By Bruce Clarke, J.D.
Jan. 19, 2012
It is easy for employers to fall into the trap of believing that pressuring employees to work harder and faster creates the most effective results when it comes to efficiency and productivity, but that may not be the case. Employees are often more effective when they do not have to operate under high stress and hectic work/life schedules.
Consider Fortune magazine’s list of “100 Best Companies To Work For” and you will see that a common thread spanning the majority of top organizations is the repetitive mention of high productivity and satisfied employees. How do you achieve the ideal of optimal employee efficiency, productivity and satisfaction in your own company? Shifting the workplace environment may be easier than you think.
When setting out to improve the situation in your own company, keep the following high-level principles in mind. There are endless strategies and approaches you can use to implement these principles, but this article offers some suggestions for each:
1. Make It Easy For Employees To Communicate With Each Other.
Regardless of which office tool you use to track the whereabouts and activities of employees, make certain all employees use it to notify the rest of the team when they are traveling, at a client site, working from home or on vacation. Build an infrastructure that allows server and email access no matter where an individual’s location—whether home, office conference room, training room, airport or taxi.
Encourage employees to share their cell phone numbers with co-workers, so they can be contacted when out of the office. Make sure all employees respect the privacy of their co-workers and keep all shared cell numbers confidential. Finally, train employees in technology that allows and encourages remote sharing of information so they can work in virtual mode whenever it is most efficient. Employees may surprise you with the additional work they can complete outside the regular 8 to 5 routine when the proper systems are put in place for continuous access.
For your infrastructure to function properly, it is just as important that employees have access to managers when outside the office as to their fellow employees. An “open door” policy is most effective when the manager can be reached via email, phone, text messaging or other means, especially when that manager typically makes critical decisions throughout the workday. In many companies, managers must be willing to make themselves available during off-hours or weekends.