Struggling with Low Productivity in a Small IT Team? Seeking Advice on Boosting Efficiency

Hi, I am working in an IT company with 25 employees where we are facing low productivity issues. Can you advise on how we can increase employee productivity?

For instance, employees complete tasks assigned by the project manager but fail to provide updates, engage in non-work-related activities, disrupt other employees, and take longer than expected to complete tasks, impacting the efficiency of the team.

Do you have any solutions to address these challenges?

Hi,

I would suggest you to have a monitoring system in place. Train and motivate the employees. Establish a performance improvement plan. Set goals and timelines. Conduct periodical team-building games. Have regular one-on-one sessions. Get their feedback. Make them understand that they are responsible for their work. Introduce a reward system like best performer or employee of the month. Praise them in an open workstation. Appreciate good ideas and celebrate birthdays.

Addressing Indiscipline in the Workplace

Based on the contents of your post, it emerges that there is less discipline in your company. Your problem is not lacking productivity as such. Lack of discipline is the issue, and the cause of this indiscipline is poor leadership from the Project Manager (PM).

The manager may be friendly, but at the same time, they should be able to create deterrence. They must come down heavily on wayward juniors and know how to exercise their authority. A manager who is unable to do this is not a manager at all. However, please ensure that the manager clearly understands the difference between creating deterrence and being coercive. Coerciveness should never be exercised.

Inform the PM to convene a meeting with all team members and have the manager brief them on their duties and responsibilities. Make it clear that this is a final warning, and no further warnings will be given. Those who deviate from expectations should be issued a warning letter by the manager. If there is no improvement, consider terminating 1-2 individuals. This action will prompt others to fall in line automatically.

While I have proposed these steps, I am unaware of the extent of interference from top management in day-to-day administration. Therefore, you and the PM should discuss your plan with top leadership. Sufficient power must be delegated to the PM for any progress to be made. The top leadership should refrain from interfering in the PM's routine work.

I have previously provided responses to similar posts. You can refer to them by clicking on the following links:
- https://www.citehr.com/434413-how-in...ml#post1968017
- https://www.citehr.com/473598-work-c...ml#post2097280

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Hi Dear,

Of course, there is a solution to this kind of problem. As per your narrative, there is a serious issue of organizational culture. The one-line solution would be "Right person in the right place at the right time."

In my opinion, please take some corrective and preventive actions to set right the work culture of your organization and focus on "Right person in the right place at the right time."

Please feel free to write for anything more.

Regards,

Hello, Anonymous!

I completely agree with my fellow learned contributors that it is a reflection of poor managerial capacity of the team leader/manager.

Now, I believe you are from the HR department. If that is so, how did you come to the conclusion that overall productivity is going down? Kindly elaborate on this point, as it may reveal more insights about this problem.

I shall be sharing my observations accordingly.

Cheers!