When it comes to a business setting, you can think of “unproductive” in three different ways.First, an employee can be so outgoing and bubbly in the office that you actually miss the fact that he or she has never actually been productive.
Second, you can see that an employee’s work is starting to decline and realize that the employee has become unproductive.Or lastly, an employee may just plain be unproductive and everyone knows it.
I Word Understanding
Unproductive– unfruitful
Bubbly – containing bubbles
II Have your say
If you can recognize that an employee is unproductive, that’s the first step in making changes.
Consider some of these traits and actions to look for below:
1.Complaining
It doesn’t matter why someone is complaining or whom he or she is complaining to (or about), complaints often show that someone
is not willing to put in the work to make a change.
2.Making excuses
Similar to complaining, making excuses is not the way to be productive. It’s one thing if things don’t get done because other things take priority,
but if something doesn’t get done because of an unfair excuse, then that’s a problem with the employee.
3.Putting things off
This characteristic can go right along with excuses. Most of the time, an employee will put something off because of an excuse,
but sometimes you’ll notice that he or she will act like it can wait and brush a task off as “not a big deal.”
4.Running everything by the boss
This may happen for one of two reasons: Either the employee is hoping the boss will just do the work or delegate it to someone else (usually because of excuses the employee lays out) or the employee
doesn’t feel like he or she can be independent and get things done.
In either situation, an employee won’t be productive.
5.Only caring about getting credit
This is a classic sign of someone who does not really care about the job. Therefore, such employees only worry about being productive if it’s going to get them credit in the long run.
6.There is no motivation or drive
You can usually tell if people don’t have motivation or drive if they’re doing all of the things mentioned above–making excuses, putting things off, complaining, always bothering the boss, etc
7.Personal betterment and brand is slipping
This is usually what happens when people get complacent at their jobs. Maybe they’re doing what they’re told and not making excuses or complaining, and maybe they even sometimes solve problems on their own and get things done, but if their personal brand and betterment is slipping, then the work becomes routine.
8.The takeaway
As you can see, a lot of the characteristics mentioned above complement one another and string together.
