Introduction
The term “workforce” refers to a group of people who work in various divisions within the same corporation. It can also refer to a group of persons who are employed in a specific geographical area. A research study (Prachi R. Ghate 2016) says that productivity means, efficiently utilising the available resources to its fullest. It is crucial to understand ways to increase the productivity of the workforce and to reach higher targets in a shorter period of time.
Workforce Productivity
Workforce productivity refers to boosting the efficiency of workers to produce more goods or services for the organisation in shorter time periods. A research study (Shivangi & Chaudhary, Nirmala, 2022) mentions that being productive in the workplace is influenced by various factors like work-life balance, the psychological state of the employee, work culture and the management. Increasing workforce productivity means making the organisation more profitable with the same number of employees.
It becomes very important for any employer to measure the workforce productivity since it helps them understand how to increase the profits or decrease expenses.
A research study (Iqbal, Naveed & Ahmad, Mansoor & Allen, Matthew, 2019) examined how impersonal trust influences the relationship between e-HRM(Human Resource Management) and employee productivity. The results of the research showed that the introduction of e-HRM had a positive impact on the productivity of employees.
Importance of Workforce Productivity
- A research article (Hubstaff 2022, March), mentions that creating a conducive workforce helps in building a productive environment for the employees, improving the working conditions which in turn helps in increasing the profitability of the organization.
- A research study (Dr Rajesh Kumar Agrawal 2015) helps us understand that,
from being mere employees to being identified as an asset to the company, the importance of the workforce has seen a rapid positive change to increase productivity.
- The organisation, which has improved its employee productivity, has seen good retention of employees since their job satisfaction increased.
- Workforce productivity also helps to offer better services to customers.
- A productive workforce paves the way for excellent engagement of employees, creating a stronger team, reducing stress and creating a work-life balance.
- A productive workforce, as mentioned earlier, thrives to complete tasks on time, which helps the company to reduce the cost.
Common Obstacles to Workforce Productivity
Workforce productivity can be hampered when (ActivTrak 2023, November)
- There is less or poor communication between employers and employees or within the team.
- Employees feel stuck in their everyday work routine without any rewards or recognition.
- The workforce feels that they do not have satisfactory work or pay.
- Long working hours hinder the work-life balance and create conditions of burnout and extreme stress which makes the workforce unproductive.
- Employees who do not get adequate and effective training required for the job lose confidence and consume more time than required.
- Employees are unable to prioritise work and try managing everything at once.
- The workforce has to do work manually rather than using technology, where the work gets easier and faster.
- Employees are disturbed from the routine of work e.g., from home routines to again in-office work routines, which might leave employees unsatisfied.
Impacts of Employee Motivation on Workforce Productivity
Employee motivation is the internal urge to take up efforts to complete work-related activities, goals or targets effectively within a specified time frame.
A research study (Weldeyohannes, G. 2015) says that motivated employees are definitely more productive which helps them use the resources of the company effectively and complete the task faster and better by using their skills in the best possible manner. It also says that motivated employees recorded fewer leaves than the other employees.
Within the same research, when the researcher asked the employees if motivation is a factor which improves workforce productivity, the majority of employees agreed, which helps us understand that motivation positively has an effect on productivity.
Apart from giving hikes and appraisals, companies can also take into consideration motivating employees by giving them perks such as insurance coverage, seasonal bonuses, and educational fee reimbursements for the employees to update their knowledge and skills, which will help them work better for the company, through which companies can achieve their targets.
A Happy Workforce is a Productive Workforce
A research study (Bellet, C., De Neve, J., & Ward, G. 2019), which studied the impacts of happiness and productive workforce through an experiment, says that increased happiness is the ability to perform more complex cognitive functions, improved mood and also saw that the social and emotional skills were considered to be very important.
The experimenters sampled telesales personnel from multinational telecom industries, assessing their happiness and monitoring their work weekly. They also studied the weather and mood of their samples. The result of the study revealed that there was a positive impact of happiness on productivity, and people who were very happy in the workplace more often took short breaks and converted calls into sales.
They also identified three possible productive ways which affected sales due to happiness.
- Better time management and adherence to schedule
happier the employee, the faster work gets done.
- Employees work faster when they are happier
- Help to boost the profit of the organisation.
Hence, we can understand that happiness has a positive effect on workforce productivity.
How to Improve Workforce Productivity – 5 Tips
Tips to improve workforce productivity:
- Providing employees with rewards and recognition- Identifying and recognising the performance of employees helps motivate them to be more productive.
- Managing the workforce without controlling their actions completely- When the employer is a leader rather than a boss, employees will develop trust and a connection with the employer, which will lead to in better emotional connection with the organization increasing employee retention.
- Making employees accountable- when we are accountable, we tend to do things at the appropriate time. Hence it is important to keep following up with employees about their performance, login and log-off timings.
- Trying to keep the employees happier: executing activities which will relax and refresh employees at work is very effective while trying to motivate employee’s productivity.
- Motivating for teamwork: encouraging engagement among the team, training employees about various soft skills, understanding their needs and wants, and activities like team outings, team lunches and other such activities will help create a strong team.
Conclusion
With all the above references and explanations, we can conclude that happiness is a great motivator for a productive workforce; respecting their time and effort becomes extremely important in creating a conducive environment for them. The article also helps us understand different factors which impact the productivity of the workforce and ways to increase it.
References
- Singh, Shivangi & Chaudhary, Nirmala. (2022). Employee Productivity: An Analysis of Dimensions and Methodology through Systematic Literature Review. The Empirical Economics Letters. 21. 183-204.
- Dr. Rajesh Kumar Agrawal (2015). A study was conducted to increase workforce productivity in industries in the PCMC area of Pune.
- Iqbal, Naveed & Ahmad, Mansoor & Allen, Matthew. (2019). Unveiling the relationship between e-HRM, impersonal trust and employee productivity. Management Research Review. 42. 10.1108/MRR-02-2018-0094.
- Prachi R. Ghate. (2016). IMPORTANCE OF MEASUREMENT OF LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY IN CONSTRUCTION. International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology, 05(07), 413–417. https://doi.org/10.15623/ijret.2016.0507065
- Industrial productivity. (n.d.). Google Books. https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=rHexCwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP7&dq=importance+of+workforce+productivity+psychological+perspective&ots=Dlte36t9pL&sig=-y1wGavXzXiXIMhjn8a4FXJwRL4#v=onepage&q=importance%20of%20workforce%20productivity%20psychological%20perspective&f=false
- Hubstaff. (2022, March 9). Workforce Productivity: What it is & How to Improve it. Hubstaff. https://hubstaff.com/workforce-productivity#:~:text=Workforce%20productivity%20measures%20the%20output,they%20would%20like%20to%20improve.
- https://ca.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/importance-of-productivity
- ActivTrak. (2023, November 3). 8 Workplace productivity challenges and how to overcome them. ActivTrak. https://www.activtrak.com/blog/productivity-challenges/
- Weldeyohannes, G. (2015). Employee motivation and its impact on productivity In the case of National Alcohol and Liquor Factory (NALF). International Journal of Law and Policy, 15, 163–167. https://www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/JPID/article/download/24894/25497
- Bellet, C., De Neve, J., & Ward, G. (2019). Does employee happiness have an impact on productivity? SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3470734
