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Be a Boss, Not a Nanny: How to Get Productivity Without Stifling Morale

You walk into the break room and a hush falls among the employees who are huddled around each other in the corner. Checking your watch, you wonder how long they’ve been in there. How long have they been neglecting their work duties to engage in what is clearly a gossip session? These employees have smirks on their faces that indicate they surely aren’t talking about work.

Still, you get your soda from the fridge and flash a smile before walking out. Because what can you do? And where is the line between encouraging productivity and micromanaging to the point of burning out your workforce?

Believe it or not, there are ways to maintain a happy middle ground. But first, you have to identify the biggest distractions from work within your office. Recent surveys have shown an influx of employees who admit to spending at least an hour every day responding to personal phone calls, text messages, and e-mails. Those same employees admit to spending another hour (or more) browsing the internet on non-work-related subjects. Work gossip, co-worker socialization, and the never-ending pull of social media are also guilty of distracting your employees from their work.

So how do you overcome those distractions as a supervisor and encourage employees to spend work hours on work?

Remove Temptation

You can start by instituting security filters on your web access. In most industries, there really aren’t a lot of strong reasons for employees to have access to Facebook and Twitter, so limiting social media time can be a great first step. Creating policies about personal phone calls and text messages can also be a good idea. There are programs that allow you to monitor internet usage as well. And open-space layouts can encourage productivity by sending a constant reminder to your employees that they are never fully alone.

Be Transparent

Of course, as managers, you also have to determine how closely you want to be monitoring your employees. You also need to be mindful of being too restrictive, to the point of creating a work environment that is no longer enjoyable or encouraging. Should you decide to monitor internet activity, you should notify employees ahead of time. They should have no expectation of privacy when it comes to what they are doing on their work computers. But such notifications can also send the message that you don’t trust your employees to stay on task. It is a fine line to walk, and one that managers should tread carefully. Your goal is to create a balance between a comfortable work environment and one where productivity is at its peak.

Set Productivity Goals

One of the best ways to do this is to set productivity goals for employees and follow up with routine evaluations. When employees are well aware of the goals expected of them, they are better able to manage their own time. And, they may be more inclined to avoid the distractions that would otherwise keep them from meeting their goals. This puts the onus on the employee to succeed; it also gives you an excuse to turn a blind eye on the occasional mid-day break room gathering.

Of course, it’s possible that your attempts at balancing the line between good cop and bad cop might not work, and an employee or two will revert to time-wasting ways. (Remember: In more definitions than just our own, this is a form of theft!) If your chosen path of lenience or restriction isn’t working, you may want to consult our Discipline Guide to help get your employees back on track.

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