Good and effective human resources management is essential for companies and organizations to remain competitive in a scenario of wide competition in all business segments. Measuring and evaluating the performance of employees can be one of the tasks that are assigned to each sector so that the company always seeks the best performance.
In the period of global crisis in which we are living, many things are changing and work processes are being revolutionized. The coronavirus pandemic brought us an immediate need to move in another direction, most companies that are not considered essential services started to work from home (with many going to visit website to upgrade their internet for these new normal needs) and employees are no longer physically at their jobs in large centers and business buildings across major cities.
As we know, for organizations to be successful, the constant work of improving work processes must be done periodically. The definition of goals and comparisons with previous periods are essential to always obtain the best performance from each employee.
However, with the new reality knocking on our door, the productivity measurement processes had to be modified to be done entirely at a distance due to the mass of workers who are working from home.
Despite this, different surveys state that about 94% of the companies that adhered to this work regime were satisfied with the results and many of them plan to continue with the practice even after the pandemic.
But how can we improve the productivity of our employees?
Business management tactics can improve the productivity of employees considerably. For example, when you prioritize the health and safety requirements of your employees, it can naturally have a positive impact on their work. You can outsource health and safety requirements to professional consultants who specialize in this field. Similarly, several other management strategies can be taken to improve your employees’ productivity. You can use productivity indicators to measure according to the revenue that each employee generates. They can also be evaluated and quantified according to the number of products sold.
Productivity can be measured in a simplified way by this formula:
Productivity = quantity of products or services produced / quantity of resources used = output / input
So, this formula brings us that productivity is nothing more than the amount of value that was generated at the expense of the amount of value and resources that were spent on production.
It is a very broad formula, but the cost of personnel, employees, taxes and other expenses are included within the equation.
But going deeper into measuring employee productivity itself, how can we encourage them to produce more and get more profit for companies? Employee programs like an expansion of focusing on employee engagement, job benefits, strengthening employee relationships, , etc., could help your employees and in turn, your customers. In the times of the pandemic, employee engagement activities like virtual team building games, ice breaker quizzes, and other online activities could not only provide relief to the employees and give them motivation but also help their productivity rates.
Choose a group of employees to evaluate
First, if you have never measured the production capacity of a particular team or even the company as a whole, experts recommend this work to be done by sampling. But how does it work?
The sampling technique is the process of determining a sample to be researched. The sample is a selected part of elements from a statistical population. So, following this logic, we can, in the case of a large company, choose only a small group to measure the results and generalize to the rest of the employees.
The idea is that this work will take place over a determined period of time, scholars recommend between 2 to 4 months of analysis for a blunt result. But it is necessary to pay close attention to the functions and types of work performed by each employee, since a company has a range of different functions and work routines from each other.
Compare your employees’ results, but don’t expose your collaborators.
Comparing production between employees who perform the same function can be a great way to increase a company’s production level. This comparison helps employers to understand how each employee behaves and what level of production is possible to achieve during working hours.
However, in this topic it is important to emphasize that it is very important that this data is not disclosed and employees are not exposed due to low production. The ideal is to analyze the data and congratulate and encourage the best so that others feel encouraged to improve as well.
Indicators must be monitored daily
In this phase, we must establish KPIs for measuring productivity. The performance indicators should be checked daily so that there is no interruption in the process of measuring employee productivity.
Check that the employees’ productivity are satisfactory and in accordance with the standards already established by the company and observe if this is being repeated throughout the company or are isolated cases, in case there is any drop in performance.
That done, it is interesting to pass on feedback to employees about their performance within the company and what can be improved in their work.
When the results are already adequate and satisfactory, it is recommended that management define a periodicity for monitoring the indicators: every 15 days or monthly.
Benchmarking with other companies in the industry
Analyzing how companies in the same segment deal with the productivity of their employees can be a great way to be guided by the productivity of their own employees.
Companies in the same segment have processes very similar to yours, it is necessary to evaluate their good practices and, if you have not yet adopted them, insert them into your production process.
Conclusion
Assessing the performance of our employees can be a great way to increase profitability and also improve the operating processes of the company as a whole. However, there are several ways to do this, several methods can be applied and several actions can be taken so that we can measure all the processes.
But there is one thing in common in all of them: the data is evaluated digitally. Spreadsheets, templates, presentations are made daily with all this data and greatly facilitate the work of managers and human resources departments.
Adnia Solutions understands that tools like these are essential and developed the best products for measuring the productivity of entire sectors in a simple and safe way.
That’s why we offer the 9 Box Grid Talent Management Template 2.0, a complete package with several templates and spreadsheets so that you can evaluate an employee’s current and potential level of contribution to the organization in the best possible way.