If you were asked to define workplace productivity, what would you say? Many answers would probably contain phrases like “number of hours spent working,” “completed tasks,” or “amount of work done.” And this may be the core of a problem. Most managers tend to define productivity by numbers and percentages. Ironically, this approach to productivity can be counterproductive, forcing employees to focus on the number of tasks finished rather than the quality of their outcomes.

This constant chase for numbers can make employees feel incompetent and frustrated if they fail to hit set benchmarks, leading to a lack of motivation or complete disengagement. This is the worst-case scenario that may ruin overall productivity and affect your business. 

So if you want to help your employees feel more productive, accomplish meaningful work, and contribute to company success, you need to start looking at productivity from a different angle.

By shifting your focus from the amount of work done to the quality outcomes, you’ll help employees abandon the feeling of not doing enough and add quality to their work instead of chasing unrealistic numbers.

Stop Having Unrealistic Expectations

Most managers expect their teams to be engaged in their work 6-7 hours every day. And they tend to align productivity benchmarks with these expectations. 

However, statistic shows that this is a huge misconception. According to research, on average office workers spend less than 3 hours a day being productive. And this staggering discrepancy between productivity expectations and reality may be the source of the problem.

Luckily, effective employee tracking software can help you gain a more realistic perspective of employee productivity by offering you real-time insight into their activities. When you analyze track records, you’ll see how your employees use their work hours, and define the right amount of workload they can handle daily. By adjusting the number of tasks you expect employees to complete with the number of productive hours, you’ll help them feel more productive, making sure that they produce high-quality work.

You can also use the tracking information to identify workers who may need additional support or guidance to improve their productivity and fulfil their potential.

Foster Quality Over Quantity Approach

We can’t stress enough how important this shift in perspective is. By focusing more on the quality of work done than on crossing out the to-do tasks from your list, you’ll offer some relief to employees feeling stressed and pressured to chase set numbers.

Instead of tackling several insignificant tasks to fulfil their quota, your employees may dedicate more time to a single meaningful task that contributes significantly to achieving crucial company goals. In this way, employees won’t be disappointed by their performance, knowing that they’ve produced meaningful results, even though it may take them days or even weeks to complete it.

Reach Out for Strategies That Work

Strategies like setting OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) and timeboxing aren’t groundbreaking ones, but they can give you a clear picture of your team’s productivity. 

Setting OKRs s all about defining ambitious goals and smaller tasks that will lead to achieving them.

Since OKRs are often more about ambitious predictions rather than realistic expectations, no one expects that all of them will be 100% completed. Shortly, if you manage to achieve more than 60-70% of your OKRs within a specified time, you can consider yourself productive.

Timeboxing is a practice of segmenting employees’ time, dedicating specific tasks to it. Then your employees can focus on specific tasks within set time slots This can help your employees quit multitasking that shatters their focus and distract them from tackling important tasks.

By introducing these strategies into your workflow, you’ll eliminate the pressure and stress employees have about clearing their to-do lists. Instead, they may feel more productive and efficient by completing significant tasks and tracking their consistent progress.

Recruiting, hiring, and onboarding new employees cost much more than retaining existing ones.