Running head: PRODUCTIVITY IMPROVEMENT AT THE WORKPLACE 1

Productivity Improvement at the Workplace

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Productivity Improvement at the Workplace

The fast-changing workforce features, the daily changing technology, increasing

competition as well as ways to improve productivity are the unrelenting issues for various

organizations affecting the whole world economy system. Organizations are integrating all

possible and acceptable features that would help on improving the productivity levels to aid in

the competitive atmospheres. Despite technological influences, the human resource plays an

important part in determining a firm’s productivity rate. Every manager in various organization

operational sections is under the guidance of the corporate objectives that mandates sufficiency

in organizational production. However, this does not guarantee attainment of all set goals. In

most cases, companies have failed to achieve their goals because of poor working conditions.

Simply knowing that organizations are driven by persons as workers in step towards fulfilling the

set productivity levels, necessitates the understanding of how employees, their practical terms,

and environment interconnect with the productivity rate. Fundamentally anything that needs the

human input for its efficiency equally demands a conditional environment that sets the standards

for their performance. Additionally, people, in this case, workers need a motivating working

atmosphere. Companies make sure that they recruit individuals with the required knowledge and

skills to their fields of work. Quite often, this guarantees the workers the capacity to know the

operational protocols and produce averagely. Nevertheless, if employee’s working conditions are

furnished; there are possibilities of increased employee production levels. Maximization of

employee production levels depends on the availability of essential aspects dictating a

motivational environment. Hence, well trained and healthy workers working in a real relational

environment with reasonable remunerations for their responsibilities are capable of managing

their working time well to increase their productivity levels.

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Employee training furnishes their skills at the same time improves their confidence at

work hence maximizes their productivity. Even though possessing the knowledge and expertise

for their fields, workers continuously require training and refreshing of their experience to keep

them updating to the changing production requirements at their place of work. It has been

reported that training positively impacts on the employee performance. A study carried out on

mechanics in India, said that on-the-job training drove to greater innovation and implicit skills;

therefore, both technical and professionals skills are ideal for the worker to attend to their duties

in an efficient manner (Jehanzeb & Bashir, 2013). Provision of training to the employees serves

an important purpose towards their performance achievements.

Furthermore, the enhanced knowledge and skills play a significant role in idealizing

employees’ confidence level to the state that they are capable of creating and innovating new

competent approaches that improve the production levels. Gabriel Thompson (2012) in his

article, A Gringo in the Lettuce Fields, writes, ““Pedro steps in. “When you make the first cut, it

is like you are stabbing the lettuce.” He makes a quick jabbing action. “You want to aim for the

center of the lettuce, where the trunk is,” he says” (p. 350). Pedro who supervises the lettuce

field employees takes part in training Thompson, a new field worker, who quickly catches up

with his duties. The ability later displayed by Thompson is an accurate reflection of the

importance of skills and training at the workplace. Employees have to undergo frequent training

so as to boost the production levels. Additionally, workers are more probable to have confidence

in an organization that readily incurs a cost to having them trained. In return, the confidence

instills loyalty to their companies increasing their performance and production capabilities.

Moreover, healthy employees have higher chances of improving their performance,

efficiency as well as their production rate. Edwards & Bolitho (2013) in their research concludes
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that healthy, resilient and fit workers have lower probabilities of encountering physical and

mental sickness. Good physical and psychological health affect the wellbeing that ends

supporting productivity to induce employer competitive advantage. Engaged employees face

higher chances of returning to the work while nursing their injuries, are less likely to resign, and

have higher compliance rate as well as openness. Employee health upkeep at the places of work

sets up a connection of loyalty between the worker and the firm. Also, healthy employees are

energetic, consistently motivated, responsive at the same time likely to work for longer periods

before giving up work.

However, in consideration of Thompson’s encounters in the lettuce fields where the

health of workers is significantly compromised, as only few farm workers manage to work in the

areas to the ages of fifty years. The workers are exposed to poor working conditions resulting in

illnesses like crooked fingers, swollen hands and permanently hunched backs(Thompson, 2012).

The consequences of working for long periods in the lettuce fields for a lettuce field employee

detailed are as a result of harsh working conditions. The workers in the field are likely to get cut

injuries, but because of the less valuing firm, they have to report to work continuously

irrespective of the exhausting conditions. A healthy worker displays great devotion to their job,

report to their workplace in time and all the time according to the schedule. Hence, companies

have a duty to maintain the health of their workers, as they need to care for the employees when

they offer services exposing them to any potential health risk. In addition to that, poor employee

health increases the likelihood of more absenteeism and presenteeism at the workplace. The

employees will display a less motivated character at the same time spend much time out of work.

Therefore, this leads to a lower input, and ultimately lower personal as well as company

productivity levels.
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Apart from that, employee relationship at the place of work significantly impacts on their

productivity. The strong loyalty and reduced cases of conflicts are essential to boost organization

performance. Regardless of the fact that all employees have their allocated duties and

responsibilities to meet, they cannot make it without the presence of other involved workers.

Specifically, the establishment of a healthy relationship between the employee and the employer

can serve as a key to the success of a company. It has been reported that a good employee and

employer relationship boosts the workers’ competence, loyalty, reduce conflicts, and in the long

run increases production (O’Brien, 2014). Competent and friendly working atmosphere lowers

the cases of conflicts amongst the workers. Reduced conflict frequency is attributed to a more

focused workforce on the available work, and as a result, there is increased production.

Additionally, the establishment of a pleasant working environment is related to impacting

on the employees’ loyalty to their company, encouraging a loyal workforce. In return, a loyal

workforce makes it easy for the organization to retain its best performing employees, cuts in the

hiring and recruitment expenses hence a profitable end (Lane, 2013). In general, healthy

relationships between the employees as well as between employees with their employer at the

place of work creates a pleasant environment improving the workforce morale and motivation.

Regarding that, it is worth to conclude that, “A happy workforce is a productive workforce”

(O’Brien 2014). The companies that invest a lot in motivational and pleasant working

environments are linked to higher productivity rates. Hence, the employers have a duty of

reinstating these motivational working conditions that highly dominates over the performance of

the employees.

In particular, reasonable remuneration will exponentially determine the workers’ and

company productivity. The fundamental reason for working is to earn; hence for the employees
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to stay motivated, they have to receive compelling compensations for their services. Bevan

(2012) found out that the robust and emanating trend to improve the transparency of the rewards

provides a chance to develop what employees values like fairness, establishes clarity on pay

structures and generates shared value in a manner that shapes trust. The workers deserve fair

compensation to their assigned duties. Therefore, firms should display transparency to the

employees through correct assessment of their value based on their functions, and compare to

their counterparts’ responsibilities.

Besides that, the human nature of the employees instills the urge to find out how their

fellow employees are compensated for the roles they play at work. In cases where the structuring

of the remunerations are done privately, the staff safety is compromised, and they may conclude

that the organization is biased. In addition to that, the employees feel demoralized and

demotivated once they realize that a worker of their caliber is compensated higher than what they

get. Nonetheless, the transparency shown by the company in these concerns justifies how the

company values its workforce. Moreover, the workers identify themselves with the

organizational competence, as they understand that social values like equality and fairness are

upheld in the organization. Consequently, the workers remain promising in their working

lifetime. It has been reported that persons are naturally linked to laziness and are only capable of

operating under the payment (Schwartz, 2015). Hence, as remunerations motivate employee

performance, their rate of production can be actuated through rewards and bonuses.

Organizations operating in competitive environments have to motivate their employees with

rewards and bonuses to boost their input.

Lastly, working time management in an organization reflects its production ability. In A

Gringo in the Lettuce Fields, Pedro, the workers’ supervisor in the lettuce fields, is amongst the
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time-conscious managers. Pedro has the self-drive of knowing when it is time for the employees

to break same as when they have to resume their duties (Thompson, 2012). So as to work

efficiently towards attaining the organization set goals, managers have the function of creating a

schedule to make use of their time appropriately. Employees being human, they are prone to

wearing off when exposed to longer periods of continuous work without rest, in return affects the

productivity. Even though the production could be higher during these long working hours, the

quality of the products is likely to be compromised. It is reported that extra working hours could

echo an employee’s commitment to the job, employer or labor force, workplace as well as the

hope of achieving higher current or future earning. However, longer working periods inevitably

starts to induce dangers and time conflicts that hinder with both the quality of out-of-work life

and on-the-job performance (Golden, 2011). Employers have a responsibility of evaluating their

employees based on their best performing times. Therefore, they have to allocate their employees

the best suitable time of their performance so as to maximize their productivity. In case a worker

works within an appropriate period that does wear them off but instead makes sure their

performance is of quality, then the productivity level improvement is guaranteed.

In summary, every company works under a set of objectives that dictates their success in

limited time depending on their production demand. However, without capitalizing in the

employees, the achievements cannot be certain. The human resource is an essential part of any

given company at the same time susceptible to any change in the work atmosphere. Workers’

productivity fluctuates from time-to-time throughout their working lifetime. Nonetheless, this

can be sustained or improved from day-to-day through the provision of a motivating working

environment. The human resource needs replenishing of their knowledge and skills to have them

updated to the changing working systems to improve their performance. A healthy employee is a
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promising worker displaying little cases of absenteeism; hence ensuring productivity levels are

high.

Moreover, the establishment of the healthy relational environment and pleasing

atmosphere motivates the workers, eventually boosting their performance. In addition to that,

remunerations and time scheduling significantly impacts on the productivity of the workforce.

Hence, for a firm to be in a position of attaining its set objectives and goals in a prescribed

period, the human resource should be one of the highly valued aspects.
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References

Bevan, S. (2012). Good Work, High Performance, and Productivity. The Work Foundation, 1-31.

Edwards, G. & Bolitho, L. (2013). Improving workforce health and workplace productivity A

Virtuous Circle. The Royal Australasian College Of Physicians: Health & Productivity, 3-

19.

Golden, L. (2011). The effects of working time on productivity and firm performance: a research

synthesis paper. International Labor Office - Geneva, 33, 1-33.

Jehanzeb, K. & Bashir, N. (2013). Training and Development Program and its Benefits to

Employee and Organizations: A Conceptual Study. European Journal Of Business

Management, 5(2), 243-252.

Lane, D. (2013). Improving workplace productivity and corporate culture: perceptions and

experiences of the effects of workplace massage. College Of Sport And Exercise Science, 1-

244.

O'Brien, P. (2014). Why Strong Employee/Employer Relationship is Important and How to

Achieve This?. Business To Community, 1-4.

Schwartz, B. (2016). Rethinking Work. Nytimes.com. Retrieved 28 November 2016, from

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/30/opinion/sunday/rethinking-work.html

Thompson, Gabriel. "A Gringo in the Lettuce Fields." The Little Brown Reader. Eds Marcia

Stubbs and Sylvan Barnet 12 ed. Boston: Pearson Education, 2012. 349-353. Print.