In today’s highly connected world, more and more companies are adopting a remote or hybrid work setup. This was further accelerated thanks to the global pandemic, which forced most businesses to turn digital.
Although this digital transformation has been proven to work, a survey by Microsoft shows that employees and supervisors don’t quite agree about its effect on employee productivity. According to 87% of employees, working from home has allowed them to improve their productivity. However, 80% of supervisors did not agree with the employees’ answers and think that their team members are not being productive enough.
This phenomenon on the side of the supervisors can be referred to as productivity paranoia. Since managers and employers can’t monitor their employees closely in a remote work setup, they are having a hard time making sure that each of their staff members are being productive. Even if their corporate yield matches their results from the previous years, some supervisors are still skeptical regarding their employees’ productivity.
On the other hand, some employees believe that they are being productive enough and doing what they think the company needs from them. Some individuals may even feel the burnout after working so hard and still being regarded as unproductive. This scenario shows the serious disconnect between managers’ expectations of their team members and employees’ feelings.
To address this issue in companies that have adopted the remote work setup, supervisors need to learn how to accurately measure their employee productivity. This should be done using metrics that is fair and objective for every member of the company.
quality of work
Instead of focusing on how many outputs your team churns out in a day, you should focus on the quality of their work. Having employees who produce high-quality work every time will help boost your employees’ productivity. When your team members complete tasks properly the first time, they can move on to other important things without having to redo what they’ve done.
You can measure your employees’ quality of work by looking at how much of their output is being sent back and needs to be redone. Whether it was sent back by a client or your in-house quality control team, any kind of subpar work reflects the skills of your employee and their overall productivity.
employee efficiency
Knowing how efficient your employees are is a great way of measuring your employee productivity. When your employees are efficient, they can complete their tasks without exerting too much effort or using up too many resources. Efficient employees can also make sure to avoid costly mistakes and missing deadlines while ensuring the quality of their work.
You can measure your employees’ efficiency in many ways. But the most effective way of doing so is by conducting team assessments. This method will provide you with enough insights into your team’s capability to meet your business goals and identify and overcome challenges.
To assess an individual’s efficiency, you can talk to the people with whom they regularly work. Ask the team to give their feedback regarding the employee’s performance to give you an insight into how they work.
overtime hours
While some employers are okay with their employees working overtime, others see it as a bad sign. This is because the salary for overtime hours is usually higher than the regular salary, which will cost the company more money.
Overtime hours can also be a sign that your employees are not finishing their tasks on time or that they are taking too long to complete their work. If this is the case, then it’s time for you to take a look at how your team members are working and see if there are ways to make them more efficient.
revenue per employee
One of the ways to measure your company’s productivity, especially its profitability, is to calculate your revenue per employee. This metric will help you see how much each employee is contributing to the company’s overall revenue and compare your performance with your competitors and other companies in similar industries.
To calculate your revenue per employee, divide your total revenue for the last 12 months by the number of your current full-time employees. Your formula should look something like this: Revenue per Employee = Total revenue for the last 12 months / Total number of current full-time employees
absenteeism rate
You can also measure your employees’ productivity by looking at how committed and engaged they are with their work. Aside from looking at your company’s culture, you need to check your organisation’s absenteeism rate.
When your absenteeism rate is high, you’re more likely to have employees who are frequently absent from work or who take a lot of sick days. This can harm your company’s productivity because you’ll have to make up for the absent employees’ work.
To calculate your absenteeism rate, divide the total number of employee absences by the total number of workdays in a year. Then, multiply the result by 100 to get your percentage.
attrition rate
The attrition or churn rate of your company allows you to see how many people are leaving your organisation at a given time. You can use this metric to measure your team’s productivity by looking at how well they are retaining their employees.
A high attrition rate means that you’re losing a lot of employees, which can affect your productivity negatively. To prevent this, you need to find out the reasons why your employees are leaving and address these issues.
You can measure your attrition rate using this formula: Attrition rate = Number of employees who left / Total number of employees
sales growth
One of the most effective ways of measuring your employee productivity is by looking at its sales growth. This metric will help you see how productive your team is in producing sales for your organisation and allows you to gauge your company’s health.
To calculate your company’s sales growth over the past year, you should use this formula: Sales growth = [(2nd year sales – 1st year sales) / 1st year sales] x 100
accurately measure productivity
Employee productivity is essential to the success of any business. By focusing on the metrics mentioned above, you can get a clear picture of how productive your team members really are even when working in a remote setup. What do you think about these metrics? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Author: Bernard III San Juan – Managing Partner of Truelogic.
Photo credit: Andrew Neel on Unsplash
