Companies differ from each other, so does its employees. The differences in personalities influence the way they go about their business and react to pressures that exist in the workplace.

A typical employee spends around 50% of their waking hours at the workplace and its environment greatly influences their mental framework and performance. It’s been observed that this mental framework directly impacts individual performance, which affects the business as a whole.

So, what factors cause an unproductive workplace? 

Dysfunctional or old office tools. The effects of dysfunctional and/or outdated office tools plus poor management thereof can be devastating. For example, if your business relies on a lot of paper works and involves printing services, not having the right printing tools or mismanaging them can lead to poor data management, security issues, and can even affect your bottom line. 

If you don’t have a technician with a skill to fix/manage it, then Konica printing services and specialised service providers can assist you via updating your printing fleet and update your staff with the latest technology so you can do their jobs faster and with less stress.

Computers, printers, telephone, fax machines, internet router – consider updating all of these for a more productive workplace.

Heavy workloads. If there is a sudden or alarming increase in workload, employees can sometimes become displeased with their work and this is mirrored in the quality of their work. It can also take a toll on their health and discourage them.

Our modern workplace is full of deadlines, demands, etc. And while there are employees who can withstand and perform under pressure, there are employees who give in to this rising burden. Therefore, an aggressive work environment where the stress levels are high can become detrimental to employee performance.

Poor top management leadership. A supervisor (the leader) should motivate his subordinates, instil confidence, and induce enthusiasm when it comes to their work. However, if the same supervisor uses aggressive and/or punishing behaviour, it results in harassment and unrest at the workplace. 

No transparency. When employees aren’t informed about important workplace decisions that affect them, they may make their own assumptions which lead to spread of rumours. This can potentially hurt the image not only of the organisation but its leaders as well while damaging the trust in the management.

Discrimination. It still happens in the modern workplace. Employee discrimination can negatively affect the organisation’s bottom line. It hinders the main components of employees’ behaviour which are linked with bad job performance. This can also result in a higher frequency of gripes among employees.

Poor performance management. Badly-directed appraisals can create complications for the organisation as well as its workforce. If a hard working worker is under-rated, besides being unfair, it produces an inferiority complex in the mind of the worker. Conversely, being over-rated may create egoism for the worker. 

If you’re a manager or business owners, identifying these factors that are having a crippling effect on the performance of your employees and business productivity, in general, will help you get right back on track.