Employee productivity is one of the significant contributors to any business’s success, whether small-scale or conglomerate.

While employees are responsible for delivering top-notch productivity, they are not usually the ones to blame when your business is suffering from low productivity.

Smart employers work to achieve an efficient combination of an engaged workforce that is also highly productive.

This article explores the essential things you need to understand about staff productivity and how to solve your low employee productivity problem.

What is employee productivity?

Employee productivity is a measure of the amount of work an employee can perform within a given period. It indicates employees' contribution to the key business goals and overall performance.

The better the employee productivity of an organization, the lesser the cost of production and possibly higher profitability.

The impact of the loss of productivity on a business varies and it is directly proportional to the cause. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention for instance estimated that productivity losses to health problems cost U.S. employers $225.8 billion annually.

Research from Gallup puts a price tag of $1.9 trillion on the loss of productivity caused by workers' unhappiness.

Employee's productivity vs efficiency

Although used interchangeably, there is a difference between employee productivity and employee efficiency. 

Understanding this will help an employee to leverage the individual strength of the context.

Productivity focuses on how much work an employee can handle within a certain period. On the other hand, efficiency assesses the ability of an employee to deliver more with the same resources. 

This means a sales rep who closes ten deals after a $1,000 course is more efficient than another who only closes eight after the training.

Why your employees are underproductive and possible solutions

Some reasons why your employees are underproductive include:

Lack of acknowledgement

Employees want their company to succeed but may become indifferent if they go above and beyond but are never appreciated.

Unfortunately, other employees are also watching and may feel discouraged to go the extra mile for your business after seeing how their colleague was treated. 

However, employee recognition programs such as the presentation of service trophies can motivate employees and make them more productive and efficient.

Employees who feel they are not appreciated for their contribution to a company’s success are twice as likely to quit, which means they might be joining your competitor. You will not only lose a top talent but also strengthen your competitor's firm with a talent that knows your mode of operation.

Organizational drag

People need time to work on tasks to be productive. Unnecessary meetings, attending to unimportant emails, and prolonged project time can deprive employees of the required time to be productive.

Typically, companies lose over 20 percent of their productive capacity to organizational drag.

Employers who want more productive employees will create more time for employees to focus on working on tasks they were employed to handle.

Refocus on your strategic priorities and only invest your resources in projects that align with your primary goals.

Role misalignment

Employees will perform less if assigned to roles that do not align with their strengths. 

When employees do not see the value in your organization’s purpose and values, they are less likely to become engaged in the vision. Likewise, misalignment in the employee's competence and assigned tasks can create friction which will inevitably reduce performance and productivity.

Your employees are more talented and competent than you might imagine. Assign your best talent to business-critical roles.

Lack of autonomy and accountability

To ensure projects are executed as planned, every organization needs leaders who oversee employees' activities.

This however should not be extreme to the extent your employees start feeling they are being micro-managed.

To improve productivity, deploy your talents strategically with clear instructions on the expected result while allowing your employees to be flexible.

Autonomy helps employees feel valued and makes them accountable. They feel like a key stakeholder of the company as autonomy makes them realize how much their contribution affects the overall company performance.

Inadequate training

Industrial trends are always evolving. While your employee's productivity might be the same as when they were employed, it may be lesser than what is achieved by your competitors. They need proper training after joining the company.

Untrained workers will spend more time and resources in achieving minimal results. Adequate training enables employees to become more competent and deliver better results.

A study conducted by the American Society for Training & Development observed a company that spends three times more than its competitor and reported it recorded a 57 percent increase in sales and a 37 percent rise in gross profit per employee when compared with its counterpart.