Confronting the Productivity Problem

If you are a business owner, manager or supervisor, you know how many challenges come along with your job. Perhaps one of the greatest is finding a solution for what appears to be a widespread problem: a growing lack of productivity in the workplace. Although there are certainly several issues that have contributed to it, one of the most obvious is misuse of the Internet. It’s now quite common for the vast majority of workers to have access to the Web. In fact, many people require Internet access simply to do their day-to-day jobs. Unfortunately, an alarming number of employees throughout the U.S. and around the world are falling prey to the temptations presented by the Web. It’s quite easy to go from productive, business-related tasks on the Internet to shopping, visiting with friends and family through social media, or any of the other countless distractions provided by the Web. If you’re like many other business owners and managers, you might be considering Internet blocking software as a solution. While it’s true that this type of software can in fact block access to certain sites, it falls far short of resolving the problem. If you’ve wondered how to block a website, the answer is that it’s virtually impossible to block a single site. Most Internet blocking software products prevent access to entire categories of sites rather than individual URLs. As a result, it’s entirely possibly – even likely – that not only undesirable sites will be blocked, but some sites that are useful to your business will be as well. There’s another problem with regard to Internet blocking: it’s very likely that the majority of your employees carry either smart phones or tablet PCs with them each and every day. This means, of course, that workers can access any site they want to day or night through their own personal devices. Even if you were to look into how to block a website, you would never be able to control the Internet access available to your employees through their smart phones or tablet PCs. The real reason for an increasing lack of productivity comes down to three words: lack of motivation. If you’re serious about resolving the problem and increasing your workers’ productivity levels, you must begin by determining why they lack motivation. It could be related to their jobs, their salaries or their working conditions. There is always an underlying reason why people lack motivation. Once you discover what that is, you can confront the problem at its source and develop positive ways to motivate your workers and reward your employees for their efforts. Remember this: the Internet isn’t the reason for lack of productivity – instead, it is just a symptom of a much larger condition.