Your organization had a great Q1 – congratulations!

Now do it all over again.

No pressure there, right?

Creating short bursts of high productivity is relatively simple to accomplish: offer a cash bonus or some other type of highly desirable, tangible reward, and employees will typically boost their efforts.

Temporarily.

But how do you sustain high productivity quarter after quarter – without burning out employees or eroding your bottom line? Today, Exact Staff shares four tips for having the most productive Q2 ever (which you can also use in Q3, Q4 and beyond!):

Encourage employees to use downtime.

Findings from a recent survey show that 59% of millennials feel a sense of shame for taking or planning a vacation, and that 40% of employees left five or more vacation days unused the previous year. What’s wrong with this picture?

Time away from work is essential for employees to recharge, refocus and renew their enthusiasm for their job – and not surprisingly, that translates into higher, sustainable productivity. Make sure your organization:

• Communicates that taking time away from work is condoned.
• Explains the benefits of time away from work, including the ways it reduces work stress and heads-off job burnout.
• Provides adequate support to “fill in the gaps” vacationing employees leave.
• Sets a good example (i.e., that leaders take time off, too.

Even if employees don’t take a vacation during Q2, encourage them to plan one. Just having a break on the horizon can be enough to motivate an individual.

Stop the nagging.

Endlessly repeating “motivational messages” isn’t the best way to get peak performance from your employees. In fact, they’ll just wind up tuning you out. To truly motivate your workforce to crush deadlines, use the tips offered up in this earlier post.

Teach employees to build better to-do lists.

Effective list-making habits can keep employees on task and focused on their top priorities – but only if they use them correctly. Here are a few tips for success to share with your team:

• Write your list at the end of the day (so it’s ready to go the following morning).
• Prioritize your list, so you’re sure to accomplish your most important task each day.
• Keep your list focused on what you can realistically finish in a day.
• Break down larger to-dos into smaller tasks, and include time estimates for each (so you’re not overwhelmed by the items on your list and can better plan what you can accomplish each day).
• Use the right tool. Whether it’s an app, a leather-bound planner or a good-old-fashioned notepad, use what works best for you.

Promote health and wellness at work.

Effective wellness programs have been shown to decrease absenteeism, increase engagement and improve job performance. In this post, “Promoting Health and Wellness at Work to Improve Overall Productivity,” we share tips to increase employees’ effectiveness by focusing on wellness.

Another great way to have a productive quarter?

Provide extra support when your employees need it most. When deadlines are tight and the stakes are high, Exact Staff can quickly deliver talented people to help you get your work done. Bring in our temporary employees to increase your capacity or perform non-core activities. We’ll keep your team focused and productive so you can have the most productive Q2 ever.