The Blocks to an Employee's Productivity
By:
Dr. Donald E. Wetmore
Many
factors, separately and in combination with others, will build walls
to block employee's’ productivity. Most people intuitively and
instinctively want to be productive. It makes sense. They will get more
from life and so will their employer. My experience, after eighteen
years of speaking about Personal Productivity, has shown me five major
blocks to employees’ productivity
- Improper
selection. When labor markets are tight companies may be tempted to
hire anyone with a warm body and a pulse to fill a slot rather than
pay an adequate amount of money to recruit the right individual. No
matter how tight a labor market is, there are always qualified people
available if the compensation is fair. If you are baking a cake and
you use the wrong ingredients, no matter what the reason, you will
not produce the cake you desire.
- Inadequate
training. One out of three employees changes jobs annually. Companies
that recruit poorly tend to train poorly as well. Training is not
a one shot enterprise, but an on-going investment to reinforce and
advance skills and attitudes. Employers often get caught up in a vicious
cycle. They recruit poorly, then fail to allocate sufficient training
resources. ("Why spend the money when they won’t be around
for very long?") Employee's performance suffers, their satisfaction
level is low, and they leave giving the employer the opportunity to
start the cycle again. Employers ought to treat employees as an investment
rather than an expense.
- Overworked. Reasonable people will accomplish a reasonable amount in a reasonable
time period. But, you cannot put ten quarts of water into a five-quart
container. There is nothing wrong with shifting work from former employees
to those who remain. Our capacity to produce will sometimes be enhanced
as we take on more responsibilities. But there is a limit. Being truly
overworked helps people to a lot of things poorly. It may be more
productive to ask them to accomplish fewer things productively.
- Poor
alignment with personal and company goals. The employer has a life
and a destination. And, employees have a life and a destination. If
employees cannot align their job with the employer and with where
they are going in their life, they will eventually seek a greener
pasture. Do your employees see their position as a vehicle to get
them to where they want to go in life financially, professionally,
and socially or is their job an expedient trade of their time for
a paycheck?
- Burn
out. Most people leave their jobs voluntarily and the major reason
is "burn out." "Fed up! Can’t take it anymore!" Unfortunately, burn out is not an overnight event but a gradual process,
sometimes lasting months and years, during which time, productivity
and commitment diminish. Burn out is caused in different ways but
has a lot to do with items 1-4 above. Many employers fail to look
for signs of burn out and if they are not cognizant of the problem
there will be no opportunity to prevent, respond, or rectify.
---
Dr. Donald
E. Wetmore - Professional Speaker
Productivity Institute - Time Management Seminars
website: http://www.balancetime.com
