Technology has now made it easier for line managers to communicate and give orders to their employees. They can also monitor the time employees spend on specific projects, or quickly schedule whatever is required via a multi-device application. 

Examples of technology improving your business and its productivity can include :

• A clocking device for analyzing the amount of time employees spend on a specific project.
• A social media monitor or website blocker to avoid employees procrastinating on social media or irrelevant websites.
• To Do List applications that help the individual employees track what their tasks are for the day and how they must complete them.
• Project management software that helps you do strategic planning and monitor how a project is coming along.

Technology is thus vitally important for your workplace management. Your use of it can make or break the productivity levels of your company.