How do you optimize your Employees or Work Force to Increase Productivity?

By encouraging and motivating them. Incentives based on performance surely increase the employees productivity. 

Thanks to colleagues on these answers value

1. Encourage, motivate, reward and recognize

2. Reach out to employees by seeking them out

3. Demand realistic targets

4. Team work

5. Ensure that people enjoy their work

The cornerstone of business success is employee performance, therefore optimizing your employees' job performance affects the company's overall profitability. Improving employee performance requires documentation, training and communication, beginning with the first step in the hiring process: the job posting. From that point, employers have a duty to portray the job responsibilities as clearly as possible as well as provide training and evaluation throughout the employee's tenure.

Job Postings

Two key elements to a successful job posting are the job description and the hiring manager’s input on what he’s looking for in new employees. Job descriptions contain both required and desired qualifications, components of an accurate job posting. An accurate job posting attracts applicants who believe they are suitably qualified. Input from the hiring manager helps the recruiter narrow the field of applicants to candidates who meet the preliminary qualifications. Job postings are the first step in clarifying job expectations, which play a major role in measuring job performance.

Selection

Throughout the interview process, recruiters and hiring managers rely on the job description to determine if each applicant they meet has the requisite skills and qualifications to do the job. The easiest way to do this is through using the job description as a checklist, since it contains the essential functions of the job. The selection process then becomes much easier once viable candidates emerge from a longer list of applicants. At this point, the employer has laid the groundwork for performance expectations.

Training

Employers have an obligation to provide employees with the tools necessary to perform their jobs successfully. Orientation and training are two elements that employees need to start their new jobs with clear expectations of what the company wants in terms of job performance. In a perfect HR scenario, here is where the employer sets out its performance standards. Performance standards are what employees must do to meet their employers' expectations. For example, a performance standard for data entry clerks might be consistent achievement of data with90 percent accuracy. Through orientation and job training, the employer makes it clear that data entry clerks whose accuracy levels fall below90 percent fail to meet the performance expectation.

Coaching

Regular feedback from supervisors is another essential part of improving employee job performance. Coaching employees on-the-job and giving informal feedback on a continuous basis are forms of employee coaching that work wonders in optimizing performance. It's the open communication path between supervisors and employees that fosters improved job performance.

Evaluations

Many employers conduct an introductory performance evaluation after90 days to measure whether the employee is cut out for the job. This intermediate evaluation helps correct performance deficiencies before they become serious flaws in the employee’s performance. Employers that don’t conduct early performance appraisals sometimes wait until the employee has worked a full year before they conduct a formal evaluation. While this may be the least-favored method to optimizing performance, it serves the purpose – just not as soon as it should be. Evaluating employee performance is a formal way of appraising work habits, identifying strengths and correcting weaknesses, a practice that, ultimately, optimizes employee performance.

1. First of all behave like them and think from their perspective

2. Build a transparent environment with them where in there is continuous exchange of information, queries, suggestion

3. Set benchmarks 

4. Continuous Improvement.

5. Motivate and Reward

Motivate by implementing personal incentives, create competition and delegate autonomous responsibility to employees performing well. 

Thank you all for the wonderful answers. :-)

Though all companies want to increase their employees productivity but some fail to do so due to regular employee turn over, low morale of employees, Non-motivated work force etc.

Below are few points which could greatly impact the company to boost employees morale & not only keep employees happy but also keep company profitable at a longer term.

1. Designing Economic Incentives at levels in the Organisation 
2. Provide meaningful feedback in a constructive manner on a regular basis
3. Respect employees as individuals, in addition to the job they do
4. Keep communication lines open
5. Ensuring adequate training at all levels of Management in the Organisation
6. Provide support for employees when it’s genuinely needed (Moral, Professional or ethical)
7. Ensure senior leadership models behavior that makes the rank-and-file proud to be part of the team

:-)

agree with Amruth Sasidharan 

1. The right man on the right place

2. Training and education

3. Motivation and inspiration

4. Increase teamwork

5. Clear goals and objectives

6. Good communications

7. Evaluation, Mentoring and Monitoring

8. Regular group and individual meetings for feedback

I being a manager or supervisor would suggest:

1. Set the clear targets & communicate properly

2. Divide the workforce into teams

3. Nominate team leads

4. Create competition

5. Announce rewards/incentives 

6. Monitor performance

7. Keep the spirits high

8. Give them autonomy

― Jack Welch

Motivates and benefits for employees: bonus or compensation, package from emloyer, well work conditions, vacations and social benefits for family.