Giving Employees Time to Practice: An efficient Way to Enhance Productivity
Navigation: Index Page | < Previous Chapter | Next Chapter >

These days, employers are always on their toes waiting for the release of new programs or equipment promising to make jobs easier, to give the company the edge over the competition, or to drastically cut down on production costs. The speed with which technology discovers newer and more effective ways of doing things has forced companies to invest heavily on these programs and equipment; and consequently, employee training and retraining.

Employers invest on employee development for the purpose of raising productivity. This means time and effort should be focused on the production of goods and services, but there is no helping the fact that problems sometimes occur with introduction of innovations, or when a new employee who is not familiar with how the company system works is hired. This requires a period of adjustment where jobs can be held up, and this further means extra costs to the company.

One way to prevent work disruption because of workplace changes is to provide time for retraining or familiarization. A new employee should be given time to practice. A day or two cannot be that expensive if it will mean an efficient and productive employee later on. The same treatment can also be extended to old employees whenever a new system or policy is introduced that has a major impact on their jobs.

Actually, a few companies provide new employees time to get acclimatized with the general environment of the workplace and their jobs, as part of their basic orientation. These companies sometimes assign a veteran employee to mentor the new hire and guide him around for a day or two until he gets the feel of the job and is ready to handle a real job assignment.

Even old employees are not immune to being thrown off kilter by the introduction of new methods, especially since they are used to the old methods and have to undo a lot of inculcated habits. It is probably easier for new hires that come directly from college because they do not have to unlearn a lot of things. Often, these companies would also conduct orientation or training sessions for employees when new work methods are involved.

New policies, pieces of equipment, or computer-based programs demand a period for employees to become familiar with them. Whether the innovation is being introduced from the outside or in-house development, employers cannot afford jobs ending up in disarray because employees are not ready for the innovation. This can cause a lot of friction and irritants among employees aside from monetary costs.

Most businesses rely heavily on technology to disseminate information among employees, to business partners and customers, and to create a product and a service. It would be a good idea to also have an employee handling the technology side of the business. This employee should be one who would study trends in technology applications, one can be trained to act as trainer for old and new employees whenever management decides that a new program or equipment has the ability to increase productivity. This way, this new program or equipment can give them the competitive edge over the competition.