The Powerful Link between HRM and Productivity

As the business world continues on a ruthless drive to pick up the pace on a consistent level, the notion of productivity becomes a greater cause for debate and concern.

With reports that most workforces run at about 9% capacity, there’s a real spotlight on how we can stimulate greater productivity in order to keep in step with today’s faster and more dynamic world.

It’s almost an irony that despite the plethora of new world technology making it increasingly easy to keep in touch and connect with our co-workers, that in actual fact, the majority of people consider themselves disconnected from the organisation they’re a part of. With this in mind, reinstating people as active contributors to a company has to be the key in a demand for increased productivity.

A tactical approach

Human resources teams are in a unique position to reach out to the workforce and design measures to increase a sense of inclusion. Working towards bigger goals that relate back to their own jobs along with appropriate reward, can effectively combat the problem of poor productivity.

Numerous studies have focused on these points in recent years, and most come to the same conclusion; that a combination of methods and incentives are required to really tackle this issue. Having a great rewards scheme in place as an example, may be effective to a point and may appeal to a percentage of people, but on its own the cut-through will be limited.

Recruitment and training is undoubtedly another significant part of the puzzle, appropriately, sourcing the right people for the roles and for the culture of the company in question, but also placing serious emphasis on continual development.

Giving back the control

The other, and perhaps trickier part of this picture is the more emotionally appealing side of managing the workforce. Arguably, these elements ultimately come back to the idea of control. If an employee feels that they have no control over their job and the rights they have, they will be in danger of feeling disenfranchised.

To combat this, regular appraisals, incentives and the real opportunity for career advancement need to be in place. This way, HR teams and line managers are better able to understand the motivators of their team members.

On the subject of control, allowing people to have some say over who they work alongside can have an enormous effect in terms of job satisfaction, and in consequence, productivity. It also puts some of the decision rights back in the workers’ hands.

Ultimately, the modern demands of the workplace and an increased focus on productivity levels put the idea of emotions and feelings on the backseat in a pledge to do more, and to do it faster

So, it’s worth remembering that a combination approach to understanding what a worker’s motivators are can go a long way to solving these problems. At the end of the day, providing a comfortable working environment where people feel valued will stimulate a desire to put in the extra effort.