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How Can I Encourage Good Job Performance?

Daniel Liden
Daniel Liden

While good job performance is to be expected of employees no matter what, there are a variety of different techniques that employers can use to encourage employees to perform well. Encouraging and developing a harmonious and pleasant workplace, for instance, is one important element of promoting good job performance. Each employee must have a completely clear and unambiguous job description as well, so that he knows what he should be doing at any given time. Poor job performance should be punished but in a reasonable way, and achievement should be rewarded based completely on performance, not on favoritism. Employees are most likely to be productive when they work in a positive environment with a transparent and reasonable system of reward and punishment.

The first step to promoting good job performance is ensuring that the workplace is safe and harmonious. If employees need to deal with constant conflict or harassment, they are likely to divert attention to those problems and away from their work. It is also important to ensure that the workplace is generally comfortable and that employees have the resources they need to do their jobs. An employer cannot reasonably expect good job performance if he fails to provide an environment conducive to good work.

Employees should have clear job descriptions from which their performance can be measured.
Employees should have clear job descriptions from which their performance can be measured.

Ensuring that employees know how employers view their work is another important aspect of ensuring good job performance. An employee who never receives feedback is unable to judge whether or not his work is living up to the standards set by his employer. Employee reviews are good for this purpose. A supervisor can periodically meet with each employee to tell him how he needs to improve or to simply congratulate him on a job well done. Such feedback allows the employee to optimize the quality, speed, and priorities of his work to meet the needs of his employer.

It is, in some cases, impossible to promote good job performance without a system of incentives and punishments. Employees are less likely to slack and to perform poorly if they understand that their jobs and their hopes of advancement depend on good work. They are more likely to demonstrate good job performance if they understand that doing so increases their chances of advancement and higher pay. It is important for an employer to make his expectations very clear to employees and to base the system of punishments and incentives on those expectations. Failure to do so may communicate to employees that good performance is not essential because incentives and punishments are given out arbitrarily.

Discussion Comments

burcinc

Giving employees paid off days after the completion of a task or project must be the best way to encourage good job performance. I believe in giving negative feedback as well, but rewarding good performance is the best way to do this. Employees are encouraged more by rewards than by criticism or punishment.

SteamLouis

Workplace conflict is terrible for employee performance. Conflict in the workplace is common and happens almost everywhere. But if it gets out of hand, it can be detrimental for efficiency and performance.

I once worked in an organization where there was a lot of conflict, both between managers and between subordinates. There was little communication between the different offices. Many employees were misinformed and there was a lot of competition. Needless to say, the organization did not work well and employee job performance was very poor.

These kinds of issues usually travel from the top of the organization to the bottom. So it is up to workplace leadership to make sure that everyone can work well with one another and concentrate on their tasks and organizational goals.

donasmrs

I don't think that good job performance can be expected of employees no matter what. I think it depends on the workplace, the job and the employee. For some employees, the paycheck at the end of the month or the fear of being sacked are good enough incentives to perform well. For other employees, there have to be other incentives such as being appreciated with positive feedback, monetary compensation or other rewards. I think that each workplace has to figure out what works best for their employees.

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    • Employees should have clear job descriptions from which their performance can be measured.
      By: WavebreakMediaMicro
      Employees should have clear job descriptions from which their performance can be measured.