How to Increase Productivity in the Workplace by Scott H. Young

One of the many benefits of adjustable desks is that they increase productivity, but there are so many more ways to do that.

Today we talk with Scott H. Young about the main factors affecting productivity at work, and how managers and employees alike can improve their efficiency in the wokplace.

So, whether you are an office worker struggling to get things done, or a CEO who wants to know how to deal with slow workers, read on because his expert tips may be exactly what you were looking for.

What impacts productivity the most in your workplace?

Which projects we choose to work on. It’s easy to view productivity as simply getting a lot of tasks done, but the reality is that projects vary by orders of magnitude for their impact, and so choosing wisely makes a bigger difference.

Read More: how sleep deprivation affects work performance

How do you calculate the productivity of your employees? Do you have a formula?

I don’t. This certainly isn’t universal advice, but my approach with my own team is that if you have to calculate someone’s productivity there’s a problem. 

We do have tasks and standards, so if someone isn’t meeting expectations we have a conversation, but I tend to give a lot of flexibility on how and when work gets done.

Does employee monitoring increase productivity?

It can. But I think the kind of monitored productivity tends to work better for routine work where standards can be rigorously specified and the problem is mostly that people will work slower if you don’t keep track of the kinds of efficiency work that Frederick Taylor sought to optimize back in the scientific management days. 

For other kinds of work, I think you have to see productivity at the project – level  trying to micromanage the inputs probably isn’t going to work.

And what are the areas of improvement for managers? What are yours?

I think communication and consistency are very important. Something I’ve worked to improve in my team is how well we communicate what’s expected and follow up consistently.

In my earlier days I took more of a hands off approach, but then when little problems accumulated there was no correction until it became difficult to fix. 

Now we have better processes so that only small nudges are needed for the most part. 

Read more: how to work from home effectively

Could you notice any relationship between health and productivity?

Health obviously relates to productivity in an important way. There’s few things that will make it harder to work consistently than health problems. 

This is one thing that I really sympathize with people who deal with chronic health problems themselves or people close to them, it can really make productivity hard.

Are you taking any actions right now to improve your workers overall health and efficiency?

I don’t have any particular strategy. But we try to be as accommodating as possible in case people are sick or need time off. 

About the Author

Scott H. Young is a programmer and entrepreneur, who has been helping 85.000+ people become more productive and reach higher goals in their careers since 2006. You will find most of his tricks condensed in his book, Ultralearning, or you can follow him on scotthyoung.com