Employee Productivity – A Crucial Factor For All Startups

Working in a startup comes with its set of responsibilities. As far as startups are concerned, productivity is a top priority. They have limited resources and time to accomplish tasks. In a startup, results have to be delivered every day. The competition is tough, the budget is tight. Therefore, you need a highly enthusiastic and productive team to deliver results.

For any organization, fostering team productivity is always a priority. In a startup, efficiency is often a pain point as the budget is very limited. In such a situation, what can you do to improve the efficiency of your employees? To get started on this, you need the right people, focus all your energy on the tasks, work long hours and avoid multitasking. Investing in an employee tracking software like Flowtrack, for instance, is a good way to get started.

Actionable Tips To Scale-up Employee Productivity

Let us now take a look at some ways to boost a startup company’s team’s productivity. These simple and actionable steps will help make your startup more efficient by fostering an environment that improves your team’s performance. They are:

1. Communications Platform for Collaboration

The problem with startups is that the number of people in an individual department is often less, maybe one or two. In such a situation, collaboration becomes crucial to make decisions on sales, marketing, or anything else. Involve your team members in fun activities and games, plan outings with the team to get to know each other and work better. These activities also give them a break from an otherwise hectic schedule. Set aside a portion of the budget for team-building activities. This will allow your team to grow and work better with each other.

Apart from team building, you must also plan activities to help your team members bond with each other. This will show employees that you value them and appreciate their efforts. When employees feel appreciated, they become productive. Setting up meetings, asking questions, and working together should be painless and quick. To ensure that this happens, collaboration software is necessary. This will help streamline communication, especially at a time when startups are interacting with international clients. You can increase team productivity by adopting a smart communication platform.

2. Automation to Boost Efficiency

It is estimated that on average, businesses waste about 40%of their time on activities that can be automated. For a startup, this can spell disaster. With small teams and a tight schedule, you cannot afford to waste the valuable time of your employees. Besides, you must take care not to force your team into roles and responsibilities they don’t excel at. A solution to this situation lies in the efficient use of technology for automating tasks such as data entry, reporting, and scheduling meetings.

Automation is known to boost efficiency because it saves a lot of time. For example, startups rely on a marketing stack that syncs the company’s social media, email, and inbound marketing campaigns so that you can figure out where your leads are coming from. This helps you understand your customer’s likes and dislikes and make changes accordingly.

3. Software for Team Productivity

Another way to improve your team’s performance is by using the latest technology. There are several kinds of software available to tackle productivity issues. For example, you can use cloud applications for agent supervisor tools for contact center monitoring, and remote employee monitoring software like HRAPP to track productivity.

To work efficiently, you must avoid repetitive tasks. When multiple teams are working on a project, collaboration can be facilitated through apps.  The concerned team can use messenger to communicate depending on what they are working on. Project management apps create easy-to-follow procedures and make you flexible for change.

4. Instill The Company’s Culture

You must spell out your company’s culture–Its vision and mission to your employees. You need to discuss this with new teams and remind the existing teams about it. This will help them blend well with the company and work towards its vision and mission. Use time and resources available and provide opportunities to the team to work for the company with a practical mindset. This will make everyone feel part of the organization and thereby contribute more to it.

5. Outline Your Organization’s Goals

Employees must be clear about the goals of the company they are working for. According to research by SHRM, when the goals are not well-defined, the productivity of the employees is affected. Encourage your employees to communicate openly, share ideas and voice their opinions on all aspects of the business.

Companies like Google, Intel, and Twitter have adopted a goal-setting approach to provide real-time feedback to employees based on the goals they have set. Goals act as a reference point against which employees can analyze their performance and know what they are working towards. This will motivate them to work better. Goals need to be time-bound so that you can measure the output of employees, both individually as well as a team.

6. Invest in your Team

Provide the necessary training to your employees. Sometimes, a development program could be useful even to the most talented person in the team. Training makes employees feel important. They, in turn, become loyal and contribute more to the company. Besides, it improves your reputation as a good employer. Training your team also helps you stay prepared for the future. Training employees provides a comfortable environment for your employees and improves productivity. This, in turn, makes it profitable too.

Besides training, make sure to provide a good working environment for your employees. Abundant natural light, fresh air, and a comfortable workspace affect the team’s morale positively.

7. Trust Your Team Members

It is important for the teams to trust each other. The managers must also trust their employees. This trust can prevent wasting time in follow-ups for any task. Hiring people with a certain skill set is easy, but it takes time to build trust with them. Of course, this is a natural process. If you choose the right people, give them opportunities for growth, and provide them with the right compensation, trust automatically builds up in an organization.

8. Reward Employees And Celebrate Together

Involve your employees when celebrating the success of your company. This will make them feel part of the company and add to their willingness to work together. Celebrating together also fosters a strong bond among the employees and motivates them. Use team outings and happy hours during lunch to reward employees for a job well done. Email small notes of individual achievements to boost employee morale. Intrinsic and extrinsic reward systems promise long-term productivity. The former involves recognition, career advancement, and opportunities for learning, while the latter includes pay, benefits, bonus, and promotions.

Invest In Your Employees and The Right Tools For Startup Success

Team productivity is essential for the growth of your startup. You can use some of the tips provided above as starting points to improve your team’s morale and make them more involved in the working of the organization. Once employees feel wanted, they will contribute more. Besides employees, invest in tools like HRAPP employee monitoring software to equip your employees to work efficiently. All these will help to increase productivity and will ultimately augment the success of your company.