When running a manufacturing business, one of the hardest and most frustrating issues that you will come across is your employees wandering around – rather than being sat at their desks or workstations completing the projects that need to be done.
This activity can be due to many different reasons, foremost among which are being bored, the need to stretch their legs due to discomfort, or having to fetch and carry their work back to their bench to start work. There are, however, ways in which you can combat this issue other than repeatedly pulling them up over it – which usually solves nothing.
#1 Provide them with little reason to move
If your employees have to move about to offload work or to obtain it in the first place, you may want to seriously consider installing some Fluent Conveyors on your site. Conveyors can be designed and built to suit your specific needs and space so could be utilized all over your shop floor.
These conveyors will not only bring the work to your work but also take it on its merry way after they have completed their task. This will mean that there will be little to no reason why your employees are up out of their seats unless they are on their break.
#2 Introduce bonuses and rewards
If your business is having trouble hitting deadlines and you think the holdup is with your shop floor staff, then introducing time-sensitive bonuses and rewards could be the perfect way to get them working that little bit faster.
These bonuses and incentives do not have to be majorly costly; in fact, they could just be a goody bag, small hamper, or money off coupon to a local eatery given to each member of the team for hitting their deadline within the desired time frame.
#3 Hold regular meetings
One of the easiest and most cost-effective ways of inspiring your workers is to hold regular meetings with them to let them know what projects are going to be running.
This is the perfect time to enforce the importance of time frames as well as state your own desired deadlines. It is a sure thing that idleness can take hold when deadlines are unknown or not cared about. Holding meetings is likely to make your employees feel like they are valued within your business and could therefore stir up some passion for their roles.
So, to wrap it all up
You have to let your workers know when there is a deadline to be met and, of course, what it is. Help them reach their target by having the workflow to and from them so that they are not wasting valuable time walking around.
Inspire your teams to work faster and harder by introducing incentives and rewarding those that have put in a really good effort – or if you don’t want to pit one team against another, reward all workers when deadlines are hit well within time. Of course, for this to work well, you will have to announce that the surprise reward will be presented at the end of the working period.
