Easy Ways to Maximize Employee Performance

Mark Twain said, ‘The secret of getting ahead is getting started.’ Well, this holds true in business, where you could have a stellar product or distinct service to begin with.

However, this is only half of the equation of success; the other half comes from the seamless performance and effort of your employees.

There is no question that your customers are the biggest stakeholders, but simultaneously, employees are your biggest assets. The skills, efforts, mentality, and actions of employees determine whether a company will achieve its goals or not.

Efficient employees will streamline tasks, meet deadlines, and help the company achieve its operational and financial objectives.

On the other hand, inefficient employees can prevent the company from performing according to its true potential.

The 5 Essential Ways to Boost Employee Performance

The degree to which an employee carries out the assigned tasks within a deadline and behaves in a workplace is termed ‘employee performance.’

Due to the nature of work, organizations may monitor performance on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly basis.

Recent shifts in business dynamics and modern workplace culture call for smart work rather than hard work. Managers need to know how particular employees can add value to the organization.

Did you know that a typical employee is efficient for only 60% during the day?

Employees face numerous challenges that hinder their productivity, which could be personal and professional. Some of the common ones include lack of motivation, multitasking, burnout, unrealistic expectations, and workplace environment.

Let’s explore how employers can help employees identify areas for improvement and work toward achieving the same organizational goal.

1. Communicate Effectively

Communication in a workplace is a two-way process and involves managers and employees connecting easily without any misunderstandings.

Ineffective communication often leads to missed deadlines, work delays, declining productivity levels, and friction that develops into a conflict.

An employee not performing at their best could be due to any number of reasons. As a manager, you must take the lead and have honest conversations about it. More often than not, the reason is plain and simple and can be uncovered without much hassle.

A one-on-one interaction allows the employees to voice their concerns and tell any personal or office issue that is affecting their work. It is an opportunity to let employees know you care about them and want them to succeed.

Popular Tools for Effective Communication

With hybrid and remote working options becoming common, communication is a top concern for organizations. The best solution to adapt to the new work culture is integrating technological solutions to boost employee engagement. The two tools you can use for effective intra-company communication are

Slack:

Slack is a messaging app used by companies of all sizes. It streamlines internal communication by allowing managers and employees to communicate in real-time through instant messages, calls, and video calls. You can even share file links and make groups to broadcast certain messages or information.

Skype:

Skype is the most popular software for communicating through messages, audio calls, and video calls. You can even make video conference calls and international calls for free. The software allows you to send all types of files and even share screens for better communication.

2. Use Employee Monitoring Tools

Are your employees completing tasks efficiently and delivering the results you expect?

Organizations grapple with constant challenges, and one of the most crucial is tracking employee performance. This transcends merely clock watching and involves developing meaningful metrics to give insights into employee activity.

Every company employs different methods and techniques to track employee performance and provide feedback accordingly. Collecting and analyzing employee data always involves certain intricacies and challenges.

Fortunately, the tech advancements have made tracking employee productivity seem like a walk in the park. You no longer have to count hours and update the worksheets every hour upon task completion.

Recommended Tools to Track Employee Performance

Employee monitoring apps offer a more nuanced and goal-centric approach to streamlining tasks and enhancing productivity. Here are two examples:

XNSPY

XNSPY is an ideal employee cellphone monitoring app to minimize office distractions and poor employee performance. The app provides comprehensive tools to monitor employees during all working hours. You can know exactly if a lack of performance is related to employees playing games, using social media, or surfing the internet.

XNSPY, as a monitoring app allows you to:

• Track an employee’s active and idle time
• Check if web browsing involves surfing productive websites or not
• Know if employees are leaking confidential company information or data through regular screenshots
• Monitor calls, emails, and multimedia and timely prevent potential breaches

Xnspy is an ideal example of a tool you should pick since it has a great community standing and trusted reviews on authentic sites.

TimeDoctor

Another formidable monitoring software is Time Doctor, which provides comprehensive information on employee tasks, hours, and activity.

The key features of Time Doctor include

• Send distraction alerts whenever an employee is idle on the screen for a long time
• Take screenshots and record screen time as proof for employers and clients
• The employee laptop or desktop settings can be customized

Monitoring individuals and teams requires a lot of effort and time. However, the right employee tracking tool makes it easy to know how employees manage their time and tasks. All the progress reports are data-driven, making it easy to identify areas for improvement and provide honest feedback to employees.

3. Set Clear Goals & Expectations

Your employees can only perform optimally when they clearly understand the organization’s goals and what is expected of them. The tasks and responsibilities of the employee are mentioned in the job description. However, it is essential to revisit the details regularly as the employee settles in.

The one thing the COVID-19 pandemic taught is that nothing is certain, and business and employee goals can be redefined and evolve. You need to not only craft the goals but effectively communicate them to the employees.

As a manager, there are times when you must prioritize the tasks for the employees. It is done knowing the significance of those tasks on the company goals and the need to achieve efficiency.

For example, if there is a new product launch, you must focus on tasks that involve the development, marketing, and sales of the product.

Employees who are not aware of their tasks and goals may work on assumptions that may not align with the company’s goals. This usually happens when there is no clear distinction between their responsibilities and performance goals.

Set SMART Goals

One of the tried and tested formulas is the SMART goals framework. It allows you to set goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. This framework provides key insights and data and helps measure employee performance all year round. You can set specific benchmarks and identify ways for more improvement.

Objectives and Key Result (OKR)

In these fast and competitive times, new tasks and goals require you to formulate new strategies. If you don’t have a whiteboard to brainstorm ideas, the next best thing is an OKR methodology.

It is a goal-setting method with three factors:

1. An objective
2. A time period
3. List of key results:

While SMART is best for setting individual goals, OKR focuses on long-term team goals.

It can help the team set, communicate, and track the goals. This ensures that each team member has a particular role to perform and will be accountable for his or her actions.

4. Recognize and Reward Good Work

While every step of employee performance is critical, rewarding employees for good work is quite significant. The best way to ensure that employees achieve efficiency is by showing them recognition and giving them an incentive.

Employees who strive hard to complete the tasks and contribute to the company’s success deserve acknowledgment. Most times, an employee even waits to be congratulated for their efforts.

Appreciating employees on a job well down fuels motivation and enables them to work even harder. Similarly, lack of recognition often compels the employee to look for an opportunity where they work will be regarded.

Rewards and recognition are integral to ensuring a collaborative and productive workplace environment. An employee who is highlighted and appreciated can motivate other employees to achieve the same.

Depending on the size and structure of your organization, you can even devise certain criteria for rewards and remunerations. The rewards can be in different forms, such as:

• Thank you cards
• An email or a certificate of appreciation
• Gifts
• Monetary incentives or bonuses
• A promotion.

Money-based incentives often prove to be the biggest motivator and driving factor of performance. This may involve cash rewards, an increase in salary, bonuses, or profit sharing. All these money-oriented rewards motivate employees to showcase exceptional talents and skills in meeting the set targets.

Apart from monetary incentives, verbal or written appreciation goes a long way in boosting employee performance. The handwritten cards or praising efforts and works of employees in a meeting can make employees feel an integral part of the organization.

5. Invest in Employee Development

One of the ways to show you care for an employee’s growth is by providing them with development opportunities.

Often, lack of performance comes from the unavailability of resources or when an employee is missing certain knowledge or skills. You need to provide adequate training and development to ensure the employees can carry out the task in an optimum manner.

An employee is more likely to be engaged and productive if they feel they can learn new skills and get growth opportunities accordingly. There is a wide range of opportunities you can provide the employees, such as coaching programs, training seminars, and online courses.

Training not only helps enhance knowledge but also ensures employee engagement and puts the company in a better position to face competition.

Learning Management Systems

You can invest in employee training software such as a corporate learning management system (LMS). It helps to curate, administer, manage, and incorporate custom-made training programs for employees. You can even monitor employees’ progress and scale the training and development across multiple teams.

Digital Adoption Program

Another option is the digital adoption platform (DAP) that allows employees to use digital apps and get support from within the app themselves. The purpose is to empower the employees to gain new knowledge while working on the new software tools.

The employees get step-by-step guidance and support as they perform their work. The guidance can be in the form of interactive walkthroughs, short video tutorials, and tool tips.  

Closing Thoughts

The success of an organization is directly linked to the effectiveness and efficiency of its workforce.

Each company has its own methods and techniques for ensuring employee efficiency. However, the underlying concept remains the same. Infusing modern tech and tools can drastically help companies achieve employee performance and organizational goals.

Employee monitoring tools allow you to easily define performance metrics, implement strategies, and track employee activities. It also keeps you informed on employee activity at all hours and whether they are secretly leaking confidential information or not. ​​​​​​​