MeasureProductivity

This article discusses the different ways by which factories determine their Benchmarks for productivity. It also discusses areas outside the Factory Floor that these benchmarks can be used.

A few people would say that the factory industry is all but dead or dying in the United States of America and that the few that remain are the big corporations that are able to compete with the prices of imports. The fact is, factories are still very much present in the United States. Those that are currently present may not be like the old car assembly lines propagated by the great Henry Ford (most of those types of factories have moved out of the United States and into Asian or European Countries). No matter what the population of factories in the US today, they still use productivity metrics and benchmarks to determine their progress. It is also important to note that Factory productivity benchmarks are no longer just for the factory floor, but also for other services and jobs that produce output in relation to time spent performing them.

Factory Benchmarks are one of the easiest benchmarks to determine. It is easy because factories work on the output principle and productivity can easily be determined by the amount that a worker churns out in a given amount of time. Factory benchmarks may either be individual benchmarks involving one employee at a time or it may be a benchmark for the company as a whole. Output is not the only kind of productivity benchmark that factories live by; it wholly depends on company goals and objectives.

The Millionth or the Billionth unit produced in a given time span may be considered by a factory as their productivity benchmark or its gauge for success. But, again, this factor solely depends on what a company views as success. Some factories view the period where they remained accident free as their productivity benchmark. While others may consider the percentage of products imported or exported as a sign of success. Still some factories may take the individual output of their workers into consideration when determining success benchmarks. The types may be unending and differ greatly depending on what a company is and what it considers productive.

Factory Productivity Benchmarks are not only limited to the factory floor. It can also be used to determine success in office work. The number of invoices prepared by an individual may be seen as benchmark of productivity. In a lawyer’s case, it may take the form of how many cases he/she handled in the past year. For an ER doctor, it could stand for the number of sutures she had done in a span of 12 hours. Productivity Benchmarks for factories may be used in any other area as long as it is tweaked and adapted to whatever goals are set for that market.

As have been presented, it is now clear that benchmarks used to determine productivity in the Factory floor differ depending on what the company stands for or believes in. It may take the shape of employee output or accident free days. It has also been stated that Productivity Benchmarks found to be effective in Factories can also be relevant in other fields.

Bosses can take these steps to measure and increase secretary productivity. Not only can secretaries benefit from it, but also the bosses themselves, too. 

Measuring and increasing secretary productivity should be a two-way street between the boss and the secretary. No two parties should be different from each other if the said objective is meant to be achieved. Picture out a professional boss-secretary relationship. One is making an outline of the agenda for a meeting while the other is taking care of the logistics. The past decade has brought about a lot of changes to the conventional boss-secretary relationship.

At present, authority and major responsibilities are assigned to secretaries, whose tasks were then limited to the boss about a decade ago. Moreover, there has been a noted rise in the influence and prestige of secretaries who are chosen to fill executive positions, with fewer women willing to take on the role as career secretaries. Simply put, when measuring and increasing secretary productivity, it has to be noted that relationships between the boss and the secretary can change over time to meet certain demands in the business.

Moreover, measuring and boosting secretary productivity also have something to do with a secretary’s qualifications. Secretaries who really fit the bill are hard to find nowadays and may even be harder to become satisfied with their position for a given period of time. Like any other employee, secretaries also want to know whether they can grow and advance in their career. Current secretaries are motivated by, and take inspiration from success stories of former secretaries who are now holding top management positions. There are some companies, however, who do not recognize their need for advancement from their clerical posts and only provide low incentive for them, which could lead to lower productivity in secretaries.

The secretary should ideally be recognized as an important part of the management. For instance, when the boss writes a letter, it is the secretary that checks for grammar, punctuation and spelling and types it up well and neatly in order to present a highly professional appeal.  It is also the secretary that makes sure that the letter is delivered to the right recipient and when it ought to be sent. Both the boss and secretary take the responsibility for various parts of a given project – this requires joint effort. It should be a partnership, in which the secretary follows through the action that the boss initiates.

A true professional relationship requires both parties to be confident of the skills and contributions of one and both should learn to appreciate and respect each other. Secretaries view the boss, or act in a manner that implies such. To measure and increase secretary productivity, and thus enjoy potential perks of a boss-secretary relationship, it is important for the boss to know that their relationship is two-fold and that they cannot be able to achieve their common goal if they do not work together.

Higher remuneration may be the most immediate incentive in increasing secretary productivity, although this may not always necessarily be the be-all and end-all of such. Some form of relief from routine may also be a good incentive, as in the case of clerical work. For instance, you can assign decision-oriented and less than routinary work to secretaries who show themselves capable of managing them. Many secretaries, like most employees like to be acknowledged of their contributions in the corporate structure.