How Productivity is Related to Internal Satisfaction

The level of productivity is influenced by motivation and engagement or a sense of belonging to a certain community; however, when studying productivity in more depth, it is related to both evaluation and internal satisfaction.

To increase your productivity level, you need to be able to be aware of your outcome and change the impact of external factors and habits on it. Internal self-confidence is influenced by a set of external factors – starting with the surrounding assessment, one’s fulfilled or unfulfilled sense of satisfaction, and one’s motivation. Read more: 1-3-5 Law to Increase Productivity.

Productivity level

It should be understood that it is not a constant quantity, because it is related to the individual inner state of each person. Its level can certainly be assessed according to certain standards, for example, a plan has been developed in the workplace, which must be followed – certain works must have been done in a certain period of time, or according to self-invented criteria.

Without meeting the set criteria or standards, it is important to work with your inner motivation to motivate and strive to do better in the future, rather than destroying yourself that everything has been done is useless and there is no point in continuing at all. It is related to evaluation and lack of satisfaction.

According to Vouchercloud statistics compiled for 2020, “only 21% of employees consider themselves to be truly productive throughout the working day.”

Thus, more than 75% of employees have admitted that they do not feel productive in their usual workplace and work rhythm, working five days a week.

How to change the rhythm of work and your habits to increase efficient and productive work? What hinders and reduces it?

Factors that are reducing productivity

Assessing the surrounding activities and trends in the workplace reveals the main factors that reduce the employees’ ability to focus, productive involvement in work. It should be taken into account that not all factors have an equally decisive influence, but by removing such disruptive factors it is possible to increase the feeling of personal satisfaction after a successful job.

• Continuous interruption of work

Based on On the Clock, Vouchercload data for 2020, “People are interrupted in the workplace on average every 8 minutes, which leads to a decrease in labor productivity.”

Employees are interrupted about 7 times in one hour, and each interruption takes about 5 minutes of their working time. This means that during an 8-hour working day, an employee can lose up to 4 hours of valuable working time due to distraction.

What are the most common causes of the interruptions? – Number of incoming calls and messages, handling of private matters during working hours, unforeseen short conversations with colleagues, communication in social networks, etc. Read more: The Impact of Social Media on Productivity.

To avoid this disruption, you can surprise your colleagues and potential callers in advance about the possibility of not being disturbed during working hours, if something unexpected and urgent has not really happened. For example, focusing on 1 or 2 hours and doing the work without interruption allows you to work more productively and then focus on communication.

• Low employee engagement

Engagement of employees provides an opportunity for both the employer and the employee to achieve higher results, get the job done more successfully and promote mutual cooperation, pleasant communication. According to Gallup, “The engaged employees are more productive, resulting in a 21% increase in profits.”

When employees do not feel involved in the workplace, the sense of belonging and connection to work decreases, as in this way employees often work monotonously or out of duty without enthusiasm, return, and low productivity.

• High level of stress

The work environment is often challenging when you have to deal with unusual situations, or when you have to do several big jobs at the same time. Such a work environment does not allow you to lose interest, improve and develop, but you also have to face the negative side – additional stress.

Low stress adds adrenaline and explains the importance of work because it cares about the outcome and the task at hand, while high levels of stress are unhealthy and cause nervousness, low concentration, and impaired productivity.

Employees are aware that high levels of stress interfere with work. According to the survey data::

• 41% said that extra stress made them less productive.
• 33% said that extra stress made them less engaged.
• 15% admitted that they are looking for a new job due to stress.
• 14% said that stress at work was more likely to be a hindrance.

“Employers must pay close attention to the emotional well-being of employees. Overworked workers are not productive and do not do the work they do,” said Lorly Michel, Colonial Life Vice President of Global Welfare and Health.

Employee evaluation and rewarding

The pyramid of Maslow’s hierarchy is the basic basis of motivation. People need physical security and well-being first, and only then do they feel motivated to meet future needs for belonging and purpose. This affects productivity accordingly.

The hierarchy also applies to recognition in the workplace, because as soon as individuals have a job and an income, over time, the employee will want to feel the sense of belonging and respect that recognition can provide.

One of the most important factors influencing productivity is evaluation, recognition, and dismissal by the employer. In order for the employee to feel satisfied with the work done, it is necessary to make feedback or:

• Evaluate the work;
• Dare to point out mistakes and the not so successful things;
• Recommend and share tips;
• Appreciate, praise for an excellent performance.

The reward is not only in monetary terms, but also includes additional holidays, trips, business trips, or joint work activities. While the recognition that comes with monetary compensation can be great, researchers at the London School of Economics found that “financial incentives can actually be reflected in employee motivation. According to an analysis of 51 experiments, “these incentives can reduce an employee’s natural tendency to perform a task and create joy from it.” 

For example, the opportunity to participate in business trips or events promotes the engagement of employees and also the corresponding enthusiasm, desire to do work, to achieve results. Everything has to be in the saddle – you can’t exaggerate with a lot of praise, bonuses and you don’t have to increase only negative criticism, reprimands, because then the employee’s desire to try and show his / her best side when all the time is despised decreases.

According to the Achievers’ Engagement and Retention report, “92% of workers agree that their job evaluation and opinion on a particular activity encourages them to repeat that activity in the future.”

An employee appraisal system can contribute to:

• improve employee productivity;
• strengthen employee cohesion;
• create a positive company culture;
• retain the best employees of the company;
• improve the employee’s understanding of the company’s values;
• combine a multi-generational workforce.

Interesting! Employee appraisal also works in a biological way. When employees are recognized for their work, dopamine is released into their brains, just as when people feel happy doing, filling their time with activities that inspire, exercise, eat delicious food or receive a pleasant surprise. When something pleasant happens, dopamine neurons light up, making people feel good.

But this applies not only to well-being, but also to the feeling that each other is treated fairly. If people think they are being treated fairly, their dopamine neurons are activated and they are more interested in collaborating with others and adopting new ideas, the Marica Institute document explains. Recognition not only helps employees feel good, but also helps create a more connected and creative workplace as a whole.

Change thinking and habits

Effective and productive work depends on the attitude with which we look at the work to be done, what the motivation is, as well as the usual actions that do not allow to increase productivity. 

Maybe it’s time to change or introduce something new in your rhythm of the day to refresh your desire to work with full dedication and engagement:

Start your workday early in the morning

A productive workday definitely starts in the morning, when most people find it difficult to wake up early in the morning, then there is a greater desire to sleep than to go inside to work. This is perfectly normal, because the human body is accustomed to the rhythm of the day, as well as the active hours of the day. To change this, try setting your usual alarm 30 minutes earlier to gradually get used to getting up earlier when you can tune in to the workday.

It is also affected by the phases of the individual sleep cycle. To get up at the right time when your body is ready, you can try one of the Sleep Cycle applications by setting an alarm at intervals such as 7.15 to 7.45 and the application will set the alarm in the correct sleep phase so that you can wake up with energy.

Segment your work schedule

You can create and segment your daily plan to make it easier to cope with your work tasks. For example, create a to-do list, divide priorities, and then choose the appropriate time to devote to it. Dedicate a time from 10.00 to 12.00 to project “A”, then dedicate time from 12.30 to 14.00 to project “B”.

In this way, it is easier to differentiate priorities, divide attention so that all work can be done productively. It is important to remember to plan time for interruptions, as well as time to devote to communication, answering e-mails, etc.

Have a positive self-assessment

It is important not only to evaluate from others, but also to be able to evaluate the work done by yourself every day and week. For example, creating a to-do list and marking the completed tasks at the end of the day will give you a sense of inner satisfaction and an unconscious desire to continue doing the work so that all planned work is done by the end of the week.

Thinking affects how a person treats the things around them and people. Motivating yourself with inspiring mantras, rewarding yourself for your work can boost your productivity.

The report, published in the Psychological Bulletin, examined more than 275,000 people and found that the success of the happiest people depends in part on optimism and a positive outlook. Dr. Lyubomirsky, the principal researcher at UC Riverside, concluded: “When people feel happy, they tend to feel confident, optimistic and energetic, and others find them sympathetic and sociable. Happy people can thus benefit from this perception. ”

Disprove challenges with your strengths

If you haven’t had time to think about your good qualities and skills that are useful at work before, then it’s time to start a new year with 3-5 individual strengths formulated or written. Recognizing the strengths, can also be used to meet the challenges of the work environment. For example, if the strengths are: the ability to visually design beautifully, make new contacts, the ability to organize and plan work and if you have to deal with a challenge: creating a presentation, use the strengths – find someone who will help create a draft presentation, then design and just finish, insert the most important information.

Thus, the work will be done productively, rather than postponing it for several days, because you do not like the task to be performed.

Productivity promotion at work

To sum up, the key is to reduce the impact of productivity barriers, to promote it by changing your habits, and to feel valued and satisfied in the workplace. The evaluation also includes criticism, but it motivates you to improve your performance and try to get a positive evaluation. More active involvement in work processes and internal motivation will help to increase productive working days!

Sources:

[1] https://goremotely.net/blog/productivity-statistics/#:~:text=Productivity%20statistics%20for%202020%20reveal,increase%20in%20output%20per%20hour.

[2] https://www.vouchercloud.com/resources/everyday-big-data

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THRYUfwGp6s
[4] https://www.gallup.com/workplace/229424/employee-engagement.aspx

[5] https://www.coloniallife.com/about/newsroom/2019/march/stressed-workers-costing-employers-billions

[6] https://hbr.org/2019/11/why-employees-need-both-recognition-and-appreciation

[7] https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/bul-1316803.pdf

[8] https://resources.achievers.com/resources/2020-engagement-retention-report/