Employee Productivity Essay

Human resources are considered an entity’s most valuable assets and should be well appreciated for them to be extremely productive. Such appreciation increases employees’ productivity to ensure that a company remains a market leader in the industry that it operates in. High productivity also improves an organization’s market value. The use of incentives will be necessary to entice the workforce up to the point that they give their best to their employer. Increasing the workforce’s productivity is mainly centered in motivating them at the lowest production and operating cost possible. Piecework compensation programs are of encouragement to the employees. Employees will work hard having in mind that their pay is directly proportional to units of output and will produce more. Payments should be based on parts assembled, sales made or even hours billed. Most people are motivated by a high pay and piecework compensations tend to increase the overall workforces’ output. The human resources should therefore get a return that is directly proportional to their output. Promoting from within entice employees to be more productive because they are assured of moving up the career ladder. Those who tend to be more efficient and effective should be given a higher rank for them to perform even better. An example is the case where an Accountant may be promoted to be the chief Accountant for his quality work. The manager should also ensure adequate equipments for the workforce. Machines should be good and computers up to date if the employees are to deliver at their best. The manger should also provide a fair opportunity for the workforce to be productive enough. He should not be biased based on nepotism or racism for the workforce to feel appreciated. Office supplies should also be adequate so that the labor force does not fall short of materials. Profit sharing schemes makes the employees to be owners of the organization and will produce more for profitability to be at its best. Employees will be shareholders of the business entity and will produce more for dividends and earnings per share to be high. The manager should also offer achievement awards like plaques, special parking areas, employees should also be allowed to wear casually at least once a week and on certain days, lunch breaks should be long. The employees will therefore work at ease to the advantage of the employer. The manager should also provide adequate breaks during work to allow employees time to relax during their delivery to the employer. This refreshes the mind because they will have something to look forward to and recharge their batteries. By being shareholders, employees will participate in the company’s Annual General Meetings and will be in a position to vote in the entity’s directors. They end up considering themselves as part of entity’s owners and become more productive. Incentive programs should be adjusted frequently for the workforce to feel rejuvenated. Salary increments should be annual for the workforce to realize that they are being appreciated. Incentives should also depend on the value created after performance appraisals have been carried out. Non monetary rewards like gifts, acknowledgements and praises should be frequent for productivity to be at its best. Money motivates employees at initial stages but as time progresses it becomes less active as a motivator. Motivating employees psychologically may be more useful because it normally acts as some inner energy and they deliver more. Employee appraisals are aimed at examining employees’ performance during a certain time period. They help in determining whether employees are helping in realizing the entity’s short-term goals in line with the company’s mission statement and vision. Every responsible employee should target the company’s expectations in terms of sub optimization for the company to remain focused Employee appraisals also help to examine the variance between observed and expected performance. Corrections can therefore be made where necessary so that actual performance does not deviate much from the expected standards. Mentors will therefore be kept on toes for their juniors to understand why they should stick to the entity’s standards of operation and performance. Organizational controls can be exercised after the employees’ performance has been evaluated. They therefore assist the entity in achieving and maintaining its leadership position. Appraisals also help in determining the training development requirements for the future. Employees requiring special training needs will be identified and the management will focus on filling in the gap that may relate to knowledge or education. Employees may therefore consider paying for their employee’s school fees for their education to remain relevant. Information is provided on human resources in terms of promotions or transfers. Those who have been performing excellently will be appreciated through promotions or taken to other departments for them to maintain similar good performance. They also provide a clear picture in terms expectations or responsibilities of duties to be carried out by employees. Â  After the employees’ performance has been accessed, it will be possible to determine what the management can expect of their workforce given their knowledge, education, experience and expertise. Appraisals also help in judging the efficiency of various human resource duties like recruiting, selecting, developing and training. Employee grievances will also be reduced through appraisals. By evaluating someone’s performance, it will be possible to determine whether the recruiting was carried out fairly and the training needs required. Performance appraisals also help in strengthening the bond or communication between juniors-seniors and workforce to the management bond. Appraisals determine how well the subordinates are cooperating with their seniors for mutual success of their employer. Payroll and reimbursement decisions are made easy because employers base their remuneration packages on their employees’ contribution to the entity’s success. Decisions of future objectives and actions to be taken in relation to human resources management are made easy. Performance appraisals assist in job analysis or provision of supervisor support, guidance and counseling. Those who need direct supervision are identified and adequate support is offered for the workforce to be extremely productive. According to the Vroom’s Expectancy theory, effort is separated from performance or outcome. Efforts must be linked to performance and psyching for motivation to be realized. Three variables are proposed to cater for this relationship. The three variables are instrumentality, valence and expectancy. EXPECTANCY: this is the belief that more effort increases performance, therefore working hard makes things better. It is determined by the availability of the right resources, that is raw materials or time, right skills for doing the job, necessary support for getting work done like seniors’ support and the right job information. INSTRUMENTALITY: this relates to believing that performing well leads to a valuable output being received; therefore doing the job right yields something. An employee will therefore put more effort in his work because he expects to be remunerated at the end of the month. It is determined by a clean understanding of the link for performance with outcomes that is the reward game rules, trusting the persons making the decisions on how outcome is distributed and a transparent process of deciding how outcome is distributed. An organization is supposed to have well laid down standards of reimbursing employees so that bias is avoided. The employee should provide adequate rewards and incentives that match contribution by the workforce for them to keep on performing well. Rewards should however be well designed so that none of the entity’s groups of workforce is left out. VALENCE: this is the vitality that employees place on expected outcome. For instance a person who is mainly motivated by cash does not value additional time off offers. Persons change their effort level depending on the importance placed on outcomes they get from processes and on their idea of awareness of effort and outcome links. Hence perceiving that improved effort increases performance, increased performance improves rewards and one values rewards being offered , then Vroom’s Expectancy theorem indicates an individual will be motivated. Therefore efforts, performance and rewards are prerequisites for adequate and sufficient motivation. Employees will be well psyched up to perform if they are assured of a good return to match their continued effort. They should be made to feel as part of the entity for them to be efficient and effective enough. Rewards should however be designed in such a way that the entity maximizes its profits at the lowest cost possible. If a professional employee is currently being well rewarded, he will not see the point of looking for a greener pasture and he will remain a true human capital to the employer.