How to Improve Employee Productivity in 2025

Over 50% of employees feel unproductive at work. Does this mean that the majority of employees are lazy? Simply put, the answer is no. Employees become unproductive not because they lack individual engagement but because of the work environment.

In today’s dynamic landscape, employees are the powerhouses that decide a company’s growth trajectory through their combined knowledge, experience, skills, motivations, and attitudes.

Think about it: improving employee productivity will mean empowering your teams to make smart decisions and work efficiently. This, in turn, allows you to respond swiftly to changes and maintain a competitive edge.

However, productivity doesn’t come automatically. It requires deliberate effort to adopt practices prioritizing this aspect and bringing positive changes to drive success.

This guide explores the importance of employee productivity while discussing effective and practical ways you can use it to improve it for your organizational success!

What is Employee Productivity?

Employee productivity evaluates how well an individual uses resources and time to attain the required outcomes. It measures the effectiveness and efficiency in completing assigned tasks within a particular period.

Productivity is directly linked to your organization’s ROI and immediate and long-term goals. Without this link, it’s difficult to consider an activity as productive. Low or high productivity depends on individual, departmental, team, and company guidelines.

To understand what productivity means to you, your team, or your company, you must determine the intended value that employee efforts will add.

Let’s see how concepts of productivity differ. Take, for example:

A software development company and a contact center.

In a contact center, the expected value delivery is a high number of queries handled effectively and with the outlined satisfaction levels. Therefore, the most productive employee handles a high volume of customer queries effectively and easily.

In a software development company, productivity is a multi-faceted aspect. It involves multiple tasks and job roles, including customer support, sales and marketing, product design, strategic decision-making, and actual coding or development. Each role or task uniquely delivers ROI and value.

Why is Employee Productivity Important in the Workplace?

The success of any organization largely depends on workforce effectiveness, efficiency, and employee productivity. It doesn't matter the strategic direction you choose, investments, or the business opportunities you take on. The actual execution, creativity, and innovation depend on your employees.

Enhancing and monitoring employee productivity rate allows you to manage performance issues, recognize areas of improvement, and adopt strategies that optimize performance.

Other outstanding benefits of productivity include:

Better Customer Service

Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, advises that taking care of your employees translates to them taking care of your clients. Productive employees work well and tackle the right activities to deliver a satisfying and holistic experience for every customer. High productivity levels usually result in exceptional customer support through public-facing interactions and communication.

Cost Efficiency

Another benefit to note is that productive employees minimize an organization’s running costs. They work well and have more capacity to build problem-solving skills. They complete all tasks on time, eliminating the need for overtime pay. Having high productivity will reduce resource wastage by helping you optimize your workforce.

Creativity and Innovation

Productive employees have better mental capacity and more time to develop new solutions, explore new avenues, and suggest innovative changes or ideas. Having extra time can also inspire your team to identify areas of improvement. Improving employee productivity promotes a creative and innovative work environment, eventually driving your business or company to thrive among the competition.

Better Collaboration

Productive team members deliver equal contributions and are more likely to forge better work relationships. When each member contributes equally, it creates a sense of balance and mutual respect within the team. They are more accommodating and work better as a team, thus enhancing collaboration and success while creating a positive work environment.

Higher Engagement Levels

There’s a strong connection between employee productivity and engagement. Engaged employees are more likely motivated to go beyond their designated tasks. They uplift other team members, making them more productive. They are more likely to support each other, collaborate better, and pursue collective achievements, which boosts engagement.

Lower Stress Levels

Productive employees empowered with the right tools and processes experience lower stress levels. They have fewer looming deadlines as they complete tasks well and on time. They rarely need to multitask too many activities and are less overwhelmed.

Higher Retention Rates

Engaged and productive employees are often passionate about their jobs, encouraging them to put in more effort. Such team members have a higher chance of remaining with your company. They have the morale to pursue new skills while advancing their careers. This will save you the time and resources to hire and train new employees and help promote a positive brand image.

Higher Profit Margins

A primary reason why employee productivity is important in a workplace is because higher productivity often translates to more profits in different business areas. For instance, improving the employee productivity index increases output in the same period, generating additional revenue without the extra costs.

Positive Workplace Culture

A productive workplace forms the basis for a positive culture. Employees gain motivation from witnessing their efforts, which leads to successful results. Such an environment creates a sense of togetherness and promotes collaboration and teamwork. The workplace becomes an enjoyable place to work, which enhances productivity.

How to Measure Productivity

The first step to making smarter strategic decisions about your workforce is understanding how to measure employee productivity. It enables you to use insights that help your team discover their full potential.

There are different ways to measure employee productivity, including:

Productivity Calculation

The employee productivity formula is commonly used to measure your team’s effectiveness. Ideally, this formula compares the output and input as follows:

(Individual Target / Actual Achievement) x 100 = Employee Productivity by value metric

Targets vary based on the parameters that define productivity in your company and the nature of your work.

Objectives Method

This method assesses productivity depending on how well team members meet the outlined objectives. It requires you to pre-define metrics that you’ll consistently track to get solid data.

Quantitative Methods

Quantitative methods involve evaluating productivity depending on the number of products a person makes within a particular time.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Measuring employee productivity accurately requires you to outline specific KPIs per your business or company objectives and goals. Tools like OKRs can help ensure these KPIs are time-bound, realistic, and measurable, allowing you to keep accurate track of performance.

Service Productivity

Evaluating service productivity starts by quantifying service output. For instance, you can record the number of customers served within a given time or completed tasks.

Time Tracking

You can use time-tracking software and data to inform task delegation based on individual weaknesses and strengths.

Regardless of your formula, having the right tools and an innovative platform will make measuring and monitoring employee productivity easier and simpler.

Typical Barriers to Productivity

Productivity is a key factor when determining an individual's performance. It's essential to recognize that failure to achieve goals or deliver high-quality work is not always due to incompetence or slacking.

Your team may face barriers beyond their control that hinder them from performing. Common barriers to consider include:

Lack of Clear Objectives and Goals

Without clear objectives and goals, employees often have disinterest and lack focus. Besides poor performance, this can lead to elevated stress levels. Ensure you outline well-defined objectives and performance review comments so that everyone is working towards common goals.

Inadequate Rewards or Recognition

Failing to offer rewards or recognition can make employees feel underappreciated. Implementing a peer recognition program is the best way to overcome this barrier.

Team members can nominate each other for recognition as the managers regularly commend performing employees.

Lack of Employee Engagement

Disengaged employees are rarely productive. They lack interest in a project and a sense of purpose and do the bare minimum.

One way to improve engagement levels is to ensure employees have positive relationships with direct leaders. These managers are best positioned to set expectations, relay company values, and nurture relationships.

Inadequate or Poor Technology

Employees need effective tools to perform their best. Unreliable or outdated technologies, such as crashing systems or applications, defective devices, or slow internet speeds, can prevent your team from attaining peak productivity.

Keep up with emerging technologies in your industry or field to equip your employees with the necessary resources to deliver exceptional productivity.

How to Create a Productive Work Environment

To create comfortable and enjoyable work environments, you must encourage healthy habits, enhance well-being, and boost motivation. The following are two types of workspaces and how you can make them productive:

Physical Workspace

The physical workspace is where employees interact with their surroundings—desks, chairs, lighting, and even ambient noise. And that’s why the physical conditions in your workplace significantly impact productivity.

To make sure it's a stimulating and comfortable workspace, ergonomic furniture should be incorporated.

Another way is to allow more natural light and choose suitable paint colors. You can add some plants and inspirational artwork to enhance the mood and employee productivity.

Digital Workspace

The digital workspace is the virtual environment where employees collaborate, communicate, and manage tasks. Employees must have access to efficient digital tools and platforms to create a productive digital environment.

They should get instant access to digital resources from any device or location. Such unlimited access requires fast and reliable internet to keep everyone connected at any time.

Also, to make sure your new employees are productive quickly in their work, following virtual onboarding best practices can reduce digital clutter since they won't need to navigate between multiple apps to finish their tasks.

15 Tips to Improve Employee Productivity At Work

1. Ensure AHA Onboarding For New Hires

It’s vital to create an all-rounded and robust onboarding program to integrate new employees into the company culture and make them feel valued. This program should include hands-on support, such as assigning a mentor to guide them, regular check-ins and feedback, and extensive training.

2. Clarify Expectations for Communication

Encouraging open, two-way communication enhances overall efficiency and increases job satisfaction. Start by creating a company-wide policy that specifies appropriate communication avenues and response times.

3. Practice Clear Goal Setting

Setting realistic and clear goals improves productivity by helping employees make SMART(Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) decisions while prioritizing results. When exploring how to improve employee performance, acknowledging and rewarding performing employees assists in creating intrinsic motivation.

4. Invest in Extensive Training and Growth

In today’s rapidly changing job market and business landscape, investing in your team’s continuous learning and development is not just beneficial—it's essential. It helps your employees to adapt to new technologies and industry trends and thus ensures your organization remains competitive.

Encourage your team to pursue certifications, attend workshops, engage in professional development programs, and upskill themselves for future challenges.

5. Provide Self-Serve Resources On-the-Go

Availing mobile-friendly self-serve tools and resources ensures all team members have direct access to information on the go. Consider creating a streamlined repository of information and FAQs. Ensure you include step-by-step video tutorials and guides highlighting common tasks and processes.

6. Invest In The Right Technology and Tools

Every team requires particular technology and tools to work efficiently. Investing in innovative tools and updating technology is a sure way to boost productivity. For instance, integrating an interactive digital workspace allows collaboration and enhances growth and productivity.

Opt for advanced cloud-based tools and platforms accessible from any device and location. With the growth of Cloud computing, you don’t have to worry about affording new equipment and technology.

7. Use AI-powered tools

AI-powered tools provide innovative solutions for daily workplace challenges. Simplifying and automating repetitive tasks boosts productivity and sets the pace for more creative and strategic thinking.

For instance, you can use AI digital assistants to enhance response time by handling basic or frequent customer queries. AI tools can also help you analyze large datasets to identify trends and patterns, empowering you with invaluable insights that ensure you make informed decisions.

8. Embrace Agile Working

Integrating flexible and agile working is one of the best ways to improve productivity in the workplace. Everyone’s productivity gets inspired by unique things. Understanding what motivates every team member to deliver peak performance and accommodating these needs is an excellent way to improve employee productivity.

9. Discourage Multitasking

Learning to improve employee performance at work includes recognizing that multitasking leads to lower performance in one or more tasks. Juggling multiple tasks or switching between tasks can affect your team’s decision-making ability. Chunking is a better strategy as it allows employees to focus and deliver better quality in all tasks.

10. Show Gratitude

Verbal appreciation is a powerful way to boost morale, establish trust, and improve employee productivity. Encourage positive performance review phrases and celebrate successes when they happen so that teams feel genuinely appreciated.

Consider a robust rewards and engagement program to boost job satisfaction and increase productivity.

11. Encourage Work-Life Balance

Most employees prefer hybrid and remote work models because they prioritize work/life balance. Incorporating these models can help you elevate your team’s productivity. By offering the flexibility they value, employees will be happier at work, promoting job satisfaction and boosting productivity.

12. Prioritize Employee Well-being

Proactively minding your team’s well-being is an excellent answer to improving employee productivity in the workplace. Supporting your team’s mental and physical well-being helps increase workplace productivity. Encouraging open-ended conversations between employees and leaders ensures team members feel comfortable seeking support when needed.

Consider engaging professionals to provide resources and guidance on maintaining psychological and physical health. Additionally, plan regular activities and events that allow everyone to unwind and rejuvenate.

13. Encourage Delegation

Delegating tasks improves productivity by allowing your team to do more within a shorter time. Distribute responsibilities among qualified employees you believe can handle the tasks well. This sign of good faith builds trust and morale while giving your team a sense of achievement.

14. Ensure Proper Two-way Feedback

You may be wondering how to increase employee productivity in the workplace. Another effective way to improve employee performance is through regular feedback. Actionable and specific feedback allows employees to align their work with their objectives.

15. Nurture a Culture of Continuous Improvement

Maintaining a continuous growth and improvement culture is essential, where team members feel free to propose and adopt process adjustments.

Such a culture requires extensive collaboration to create a sense of shared goals and teamwork. Besides improving productivity and communication, it promotes creativity and innovation.

Top 5 Tools to Improve Employee Productivity

Gyde

Gyde is an AI-powered digital adoption platform that simplifies how employees interact with software by providing in-app guidance and support. It delivers step-by-step instruction guides, relevant help articles, and bite-sized training videos directly within the app interface.

This means employees have instant access to the resources they need without leaving the application, searching through manuals, or switching between multiple tabs to find assistance. It's an ideal solution when adopting new applications or cost-effectively amplifying current ones.

Top Features

• Integrated Analytics: Track views and interactions with walkthroughs, help articles, and videos to demonstrate your training tools' ROI and identify improvement areas.
  
• No-Code Platform: The intuitive, user-friendly interface allows you to create a wide range of resources without any coding knowledge, making content creation easy.
  
• Multilingual Support: Gyde offers resources in multiple languages and accents to provide a personalized experience, ensuring adoption across global workforces.
  
• In-App Assessments: After completing each walkthrough, employees can answer targeted questions to assess their understanding of the process, reinforcing learning.

Pros

• AI accelerates content creation by automating tasks and offering title suggestions, reducing the time training administrators spend on developing resources.
• Seamless integration with most business applications, CRMs, and HR systems
• Intuitive highlighting prompts users to familiarize themselves with updates or features within the application

Cons

• Users can only access walkthrough videos from the cloud or browser application.

User Review

Gyde has a perfect 5/5 rating on Capterra. Matthew Lloyd, Customer Success Manager at Global-Wurkr, comments:

“Gyde has helped us explain features in an interactive way using walkthroughs. These walkthroughs are easy to set up and can be triggered whenever a new user logs in for the first time.”

Pricing and Trial Period

• Free trial - On request
• Pricing - Request a personalized quote

Profit.co

Profit.co is a cutting-edge, enterprise-class software for strategy execution, performance management, and OKR (Objectives and Key Results) tracking. It simplifies the management of corporate, team, and individual goals while enhancing employee development and engagement with built-in functionalities.

You can boost employee engagement and development with features designed to foster growth and maintain high levels of involvement.

Top Features

• Strategy Roadmap: Seamlessly integrate, align, and execute long-term goals with a clear strategy roadmap.
• Collaboration and Execution: Customize task execution to meet your team's needs, enabling tailored collaboration and streamlined execution.
• Performance Management: Utilize advanced tools like 360-degree reviews, pulse surveys, and the 9-box matrix to drive comprehensive performance management.
• Analytics and Reporting: Generate detailed reports that provide clear insights into progress and performance, making data easy to understand and act upon.

Pros

• Offers robust goal-tracking capabilities within an easy-to-navigate interface, supporting effective performance management and strategy execution.
• Features can be toggled off to declutter the interface, ensuring a more user-centric experience tailored to specific needs.
• Simplifies OKR and goal-setting with pre-designed templates that make the process straightforward and efficient.

Cons

• With its extensive features and customization options, it may be overwhelming for startups, making it a better fit for mid-market and enterprise-level companies.

User Review

Profit.co holds a perfect 5/5 rating on Gartner. While being used by a Human Resource Manager in the travel and hospitality industry, they further shared this review:

“The entire experience of scaling OKRs within our organization has become more easier to do with Profit.co. This has enabled us to align every team member's work to the organization's overall objective.”

Pricing and Trial Period

• Free 14 day trial
• Personalized quote for Pricing

Insightful

Insightful is an innovative workforce productivity and analytics platform that empowers decision-making with actionable insights. It allows remote team management, automatic time tracking, and productivity monitoring.

You can use the insights to balance and improve workloads for more efficient processes.

Top Features

• Time Tracking: Manage billable time rates for accurate invoicing and payroll.
• Client Invoicing: Enables revenue recognition and project accounting for streamlined financial management.
• Monitoring: Ensures compliance monitoring and regulation enforcement across the organization.
• Behavioral Insights: Provides detailed reports on employee behavior and productivity trends.

Pros

• Elaborate employee monitoring tools such as idle-time monitoring
• Productivity alerts
• Behavioral trends report
• Enhances remote team management with real-time visibility and control.

Cons

• No free version and mobile app

User Review

With a G2 rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars, it’s clear that customers highly value their experience with Insightful. Hrunav from Marketing and Advertising shared this review of the platform:

“The app's core functionality of tracking remote employees' time and providing productivity insights is commendable.”

Pricing and Trial Period

• Free 7-day trial
• Monthly plan, starting from $8 per employee per month

4. Asana

Asana is an effective collaboration and project management tool that aims to automate and streamline workflows. It provides access to multiple tools to manage and track workloads, simplifying employee project management to improve performance.

You can create reusable templates for repetitive tasks, specify dependencies, and organize tasks.

Top Features

• Role assignment: You can allocate responsibilities, break down projects into subtasks, and set deadlines.
• Timeline and Gantt charts: You can visualize project dependencies and deadlines in a detailed way.
• Budgeting: Real-time expense tracking helps you remain within set budgets
• Custom Templates: Create reusable templates for repetitive tasks to save time and maintain consistency.

Pros

• User-friendly and intuitive interface
• Extensive integration with multiple project management apps
• Efficient task management
• Supports collaboration with clear communication and task assignment.

Cons

• Lacks time-tracking features

User Review

Asana holds a 4.4 out of 5-star rating on G2, a software review platform. Aaron Drapkin, Lead Writer & Project Management Specialist, shared his experience with Asana, stating:

“I found Asana’s intuitive layout extremely easy to get to grips with. Even building complex automations is relatively straightforward.”

Pricing and Trial Period

• Free personal plan, up to 15 users
• Starter plan available for $13.49 per user per month
• Advanced plan at $30.49 per user per month

5. Zapier

Zapier is a highly effective automation tool focusing on data integration across web applications. You can learn how to improve work performance by automating workflows or building and visualizing advanced workflows without any code.

Top Features

• Multi-step Zaps: Automate multiple tasks simultaneously using Zaps
• Paths: These Zaps perform various actions depending on the if/then logic
• Formatter: Changes text, currency, dates, and more into any format
• Extensive App Integration: Connects with thousands of apps, enabling seamless data flow and automation.

Pros

• Workflow efficiency by automating tasks
• Easy-to-use platform
• Numerous integrations and supported apps
• Scalable to accommodate the growing needs of any organization.

Cons

• Limited customizability

User Review

Zapier boasts a 4.5 out of 5-star rating on G2. John Epok P., Regional Platforms Lead, shares his experience with Zapier:

"It’s a simple yet efficient tool for integrations. It helped us with most operational automation. We are very pleased that 60% of our manhours are being saved as compared to manually transposing form entries to different platforms.”

Pricing and Trial Period

• Free 14-day trial period for all plans
• Starter plan at $19.99 per month
• More comprehensive plans from $49 to $69 and above per month

Wrapping Up

You can implement various strategies, tools, and techniques to improve employee productivity. Whether you're an entrepreneur, manager, or leader in any capacity, adopting the 15 highlighted tips, including clear goal-setting with OKRs and recognition, can empower you to create a more productive work environment.

Remember, improving productivity is a continuous process that requires effort, dedication, and commitment. With the right tools, you can easily unlock the true potential in your team.

FAQs

What is productivity in HRM?

Productivity evaluates how effectively employees or an organization changes inputs like capital and labor into outputs like services and goods.

How can I track my employee's productivity?

Using innovative employee productivity tracking tools provides you with real-time insights into your team's engagement and performance.

How can employee engagement boost productivity?

Engaged employees are more motivated, aligned with company goals, and productive. Boost productivity by

• Fostering a positive work environment and recognizing achievements.
• Setting clear, aligned goals with SMART criteria.
• Offering professional development and growth opportunities.
• Encouraging open communication and regular feedback.
• Promoting work-life balance with flexible arrangements.
• Empowering employees with autonomy and responsibility.
• Providing the right tools and resources for efficient work.
• These practices lead to a more productive and committed workforce.

How can productivity improve in the workplace?

Focus on strategies that enhance effectiveness and efficiency while fostering a positive environment that encourages innovation, creativity, and collaboration.