Ensuring that your workers are working at maximum efficiency can be a challenge for business owners.
It’s easy to jump straight to implementing new policies and procedures that you think will resolve the problem. Or start cracking down on your employees to “make” them work more efficiently. But, unfortunately, in the long run, that isn’t going to work.
The first step is to find out why productivity was lacking in the first place. After you find out the “why,” you can then jump into the “how” to find a way to help your workers work smarter, not harder.
Engineered Mechanical Systems has provided diversified and quality fabrication and manufacturing services to various customers for over 30 years.
We are going to share with you ideas on how to improve the efficiency of your workers.
What Does Worker Efficiency Mean and Why Is It Important?
Worker efficiency is the ability for your workers to get the most output from the least input. Pretty much it is teaching your workers to work smarter, not harder, during their workday.
There are so many ways that increased efficiency can benefit your company. Some of which are:
Increase your profit
It will create a positive work environment
Efficient workers will set the tone for their co-workers
Allows for the growth of workers within your organization
Workers will be more engaged in their job responsibilities
How to Increase Worker Efficiency
To effectively increase efficiency, you have to pinpoint what your team needs to work on. For example, do you see workers wasting time? Are workers using all of the resources available to them? Is your team taking the shortest route to get things done? Does your team need more training? Once you figure out where the wasted time is, you can focus on how to correct it.
Here are some tips to help increase the efficiency of your factory workers.
Incentive Programs for All Workers
Many companies provide incentives for their employees. However, some tend to focus solely on senior-level workers. Extending your incentive program to lower-level workers helps them form a commitment to the success of your business.
Are you worried that it would be too great of a cost to do this? Then, tie your incentive program to specific financial targets to justify the cost of the program.
Take the Time to Train Your Workers
When a company is trying to save money, it will sometimes cut off training for employees. These days so many workers are forced to figure things out on their own. The problem with this is that the way they “figure things out” may not be the most efficient way to do something.
Investing time training your employees in the beginning will ultimately save you time and money down the road. It will keep you from answering simple questions and save you money from having to correct mistakes that the worker wouldn’t have made had they received the correct training in the first place.
Provide Useful Feedback to Workers
Providing helpful feedback on a regular basis is imperative to keeping your workers efficient. You want to make sure the feedback given to your workers is upfront and truthful, and if that means there are areas they need to improve on, they need to hear that as well.
Helpful and encouraging feedback helps workers make positive changes.
Be sure to pay attention to your body language. For example, when you smile and nod, you give off positive signals. You also want to focus on your tone of voice. If you feel uncomfortable or aren’t sure how you will come off to your workers, find someone you trust and practice. They can tell you if/when you are coming off as unfavorable.
Respect Your Workers
Workers know if you are only respecting them for their work and not as an individual. Workers are more productive when they feel like they are respected. This respect will also create employees who will go above and beyond for your company.
Provide Training For All Management Levels
All too often, training is provided to top management, and middle managers and supervisors are overlooked. These are the managers who are early on in their careers and could use the development opportunities that training can provide.
If you can’t fit formal training into your budget, let them take online courses, buy books, and attend conferences.
Support Your Workers
Supporting your workers can come in many ways. It can be updating or acquiring equipment to make their jobs easier or as simple as making sure they can balance work and family.
When workers see support from their company’s leadership, morale will increase, and so will the loyalty that the workers have for you.
Make Sure to Set Clear Goals
One of the best ways to increase the efficiency of your workers is to make sure they know exactly what goals they are working towards. Make sure the goals are clear and that they understand why the goal has been established. You will also need to have something set in place on handling workers who aren’t achieving their goals.
Don’t Be Afraid to Praise and Recognize Workers
If you see a worker that deserves recognition for something, make sure to recognize them. According to Forbes, being recognized can be more motivational than money.
If a Task Is Routine, Simplify It
While not taking so much time individually, simple tasks add up and cost your workers valuable time. Take time to review what your workers do on a daily basis. If a task is routine, see if there is a way that technology can help simplify the task for the workers.
By optimizing your team’s routines, you save valuable time and allow workers to move on to something more important.
Make Sure You Are Communicating Effectively
Communication is key! It’s so simple these days to get in touch with co-workers by clicking “Send” or using a messaging app.
An even faster way to get the answers you need, when you need them, is to pick up the phone and eliminate what could end up to be hours’ worth of emails or messages.
Are You Ready to Improve the Efficiency of Your Factory Workers?
Improving efficiency isn’t something that is going to happen overnight. It takes time and commitment to implement. You also have to remember that your team consists of workers with different views and temperaments, and it will take time to make sure everyone starts doing things the way they should. You are teaching your workers and management team new habits, and learning new habits takes time.
While it will take work, you will find that once you get these tips implemented, you will see an increase in employee engagement, a great work environment, and ultimately, increased profits.