Getting the most out of your Employees

Employee retention and the work week structure

For many people, working from home has provided a way to better understand their own personal working preferences. Many employers are still being persistent in their traditional workday and workweek structure. Though those ahead of the curve have taken this opportunity to refine the traditional process to better serve their employees.  

Here is a list for people who feel trapped by the traditional structures of the workday or workweek to try out:

1. Have weekly workloads, not a strict 9-5.

Not everyone works best on a schedule that completely aligns with the traditional workweek structure. To change that you can suggest that it could be efficient for everyone to have a number of tasks that need to be completed by the end of the week. This will give employees a better idea of what you are actually achieving during the day.

You can eliminate the time you spend procrastinating or filling time with tasks you don’t want to do. As a result you may not have to be physically present and you could be doing something you want to do at work. This will also leave you more time for yourself while still completing your workload. All without having to be in the office for 40 hours a week. This in turn will make you a better worker, a more enjoyable teammate, and you will have a better quality of life.

2. Track more than the hours.

Many workplaces want to make sure that they measure hours worked and KPIs. Are these the only two things that matter? Well, those things only matter for factory robots. People working in jobs have many more skills and needs. Tracking employee happiness will help you with a host of things including efficiency and job retention. Making this a priority in the workday and work week should be encouraged.

3. Utilise your employees hidden talents.

Many people are realising that their job isn’t their whole life. For most people, a job is a means to an end. That end may be a hobby, a better lifestyle, or training to be something else. This doesn’t have to be so binary. For instance; If you are a manager and an employee is a Star Wars fan, you could let them have a budget to decorate the office for May the 4th. It may seem completely unrelated to your accounting firm, but not only will it improve workplace culture, but it may also be something that you could share online. People want to use their hobbies and talents as much as possible, as an employer it your job to best know how to utilise it.

This was just a taste of what can be done to get the most out of your employees. If you want to learn more about how you can get the best out of them, listen to our podcast on “Changing the Workday/Workweek structure” here