There are many approaches when it comes to ascertaining and improving an individual’s behavior at work. One of the most widely used approaches deals with an individual’s personality. This approach states that an individual’s behavior at work will be decided by intrinsic predispositions within themselves. For example, if an individual is proactive by nature, then they will be proactive in their work. This approach states that these predispositions will exist within the individual and in turn dictate their behaviors irrespective of the external environment.
It has been stated that working from home will be the new norm or at least an integral part of business operations in the post COVID-19 world. With the majority of organizations adopting a work from home model in order to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic, many of these organizations’ employees have had to adapt to a new system of work. Some employees have flourished in this new model while others have not. This can be due to the aforementioned personality traits. If an employee performed well in an office environment but does not perform as well in their duties when working from home, it could be due to the fact that their personality is not proactive by nature (proactivity is something that’s essential in a work from home model of work) and that it was the office environment or something in it that was keeping them motivated. If we are to counter this and increase productivity, it is imperative that we identify the factors which motivated these individuals and re-introduce it to them as best as we can. For example, some individuals are rather chaotic by nature and require a rigid set of rules and procedures in order to produce results. For such individuals , many online programs such as Trello can be utilized in order to give them the structure they require. Some other employees (especially those engaged in sales and marketing who are naturally extroverted) may have been motivated by human interaction and may not be motivated to the same level they were before, due to social distancing. For this too technology can help. ,Applications such as ZOOM can help give them the human connection which they require in order to increase productivity.
One of the main mistakes made by many organizations is that they try to motivate all of their employees with the same approach and tools. This simply does not work as each individual is unique and telling them to adapt or fall in line simply because their peers are doing so, will accomplish precious little. As employees adjust to the new norm, it is imperative that the organizations they belong to adapt to the needs of their employees as well, in order to maximize results for both the employee as well as the organization.
As stated above, different individuals are motivated by different factors. The first step in improving productivity in the post COVID-19 world would be to identify these individual motivational factors and help re-introduce them into the employee to maximize productivity while working from home. Therefore, honest communication between employers and employees is what matters the most at this important juncture in time.
