The fact that Covid-19 has had a huge impact on workplaces is beyond dispute. The period has been defined by a lot of uncertainty with regards to the functioning of an organization and working from home becoming a new normal for major corporates to limit the spread of the virus and protect their employees. The work-from-home culture initially raised a lot of doubts and concerns over employee productivity getting hampered. There was a constant fear that employees might slack off in work if not under surveillance 24 by 7.

Wharton Study on Employee Productivity

A recent study by Wharton university has put these concerns to rest, that the productivity across economies has remained stable and is even increasing in many organizations. The Wharton survey states that only 15% of organizations had flexible work policies before the pandemic and the figure jumped to 76% during the pandemic.

Remote working has increased employee productivity as it allows the employees to be comfortable in their own environment, have family members and pets close by, absolutely zero time commuting to work, and not have to get ready or dress up for work. All these things have allowed employees to focus and put in more work. The remote working environment has also given rise to a very structured work environment with timely meetings and fewer disruptions during work hours which would happen in an office environment and which would cause a huge drain in productivity.

Steps for Increasing Employee Productivity.

Step 1 – Build an internal communication structure.

Organizations can begin building a strong internal communication system, they can bring in lots of new ideas of enhancing employee morale through the intranet. Organizations can also enable an online Positive Attitude turbinal, have a team who can manage, coach – counseling or even extended family. By taking it an extra mile for their employees.

Organizations can also start building a strong virtual workplace infrastructure which could include places to collaborate, share ideas and get work done. Using the company’s intranet system, internal messenger apps, and videoconferencing solutions and also equipping employees by training them on how to use them can make a big difference in enabling employees to perform productively.

Many organizations like Google have introduced a lot of employee surveys to understand what was important to their employees and allowed them to assess their own productivity and leadership coaching’s when they noticed employee productivity dwindling in the early days of the pandemic. Other organizations can take note of how Google tackled the decline in employee productivity by incorporating more granular team meetings and more frequent check-ins with employees, as well as working more with employee resource groups.

Source link - Managing Employee Productivity in times of Covid