Workplace Productivity
State Services Workplace Productivity Snapshot Tool
HOW TO USE THIS TOOL
This self-assessment productivity tool is designed for employees and managers in the State Services. It is not designed to provide you with a 'scientific' analysis of your organisation's performance but it may get you thinking about areas in which you can make improvements in your organisation, based on the seven workplace productivity drivers. Feel free to modify this tool to suit the needs of your workplace.
There are also a variety of tools available on the market that you may wish to investigate.
Workplace productivity initiatives can bring enormous benefits for any organisation. They help to create the sort of environment where people work well as a team and new ideas can flourish. People feel more motivated and valued, which helps organisations to recruit and retain skilled staff. Over time, workplace productivity initiatives create opportunities which benefit everyone.
Further advice and resources on workplace productivity are available from the State Services Commission, Department of Labour, other government agencies, the Public Service Association, industry bodies and professional associations as well as on the Workplace Productivity website: www.workplaceproductivity.govt.nz
CONTENTS
- Workplace Productivity Snapshot
- Building Leadership and Management Capability
- Creating Productive Workplace Cultures
- Encouraging Innovation and the Use of Technology
- Investing in People and Skills
- Organising Work
- Networking and Collaboration
- Measuring What Matters
- What to do with this Questionnaire
- Action Plan
- Workplace Productivity Partners
WORKPLACE PRODUCTIVITY SNAPSHOT
This questionnaire is designed to help you assess how productive your workplace is. It also includes ideas on how your organisation can improve its workplace productivity.
It will give you a snapshot of how efficiently your organisation is currently managed and how well it uses its staff and resources. It also looks at how your workplace is organised and how your workplace culture impacts on the overall productivity of your organisation.
Depending on where you work and what job you do, some of the questions may not be relevant to your situation. Just answer the ones which apply to your job or workplace. You may wish to photocopy and distribute this survey to other employees and managers within your organisation to get their views. Workplace productivity is about discussing all the ways that your organisation could be working smarter, so this tool can be a great starting point for any team discussion.
Improving workplace productivity involves exploring all the ways that a workplace can do things better and smarter. Each workplace will have its own way to do this.
Local and international research has identified 7 drivers that can improve the productivity of your organisation. They are:
- Building leadership and management capability
- Creating productive workplace cultures
- Encouraging innovation and the use of technology
- Investing in people and skills
- Organising work
- Networking and collaboration
- Measuring what matters
With this simple tool you can assess how your organisation is performing against these 7 drivers.
1. Building Leadership and Management Capability
Effective leadership is about everyone having a clear vision of where an organisation is heading. It's about identifying new opportunities and inspiring people and the teams they work in to pursue those opportunities.
Key things to consider about the leadership in your organisation:
- Leadership needs to be developed at every level of an organisation, not just amongst managers.
- Leading by example is an essential factor in creating a more productive workplace.
- Effective leadership means being able to adapt to change and motivate people.
- Leadership means ensuring staff have the skills and resources to improve their performance and go on learning.
1.1 Does our workplace encourage leadership at every level of our organisation?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
1.2. Does our organisation do succession planning for all jobs so there are clear career paths for staff?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
1.3. Does our organisation have a clear vision?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
1.4. Does our workplace support innovative thinking and make use of new ideas?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
1.5. Do our managers lead by example and create a positive and productive work environment?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
1.6. Does our organisation regularly consult with staff about work processes and other issues in our workplace?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
1.7. Does our organisation invest in development and learning opportunities for its managers?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
RATING: TO RECORD THE RESULTS, CALCULATE YOUR POINTS FOR EACH QUESTION
- Always 5
- Sometimes 4
- Hardly Ever 3
- Not at all 2
- Don't know 1
- Total for section /35
What to Measure?
Your own in-house human resources reporting should provide a range of useful measures of productivity. Here are some things your organisation may want to keep track of:
- human resource capability data
- trends identified through exit interview information
- feedback from people new to your organisation
- the percentage of your wage and salary bill spent on leadership and management development and learning
- the percentage of total vacancies filled by internal appointments
- employee engagement and feedback information
- client/stakeholder/community feedback
Leadership and management development and learning opportunities are widely available throughout New Zealand. For further information contact:
Learning State (www.learningstate.govt.nz) Learning State's job is to develop excellent State servants and to make sure the State Sector is an employer of choice for all New Zealanders.
The New Zealand Institute of Management (www.nzim.co.nz)
Human Resource Institute of New Zealand (www.hrinz.org.nz)
Management Focus (www.managementfocus.org.nz) have a number of tools and other information for managers and leaders.
2. Creating Productive Workplace Cultures
Positive relationships between staff, teams and managers are a feature of productive workplaces. Creating a positive work environment:
- motivates people and makes them feel valued
- helps people commit to an organisation
- encourages people to 'go the extra mile'
A productive workplace culture is also one that values and shares people's insights and experience. These ideas can help your workplace to do things smarter and make your organisation more innovative and productive over time.
2.1 Do people in our workplace treat each other well and value each others' ideas?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
2.2. Does everyone share the same workplace goals and values?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
2.3. Does our organisation adopt and use policies and practices that support our organisation's values?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
2.4. Does our organisation acknowledge people for participating and suggesting good ideas?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
2.5. Does our organisation's policies reflect flexibility and consideration of staff's needs?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
2.6. Does our workplace gather feedback from staff on our work environment and any ideas staff have for improving it?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
2.7. Do our managers model good behaviour and promote a strong ethical culture?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
RATING: TO RECORD THE RESULTS, CALCULATE YOUR POINTS FOR EACH QUESTION
Always 5
Sometimes 4
Hardly Ever 3
Not at all 2
Don't know 1
Total for section /35
What to Measure?
Indicators for your organisation to keep track of include:
- staff turnover rates
- the amount of sick leave taken
- the time lost through workplace injuries
- employee engagement/satisfaction data
- client/stakeholder/community feedback
There are many surveys of staff satisfaction available. Surveys of staff satisfaction can be developed through engaging staff on their design. Templates are easily available from internet sites or there are a range of providers of surveys for larger organisations. Such a survey might include questions on employee knowledge of job roles, of organisational direction, and their perception of working relationships, and their own empowerment. The State Services Commission recommends a research-based employee engagement survey, and using the resulting data to inform your action plan. The goals of this planning are to improve management capability and increase employees' commitment to their organisation, including dedication to behaviours that improve productivity in the workplace.
Here are some organisations you can contact for advice:
Your local or national union
Learning State (www.learningstate.govt.nz)
State Services Commission www.ssc.govt.nz
The New Zealand Institute of Management (www.nzim.co.nz)
Human Resource Institute of New Zealand (www.hrinz.org.nz)
For those workplaces with a union presence, the government has established the Partnership Resource Centre to help employers and unions to build positive workplace relationships (www.dol.govt.nz/services/partnershipresourcecentre)
The work-life balance project (www.dol.govt.nz/worklife) has ways to introduce and manage work-life balance in your organisation.
3. Encouraging Innovation and the Use of Technology
Innovative and productive workplaces:
- encourage all staff to think of ways to provide new services and improve existing services
- keep up with the play and use new technology
- plan and organise themselves well
- employ and value people with good skills and ideas
Your organisation's ability to innovate will depend on a range of factors - staff's skills, your workplace culture, how your work is organised and a shared vision of where your organisation is heading.
3.1. Is our workplace open to new ideas and doing things differently?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
3.2. Are there opportunities for staff to suggest new ideas or processes?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
3.3. Are staff recognised for suggesting new ideas or processes?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
3.4. Does our organisation allocate resources to investigating and implementing new ideas?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
3.5. Do staff have the right tools, equipment and technology to do our work as effectively as possible?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
3.6. Are staff asked about what new technology could be useful to introduce into our organisation?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
3.7. Do staff receive effective development and learning opportunities when new technology is introduced?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
RATING: TO RECORD THE RESULTS, CALCULATE YOUR POINTS FOR EACH QUESTION
Always 5
Sometimes 4
Hardly Ever 3
Not at all 2
Don't know 1
Total for section /35
What to Measure?
Indicators for your organisation to keep track of include:
- the number of improvements suggested by staff and whether they are implemented
- the number of processes improved and service enhancements
- staff satisfaction with and uptake of new technology
- the staff time spent on development and learning related to new technology
- client/stakeholder/community feedback
Employee engagement models can encourage people to contribute new ideas. The State Services Commission can provide you with information on increasing employee engagement and benchmarking (email: peoplecapability@ssc.govt.nz)
jobs.govt.nz is a website where State Sector agencies can place recruitment advertisements for free. The website is designed to appeal to the types of people your organisation needs to improve its productivity. Using this free technology makes good sense.
4. Investing in People and Skills
The more skills staff have, the more innovative they can be. The more skills staff have, the more they can contribute.
Skilled staff:
- are more capable with new technology
- work more quickly with fewer mistakes
- require less supervision and accept more responsibility
- are better communicators
An organisation's commitment to learning and development is important for raising skills and creating a highly-skilled workforce. Effective development and learning leads to higher skills and wages and lower staff turnover.
4.1. Do staff receive the development and learning they need to be effective?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
4.2. Are there opportunities in our workplace for all staff to have formal learning (e.g. industry qualifications, job specific training)?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
4.3. Are there opportunities in our workplace for experienced employees to support/coach/mentor less experienced staff?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
4.4. Do staff have the foundation skills (reading, writing, numeracy and computing) necessary to do their job effectively?
| ALL HAVE EXCELLENT SKILLS | SOME HAVE GOOD SKILLS | A FEW HAVE GOOD SKILLS | NONE HAVE GOOD SKILLS | DON'T KNOW |
4.5. Do staff have personal career development discussions or plans?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
4.6. Are staff recognised for the experience and attributes that they bring to the workplace?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
4.7. Is our organisation understanding about staff needing to meet family responsibilities?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
RATING: TO RECORD THE RESULTS, CALCULATE YOUR POINTS FOR EACH QUESTION
Always/All 5
Sometimes/Some 4
Hardly Ever/A Few 3
Not at all/None 2
Don't know 1
Total for section /35
What to Measure?
Indicators for your organisation to keep track of include:
- the percentage of wages and salary bill spent on staff development and learning
- the number of hours/days for development/learning per employee per year
- the percentage of employees with up-to-date career development plans
- employee engagement/satisfaction data, including career development.
Your local union will be able to provide advice and resources to help your organisation develop the skills of staff www.psa.org.nz.
Contact your relevant Industry Training Organisations (ITO). A list of accredited ITOs can be found at www.tec.govt.nz or www.itf.org.nz
Learning State (www.learningstate.govt.nz) is the State Sector's industry training organisation. It provides work-based learning, which is the most effective method of skill acquisition. Work-based learning is generally the most common method used to broaden skills and increase productivity. It is particularly appropriate for developing proficiency skills unique to an employee's job.
Skillnz is a joint initiative between government, Business New Zealand and the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions. The Skillnz website is for anyone interested in workplace learning - employers, employees and students (www.skillnz.org.nz).
WorkSite PaeMahi (www.worksite.govt.nz) is also a great source of information on how to access workplace training.
The State Services Commission's Career Development Framework is available on the Public Sector Intranet (https://psi.govt.nz/cdf/). For more information contact peoplecapability@ssc.govt.nz.
5. Organising Work
A well-organised workplace is able to get the best out of its staff and technology. It values everyone's contribution and encourages people to share information and ideas.
Productive workplaces have structures and processes that are aligned to the goals of the organisation and allow staff to be effective.
5.1. Do staff understand their role in helping our organisation achieve its goals?
| ALL DO | SOME DO | A FEW DO | NONE DO | DON'T KNOW |
5.2. Does our workplace recognise and acknowledge people whose efforts support our organisation's goals?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NEVER | DON'T KNOW |
5.3. Does our workplace regularly analyse work processes and work flows?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NEVER | DON'T KNOW |
5.4. Do staff have the flexibility and autonomy to do their job effectively?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
5.5. Does our organisation encourage staff to suggest ways to improve our services or the way we work?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NEVER | DON'T KNOW |
5.6. Do staff regularly share information between teams, and work areas?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
5.7. Does our organisation's work hours and processes encourage effective work-life balance?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
RATING: TO RECORD THE RESULTS, CALCULATE YOUR POINTS FOR EACH QUESTION
Always/All 5
Sometimes/Some 4
Hardly Ever/A Few 3
Not at all/None 2
Don't know 1
Total for section /35
What to Measure?
Indicators for your organisation to keep track of include:
- the amount of re-working, processing delays, waiting times
- employee engagement/satisfaction levels
- client/stakeholder/community feedback
Help Available
The work-life balance project (www.dol.govt.nz/worklife) has ways to introduce and manage work-life balance in your organisation.
6. Networking and Collaboration
You can also improve your workplace productivity by exchanging ideas and information with others in the State Services. Networking or collaborating with others provides access to new ideas and new technologies. It is integral to achieving measureable results in the provision of services to New Zealanders.
6.1. Is our organisation well linked to other people and organisations in the State Sector?
| YES, THERE ARE STRONG LINKS | THERE ARE SOME LINKS | THERE ARE VERY FEW LINKS | THERE ARE NO LINKS | DON'T KNOW |
6.2. How would you describe our organisation's relationship with other agencies in the State Sector?
| EXCELLENT | GOOD | ADEQUATE | POOR | DON'T KNOW |
6.3. How would you describe our organisation's relationship with other people or organisations it works with regularly (e.g. businesses, unions, non-governmental organisations)?
| EXCELLENT | GOOD | ADEQUATE | POOR | DON'T KNOW |
6.4. Does our organisation try to learn from how other State Sector organisations operate?
| YES - A LOT | YES - SOME | YES - VERY FEW | NONE | DON'T KNOW |
6.5. Do staff and managers in our work area freely share ideas and information with each other?
| YES - A LOT | YES - SOME | YES - VERY FEW | NONE | DON'T KNOW |
6.6. Do staff and managers in our organisation freely share ideas and information with other work areas?
| YES - A LOT | YES - SOME | YES - VERY FEW | NONE | DON'T KNOW |
6.7. How effective are our organisation's processes for working collaboratively with other organisations?
| EXCELLENT | GOOD | ADEQUATE | POOR | DON'T KNOW |
RATING: TO RECORD THE RESULTS, CALCULATE YOUR POINTS FOR EACH QUESTION
Yes - A Lot/Excellent 5
Some/Good 4
Very few/Adequate 3
None/Poor 2
Don't know 1
Total for section /35
What to Measure?
Indicators for your organisation to keep track of include:
- the quality of relationships with key external stakeholders
- the number of cross-organisational initiatives
- the quality of internal relationships between teams/departments
- the number and quality of client/stakeholder/community relationships and feedback
Help Available
The Public Sector Intranet (https://psi.govt.nz) is the easiest and most cost effective way to communicate across all agencies in the NZ public sector. It consists of a secure website that only government employees may use and contribute to, and purpose-built tools for sharing our work-related information.
The PSI is primarily the home for cross agency communities of practice. These communities use PSI to make their networking more effective and efficient and to share content not accessible from elsewhere.
The Institute of Public Administration of New Zealand (www.ipanz.org.nz)
7. Measuring What Matters
It is really important to assess the value of any investment your organisation makes in improving its workplace productivity.
Keeping track of this will help your organisation find out the things that are making the biggest difference. For example, how much of a difference is a new development initiative making? Has new technology brought any new efficiencies? What is the staff retention rate?
7.1. Does everyone know what our organisation's key performance measures are?
| ALL DO | SOME DO | A FEW DO | NONE DO | DON'T KNOW |
7.2. Does our organisation ensure that measurement methods are well accepted by staff?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
7.3. Do staff know how their work contributes to the success of our organisation?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
7.4. Is our organisation able to collect the information it needs, to assess how well it is doing?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
7.5. Does our organisation share information on our performance with staff?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
7.6. Does our organisation have effective ways to measure the quality and value of work?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
7.7. Does our organisation have effective ways to collect sufficient and useful data/information to show that we are making a difference?
| ALWAYS | SOMETIMES | HARDLY EVER | NOT AT ALL | DON'T KNOW |
RATING: TO RECORD THE RESULTS, CALCULATE YOUR POINTS FOR EACH QUESTION
Always/All 5
Sometimes/Some 4
Hardly Ever/ A Few 3
Not at all/None 2
Don't know 1
Total for section /35
What to Measure?
A range of simple indicators to measure your workplace productivity have been given for the other drivers. However, only you can identify the appropriate key indicators for your organisation. Always look for indictors that:
- reflect the goals of your organisation
- are critical to its success
- are measurable and comparable
- reflect 'soft' measures, such as quality of relationships
Employees should be encouraged to help identify key indicators relevant to their work.
Help Available
The State Services Commission (www.ssc.govt.nz or email peoplecapability@ssc.govt.nz) have a range of tools that you can use to benchmark your workplace's performance.WHAT TO DO WITH THIS QUESTIONNAIRE
We hope this tool has helped you identify areas in which you can improve the productivity of your organisation.
There are seven sections in this questionnaire. The most points you can get for each section is 35/35. The least points for each section is 7/35. The total for all seven sections is /245 so add your sections together to get your total points.
You might like to set up a simple spreadsheet (see below) that allocates scores for each question. (For example, allocate points of 5-4-3-2 or 1 for each question from left to right). This will give you an overview of all the responses. Then you can compare the results (for example, between teams, or between managers and staff) to see how different people perceive your organisation's strengths and weaknesses.
Please use the results of this analysis to begin discussions at all levels of your organisation. Discussions could focus on how your workplace practices could change to improve productivity.
WHERE TO GET FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT WORKPLACE PRODUCTIVITY
Case studies of New Zealand organisations who have made productivity gains and further information about workplace productivity, including links to useful organisations, are on the Workplace Productivity website: www.workplaceproductivity.govt.nz
PRODUCTIVITY QUESTIONNAIRE TEMPLATE After completing each section of the productivity questionnaire, it is important to develop a brief action plan based on the section driver or thoughts that have arisen while completing it. This makes any follow-up action more meaningful and is also a useful reference to go back to at a later date.
ACTION PLAN
Good Action Plans
- are simple and straightforward
- contain items that can be implemented at work, with or without support or any resources that might be available
- contain comments on the methods to be used, the resource required and the timings: start, finish times or dates, for all the action items (use 'SMART' - Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic, Time-bound).
Finally, action plans should be achievable in a work context. Action plans should not contain more items than the organisation can handle without undue delay or without creating problems at work. If the action list appears to be too complex or long, items should be scheduled for progressive introduction, when prior items have been completed.
ACTION PLAN IMPLEMENTATION
Things To Think About
Complete this sheet for each item/all items included on the action plan:
- What productivity action do you intend implementing?
- How will staff be involved in the planning and implementation of these actions?
- What barriers might impede your implementation?
- How will you avoid or overcome these barriers?
- When do you intend to start implementing the action?
- By when do you intend to complete the implementation of the action?
- What resources (people, equipment, extra skills, etc.) will you need to successfully implement the action?
- What benefits do you hope will result from your actions (including financials if possible to assess)?
- Commitment: when will managers and staff meet:
- to discuss the implementation of your organisation's plan; and
- to review the progress of this action?
- By which targets will you measure progress? What other indicators of success will be relevant?
- How will this success be communicated to staff?
- How can you build on this success through further initiatives?
- How will you celebrate success?
- Any other comments
Workplace Productivity Partners in the Public Sector
State Services Commission www.ssc.govt.nz
The State Services Commission is the government's lead advisor on New Zealand's public management system and works with government agencies to support the delivery of quality services to New Zealanders.
Public Sector Association Te Pukenga Here Tikanga Mahi www.psa.org.nz
The PSA is New Zealand's largest union, and one of the fastest growing unions in the country. They cover members in the public service, health services, local government, crown agencies and private business.
Department of Labour www.dol.govt.nz
The Department of Labour provides information, services and support covering almost every aspect of work.
The State Services Workplace Productivity Snapshot is available for download. [PDF, 24 Pages, 831kB]