By: Dr. Donald E. Wetmore
Many factors, separately and in combination with others, will build walls to
block employees' productivity. Most people intuitively and instinctively
want to be productive. It makes sense. They will get more from life and so
will their employer. My experience, after eighteen years of speaking about
Personal Productivity, has shown me five major blocks to employees'
productivity.
1. Improper selection. When labor markets are tight companies may be tempted to
hire anyone with a warm body and a pulse to fill a slot rather than pay an
adequate amount of money to recruit the right individual. No matter how
tight a labor market is, there are always qualified people available if the
compensation is fair. If you are baking a cake and you use the wrong
ingredients, no matter what the reason, you will not produce the cake you
desire.
2. Inadequate training. One out of three employees changes jobs annually.
Companies that recruit poorly tend to train poorly as well. Training is not
a one shot enterprise, but an on-going investment to reinforce and advance
skills and attitudes. Employers often get caught up in a vicious cycle. They
recruit poorly, then fail to allocate sufficient training resources. ("Why
spend the money when they won't be around for very long?") Employees'
performance suffers, their satisfaction level is low, and they leave giving
the employer the opportunity to start the cycle again. Employers ought to
treat employees as an investment rather than an expense.
3. Overworked. Reasonable people will accomplish a reasonable amount in a
reasonable time period. But, you cannot put ten quarts of water into a
five-quart container. There is nothing wrong with shifting work from former
employees to those who remain. Our capacity to produce will sometimes be
enhanced as we take on more responsibilities. But there is a limit. Being
truly overworked helps people to a lot of things poorly. It may be more
productive to ask them to accomplish fewer things productively.
4. Poor alignment with personal and company goals. The employer has a life and
a destination. And, employees have a life and a destination. If employees
cannot align their job with the employer and with where they are going in
their life, they will eventually seek a greener pasture. Do your employees
see their position as a vehicle to get them to where they want to go in life
financially, professionally, and socially or is their job an expedient trade
of their time for a paycheck?
5. Burn out. Most people leave their jobs voluntarily and the major
reason is "burn out." "Fed up! Can't take it anymore!" Unfortunately, burn
out is not an overnight event but a gradual process, sometimes lasting
months and years, during which time, productivity and commitment diminish.
Burn out is caused in different ways but has a lot to do with items 1-4
above. Many employers fail to look for signs of burn out and if they are not
cognizant of the problem there will be no opportunity to prevent, respond,
or rectify.
If this article has been useful to you, we have prepared an additional
article entitled, "The Tools for Increasing Employees' Productivity". It's
free. To get yours, email your request for "tools" to:
ctsem@msn.com.
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welcome you aboard!
Dr. Donald E. Wetmore-Professional Speaker
Productivity Institute-Time Management Seminars
60 Huntington St. P.O. Box 2126
Shelton, CT 06484
(800) 969-3773
(203) 929-9902
fax: (203) 929-8151
e-mail:
ctsem@msn.com
web site:
http://www.balancetime.com
Professional Member-National Speakers Association
August 23, 1999
Copyright 1999 You may re-print the above information in its entirety in
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