What is Employee Productivity?

 

Productivity refers to the amount of work that an individual can accomplish in a given length of time. It's a straightforward metric, but the factors that drive it are numerous and complex — anything from the tools people use to the way their business fosters success.

There will always be natural variation in the productivity of individuals. That is not always a terrible thing. After all, the employee who spends a lengthy period of time on a single exceptional piece of work is just as valuable as the one who can produce enormous volumes quickly. Someone who solves problems in a warehouse will operate at a different speed and with a different set of objectives than someone who works in an office. Businesses can assess overall productivity on a corporate or team level, as well as the output rate of individual employees. Working on a bigger scale can assist business executives in ensuring that their teams have the correct mix of individuals.

How do you measure employee productivity?

According to some, the average worker is only productive for three hours out of every eight. However, how productivity is defined is determined by the data and methods used.

As we previously discussed while addressing productivity management, the traditional metric is a simple equation:

• Productivity = output (the volume you create) ÷ input (labor hours and resources)

That is the starting point. However, productivity measurement - particularly individual or personal production - has become more complex over time. Certain productivity indicators look beyond inputs and outputs to evaluate the product's quality and associated financial costs.

Efficiency and effectiveness measurements

You can measure productivity in terms of efficiency – the speed with which a task is completed.

However, what if efficiency is high but quality is low? Productivity effectiveness measures attempt to solve this question by incorporating quality standards.

For instance, at a contact center, an employee's productivity could be measured by the number of calls completed with a service level rating of 7/10 or higher from the client. This method provides more information than efficiency measurement alone, but it is contingent upon assessing quality – which is not always attainable.

Certain productivity indicators take into account the financial investment made in the results, rather than just the employee's time. For instance, Employee A may have developed into a very successful and efficient employee as a result of intense training provided by the business. In comparison, Employee B may have possessed the same talents when hired by the employer. When financial expenditures are taken into account, a firm may evaluate Employee B's productivity higher.

When firms consider recruitment or training for a new world of work, the ability to make these types of measurements takes on added significance. Which is more expensive - educating employees or hiring the proper skills? Is it more cost effective to "purchase" productivity or is it more cost effective to build it internally?

Subjective and objective measurements

When the output is quantifiable, such as the number of calls made or customers serviced, productivity can be quantified by counting the outcome. That is objectively determining production.

However, when measuring the productivity of knowledge workers or creatives, quantifying output becomes more challenging. In these instances, teams can measure subjectively or self-reportingly, typically via an employee questionnaire. While subjective measurement is less precise than objective measurement, research indicates that subjective estimates of productivity coincide with objective metrics.

Benchmarking employee productivity

Measuring productivity is only useful if you know what you're searching for. By benchmarking your production levels, you can determine what constitutes success and when you are succeeding or falling behind. Establishing a productivity benchmark will vary according on your industry and the sort of work performed by your staff. It's possible that you'll choose and reset your productivity standards over time as you gain a better understanding of how your organization operates.

Employee productivity reports

A productivity report is a document or dashboard that summarizes the daily, weekly, or even hourly output of an individual or team. It can be accomplished manually, through the use of a chart or spreadsheet system, or by the use of software tools that automate portions of the process.

Reports on employee productivity assist you in seeing the big picture. Over time, you can detect patterns and trends in your team's production — for example, they may do more during the week than on Monday mornings. Additionally, you can observe how the productivity of individual team members fluctuates and how their production varies from one another.

Organizations can report on productivity using subjective data – employees recording hours and tasks on a timesheet – or objective operational data such as revenue and volume.

References

• Bochenski, M. (2021). How To Improve Employee Productivity | Simple and effective ideas. [online] Workplace from Meta. Available at: https://www.workplace.com/blog/employee-productivity [Accessed 8 Dec. 2021].