Workplace productivity plays a crucial role in determining an organization’s driving forces. Increased employee efficiency yields financial savings and reduces overhead, allowing businesses to invest in other key areas, such as marketing or research.
A recent survey by CEO coaching and peer advisory organization, Vistage, revealed that companies that achieve higher productivity yield 63% increases in profitability and 72% increases in revenue growth.
If your business has unproductive employees, there’s a “right” way to communicate and address this behavior without sacrificing morale. We’ll explain how to identify unproductive employees, the causes of low productivity, setting expectations, and implementing performance improvement plans.
Identifying and Understanding Productivity Issues
Open communication is paramount to effectively addressing productivity issues. Practicing active listening allows you to understand an employee’s challenges. A decline in productivity could be due to personal or external circumstances, so it’s crucial to create a safe environment for employees to share their thoughts and concerns without judgment.
How to Identify Unproductive Employees
Identifying unproductive employees isn’t always easy—common signs to look out for include a lack of focus, missed deadlines, and excessive tardiness. Remember that there are many possible reasons for unproductivity, so it’s essential to detect the root cause before taking any action against an employee.
A best practice is to document any consistent patterns, e.g., missed deadlines, focusing on frequency and severity rather than isolated incidents. When monitoring quality metrics, note any instances when an employee’s work repeatedly requires substantial revisions or produces client complaints.
Observe team interactions for signs that colleagues are either compensating for or bypassing an employee’s contributions. Using an employee productivity monitoring tool like Teramind can help establish baseline performance metrics and identify any troubling patterns objectively.
Common Causes of Low Productivity
Many factors contribute to decreased productivity in the workplace. Employ the following strategies to recognize and address these common issues:
- Examine possible personal challenges, such as health concerns or lack of work-life balance that might temporarily impact performance.
- Evaluate obstacles within the organization, i.e., unclear expectations, insufficient tools or resources, or ineffective processes that could hinder success.
- Identify discrepancies in skills between the employee’s training and experience and the requirements of their current role.
- Analyze which factors drive motivation, such as opportunities for career growth, recognition styles, and alignment with individual values.
Setting Clear Expectations and Communication
The most effective way to deal with employee productivity issues is to communicate openly and set clear expectations. Approach the situation with empathy and an open mind—remember that the end goal is to understand any challenges, offer support, and focus on a performance improvement plan.
Setting Clear Expectations
Productivity issues are often the result of poor communication or a lack thereof. To foster a successful workplace, everyone must understand their roles and responsibilities. Create detailed performance expectations with measurable outcomes—this will leave little room for misinterpretation.
Employees feel valued when they understand how their work contributes to the company’s goals. Make it a priority to schedule regular discussions to confirm which tasks require immediate attention and why—seeing the bigger picture helps to create a sense of purpose.
Establish transparent monitoring processes. When employees understand how their performance is being measured, they are more likely to take ownership of their work. A great way to keep everyone on track is to create visualization tools that display progress and expectations for both employees and management.
Maintaining Healthy Attitudes During Performance Discussions
How you approach delicate conversations can make or break employee morale. To maintain a “healthy attitude” during performance discussions, focus on active listening, show empathy, and provide constructive feedback. Use positive language and approach conversations with curiosity, not accusation—seek to understand the root causes before offering solutions.
Provide feedback focusing on specific behaviors and their outcomes, rather than making judgments or assumptions about motivation. The goal is to encourage improvement, not defensiveness—find a balance between critical feedback and recognition of strengths and positive contributions. Be sure to document all discussions, including any agreements and next steps.
Implementing Performance Improvement Plans
A performance improvement plan (PIP) is a structured process for helping underperforming employees meet expectations. No leader enjoys implementing PIPs, but in some cases, they are necessary to help employees grow and succeed in their roles.
Designing an Effective Performance Improvement Plan
To create an effective performance improvement plan, evaluate the employee’s performance, establish clear and measurable goals, offer support and resources, and consistently track progress.
When structuring improvement goals, consider both output metrics and behavioral changes required for sustainable performance. When implementing a performance plan, analyze KPIs such as sales figures, customer satisfaction scores, and attendance rates.
Depending on the performance gap, PIPs may be set for 30, 60, or 90 days. Establish realistic timelines that include regular checkpoints versus distant deadlines—allowing for ongoing feedback and course correction as needed.
A thorough performance improvement plan should also integrate developmental activities directly related to the identified gaps. The plan should offer targeted training and access to tools and technology, ensuring employees have the resources needed to perform their jobs effectively.
Leveraging technology solutions like Teramind where appropriate can help offer an objective assessment of progress toward improvement.
Supporting Employees Through the Improvement Process
Show your employees that you support and encourage them throughout the improvement process—this will go a long way toward gaining their trust.
In addition to offering specialized training and resources, you may also want to consider mentorship. Pairing underperforming employees with more experienced colleagues can help them gain skills, confidence, and motivation.
When you schedule your regular check-ins, ensure the focus is on removing obstacles rather than just evaluating progress. Recognizing employees for their immediate improvements reinforces positive behavioral changes as they occur.
The ultimate goal is to foster an environment of “psychological safety”, meaning one where individuals feel comfortable and safe expressing their thoughts, ideas, and concerns—without the fear of judgment, embarrassment, or unfavorable consequences.
Boosting Team-Wide Productivity
Your organization’s overall success relies on boosting productivity across the entire team. Fostering a culture based on transparent communication, collaboration, and teamwork leads to increased engagement and improved morale.
How to Boost Productivity Through Engagement
Engaged employees significantly boost productivity and are three times more likely to remain loyal to their organization. To achieve this, leadership must foster a positive, supportive, and purpose-driven work environment.
Create roles that leverage individuals’ talents, strengths, and passions, enhancing motivation and job satisfaction. Employees innately want to know the “why” behind their work. Help them find meaning in their daily tasks by communicating the company’s mission and values—connecting the dots between their work and its impact on the organization.
Empower employees by giving them control of their work (without micromanaging), fostering a sense of ownership and accountability for their decisions. Implementing productivity monitoring systems such as Teramind encourages self-management while offering employees valuable insights into their work habits.
Creating a Culture That Maintains Healthy Attitudes
Positivity, empathy, and teamwork are among the key traits that constitute a “healthy attitude” in a business culture. As a manager, it’s your responsibility to model the productivity behaviors you expect—doing so demonstrates healthy work habits at the leadership level.
Lead by example and commit to your team by cultivating a supportive environment where everyone feels valued. Encourage open dialogue regarding productivity issues and make ongoing discussions about improvement the norm. A best practice is to develop recognition systems that highlight productivity-enhancing behaviors and foster teamwork.
Managing Persistent Productivity Issues
To effectively manage ongoing productivity challenges, you must first identify the root causes. Perhaps the employee is unclear on priorities or expectations, or maybe they lack the appropriate training to perform the job correctly. Whatever the reason, the best way to tackle productivity loss is to implement a structured approach with an action plan for improvement.
When and How to Involve HR
If you detect a pattern of low productivity, or if an employee’s performance consistently falls below expectations, it may be time to involve human resources. Before doing so, ensure you have all documentation in order, i.e., noted performance issues, improvement attempts, and employee responses.
To adequately prepare for a meeting with HR:
- Familiarize yourself with legal obligations for performance management. Legal requirements differ by area, so make certain that you adhere to local regulations.
- Gather objective evidence before formal meetings. Before your scheduled meeting, gather productivity metrics from monitoring tools.
- Ensure compliance with procedures. It’s essential to follow proper protocol while maintaining the employee’s dignity throughout the escalation process.
Making Difficult Decisions About Unproductive Employees
Dealing with unproductive employees presents a significant challenge for leaders—and in some cases, you may need to make difficult choices. This requires a balance of professionalism, transparent communication, and empathy.
Before making any final decisions, ensure that the individual is given a fair chance to improve. Assess the progress they’ve made towards their goals, and ensure you’re using objective metrics rather than relying on emotions.
Termination isn’t always the answer—consider alternative job roles that better align with the employee’s skills. If the actual expenses of ongoing intervention (including client impact) outweigh replacing the employee, that may sway your decision. If termination is the only solution, make sure to follow legal requirements and treat departing employees with the utmost respect.
Preventative Approaches to Productivity Management
Address productivity challenges as they occur to prevent a decline in performance—and before these issues become significant problems. Get ahead of the game by fostering a high-performance culture that keeps employees motivated and engaged.
Implementing Proactive Monitoring and Feedback
Proactively implementing monitoring and feedback tools helps detect productivity patterns and allows leaders to apply tailored feedback in real time. A best practice is to create regular feedback systems—making performance discussions routine rather than crisis-driven.
Use tools like Teramind to create coaching methods based on data insights versus focusing on punitive monitoring.
Pro tip: Create productivity dashboards for the entire team to help foster healthy competition and encourage collaborative improvement.
Ongoing Training and Development
One of the most common causes of low productivity in the workplace is lack of proper training. When an employee feels unprepared, it leads to frustration and a decrease in morale. Conducting regular assessments is a great way to identify any potential skills gaps—before they lead to performance issues.
Create a targeted training plan that incorporates personalized learning pathways—connecting mastery of the employee’s current role with their future career goals. Provide comprehensive training and offer ongoing support to ensure that all team members can effectively use productivity-enhancing tools and technologies. Train managers in early detection and intervention for productivity challenges so they can proactively address issues before they escalate.
Conclusion
Managing unproductive employees is a delicate process, so it’s imperative to address any issues fairly and respectfully. Provide clear expectations and open communication, ensuring employees fully understand performance standards. Offer ongoing support, regular feedback, and a structured improvement plan that includes clear goals and timelines. Most importantly, approach all conversations with respect and empathy to ensure the preservation of employee morale and dignity.
Ready to implement these approaches with your team? The next steps for managers include identifying productivity challenges, scheduling private conversations, setting clear expectations, offering training and development, providing ongoing feedback, recognizing improvements, and escalating to HR (when necessary). By executing these strategies, you can effectively tackle productivity challenges while nurturing a culture of growth and enhancing overall team performance.
FAQs
How to deal with non-productive employees?
Identify the root cause of non-productivity through private one-on-one conversations, determining if the issue stems from skill gaps, personal problems, or unclear expectations. Develop a specific performance improvement plan with measurable goals and regular check-ins. Provide necessary resources like training or mentoring based on their needs. Document all conversations and interventions while maintaining a supportive approach that balances accountability with assistance.
How do you tell an employee they are not productive?
Schedule a private meeting in a neutral setting and use specific examples rather than generalizations when discussing productivity concerns. Focus on behaviors and outcomes, not personality traits, framing the conversation around improvement rather than criticism. Listen actively to their perspective as they may reveal unexpected barriers. End with clear, actionable next steps and express confidence in their ability to improve with proper support.
How do you handle a team member who isn’t productive?
Address productivity issues privately, using objective data to demonstrate concerns compared to expectations. Explore potential contributing factors like workload distribution or resource limitations. Offer support through mentoring or adjusted responsibilities while maintaining accountability. If team morale is affected, consider temporary workflow restructuring while the team member improves. Balance individual performance management with maintaining positive team dynamics.
How to handle poor performance of an employee?
Provide timely feedback using the situation-behavior-impact model to connect actions with consequences. Collaborate on developing SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) to address performance gaps. Maintain frequent check-ins that include both positive reinforcement and constructive feedback. If improvement doesn’t occur despite adequate support, follow your organization’s progressive discipline policy while consulting with HR to ensure compliance.
