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It’s no secret that the success of any business organisation is largely dependent on how productive the employees are. There have been a lot of theories and models that underscore the effects of certain factors in employee productivity such as deep-rooted motivation and workplace satisfaction.
As business owners, one of your jobs is to make sure that productivity levels are at their highest. Moreover, it is your job to make sure that certain management practices that can adversely impact employee productivity are effectively avoided.
Here are 5 ways in which business owners can negatively impact the productivity of their employees.
1. Failing to recognise talent
One of the biggest mistakes made by some business managers is failing to give recognition to whomever it is due. It is very easy to look at employees as having equal competencies. However, the uniqueness of each individual can actually make them stand out in a crowd. Failing to recognise talent and skill is one of the most important reasons why employees feel demotivated. They feel as if what they are doing isn’t really valued at all.
Business managers should recognise the individual talents and skills of their employees. Recognitions and rewards can do a lot of positive things to an employee. Even a simple pat on the back is sometimes all it takes to make an employee that their efforts are appreciated. Everyone deserves to be acknowledged in their own little way.
2. Overbearing supervision aka Micro-management
Supervision is an integral component of any management endeavour. This is especially true for new employees as they need direction and guidance to help perform at their jobs. However, if you’re the type of manager who simply doesn’t trust your employees to do their job correctly, supervision can have its negative consequences, too.
It’s okay to supervise every once in a while. But if you’re breathing down on your employee’s neck all the time, you’ll find that this will negatively impact their productivity. It’s like telling them that you don’t trust them. People want to feel that they can be trusted. Otherwise, they will find no reason to continue working in such a distrustful environment.
3. Aversion to technological advances
Some business owners don’t like the idea of integrating newer technologies into their systems. Every now and then innovations are rolled out to improve productivity. For example, more innovative storage solutions are now readily available to make logistics organisation a lot more systematic and efficient. But, if you don’t like such technological innovations, then your employees will have to make-do with largely outdated systems.
Technologies today are designed primarily to make life a lot easier and more convenient. The same is true with technologies intended for the workplace. They are designed to make work processes a lot smoother and more efficient. Aversion to technology can have a negative impact on your employees’ productivity, too.
4. Leading by fear
One of the hallmarks of very successful organisations is a highly democratic form of management. Unfortunately, there are business organisations that lead by fear. Fear itself is a very powerful tool for making sure that everyone adheres to the rules, lest they suffer the consequences. It works more like using punishment as a great motivator. People don’t want to be punished, so they try very hard to perform.
Unfortunately, it also speaks of one’s distrust of employees. Employees are not slaves. They are human beings with inherent rights just like everybody else. When fear is instilled into employees, everything they do will be done out of that fear and not because of the genuine sense of fulfilment for having accomplished something.
5. Intruding into the personal lives of employees
Some business owners go to online social media platforms to look at what their employees are saying outside office hours. This is clearly intruding into the personal lives of employees, and is essentially a form of stalking, making them feel uneasy. Instead of feeling free to voice their angst on social media platforms, employees take on a more guarded stance since they don’t want to post or say something on social media that could get them fired from work.
Business is business. It has nothing to do with the personal lives of employees. However, if the business is going to take concrete steps to help improve the personal lives of its employees, then employees will feel that they are valued by the company they are working for. This can then lead to an increase in employee productivity.
Ensuring employee productivity is one of the major goals of any business organisation. It doesn’t matter which industry or sector your business belongs to. The important thing to remember is that you’re running an organisation that is composed of people. Taking good care of these individuals so they’ll feel happy and satisfied with their roles can help you guarantee success for your own business.
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