Improving Productivity Of Employees

[davejonesbkk]

Hi Im doing a project at uni on improving productivity and Im looking for some new or different techniques that some of you may use with your emplyees.

I've already covered the regular stuff like flexi-time, job enlargement etc so Im looking for something a bit different...

Edited August 14, 2007 by davejonesbkk

[JimsKnight]

One method I used during a brief business foray was to introduce a monthly pay bonus (3000 baht) to the most productive / reliable employee. The principle being that they'd all work harder for the greater good of the company.

It never worked though, as the staff never stayed long enough, prefering to wander about from job to job.

[llothar]

One method I used during a brief business foray was to introduce a monthly pay bonus (3000 baht) to the most productive / reliable employee. The principle being that they'd all work harder for the greater good of the company.

It never worked though, as the staff never stayed long enough, prefering to wander about from job to job.

Bonus money don't work at all, it's a myst. After they get it once they are starting to see it a normal income and not getting it is seen as a penalty. So not getting it is demotivating the employee and getting it is just normal.

I know they still are teaching this rubbish in most Business schools, which belive in this Frederick Winslow Taylor stuff.

[davejonesbkk]

Ok thanks guys. Actually what im looking for is something really bizarre or innovative even if its something that may be seen as strict....

[llothar]

something really bizarre

Something bizarre:

Well have a look at the new Thai Police order.

Bad guys (those in uniform) must wear a pink "Hello Kitty" armband. It just make them look stupid, so they loose face

and our top police guy thinks that this will prevent them from doing bad attitude things.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...=134150&hl=

[soundman]

I have written numerous posts on this subject in this forum with regards to being an employer in a SME sized business.

We have tried everything from "donkey & carrot" encouragement to draconian management styles. Standard pay, above average pay, bonus systems, free beer, job completion bonuses, QC bonuses, attendance bonuses, instant dimissals, employee borrowing funds, staff awards, seniority bonuses, rubbish recycling awards. You name it we have tried it.

I have come to the conclusion, that to run an effecient small business (20 - 100 employees) in Thailand, you have to tailor your business needs & production management around the working practices of your core staff members. Any change from their normal work practices takes a long time & must be progressively installed.

Hope this is some help.

Soundman.

[nemo38]

>something really bizarre or innovative even if its something that may be seen as strict....

Try spanking them.

I fire people who aren't putting enough effort into their jobs. I don't pay them severance I make them work out their notice knowing days are ticking away on them. Other workers are cautioned when they see the distress of the worker under this pressure. Everyone I've treated in this way either left without pay suddenly (from the shame) or picked up their work. Those who improved their performance normally got pay rises in a short time. People who loaf around on their jobs are miserable. If you push or moativate someone to improving their performance you are helping them.

Enough of the stick, on the side of the carrot you should align what is good for employees with your business goals. For example, you can pay them based upon performance or for 'piece work'. Employees should always be working towards incentive like having the company give them professional training once they reach some mile stone.

'Golden handcuffs' are another possible incentive. Pay a 'loyalty' bonus which increases with time served at the company. IBM trap their employees by paying them a month in advance (which wouldn't work in Thailand as employees would run away with wages on day 1).

The key thing about all programs is to choose something which is likely to work for your business and then to monitor it for success. There is no use just raising wages if people won't work harder.

[wasabi]

sanook sanook!

[Ritti]

The company NEEDS to work as a team, everyone NEEDS to be on the same page

Teamwork, comfortable and positive enviroment

I don't think money bonuses work as it can make people too competitive and not be a team player

[monty]

Having employed staff for a long time in Thailand, it seems there is only one thing that can keep your staff turnover low and productivity high.

This magic thing is called sanook in Thailand.

Keep them happy. Throw parties. Go to karaokes (the part I hate most). Get pissed with them. Whenever you go out, bring something back for them like fruit, cookies etc. The more boring their job, the harder you'll have to work to keep them happy.

In my experiences, a boss which can come down to the level of his employees, splashes some money around (not cash, but karaoke, dinner, party,...) will be well regarded.

It doesn't cost any penny more then cash bonuses, higher salaries and whatever, but seems to be well accepted! It is often said that the Thai labour force is getting more materialistic, which is partly true, but that old Thai habit of having Sanook will never disappear.

This works well in smaller business, but would be harder in bigger places!

Although I know some people at Advanced Agro (double A, the printer paper very popular in Thailand) and they do exactly that. They throw a 100,000 Baht new year party for their staff, free food, free drink, free karaoke, free rooms for those who are to pissed to drive home!Add in a couple of smaller parties through the year...

[samran]

month end parties. LOTS of good food. Annual trip away somewhere where everyone can take hundereds of photos of themselves and their mates blocking out the scenery.

[Boksida]

I had all the urinals raised a foot.

That keeps them on their toes.

[soundman]

The only problem with sanook is that it is very easy to get into a pattern of "over rewarding" or "spoiling" your staff. This can have negative aspects leading to general apathy, or only pushing to meet minimum job requirements amongst the staff when nothing is on the roster. It can also have the effect of the staff wanting more & more frequently, inversely only maintaining extra productivity levels for a shorter period of time before an advertised event.

We have a new years party once a year (usually songkran) for our staff, plus one staff getaway, usually to Pattaya for two days in the July to August period. Both work well, but it is very hard to exclude the lower levels of staff that haven't been pulling their weight as much as the others. Exclude one person for lacklustre performance, evryone else seems to get in a bad mood because one of the "team" is missing out & the whole point of the exercise is down the toilet.

Sanook is great to develop team work & team performance but chatestrophic at the individual level (management exception).

Soundman.

[Solosiam]

Once a year at Christmas we have a raffle - We are a smart home and A/V company. Basically every Thai employee will win a prize, these range from DVD Players through to iPods and Flat screen TV's. It's a great idea as these guys work daily with equipment they just can't really afford to purchase, so it gives them a chance to own similar products to those that they install every day.

We also offer purchase schemes for inexpensive TV's and electronic equipment, basically our staff can buy equipment from the company at trade price, they can pay this off over a number of months, directly from their salary.

Yet to have a staff member leave us, thankfully.

[monty]

The only problem with sanook is that it is very easy to get into a pattern of "over rewarding" or "spoiling" your staff. This can have negative aspects leading to general apathy, or only pushing to meet minimum job requirements amongst the staff when nothing is on the roster. It can also have the effect of the staff wanting more & more frequently, inversely only maintaining extra productivity levels for a shorter period of time before an advertised event.

We have a new years party once a year (usually songkran) for our staff, plus one staff getaway, usually to Pattaya for two days in the July to August period. Both work well, but it is very hard to exclude the lower levels of staff that haven't been pulling their weight as much as the others. Exclude one person for lacklustre performance, evryone else seems to get in a bad mood because one of the "team" is missing out & the whole point of the exercise is down the toilet.

Sanook is great to develop team work & team performance but catastrophic at the individual level (management exception).

True, but in my experience after a while it seems that your good staff starts to push the slower ones, and if they don't get in line it more often then not ends with the slower ones resigning under pressure of the entire team. The team doesn't want to risk losing the perks they have, and very often they themselves have replacements lined up, people of which they know they will perform well!

When somebody gets hired, I can see normally within the first two days wetter they will last or not.

[soundman]

True, but in my experience after a while it seems that your good staff starts to push the slower ones, and if they don't get in line it more often then not ends with the slower ones resigning under pressure of the entire team. The team doesn't want to risk losing the perks they have, and very often they themselves have replacements lined up, people of which they know they will perform well!

When somebody gets hired, I can see normally within the first two days wetter they will last or not.

Agree with you, however, unforseen problems arise when a core staff member / leader is the one dropping the ball so to speak. Cliques develop & suddenly everybody is taking sides etc.

From experience, the first few weeks of kao parnsah are the worst time of year for senior staff losing the plot. Mainly through withdrawal symptoms of getting off the booze, fags & karaoke's.

I'm with you on the hiring protocol as well. About three days to two weeks is usually enough time to sort the no hopers from new staff with potential.

Cheers.

[monty]

I admit it's a very delicate balance!

When your staff gets to be to much of a team, and one of the core members comes into some kind of a conflict with you, you risk losing the whole team if you end up having to fire that person, which could get your business in a whole lot of trouble.

I found that having two or three groups of staff, often from slightly different area's of Thailand, balances the risk a bit. It also creates that little bit more competition between them, which sometimes (not always) can improve performance a bit.

If everybody's nobody's friend, you can fire and hire as much as you like without any repercussions.

In the end, I still think that keeping your staff happy, and making them kind of enjoying their time with their colleagues and their bosses, without this being directly performance based, is the best strategy!

[davejonesbkk]

Ok thanks guys. Think I'm going to add 2, the team work one and also the 'Hello Kitty' one just to see the lecturers reaction!

[slapout]

Monty: I think your are right on in hiring personal from different locals. I have used this method, even bringing in different nationalities to work together and stand back and watch the competation. You may have to watch close to keep it friendly. This would not be so easy in Thailand I suspect. We used to use a reward system for any employee who could come up with a money saving suggestion that we could put into place. The yearly savings were the base for the reward with the employee receiving a fixed amount. (we used 50%) You will be surprised how involved the people can become in this program. Good luck

[canadiangirl]

Hi Im doing a project at uni on improving productivity and Im looking for some new or different techniques that some of you may use with your emplyees.

I've already covered the regular stuff like flexi-time, job enlargement etc so Im looking for something a bit different...

This wasn't in Thailand, so I don't know if it applies but here it goes:

a company I used to work for gave everyone one day of the week to work on personal projects. You had to work on something (you couldn't stay home and sleep or get drunk at the office), and every once in a while, one of us would give a presentation on what we had been working on. You could learn a new programming language, write a game, read books on computers -- just anything that stretched your skills and was fun.

This was a software development company, most of us were programmers, so people usually really liked their jobs, and came up with really good projects, some of which the company ended up incorporating into the office.

[Mid]

Ok thanks guys. Think I'm going to add 2, the team work one and also the 'Hello Kitty' one just to see the lecturers reaction!

please report back .................................

[cclub75]

Bonus money don't work at all, it's a myst. After they get it once they are starting to see it a normal income and not getting it is seen as a penalty. So not getting it is demotivating the employee and getting it is just normal.

Agree ! Two problems with bonus :

-time scale. One year, it's the future. Far away. Thais do not understand "future" (and some of them know right from the begining that at that time they won't work anymore for you, therefore why bother, adios the "productivity" factor)

-as you said, after the first year the bonus becomes... naturally... part of the "normal income". You can explain them thousands times that the bonus is linked to the performances of the company, therefore we can have good and bad years... Their left brain sure will understand this point... but the right part will make them angry at you (if you don't pay). Therefore you're loosing the "productivity" factor.

Yep, bonus is pure white collars-let's-copy-them BS. Good for banks. But for other "real" industries, forget it.

My strategy (for sales people) : incentives very short term basis, and easy to understand. You sign a new customer, I give you something. Voila. But bonus on yearly turn over target, bad idea really.

[think_too_mut]

Hi Im doing a project at uni on improving productivity and Im looking for some new or different techniques that some of you may use with your emplyees.

I've already covered the regular stuff like flexi-time, job enlargement etc so Im looking for something a bit different...

Interesting, 2 pages of advice without anybody asking what kind of work people are doing? Or I missed it somehow.

It works different for construction workers, assembly line, sawing sweatshops or in investment banking where Goldman & Sachs kind of yuppies make millions.

[Jersey_UK]

Interesting, 2 pages of advice without anybody asking what kind of work people are doing? Or I missed it somehow.

It works different for construction workers, assembly line, sawing sweatshops or in investment banking where Goldman & Sachs kind of yuppies make millions.

I was tempted to reply yesterday - but could not be bothered, no motivation yer see

No experiance of Thailand, but no reason why the fundamentals are any different. Carrot and Stick!

For all employees their has to be a penalty for not doing the job being paid for. Whether this being sidelined, demoted or fired.

In exchange the Employer has to explain what the job requirements are, and where required to train them / support them / allow them to get on and do the job.

Plus (depending on whether the employee is wanted long term) they should be paid the market rate, not just what the employee can get away with and if they are "key" employees then above the market rate, cos to you they are worth more. Also simply telling folk now and again if they are doing something well works out of all proportion to the cost of doing so!

A Bonus? depends on the job, but if it is easily understandable by both sides (sales, project completion, number of widgets made etc) and has a durect £££ benefit to the employer and that the employee can have a direct impact on by either working harder or simply by not fulfilling at least his expected role then IMO 100% for sure*

And also a Bonus should apply for an employee is at a level where 1/4 ly or a yearly horizon for more complicated stuff is within their scope (job description!).....to at least try and buy some "loyalty".

Oh yeah, the boss not being a class A moron also helps in not demotivating staff.

*Don't underestimate what an employee understands about what a boss is making from his labours. I was once offered a job for £xxk (2 figures, not 3 it's not USD ) in a key position by someone who genuinely thought they were offering me a very good deal and opportunity. I explained tactfully that the "opportunity" actually consisted of lots of hard work getting them out of the toilet they had flushed themselves down and if I was succesful my small part of the world would give them gross profits in the 7 figure range (£)..........so my question was.......why would I take a pay cut, loads more work for the priviliges of getting other folk out of a self inflicted hole whilst also giving them millions of pounds?.........I was demotivated because I understood exactly how much money my "boss" would make from my labours, the same applies to employees who are makers of widgets - it might be YOUR deadline, but why should I give a flying sh#t?? Pride in work? Loyalty? - <deleted> off, concepts long since dead, if they ever really existed. Show me the money

[onethailand]

I think both Monty and Soundman are right - I would tend to try to go somewhere in between. The sanook route is good for short-term, but you have to be careful not to overdo it - every month for me is a bit too much.

I have had significant staff turnover in the last two years, mostly from staff who were simply not capable or are just used to jumping around any time they like. However, my personal assistant is a tough cookie and she is responsible for managing my other current staff member.

I laid it out very early for her, telling her that if I yell at her or argue with her, don't take it personally because I will get over it quickly. Once she understood that and realized that her job would never be on the line if she worked hard, she settled in and many heated discussions later she is still with me. And she can be trusted, and I don't have to entertain her at all.

I do think it will vary from business to business though. If I owned a factory I would never be able to do what works for me now.

[fletchsmile]

Very wide topic, and will vary enormously across cultures, countries, industries, type of work etc etc

Take a step back: what drives productivity, and what gets in the way? If your talking about people, one key driver is motivation. What drives motivation? In my view, like many things in life, top 2) plus a third:

1) Happiness - most important thing in life, and business is a large part of life.

2) Trust - most important "factor" in business and relationships. Presence increases effectiveness. Absence of it is a key thing that gets in the way of productivity for many reasons, and creates a "tust tax" on productivity/effectiveness

3) Participation (which leads to motivation)

The answer to these 3 will vary enormously as mentioned. Hence all the answers from people above are probably valid, depending on culture, environment, job etc. Answer these 3 for different scenarios and you'll have as many answers as you need for your thesis. Try thinking of scenarios instead of going directly for the answers to your initial question. eg if you took something in an industry staffed by volunteer workers and nuns, that's going to give very different answers than say something in the S&M industry. I wouldn't recommend whipping nuns, or taking S&M afficionados on a religious visit.

BTW The model of stepping back question by question gets you to the real core answers. What dives happiness, what drives trust, what drives particpation/motivation, will work for most. Usually if you go back a max of 5 levels you have your real answers.

BTW2 Money generally only motivates (and therefore increases production) short term at best. However, it's absence can decrease production.

BTW3 There are (almost) always exceptions. Think of the exceptions and you'll get your interesting answers.

Edited August 18, 2007 by fletchthai68

[soundman]

Take a step back: what drives productivity, and what gets in the way? If your talking about people, one key driver is motivation. What drives motivation? In my view, like many things in life, top 2) plus a third:

1) Happiness - most important thing in life, and business is a large part of life.

2) Trust - most important "factor" in business and relationships. Presence increases effectiveness. Absence of it is a key thing that gets in the way of productivity for many reasons, and creates a "tust tax" on productivity/effectiveness

3) Participation (which leads to motivation)

Just to throw a spanner in your analysis with regards to Thai "blue collar" workers.

I am of the opinion that the majority of workers are "happiest" when they are not working & in most instances work only to survive (subsistence) hand to mouth style or only as long as it takes to save up the down payment on a new motorbike.

After that, no matter how you approach the steps you outlined (with which I agree), the majority don't give a rats about your business. The few who do become motivated will generally become your core staff members & leaders within your business. Look after them but don't spoil them.

Government initiatives, like Thaksin's cheap loans for the poor (vote grabbing scheme), have absolutley backfired, and created a new level of laziness amongst the Thai workers. Got money today, don't need to work mentality.

Soundman.

[fletchsmile]

Take a step back: what drives productivity, and what gets in the way? If your talking about people, one key driver is motivation. What drives motivation? In my view, like many things in life, top 2) plus a third:

1) Happiness - most important thing in life, and business is a large part of life.

2) Trust - most important "factor" in business and relationships. Presence increases effectiveness. Absence of it is a key thing that gets in the way of productivity for many reasons, and creates a "tust tax" on productivity/effectiveness

3) Participation (which leads to motivation)

Just to throw a spanner in your analysis with regards to Thai "blue collar" workers.

I am of the opinion that the majority of workers are "happiest" when they are not working & in most instances work only to survive (subsistence) hand to mouth style or only as long as it takes to save up the down payment on a new motorbike.

.....

Soundman.

I don't think that throws a spanner in the works. It can actually be complimentary. If they're not happy, that's not helping them and not helping your productivity. So something needs to change. Make changes that increase happiness and productivity. Try and find the reasons why and address them. Again you may need to take up to 5 questions/ steps back to address the real root cause. It's more likely not that they don't want to work, but they prefer to do something else and that root makes them happy. Then ask why they prefer that something else. Find a way for them to do those something elses or the root causes of them or something similar(within reason) more in your company than in any other, and you get your relative increase in production compaed to other companies. They'll also recognise they get the best deal around.

So Addressing the root causes will eventually increase productivity. If they are still happiest "not working" or living hand to mouth then give them their happiness. That's either: give them their happiness of not working and replace them over time with people who are happier and with a larger desre to work, or find a way for them to better live hand to mouth and be happier aligned with your goals. That's win-win. If 99% of the workers in the industry want to work hand to mouth, that suggests more short term contract workers to me; or perhaps production targets - above the present production - once completed you can go home!. Contracts, production targets, intensive 4 day week are all highly manageable - it just requires a different approach to your business practices and work force. eg oil rig workers. They don't work 9-5, 45 weeks a year, nor do they want to. That's why the working practices are the way they are in their industry compared to say computer programmers.

As you say there'll also always be a core of key people with golas aligned to your own to build around. They're the future long term employees.

Edited August 18, 2007 by fletchthai68

[soundman]

I don't think that throws a spanner in the works. It can actually be complimentary. If they're not happy, that's not helping them and not helping your productivity. So something needs to change. Make changes that increase happiness and productivity. Try and find the reasons why and address them. Again you may need to take up to 5 questions/ steps back to address the real root cause. Addressing the root causes will eventually increase productivity. If they are still happiest "not working" or living hand to mouth then give them their happiness. That's either: give them their happiness of not working and replace them over time with people who are happier and with a larger desre to work, or find a way for them to better live hand to mouth and be happier aligned with your goals. That's win-win. If 99% of the workers in the industry want to work hand to mouth, that suggests more short term contract workers to me. That's highly manageable - it just requires a different approach to your business practices and work force. eg oil rig workers. They don't work 9-5, 45 weeks a year, nor do they want to. That's why the working practices are the way they are in their industry compared to say computer programmers.

As you say there'll also always be a core of key people with golas aligned to your own to build around. They're the future long term employees.

That theory is all well and good, but the reality of the situation with the general labour force in Thailand is that the majority would prefer not to be working, and being Thai (stubborn) will rarely change their ways.

No amount of carrots, fluffy toys, sanook, stick, blackmail etc will make someone (Thai) who doesn't want to change their ways change.

You might argue that the key to this conundrum is providing the "want" part of the equation. Well the only "keys" I have come accross, is when the staff member in question gets a short term "bee in his bonnet or want" about aquiring some sort of consumable.

As soon as the guy gets his new motorbike on down payment, he becomes lazy, gets fired, and keeps his motorbike for four - six months before the reposessors finally catch up with him & he gives it back, sulks for another three months & then begins the whole process again.

Cheers,

Soundman.

[fletchsmile]

I don't think that throws a spanner in the works. It can actually be complimentary. If they're not happy, that's not helping them and not helping your productivity. So something needs to change. Make changes that increase happiness and productivity. Try and find the reasons why and address them. Again you may need to take up to 5 questions/ steps back to address the real root cause. Addressing the root causes will eventually increase productivity. If they are still happiest "not working" or living hand to mouth then give them their happiness. That's either: give them their happiness of not working and replace them over time with people who are happier and with a larger desre to work, or find a way for them to better live hand to mouth and be happier aligned with your goals. That's win-win. If 99% of the workers in the industry want to work hand to mouth, that suggests more short term contract workers to me. That's highly manageable - it just requires a different approach to your business practices and work force. eg oil rig workers. They don't work 9-5, 45 weeks a year, nor do they want to. That's why the working practices are the way they are in their industry compared to say computer programmers.

As you say there'll also always be a core of key people with golas aligned to your own to build around. They're the future long term employees.

That theory is all well and good, but the reality of the situation with the general labour force in Thailand is that the majority would prefer not to be working, and being Thai (stubborn) will rarely change their ways.

No amount of carrots, fluffy toys, sanook, stick, blackmail etc will make someone (Thai) who doesn't want to change their ways change.

You might argue that the key to this conundrum is providing the "want" part of the equation. Well the only "keys" I have come accross, is when the staff member in question gets a short term "bee in his bonnet or want" about aquiring some sort of consumable.

As soon as the guy gets his new motorbike on down payment, he becomes lazy, gets fired, and keeps his motorbike for four - six months before the reposessors finally catch up with him & he gives it back, sulks for another three months & then begins the whole process again.

Cheers,

Soundman.

That's why your role as a leader is so important. It's your job to serve your employees so that they get their happiness and you get yours. A big part is building their trust so that they believe your happiness and theirs are aligned to the max. There's no single answer and many keys to the conundrums.

BTW You mentioned about majority. I do find in Thailand that for what I am looking for, they are often found in the minority. There are also fewer "finished products" in terms of people I want. So I spend more time developing them. Sounds in your line of business too that you don't want to be looking at the majority pool either. A leader needs to find, recuit, retain, be trusted and keep happy this minority - they can be gold dust. When everyone else sees it working, and this minority being happy, they often want a part of it => participation. Eventually we become the working culture people want to follow, ... and who knows eventually the majority. Are you spending enough time on building from the minority pool, which perhaps you don't even have yet, or haven't developed yet or don' yet ave the righ skills? Or are you spending too much time trying to steer, pick up the pieces after, and change the majority pool?

Edited August 18, 2007 by fletchthai68