7 Manager Actions to Take This Year to Increase Company Productivity and Overall Employee Satisfaction

A new year is often seen as a clean slate, the annual chance to end bad habits and implement positive changes in their place. While making personal resolutions has been a popular practice for years, the same idea can be applied to your professional life. Employees can resolve to work harder the next 12 months, to take more initiative in projects and avoid office gossip. As a manager, there are opportunities to make the office a better environment for all, which will make your employees’ goals more possible to accomplish, increase company productivity and overall employee satisfaction. Here are a few suggestions to consider for the workplace in 2014:

1. Work-life balance: Roll out an open PTO program
This might sound crazy, but some companies are switching over to an open PTO plan, meaning employees do not accrue the standard two weeks Paid Time Off yearly and there are no rollover fiascos. The idea is that employees feel comfortable taking time off for vacation, given that they still give a few weeks’ notice, get approval from their manager and still get their work done by deadline. Open PTO may be implemented to show employees that they are trusted to use their time wisely, and that the company values their work-life balance. A drawback is that without tracking used PTO, unused PTO can not be “cashed out” at the end of employment. It may be wise to try the program for a year, track employees’ PTO for reporting reasons only, and re-assess at the end of the year to see if the program is a good fit for your company.

2. Encourage communication and feedback
Most companies hold the standard mid-year and annual review, but most employees would like to hear how they are doing more than twice a year.  Encourage managers at all levels to keep a line of communication open with their employees, where they not only provide feedback but also encourage employees to seek feedback when they want it. Nobody needs a pat on the back every day, but it might be nice to hear suggestions on a project earlier than three months after its completion. Make sure all feedback, whether negative or positive, is constructive.

3. Be more transparent: Company-wide meetings
Especially for companies with several hundred employees, it can be easy for many to get their head stuck in their cubicles and lose sight of the bigger picture. Host monthly company-wide meetings to introduce new hires, recognize promotions and give departmental updates. If it’s appropriate, give financial updates so employees understand the health of the company. Working an office job can become dull with day-to-day meetings and general housekeeping items. Showing employees regularly how they are contributing to the company’s success and the importance of their role can be reinvigorating, plus having the whole company in one meeting can feel like a pep rally. Be sure to hold a Q&A session at the end so that people can ask question that may have risen during the meeting.

4. Involve employees in business planning
It is generally a handful of executives or a small team who make high-level plans for the company’s new year, but that doesn’t mean suggestions can’t be sought by every employee who works there. Every fulltime employee puts in at least 40 hours of their time into work each week, and chances are they have insight into how their department works and areas for improvement that managers might be missing. Although most company roadmaps for 2014 have already been laid out, it is not too late to get suggestions on the practical implementation of those goals, either via an online survey/forum or through department meetings. When roadmap planning for 2015 comes around, ask those who are generally not included in those meetings to sit in when possible so they can see how the company approaches high-level planning. Although employees should feel confident in their executives’ decisions, nobody wants to feel like their future is in the hands of a few behind closed doors.

5. Get co-workers out of the office and active
Employees can become friends within the office, but those friendships can go beyond 9 to 5 through company basketball leagues or social kickball teams. Ask who would be interested in joining before setting up a company team, order team shirts and invite other employees to cheer on their colleagues. Another alternative is to have a boot camp instructor hold sessions outside your office to make work outs more accessible to those who are crunched for time, or invite a yoga instructor to teach weekly at the office gym. 

6. Bring philanthropy to the workplace
It could be as simple as organizing a friendly Movember fund-raising competition between departments, placing a box in the break room for donations to a local food pantry, or creating a company match program for charity donations. Have HR create an email group for employees to opt-in and be able to solicit donations for their personal fundraising efforts. Some companies also offer VTO – Volunteer Time Off – which allows employees to take paid time off in order to donate their time to a cause. Encouraging philanthropy shows that the company not only cares about its employees, but also its community and community engagement.

7. Start an internal mentoring program
If your company holds entry-level positions, it can also offer the opportunity for employees to learn from those with more professional experience. A mentoring program can pair those who are fresh out of college or new to the company’s industry with veterans who can offer advice. A mentoring program allows employees to meet colleagues they might not otherwise work with, and getting executives involved will show that they are not only interested in their company’s success, but also their employees’ professional success.  Corporate mentoring programs can be informal or formal; if HR is on board, research what type of program might be a good fit for your company.