Three key HR responsibilities can be used to improve company productivity:

• Employee relations.
• Training.
• Compensation and benefits.

Employee relations—including discipline, communication and performance management—is critical to improved productivity. It is important to correct unproductive behaviors (through discipline) and to encourage productive behaviors (through performance management) by communicating well with employees—giving them the information they need to be productive and the information that they need to feel engaged in the work they do.

Also, HR can help improve productivity by rewarding employees who produce at and above par. This will be an incentive not only to the high performers but to the employees who perform in a less than stellar manner. Ideally, they will strive for the rewards that others are getting by improving their own productivity. Additionally, HR can directly affect productivity by teaching managers how to properly and effectively administer performance appraisals and how to effectively coach, mentor and counsel employees when necessary.

Training can also contribute to improving productivity. Training should be designed to improve job performance functions. To verify improved productivity, HR can do one of the following:

• Calculate the return on training investment (ROI) by measuring the productivity of a group, department or employee before training and then measuring the productivity of the same group, department or employee after training. The “after training” productivity should be more/better/higher.
• Use a control group of untrained employees to show a comparison between groups.

Compensation (and benefits) can be used to show a direct correlation between, for example, raises and increased productivity. HR should monitor compensation systems to ensure the company’s compensation philosophy is clearly understood by employees and that the comp plan, including incentive pay, is plainly communicated as well. Further, it is fair to expect employees to stretch themselves to improved levels of productivity when there is an incentive (pay-for-performance and other incentive pay plans) to do so.

Work/life balance is an effective incentive, too. Employees who are refreshed and rested are normally better equipped to produce.

Professional Pointer: Not all of the above suggestions will work for all companies. Employers and HR professionals must ascertain for themselves which alternatives work best for the employer’s specific culture, structure, protocol, and goals and objectives.

Please Note: This material is provided as general information and is not a substitute for legal or other professional advice. Contact the Knowledge Center for more information.

Express Request

SHRM’s Express Request (ER) service allows members to request and receive resources on over 100 timely HR topics via e-mail. Available Express Requests are listed on the web site, and responses are sent immediately.