These days due to the advent of social media and social networking, the employee productivity at work has taken a setback. So, how do we take care of our employees as well as see to it that the productivity at work remains unaffected? Any ideas or solutions are most welcome. Thank you.
Siddhesh Lakhan,
CEO & Founder at Personal Thoughts
From India, Mumbai
6Siddhesh Lakhan,
CEO & Founder at Personal Thoughts
From India, Mumbai
Gone were the days when an employee had nothing else to do other than ' work, work, work'. Consequently, there was no digression or distraction. As you rightly pointed out, social networks, media, mobile facilities have all contributed to the growth of technology, dissemination of information but like two sides to a coin, they are also becoming factors for reduced productivity, lack of concentration. Further, these digressions have also led to more inter-personal disputes, conflicts and so on.
In many organisations, where customer relation is a focussed task, employees are directed to leave the mobile phones at the Reception during working hours. Further, Firewalls have been established in the computer systems whereby employees are not permitted to access sites, which are of dubious nature or not related to business. There are separate internet kiosks where employees can go and log in to access banking and other personal accounts, during specific working hours.
It should be the responsibility of the Management to communicate to the employees, time and again, the ill effects of such digressions and the resultant reduced productivity, lack of concentration, security threats, accident possibilitites etc. In all organisations, there will be regular intake of trainees and employees and they have to be inculcated these factors right from induction / orientation stage.
From India
In many organisations, where customer relation is a focussed task, employees are directed to leave the mobile phones at the Reception during working hours. Further, Firewalls have been established in the computer systems whereby employees are not permitted to access sites, which are of dubious nature or not related to business. There are separate internet kiosks where employees can go and log in to access banking and other personal accounts, during specific working hours.
It should be the responsibility of the Management to communicate to the employees, time and again, the ill effects of such digressions and the resultant reduced productivity, lack of concentration, security threats, accident possibilitites etc. In all organisations, there will be regular intake of trainees and employees and they have to be inculcated these factors right from induction / orientation stage.
From India
Thank you very much for your prompt replies Gianim, N K Sundaram and Sunita Meena. Also, grateful for the attached "Productivity" file Sunita.
But also, the case is that howsoever we restrict the employees from social media, it is a general tendency for an employee to get attracted to the social chain. As Mr. N K Sundaram has already pointed out that social media also has it's own advantages. It helps to keep employee refreshed and full of vigor, open to new set of ideas. But, also at the same time, overdose of it proves to be dangerous.
Employees should feel the sense of responsibility they owe to the company and also, the company should remember that they don't OWN the employees, they EARN them.
Again, thank you everyone. The discussion really helped.
Siddhesh Lakhan,
CEO & Founder at Personal Thoughts
From India, Mumbai
But also, the case is that howsoever we restrict the employees from social media, it is a general tendency for an employee to get attracted to the social chain. As Mr. N K Sundaram has already pointed out that social media also has it's own advantages. It helps to keep employee refreshed and full of vigor, open to new set of ideas. But, also at the same time, overdose of it proves to be dangerous.
Employees should feel the sense of responsibility they owe to the company and also, the company should remember that they don't OWN the employees, they EARN them.
Again, thank you everyone. The discussion really helped.
Siddhesh Lakhan,
CEO & Founder at Personal Thoughts
From India, Mumbai
Dear Friends,
Ms.Sunita and Mr.NKS has already given their valuavle ways to increase the productivity.In these days we have ample access to networking sites .They may decrease the productivity at work, because the employees frequently visit the sites.Professional organisations dose block social media sites but allot some time for their employees so that they may use the same in the alloted time.
No matter what your business does, or how big or small it is, there are a range of ways you can improve its productivity.
Productivity = Value / Time
(productivity equals value divided by time)
By equation there are two primary ways of increasing productivity:
1) Increase the value created
2) Decrease the time required to create that value
You can complicate this equation by including other factors like energy and resources, but prefer the simplicity of time because in most cases factors like energy and resources are reducible to time anyway. Time also makes it very easy to compare different levels of productivity, such as output per hour or per day.
What is the “value” in our productivity equation?
Value is a quality you must define for yourself. Hence, any definition of productity is relative to the definition of value. In circles where people can agree on a common definition of value, they can also agree on a common definition of productivity. However, in terms of your own personal productivity, you aren’t obligated to define value the same way anyone else would. You are free to adopt your own definition, such that your pursuit of greater productivity becomes a personal quest that produces the value that matters most to you.
So TIME is limited and must be used very efficiently.Moreover all the measures must be taken by the organisation to develop the manpower to add VALUE to their endevour .Building leadership and management capability ,Creating productive workplace cultures ,Encouraging Innovation and the use of technology ,Investing in people and skills, Organising work etc will be very helpful to increase the productivity in the organisations.
-
From India, New Delhi
Ms.Sunita and Mr.NKS has already given their valuavle ways to increase the productivity.In these days we have ample access to networking sites .They may decrease the productivity at work, because the employees frequently visit the sites.Professional organisations dose block social media sites but allot some time for their employees so that they may use the same in the alloted time.
No matter what your business does, or how big or small it is, there are a range of ways you can improve its productivity.
Productivity = Value / Time
(productivity equals value divided by time)
By equation there are two primary ways of increasing productivity:
1) Increase the value created
2) Decrease the time required to create that value
You can complicate this equation by including other factors like energy and resources, but prefer the simplicity of time because in most cases factors like energy and resources are reducible to time anyway. Time also makes it very easy to compare different levels of productivity, such as output per hour or per day.
What is the “value” in our productivity equation?
Value is a quality you must define for yourself. Hence, any definition of productity is relative to the definition of value. In circles where people can agree on a common definition of value, they can also agree on a common definition of productivity. However, in terms of your own personal productivity, you aren’t obligated to define value the same way anyone else would. You are free to adopt your own definition, such that your pursuit of greater productivity becomes a personal quest that produces the value that matters most to you.
So TIME is limited and must be used very efficiently.Moreover all the measures must be taken by the organisation to develop the manpower to add VALUE to their endevour .Building leadership and management capability ,Creating productive workplace cultures ,Encouraging Innovation and the use of technology ,Investing in people and skills, Organising work etc will be very helpful to increase the productivity in the organisations.
-
From India, New Delhi
Taking care of employees and increasing productivity are not at odds with each other. Treating employees as if they are respected and valued allows them to be proud of what they do and gets you huge increases in productivity.
The opposite approach is the command and control approach. It does not listen to them, issues lots of orders, and does not provide the information they want to have thus treating them with disrespect and more like robots than human beings. Control gets you compliance whereas autonomy gets you engagement and huge increases in productivity.
The last time I did it as an executive, productivity rose over 300%, morale and innovation were sky high, and people literally loved to come to work.
Best regards, Ben Simonton
Leadership is a science and so is engagement
From United States, Tampa
The opposite approach is the command and control approach. It does not listen to them, issues lots of orders, and does not provide the information they want to have thus treating them with disrespect and more like robots than human beings. Control gets you compliance whereas autonomy gets you engagement and huge increases in productivity.
The last time I did it as an executive, productivity rose over 300%, morale and innovation were sky high, and people literally loved to come to work.
Best regards, Ben Simonton
Leadership is a science and so is engagement
From United States, Tampa
Any facility has two sides - the good side and the bad side and it is more true in the case of social media.However human nature is to fall prey to temptations of the bad side, Very miniiscule of employees will be self disciplined. Hence the necessity for control. Therefore it is too idealistic to expect employees to be self - regulated and thus blocking of social media at work place has become necessary. However, the employees may feel suffocated if they are not allowed access at all to social media. Therefore , you may allow the access to it during lunch interval. It is for the employee to adjust his lunch time accordingly.Even a 30-minute access will leave the employee refreshed.
B.Saikumar
HR & Labour Law Advsior
Mumbai
From India, Mumbai
B.Saikumar
HR & Labour Law Advsior
Mumbai
From India, Mumbai
Dear Siddhesh,
Social media or otherwise the top most requirement is to do "workload analysis" of every job. If employees get time to interact on social media then it goes on to show that they have time to do that. I recommend the following:
a) Have you devised the proper measures of performance? Have you given your employees, "stretched goals"? Are the measures adequate?
b) Has "Performance Measurement System" (PMS) well instituted in your company?
c) You may give employees a target to leave office by 1800 hours or when the offices close exactly. Whoever is staying extra, calculate their extra stay per day and ask for an explanation. Once you control their overstay, managers and employees will start running around to complete their work at the same time. I have seen this happening in one Indian pharma MNC. They appointed one expatriate (British) CEO. Sooner he took over, the first thing he did was to impose a ban on working beyond specified working hours. In fact, after doing this employees are happy and their productivity is increased.
d) If employees refer FB or Twitter then to some extent it goes on to show that malaise lies in their commitment as well. Improve their commitment level. During my HR days, I had such amount of work that many times I skipped my lunch as well. During my Air Force days, we use to carry lunch boxes. I have seen my technical colleagues taking lunch at 1700 or 1800 hours. This they did to avoid scolding from their wives for carrying back home lunch box without consuming food!
For Gianim23: - Entire social media is not bad per se. However, we need to have a dividing line between how much time we should spend. Youtube has got the best of the best videos on management seminar etc. By banning Youtube, you have deprived your employees with this vast wealth of knowledge also.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
.
From India, Bangalore
Social media or otherwise the top most requirement is to do "workload analysis" of every job. If employees get time to interact on social media then it goes on to show that they have time to do that. I recommend the following:
a) Have you devised the proper measures of performance? Have you given your employees, "stretched goals"? Are the measures adequate?
b) Has "Performance Measurement System" (PMS) well instituted in your company?
c) You may give employees a target to leave office by 1800 hours or when the offices close exactly. Whoever is staying extra, calculate their extra stay per day and ask for an explanation. Once you control their overstay, managers and employees will start running around to complete their work at the same time. I have seen this happening in one Indian pharma MNC. They appointed one expatriate (British) CEO. Sooner he took over, the first thing he did was to impose a ban on working beyond specified working hours. In fact, after doing this employees are happy and their productivity is increased.
d) If employees refer FB or Twitter then to some extent it goes on to show that malaise lies in their commitment as well. Improve their commitment level. During my HR days, I had such amount of work that many times I skipped my lunch as well. During my Air Force days, we use to carry lunch boxes. I have seen my technical colleagues taking lunch at 1700 or 1800 hours. This they did to avoid scolding from their wives for carrying back home lunch box without consuming food!
For Gianim23: - Entire social media is not bad per se. However, we need to have a dividing line between how much time we should spend. Youtube has got the best of the best videos on management seminar etc. By banning Youtube, you have deprived your employees with this vast wealth of knowledge also.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
.
From India, Bangalore
Hi Dinesh :
Thanks for pointing out the importance of accessing Youtube. Infact in our company we have not blocked usage of all social sites, there are no firewalls for Linked-IN etc. We have a couple of common PCs with full access. For access of important information on the social media sites our employees have the facility to access. Anyhow we do review our policies on a regular basis and do make necessary changes based on the need.
I appreciate the valuable inputs posted by the other members. Infact i would be recommended a few changes in our policy very soon.
From India, Pune
Thanks for pointing out the importance of accessing Youtube. Infact in our company we have not blocked usage of all social sites, there are no firewalls for Linked-IN etc. We have a couple of common PCs with full access. For access of important information on the social media sites our employees have the facility to access. Anyhow we do review our policies on a regular basis and do make necessary changes based on the need.
I appreciate the valuable inputs posted by the other members. Infact i would be recommended a few changes in our policy very soon.
From India, Pune
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