Managing Employee Productivity

How did we measure productivity?

This project included the entire organization, so no simple behavioral measure could be used (like the number of units per hour). Instead, participants responded to a cluster of survey questions that asked about their typical level of productivity (high to low), as well as questions that asked about how productive they thought they could be. The more they agreed that they were both productive and as productive as they could be - the more the total score indicated they were making good use of their current system and technology. Note that this measure stresses the effective use of what you have. It does not estimate what might be gained through alternative production methods. Can we trust the results of such a measure? The measure passed quality control tests of validity and reliability. It also correlated well with physical measures of employee productivity in previous projects. The combined evidence suggested the employee survey results could be trusted.

Planning

The root cause analysis of the employee survey data identified planning as the factor that most strongly affected productivity. Workgroups that had adequate planning for their needs were more productive. Be careful as this does not mean that the more planning you do, the better.

Action: Have workteams discuss, "Which aspects of our jobs would be better with additional planning?" The faster the pace and growth of your organization, the harder it is to plan. The more your organization has to respond to the competition or a changing environment, the less you are able to do long term planning. However, don't use these as excuses. Look at your workflow and decide where planning (often involving teamwork and communication with other departments) will help. The goal is simply to do enough - not to do so much that you are now replacing action with planning or making yourself inflexible.

Policies and Procedures

The factor that had the second strongest impact on employee productivity was having policies and procedures that help people do their jobs. Often organizations view guidelines and procedures as ways to control people. They seem to operate from a "fear paradigm" that suggests if employees aren't controlled, the result will be anarchy.

Action: Approach policies and procedures more like a music score - something to help people coordinate their activities and to help maintain quality. Have workgroups review the policies and procedures that affect them. Identify the ones that are efficient and help get work done. Identify the ones that would be better if revised or eliminated.