Auckland’s congestion also choking up the workplace

Employers need to make allowances for the negative impact that Auckland’s congestion and infrastructure problems are having on the personal lives of their staff.

CEO of New Zealand business, OneHQ, Hamish McLachlan, says SME’s already face enough business challenges without the external issues like congestion, therefore business owners need to look at different ways they can ease internal pressures for their workers in order to be more productive.

“There is a direct impact on employees with traffic congestion problems because longer travel times impact on personal lives, it increases costs and impacts family logistics which ultimately causes more stress.

“As most of these issues are out of a business owners’ control, employers need to do other things within the workplace to help get around these matters and drive productivity.”

Remote working
McLachlan says some things a business owner can encourage and do is to allow for part-time working, remote working, and flexible working hours.

Leverage technology
McLachlan says being able to leverage technology better is key to making sure productivity and communication is not lost amid changes to working conditions
“Making sure you can log on to systems wherever your employees are and using conference calls to overcome different hours and locations as well as avoiding the chaotic potential of email, will enhance the team’s communication.”

Help staff work smarter
Educating staff and bringing your employees back to the bigger picture of the business is one strategy McLachlan says can increase and improve productivity and innovation.

“Employees don’t often understand what you’re trying to achieve or what the overall values are, which might cause a lack of innovation around doing things, meaning you don’t get continual improvement happening.

Here are three things McLachlan says can be applied in the workplace to get around issues regarding productivity:

1. Change up the working environment
Putting employees into different office spaces will provide variation and the potential for employees to communicate differently, and with a wider group of people.

2. Delegating responsibility
Not meddling and giving employees the opportunity to lead and work freely will help empower them to make decisions and give them the space to work the way they need. Empowered and engaged employees deliver a far better job or outcome for clients than when you’re sitting on top of them telling them they need to be more efficient.

3. Good relationships within the workplace
Celebrating successes, encouraging employees instead of demanding, listening and supporting them in all their endeavours can ease external societal pressures and improve productivity.

McLachlan says staff seem to be much happier when these things are implemented in the workplace.

“At OneHQ, bringing everyone together to focus around our core values has helped everyone bond. Empowered staff has been the result of people knowing what they’re doing, communicating and talking, as well as holding each other accountable.

“Mental health issues are often born out of stress; therefore, employee well-being should be of first and foremost importance. Being aware, listening, and supporting staff in the right ways can help overcome that.”

For more information, please visit https://www.onehq.nz/:

© Scoop Media