You Want Employee Productivity? Be Disciplined About Priorities and Upskill Your Managers
Penny Schlyer • June 15, 2023

What does every employer want? A highly productive workforce.

Doesn’t matter what industry. Doesn’t matter what role. Doesn’t matter what geography. A productive workforce is essential for success, but mandating people to return to the office is only part of the equation and if not done well, can be detrimental to productivity and outcomes.


With the Covid-19 Pandemic in the rear-view mirror, many employers are now mandating a hybrid or fully in-person work environment for employees who have gotten used to working remotely. Some employers like Google and C3.ai are getting tough on the subject. According to a Washington Post article, Thomas Siebel, C3.ai CEO said, “You’re either voluntarily at your desk or you voluntarily went to work someplace else” and Google’s Chief People Office Fiona Cicconi indicated recently that physical presence could be part of the employee performance review. Other companies, like Salesforce.com are using emotional manipulation by giving donations to local charities in exchange for people coming into the office. The New York Times reported in August that companies are turning to surveillance techniques like tracking mouse clicks and keystrokes, or taking random photos to ensure workers are at their computers. How creepy is that!


These tactics are not only falling short, they are damaging employee relations. Why? Because the mandates and incentives are one-size-fits-all and employees don’t see the value. I’m specifically referring to knowledge workers and desk jockeys who are enabled by technology that was designed to reduce operational friction and increase digital collaboration across distributed environments. It worked, so no wonder employees are not ready and willing to spend precious time commuting to an office when they’ve been getting their work done just as well from home.

Something’s gotta give because yes, there is significant value in being in the same place with your team for strategic decision making and organic engagement. For Farmer’s Insurance, “the mandate is meant to foster collaboration, creativity and innovation while also providing better opportunities for learning, training, mentoring, and career development”, according to Carly Kraft a spokesperson for the company. That sounds great. The key is to make it come to fruition.


Here are four interrelated steps you can take to increase productivity, and win-over employees to come back to the office.


1) Go beyond the “because we said so” reason and tell them why it is so important to the business. We are all wired to resist. We like the status quo, and since Covid we all value our time a little bit more than we did before. This is a big hurdle to get over, so provide tangible examples and scenarios for how you see the collaboration playing out to show that you have a vision and a plan that people can relate to. Engage the employees when thinking through how it could work so they are bought in.


2) Take a surgical approach to the plan. Not all functions and departments work the same way, nor should they be treated the same way. The working arrangements should be designed as fit-for-purpose based on the work to be done by the team. For cross-functional collaboration, identify those teams (or sub-teams) that work together most, and organize a workplace plan to suit the needs based on how and when they collaborate. This will take some time to sort out, but it’s well worth the effort. Do not mandate “3-days in the office” without providing clear

direction on which days, which functions, and which jobs are to be done. Most importantly, gain alignment on priorities.


3) Define cross-functional priorities that drive corporate goals, not solely based on functional area. How many times have you gone to a meeting that was a waste of time because of misaligned priorities or lack of clarity around a RACI? This happens way too frequently due to misalignment and lack of transparency around goals and objectives and who is accountable for what. It creates frustration, takes everyone off track and wastes a huge amount of time. Establish priorities with cross-functional strategic planning to gain clarity, accountability, and ultimately higher productivity and a happy workforce that is not “chained to their desks” in meetings all day. They can do that at home, and that’s exactly what they’re thinking! Your level of PRODUCTIVITY increases and decreases based on the function of TIME/# of PRIORITIES you are managing. According to Oliver Burkeman who has studied time management traits of highly successful people, we have about 4 hours of deep work in us per day. The rest of the time is spent on task-oriented activities like email, chitchat, meetings, etc. With that in mind, let’s say your people are disciplined to book (and use) 20 hours of deep work time per week in four-hour increments per day. Notice the level of productivity is inversely related to the number of priorities they are managing. Consider 20 hours/10 priorities = 2 in level of productivity. OK, that means nothing without context, so let’s play with the number of priorities. Decrease the number of priorities to 3 and you get a 3X increase in productivity: 20 hours/3 priorities = 6.6 in productivity. It’s very simple math and very simple thinking, but it’s very difficult to implement.


4) Upskill your managers to think strategically, act with clarity, and coach with an abundance mentality. Oftentimes managers are promoted because they were outstanding individual contributors. They work well in a team, can develop a solid project plan, and execute with the best of them. For the new hybrid way of working to be successful, managers will need to help their team’s focus on the few priorities that will impact the business the most. They must represent the key priorities across functions and effectively course-correct when people get off track. Working in this way may require these leaders to have mentorship, leadership development, and skills-based training for strategic planning, project management and employee relations. It’s no longer a “because we said so” world, and we really don’t want it to be that way anyway.


There is a happy medium to be found for employers and employees to maximize time and productivity both in the office and from home. Covid opened people’s eyes that one can be productive outside of the brick and mortar of the office. It also allowed employers to reach beyond an immediate geographic pool and hire talent residing in a faraway city or state, often paying them less due to varying market rates. The tech sector enabled remote work much to the world’s benefit. The tech sector now wants to reign it in. They just need to be more surgical and thoughtful in their approach in order to attract and retain the best talent and maximize productivity for everyone involved.


My mission as a Business and Executive coach is to guide business owners and their leadership teams to bring forth new possibilities never imagined. I have 30 years of experience working in software and technology companies – I’ve experienced what works and what doesn’t work and am ready to help you take your business to the next level of effectiveness and growth. Schedule a complimentary Discovery Call to learn more about how I can help with your business.


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