How to Improve Accuracy in the Workplace

Productivity and accuracy do not have to be a tradeoff.
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It doesn't matter how productive your workers are if they aren't accurate. You and your employees cannot be accurate if you don't have clear goals, if you're overworked or are not placed in an environment where you can succeed. As a manager, it is your job to provide these options for your employees and enforce standards of accuracy. The solution is simple: you need to motivate your employees to meet clear accuracy goals.

    Step 1

    Define accuracy clearly for your workers. The precise method of defining accuracy can vary greatly between applications. For example, in signing new customer accounts, you may set separate goals for accounts with complete customer information and accounts that stay active for at least three months. This will motivate employees to sign up customers who benefit for the company, not just every customer they can get to sign up an account.

    Step 2

    Begin with goals that are readily achievable without great effort. Workers will not be motivated to work towards goals they don't feel they can reach. As the majority of your team reaches set goals, raise them further, keeping in mind that accuracy cannot be raised indefinitely and returns will diminish.

    Step 3

    Recognize individual achievements but reward your team as a whole. If you turn the accuracy goals into a competition, you may end up having workers sabotage each other. Promote workers sharing their methods for improved accuracy with the group.

    Step 4

    Allow workers more freedom in taking breaks. Accuracy on repetitive tasks decreases rapidly as workers become burnt out. Provide a relaxing break room to make unwinding a bit easier for your team.

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