Invest in employees

Paulette Dunn-Smith, Contributor

IT is widely agreed, certainly by CARICOM, that workforce productivity will be the dominant driver of economic growth in the region. Several countries are currently putting together plans that will have an impact on human resource development, and workforce training and development in particular.

 In the field of human resource development, productivity is a measure of efficiency and how much the individual can contribute to the output of the business. Many business owners are unable to adequately identify what constitutes a productive workforce and very often fail to make a connection between training, retention of staff and output. Investing in human capital and workforce development can result in greater revenue gains over time for companies.

When thinking about ways to improve the performance of employee workforce productivity, many organisations focus on implementing systems and/or initiatives, but do not explicitly think about the linkage between the capability of the business and individual competence. They neglect to think about how elements such as leadership, business strategy and goal-setting at the enterprise level can directly affect their employees' motivation, knowledge, skills and capabilities.

Let us now look at seven ways to increase workforce productivity.

1. Plan and organise

Productivity cannot be improved without planning. It is an important managerial process to create and maintain a plan. The wider the involvement of employees in the planning process, the more the buy-in and commitment there is towards implementation and actioning of the plan.

Therefore, if you want to improve your company's productivity, develop a detailed plan, but do not stop there. Individuals should also have a plan for themselves. These plans will help the employee stay focused on his or her objectives, thus contributing to the overall goals of the company.

2. Hire competent and qualified personnel

Recruit and hire reliable and competent individuals in order to increase your company's productivity.

Hiring experienced, competent people assumes that they will be assigned challenging roles within the business. Very often, individuals who are not competent are retained in organisations because of their longevity and loyalty. Numerous mistakes are made, which lowers efficiency and eventually results in additional costs to the company.

By hiring competent 'fit-for-purpose' qualified personnel, companies will be able to generate maximum revenue, thereby improving its productivity.

3. Become a learning organisation

The Jamaican workplace has changed rapidly. In the past, workers went to their jobs to perform a task. Now, the workplace is changing into a place where workers both work and learn, as companies transform themselves into learning organisations. Companies are partnering with educational institutions in delivering training. As learning organisations, companies provide ongoing work-related training to all levels of employees, offer a variety of information and resources, encourage the exchange of ideas, recognise and even reward employees who acquire new skills.

3. Lead, develop leadership and empower individuals

Display good, positive leadership skills. Develop leadership and empower the workforce through team building, peer mentoring and coaching among your employees. Team building creates a sense of belonging and can also improve productivity.

You can empower your employee workforce through training and development. Identify talent, empower and encourage individuals to take on challenging tasks, to innovate, to create new models, find solutions. This form of leadership helps your business to maximise your employees' talents and resources. Motivate the workforce by sharing the mission and vision of the company.

4. Re-energise/energisethe employee workforce

Most new recruits in a company come in highly charged up and willing to make a meaningful contribution. One year later, these employees may lose their motivation and complacency; boredom sets in.

Several reasons can be put forward: routine, lack of variety, no incentives, lack of training, or ineffective training.

Regardless of the reason, the employee is the heartbeat of the company and attention must be given to sustain the life of the business.

Have fun together, a games evening. An after-work social will help to re-energise the workforce.

5. Communicate and connect

It is important to build a connection with employees.

When staff are able to freely communicate with management on a daily basis, there is more buy-in and commitment to work.

Listen to workers, get to know staff. It makes a difference when you can recognise and identify each member by name, particularly so in large companies.

6. Train and develop the workforce

Offer career-development sessions for staff to identify and expand individual skill sets. This will help them in identifying areas to improve on during training.

Provide opportunities for them to move up the career ladder in the organisation.

7. Continually assess to improve

Finally, a business will not grow without making regular assessments of the workforce.

It is a detailed process of measuring the knowledge, skills, attitudes, dedication, motivation, beliefs and satisfaction of the staff.

Regular evaluations should be done to measure productivity. Analysis of the information will inform the company as to what changes should be made to improve.

Continuous improvement and change is a process which sets the company apart and makes it different from others.

Thanks to the readers who have been enjoying the articles so far. Keep sending in your comments and questions you wish to have answered. I look forward to hearing from you.

Palette Dunn-Smith is an international trainer and workforce-development expert. She is the executive director, Dunn, Pierre, Barnet & Associates Ltd & Chairman, Caribbean Career and Professional Development Institute. Contact her at prune@dpbglobal.comma or wow.dpbglobal.comma.