Business leaders are often obsessed with growth and profit figures – quarterly targets, revenue milestones, and total sales. And these are also the topics that dominate boardroom discussions.
But here’s a question worth pondering: can a business really go up the growth ladder when on the inside, employee productivity is slipping?
The reality is that a work culture plagued by absenteeism, overtime work, and time theft, can wash away even the best growth strategies.
For sustainable success, look inward – what is it that’s holding your employees to be their productive best?
Using time and attendance data, you can unravel several productivity issues, take targeted actions, and build a culture where employees genuinely want to contribute.
This blog sheds light on some actionable data-driven strategies to supercharge employee productivity. It also gives a glimpse into the signs to identify poor productivity, its impact on your business, and how data can help.
Signs of poor productivity
Low employee productivity can go unnoticed until its effect becomes apparent in the form of sluggish growth patterns, delayed projects, and absenteeism. At Hobasa, we understand how critical it is to identify these issues early.
Here are some clear signs that will help you detect declining productivity levels before they turn into a major problem:
High rates of absenteeism
High absenteeism in the workplace often indicates a lack of engagement. Frequent and sudden unplanned leaves (except when they are taken for health issues or urgent matters) also show an employee’s disinterest and unaccountability for work.
The reason could be anything from cultural issues and job dissatisfaction to complacency, which when left unattended can further exacerbate the problem.
Why it matters: Frequent absenteeism can disrupt workflows, overburden employees, and reflect a disengaged workforce that can cost you dearly over time.
Excessive overtime
When your employees are consistently working overtime to meet targets, it can significantly dampen their spirit, leading to reduced productivity in the long run. Frequent instances of overtime point to issues like unrealistic workloads, inefficient processes, or even understaffing.
Why it matters: While working overtime occasionally shows dedication, when it gets too frequent, there is a high risk of burnout, low morale, and eventually turnover.
Delayed projects and missed deadlines
Another clear sign of low productivity is when projects consistently suffer, and deadlines are missed frequently. This often happens when employees are unable to manage their time efficiently or when resources are not allocated adequately to projects.
Why it matters: Delayed outputs can strain your relationship with clients and even hurt your business reputation.
Lack of participation
When employees are disengaged in team activities, brainstorming sessions, or work discussions, it's a sign of slashing productivity levels. Often such employees are dissatisfied with their roles and lack the motivation to work.
Why it matters: A disengaged workforce not only shows declining productivity but also hinders collaboration and creativity – two crucial drivers of innovation and problem-solving.
Late login and early logout
Frequent requests for early leaves or late attendance also signal declining productivity levels.
Are your employees worked up? Do they find work timings inflexible? Or are they no longer excited about the work?
Logging in late and signing off early points toward deeper problems like low job satisfaction, poor work-life balance, or inflexible scheduling, addressing which is crucial to improve employees’ productivity level.
Why it matters: Such behavior reflects a disconnect between employees and their roles. If you frequently encounter these signs, it’s best to be proactive and deal with them before they create systemic inefficiencies impacting the entire organization.
The impact of productivity slowdown
Dipping employee productivity is a hydra-headed problem that gives rise to a cascade of challenges, such as:
Increased turnover
When the productivity and the motivation to work start waning in a section of your employees, the burden falls on other team members.
These overstretched team members tend to get more frustrated and disengaged which ultimately drives them to leave and choose peace over stress.
Declining revenue
Low workforce productivity directly impacts your bottom line. When a team works half-heartedly and with half its potential, additional resources and time are required to achieve the same outcomes. This can drive up operational costs and reduce profitability.
Low team morale
A decrease in productivity shows an underlying morale problem.
At Hobasa, we believe that when employees lack the motivation to work, it impacts their efficiency, accountability, and ownership of tasks. This could mean low-quality work and delayed projects as employees are not at their productive and creative best. The thing about low morale is it spreads like wildfire and gradually eats away the positivity that your workplace once exuded.
Customer Dissatisfaction
An unproductive, laid-back work environment can significantly degrade the quality of deliverables and services your customers receive. When employees are not motivated to perform, it reflects in their work too. You might start receiving more feedback and complaints, slowly eroding customers’ trust and confidence in your brand.
How can time and attendance data help?
Time and attendance data is a robust tool that can help you uncover the root causes of declining workforce productivity, empowering you to take the right actions at the right time. So, what can time and attendance reveal?
Patterns of absenteeism
With insightful attendance reports, you can easily track employee absenteeism patterns. They can equip you with detailed insights into the frequent absences of employees on specific days, events, or certain times of the year.
Gauging these patterns can prove useful in identifying the underlying causes of absenteeism. These could be health issues, disengagement, stress or burnout, or maybe a personal issue. With this information, you can have a meaningful conversation with employees about what’s really holding them back.
Punctuality and work habits
Are you noticing extended breaks, irregularity in log-in and log-out, or an increasing frequency of unplanned leaves? Do certain employees have a pattern of not completing the mandatory work hours?
Time and attendance data can reveal such insights, so you can have constructive team discussions around these recurring issues. This will help you come up with practical measures like providing more flexibility or conducting training on time management to enhance employee productivity.
Overtime patterns
Working overtime can take a toll on employees’ productivity and peace of mind.
Using time and attendance insights, it’s easy to pinpoint employees or teams working beyond regular hours to complete projects and meet deadlines. Such patterns can bring forth challenges related to workload distribution, inefficient task allocation, or even impractical deadlines.
Compliance with labor laws
Another important area where attendance data can prove useful is compliance.
For example,
In the U.S., the Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA) has set out specific rules for the minimum wage, overtime pay, and record keeping. It mandates that non-exempt employees should receive overtime pay of 1.5 times the regular rate for working above 40 hours.
Using time and attendance data, you can keep complete track of how employees are utilizing their time and also prevent misclassification by ensuring that their work aligns with their exempt/non-exempt status.
Since FLSA also requires effective record-keeping, such data can prove helpful in keeping accurate documentation of employees’ pay and time, saving you from wage and hour lawsuits.
Patterns of time theft
Time theft happens when employees haven’t genuinely worked for the hours logged into the system. Now this could be due to low morale impacting employee productivity or a deliberate attempt to deceive your time-tracking system through practices like buddy punching and falsifying timesheets.
Using attendance analytics, you can identify red flags such as inconsistencies in attendance logs, exceeded break times, and reported work hours not aligning with the expected outputs.
For example, if an employee 8 hours every day but produces significantly less work than his peers in similar roles, this could be a signal of time theft. With the help of attendance analytics, you can spot such instances and tackle them in one-on-one discussions to increase staff productivity.
Strategies to elevate workforce productivity using time and attendance data
At Hobasa, we believe that attendance data has a treasure of insights, analyzing which you can come up with targeted strategies to ensure your employees are at their productive best at work.
Let’s explore 6 such essential data-driven strategies to improve workforce productivity.
Optimize resource allocation and workload distribution
Attendance data helps do much more than just flagging issues.
Armed with the right absenteeism and overtime insights, you can plan work shifts and allocate resources where they are really needed.
With a clear picture of the availability and bandwidth of employees, you can allot them to relevant projects and distribute tasks effectively, avoiding overloading of work. This is a great way to alleviate unnecessary pressure and keep projects on track.
Besides, attendance data can give you a snapshot of how employees tend to behave during specific times of the year.
For example, if you see a trend of spike in absenteeism during a particular period, say before or after public holidays or on Mondays and Fridays, then you can stay prepared in advance.
This could mean taking steps like cross-training employees or reallocating resources so that when employees are back from their leaves, they don’t have to work overtime to get work done.
The ultimate goal is to harness time and attendance insights to build an efficient work environment where employees feel supported.
Build personalized attendance improvement plans
Proactiveness is needed to track down attendance issues before they snowball into bigger problems. Stepping in on time gives you the opportunity to handle the issues head-on with constructive conversations.
What is it that’s bothering employees? Is a strict work schedule the problem? Are there any workplace conflicts? Are they overloaded with work? Or is it the work culture that they find unsupportive?
With these answers, you can get to the root of the problem and create personalized attendance improvement plans. Incorporating solutions like being easy with the work schedules, taking steps to avoid overtime, and checking in with employees from time to time are great ways to boost productivity and help them succeed at their jobs.
Refine your attendance policies
Time and attendance data can reveal a lot about your current attendance policies.
Data reflecting high absenteeism in the workplace and frequent late logins often indicates lenient attendance policies showing that employees are not worried about their actions. ‘
If the policies are stringent, that’s when employees resent them. This resentment is reflected in the quality of the work they deliver, the pace at which they complete projects and lack of interest in work-related activities.
A policy review can address such issues.
For example,
For late login, check if your work timings are really practical and suitable for employees, especially those who face commuting challenges. Making changes in shift timings can be a good solution here.
If you see a trend of high absenteeism on Mondays, consider implementing strategies that offer remote work options on specific days of the week.
When you make informed adjustments in attendance policies to ensure they are more practical and achievable, employees will happily embrace the changes knowing that they are implemented keeping their best interests in mind.
Recognize your top performers
Positive reinforcement is a powerful tool to increase the repetition of positive behavior by recognizing and rewarding it.
With time and attendance data, you can keep track of employees consistently meeting the attendance criteria, and ensure they are recognized for their efforts. This could mean calling them out during team meetings or rewarding them with perks or bonuses for the sincerity they have shown.
Such simple acts can go a long way in enhancing employee’s productivity and morale in the long run. When employees see the appreciation and support coming from the top for their efforts, they are likely to be consistent with the behavior. This also brings a sense of motivation for employees across the board.
Combine attendance data and employee feedback for effective solutions
Time and attendance data and employee feedback is a killer combination that can help you create targeted solutions to tackle productivity issues.
When you see absenteeism in the workplace rising, effective working hours decreasing, or overtime increasing, it could signal serious issues screaming for your attention. This could be related to a lack of work-life balance, stringent work shifts, or even a toxic work culture that’s off-putting for employees.
With data in your hands, you will be able to ask the right questions and get relevant answers from employees.
When you engage with employees in a meaningful conversation to find out the “why” behind the attendance trends, you will be well-positioned to make informed changes to your policies and create a work environment where employees can stay productive.
Take charge of workforce productivity using attendance analytics
Time and attendance analytics can reveal a lot about how your employees are working, things that most of the time go unnoticed and end up impacting your business growth in the long run.
The right data around absenteeism patterns, time theft, overtime working, and general punctuality can act as the foundation for several strategies.
For example, you can use data to ask the right questions from employees and get to the depth of the problem. Based on overtime data, you can improve how workload is distributed, and resources are allocated. Also, when you know your top performers, it gets easy to call them out during business meetings and show appreciation for their positive behavior.
At Hobasa, we believe that the basis of such targeted actions lies in the data you have. Use this data mindfully to build a work environment where productivity thrives, business goals are met with precision, and employees stay motivated.