Companies need employees who avoid distractions and focus on delivering high work productivity.
Those are your “Superstar” employees who are both highly productive.
Unfortunately, this has become more difficult with employees’ non-stop opportunities to socialize, play with their cell phones, or indulge in social media.
Also Work-From-Home (WFH) potentially gives your WFH employees constant detours to keep them from focusing on work you are paying them to do.
Fortunately, you have three immediately useful methods to make sure employees focus on working productively + avoiding distractions.
1st METHOD:
PRE-HIRE ASSESSMENTS THAT OBJECTIVELY SCIENTIFICALLY TELL YOU IF JOB APPLICANT WILL FOCUS ON WORK & AVOID DISTRACTIONS
I spent over four years developing research-based pre-employment tests to accurately forecast how a job applicant actually will behave on-the-job, if you hire the person. With each company, I do a Benchmarking Study to objectively see the test scores of their “Superstar” or best employees in each job.
Important Research Finding to Help You = In the thousands of Benchmarking Studies I conducted for companies, approximately 99.9% of the time “Superstar” employees score very high on the pre-hire test’s measurement of “Follows Rules, Policies, & Procedures.”
That clearly indicates “Superstar” employees are perfectionists or obsessive-compulsives. Translation = They intrinsically focus on doing the work you want them to do, including avoiding distractions.
Recommendation = Use a scientifically researched and validated pre-employment test that measures how much (or how little) a job applicant “Follows Rules, Policies, & Procedures.”
I do not gamble, but I would be willing to bet your “Superstars” will score high on that pre-hire assessment measurement. So, you readily can hire work-focused, hard-working employees who avoid distractions.
2nd METHOD:
WORK RULES & POLICIES
Here is an eye-opening true story illustrating importance of your company always enforcing work rules that employees must focus on working and not socializing or playing with their cell phones.
Once I bought an item at a food store, and I decided to return it. I went to the Returns Desk. There, the Returns employee saw me, but talked with another employee for over five minutes while I waited. Those two employees were talking socializing topics, and not work topics. Finally, after five minutes I politely said, “I’ve been waiting five minutes, and you obviously saw me waiting. Please stop socializing and help me return this item.” The Returns employee grudgingly stopped socializing, slowly walked to me, and handled my return.
I politely said, “I waited over five minutes, and you saw me. But you socialized, rather than help me, your customer.” The employee did not apologize!
Then, I said, “I bet you also spend work time playing with your cell phone and talking on your cell phone, although you’re being paid to work.”
The Returns employee burst into tears, and asked, “How did you know?”
Morale of this true story = Make sure your employees know they are being paid to work. They are not being paid to socialize or play with their cell phones.
Note: 100% of the times I shopped at that food store, I see employees playing with their cell phones, ignoring customers, and not focused on being productive. I seldom shop there, and only for items available only in that store.
In sharp contrast, 100% of the times I shop at a Trader Joe’s food store, I consistently find TJ employees focused on productively working, providing good customer service, and behaving pleasantly when customers talk to them. Those are key reasons I love shopping at Trader Joe’s and avoid shopping at that other food store I described.
3RD METHOD:
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE & MANAGERS AS ROLE MODELS
Your employees observe and learn from watching actions of your company’s management staff, including supervisors, managers, and executives.
Lessons: If your company’s management staff consistently are seen focusing on work and avoiding distractions, that demonstrates to employees they must do likewise.
But if your employees see management staff goofing off or playing on cell phones, lo-&-behold, that is what your employees will think is OK to do on-the-job.
Recommendation:
Make sure all your management staff are terrific role models of both (A) focusing on working hard and (B) avoiding distractions.
SUMMARY:
HOW YOU CAN HAVE PRODUCTIVE, WORK-FOCUSED EMPLOYEES WHO AVOID DISTRACTIONS
First, use scientifically validated pre-employment test to hire work-focused employees who avoid distractions.
Second, enforce work rules and policies emphasizing that employees MUST focus on work and avoid distractions.
Third, make sure your organizational culture and management staff always show focus on working, productivity, and avoid distractions.
© COPYRIGHT 2021 MICHAEL MERCER, PH.D.
All Rights Reserved.
