Tag: employee productivity

Top 7 Strategies to Increase Employee Productivity in 2020

Every employer wants to increase employee productivity and that’s not really surprising. Its like money and no one in their right mind would refuse money, right? 

We’re right in the middle of two eras, the pre, and post-digital age. Technology is at its peak and we’re experiencing products and services that used to be in the realm of fiction decades ago. But let’s hold our horses here for a second and remember the old phrase, “Where there is light, there is darkness”. 

Technology certainly has its own share of downsides, the main one being a constant cause for distraction. Today, the internet is easily available even on remote islands. We all have it inside our pockets now. Thanks to mobile phones, we can easily surf the internet whenever and wherever we want. This also means that we’re always in danger of wasting our time and losing productivity for the day. 

In this article, we’re going to talk about some top strategies that employers can implement to increase employee productivity in 2020. So without any further ado, let’s jump in: 

Ways to Increase Employee Productivity

 

  • Instruct employees to create a to-do-list

Employers need to prioritize efficiency. They should let employees make a list of daily, weekly, and monthly tasks. By creating a list, they will have a structure and plan to stick to. This will also give them a reason to chase and decrease their chances of getting sidetracked by irrelevant tasks.

In this day and age, it’s easier than ever to create a to-do-list. Just choose one of the numerous apps in the market, see if their functionalities suit your needs, and voila! You’re good to go. 

Jean de La Fontaine, the famous 17th-century poet, said:

“One of the secrets to getting more done is to make a to-do list every day, keep it visible, and use it as a guide to action as you go through the day.”

 

  • Delegate tasks

It’s a risk but business owners and entrepreneurs have to trust their talented employees. They need to give them more responsibilities. This will boost morale and give employees a sense of achievement and direction. Plus, it will free up employers’ time and allow them to focus on some other important tasks. 

George Foreman, the two-time world heavyweight champion, said:

“Nobody can do everything well, so learn how to delegate responsibility to other winners and then hold them accountable for their decisions.

 

  • Get rid of distractions

Distractions like mobile phones are proving to be a big problem for employers. Employees are constantly using their phones at work, resulting in decreased productivity. Restricting the use of mobile phones during work hours will for sure increase an employee’s focus and productivity in the long run. 

Use time tracking apps like Stafftimer to monitor employee work activities and track their daily progression. It will likely encourage them to avoid distractions and focus solely on their tasks at hand. 

Robin Raskin, the American author, said:

“The biggest problem is that technology often ends up being a distraction. In an information society, the smartest person will be the one who can shut out all the distractions.

 

  • Have the right equipment and set up

Employers need to avoid being stingy. If they don’t invest in good equipment and tools then the company’s reputation and employee work ethic will suffer. For example, if there is no connection to the internet in a software house, most employees will not be able to do their jobs properly. All the tasks will be on hold and there will be no productivity for the day. 

Gene Kranz, the American fighter pilot, says:

“There is no such thing as good enough. You, your team, and your equipment must be the best. That is how you will win victories.”

 

  • Offer support

Our motivation reserves are constantly depleting. The same is the case for employees. Every employee needs to be motivated from time-to-time. Employers should work with managers and supervisors to get an idea about company morale. Then they should decide if any incentives need to be given. If needed, they should also review targets and come up with realistic goals.

Pete Carroll, head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, says:

“Each person holds so much power within themselves that needs to be let out. Sometimes they just need a little nudge, a little direction, a little support, a little coaching, and the greatest things can happen.”

 

  • Teach them how to fish

No, we don’t mean literally. You know what they say, ‘Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.’ Employees should be trained to enhance their skills. This will, in turn, lead to increased efficiency and ultimately take their productivity to the next level. 

Mark Twain, the famous American writer, said:

“Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage without a college education.”

 

  • Create a transparent and feedback-driven culture

Many employers and managers never admit their mistakes but in order to create a culture of transparency and feedback, it’s important to admit when you’re wrong. This way everyone will feel free enough to do their best work. 

So if you’re the CEO then learn to admit your mistakes. Employers don’t always have to be right and in control. It takes more courage to say that you don’t know the answer or have made a mistake. 

Whitmore, author of Memory Manipulation: How to Train Your Brain to Think Faster, says:

“Admitting to a mistake means refusing to use other people as scapegoats to avoid responsibility but rather courageously owning up to every single one of them.”

4 Strategies to Improve Your Productivity as a Freelancer

There is no denying that the freelance market is appealing to many professionals all over the world. According to a 2019 study on a US-based independent workforce, the freelance market generates nearly $1 trillion in income. That’s almost 5% of the US GDP.

A 2018 Entrepreneur article reports that there are over 57 million Americans working as freelance professionals as of 2017. Considering the numerous advantages freelance employment brings to the table. That number will definitely rise in the future.

However, even the most hardworking and diligent freelance workers are not immune to procrastination and distractions. Poor productivity is a constant issue for many business organizations that employ freelance workers, mostly remote teams from all over the world. Missed deadlines and late submissions from your freelance workforce can set you back and even cost your business its precious clients and projects.

The good news is that productivity issues are easy to fix. With the following productivity strategies, you can expect your freelance workforce to deliver high-quality output at a productive rate.

Use Time Trackers

Time Tracking Software and apps are not new. However, they are still highly effective tools to keep productivity up in the workplace. The same can be said for professional freelancers and remote teams.

Many companies require their independent workers to install a time tracker on their devices. Many solutions provide a customizable freelance time tracking template that managers can configure so it tracks or records specific information such as hours worked, time spent on breaks, and averages.

Workers log in before their designated work schedule or project-related tasks. They then log out after their shift or once their tasks are accomplished.

Many time trackers are built to document not just hours but record the time spent on work down to the last second or minute. This is an effective productivity strategy especially if your organization bill your workers by the hour.

Activate Random Screen Capture

You can’t monitor your freelance worker’s progress all the time. Yet you want to make sure he or she is spending working hours on actual work. That’s understandable. Your company doesn’t want to pay for unproductive hours.

One way of ensuring your freelance employees are indeed working during their supposed working hours is to capture images of their screens at random times. It helps identify who is working and who is spending their hours doing something else. Such a feature empowers your workers to devote all their billable time to work, driving productivity up.

You may settle for a free time tracking software for freelancers. However, if you want this feature, you may have to invest in premium productivity and time tracking suite.

Give Your Best Tasks and Projects to Top Performing Freelancers

You can create and cultivate a productive environment for your independent workers if you include a gamification element to your approach. Instead of just assigning tasks and projects to the next available worker, you can send your most critical and high-paying jobs to your best freelancers.

Publishing their names as well as their earnings on a leaderboard will definitely entice your freelance employees to perform better and turn in great results to rise up the ladder. Aside from boosting their performance and productivity, your freelance workers become more engaged and dynamic.

By adding an element of competition, you can empower your freelance workforce to prove their worth, which then translates to better results and improved productivity.

Limit or Block Access to Certain Sites and Social Media

There are numerous productivity apps for PC and mobile devices that can track time and capture screenshots at random moments. On top of that, you also want your productivity apps to limit or block your freelance workers’ access to specific websites and social media sites that cause distraction and fuel procrastination.

Such capability is quite useful, especially when social media sites have proven to take much from a worker’s productivity. That said, not all social media is bad for work. Some employees spend their break watching funny cat videos. Others use social media and other sites for research, communication, and collaboration purposes.

Companies should establish guidelines on social media usage by their freelance workers. Many of today’s work processes are built on online connectivity and access to the Internet. That means the complete banning of social media is not a viable option. While social media can be detrimental to a worker’s efficiency and productivity, it can also be a huge asset when utilized properly.

Automation, Collaboration, and Communication are Key

If you want to have a highly effective and productive team of freelancers, you need to put them in an environment that fosters effortless and painless automation, communication, and collaboration.

Your freelance employees don’t want to spend time typing their credentials whenever they open devices and log in to their respective accounts. Many productivity apps automate the logging in of multiple systems and different credentials.

Communication between and among your freelance employees should be instant and smooth. Instead of relying on lengthy email threads, replace them with real-time communication tools and task management platforms for faster and more effective communication, instruction, and deployment.

By centralizing tasks, information, contacts, and more, you can maximize your freelancers’ capabilities and talents, optimize processes, and deliver desired results.

Break these 5 bad habits that hinder Employee Productivity in the workplace

Do you often find yourself getting distracted? Do you find social- media at work more enticing? Do you find working for longer hours, near to impossible? Are these bad habits hindering your productivity at work?

You are not alone!

Believe it or not, we all are guilty of doing things that we regret every single day. Say, procrastination, for example, that is constantly hurting our performance and in return, making us less productive.

We all agree that maintaining productivity at the workplace is not that easy, it takes effort to stay away from our worst distractions. But it doesn’t have to be this way. All it takes is a little pinch of responsibility, proactiveness, and awareness to make things better again, to make things happen.

Let’s have a look at some of these ‘bad habits’ that affects your work negatively and a way around them:

Multitasking: Good or bad for productivity?

It has been argued upon, time and again, whether multitasking is good or bad for productivity? Some say, juggling through things at the same time is an art while some say it destroys productivity and the remaining one percent, rather keep their views to themselves.

A number of researches have been conducted to determine the impact of multitasking, not only on productivity but on our brains. According to a Stanford University study from Clifford Nass found that heavy multitaskers probably think that they are good at balancing the act. However, not as effective as they think they are. 

In another study by Bryan College, handling more than one task at a time actually hinders employee performance. Also, that lack of productivity due to multitasking equates to global losses of $450 billion, annually. So, reality or myth? Here lies your answer!

Here’s what you should do:
  • Create a list of tasks, in order of priority
  • Schedule time to complete each task
  • Keep yourself away from distractions, switch off your cellphones, stay focused
  • Avoid switching back and forth between tasks, complete the task at hand before you shift your focus to another and take notes
  • Better yet, use a time tracking tool such as Stafftimer App. 
  • If you are an employer, encourage your employees to take breaks throughout the day

At the end of the day, it may be unrealistic for employers to think that they can eliminate multitasking completely. But they can always promote and adopt approaches that are not impulsive rather the opposite.

Lack of planning or planning poorly!

Planning tasks in advance are actually the most powerful tool for overcoming procrastination and boosting your productivity. However, lack of planning or planning poor is one of the reasons that lead to productivity deficiency. Not only this, it is one of the fatal reasons why projects fail. Our advice: Avoid project failure at all costs!

Planning is actually the foundation on which you base your overall productivity. And without productivity, the project is more likely to collapse. 

Here’s what you should do:
  • Set realistic goals
  • make a list of every step you will have to complete to finish a project
  • Layout the project, you can see every step and task, avoid redundancy
  • Identify KPIs and monitor them
  • Plan properly and take action so to avoid redundancy
  • Ensure that resources are ideally utilized

If you are motivated to improve your productivity levels, contribute to the overall success of the company by planning ahead.

Trying to put up a ‘One-Man’ show

It totally makes sense to rely on oneself and be independent but sometimes it’s better not to do all by yourself especially when you are working in a team. It’s perfectly normal to ask for help, at times. Not only can it improve relationships but also you can get more done in less time. 

Being a perfectionist is also one of the biggest offenders to productivity. When you feel like you have high work standards, and it’s against your principles to ask for outside help. Sometimes, it’s healthy to get out of your bubble, set your ego aside and seek help whenever needed!

Here’s, what you should do:

Rely on coworkers when you need to and we are sure they’d be happy to help. It’s that simple! 

Procrastination is a productivity killer

There would be no exaggeration to say that we all procrastinate from time to time. Either it’s working from home or working on a full-time job. Random emails, social media, cellphones keep you distracted. 

According to The Procrastination Equation, about 95% of people admit to putting off work. It not only keeps people from completing otherwise important tasks but also makes you fall behind on your schedule. 

 

Truth be told, there are no positive impacts of procrastination, only negative. Such as, low project performance, declining physical and mental health, high level of stress that can be avoided otherwise, only if we never let procrastination breach your productivity.

Here’s what you should actually do:
  • Do you have this bad habit of procrastinating often? Step back and ask yourself this, just once. Why are you doing, what you are doing and see yourself falling back in line! 
  • Try an app like the Stafftimer app to help keep you organized. For companies: it gives employee productivity a boost throughout the day.

Being a ‘YES SIR’, all the time!

Most of the time at work, we find our selves saying ‘YES’ to almost everything. You may ask yourself ‘If this is something you can do? Yes, sir. Is it something you want to do? No, thank you.

We understand, at work, we are bound to do what we are told and that’s fair. But sometimes, if you feel like, you are asked to do something that you probably can not pull off before the deadline or something that you don’t excel at. Just don’t take it! We know the idea of accomplishing everything at once sounds mesmerizing but greatly unrealistic. 

Speaking of which, here’s what you should do instead:

Be sure you’re only working on tasks you know you can. If you don’t see yourself pulling off something or have other tasks that need your attention on priority, politely let your supervisor know that you won’t be able to work on it.

Can you think of any other habits that hinder your productivity? Feel free to share.

5 Simple ways you can Empower Employees at the workplace!

Do you know with great leadership comes great responsibility?  Well, of course, you do!

And one of these responsibilities is giving your employees the autonomy to work, to take initiatives and encouraging them to be the best versions of themselves. We admit, being a leader is not easy, but it is your duty to help your employees without constant micromanagement. Looking beyond employee benefits, there’s a lot that the organizations can do to best support their employees at the workplace.

In rather fancier terms, Empower them! By employee empowerment, you are giving them a chance to make certain decisions on their own, giving them a chance to work independently and most of all giving them a chance to learn and grow! Bottom line is, empowering employees can have ginormous benefits not only to the team but to the company as a whole; it improves accountability, job satisfaction and helps you in finding the solution to all your problems, collectively.

Harvard Business Review conducted a meta-analysis of all available field experiments on leaders empowering subordinates – examining the results of 105 studies, which included data from more than 30,000 employees from 30 countries.

Their study showed that empowering leadership can motivate employees and also, fuels workplace creativity. Empowered employees are happy employees and happy employees are more productive.

Are you interested in the empowerment of your employees? Follow these 5 simple tips and transform your work culture:

Must Believe in Your Employees

According to Steve Jobs  – a force behind leading Apple to corporate success:

“It’s not the tools you have faith in–tools are just tools–they work, or they don’t work. It’s the people you have faith in or not.”

Building trust in your workforce is one of the key factors. Successful business relationships are founded on the sacred principles of trust, and respect.

Without this, the ability to overcome challenges and workplace issues is greatly compromised. There are many reasons why you can not afford to not trust your employees. Trust inspires confidence and confidence leads to success, which helps employees to further their own career and growth. It will make employees more inclined towards taking on new challenges and pushing themselves beyond limits to achieve the best, not only for them but for their organization.

In short, believe in your employees and encourage them to do the same, others will follow.

Inspire Creativity

Do you feel that your employees are not creative enough at work? What are you doing wrong? Business creativity starts with employee creativity! Well, that’s a given. There are many reasons why employees lose their creativity for example not enough resources, lack of autonomy, lack of recognition, so on and so forth.  Now, what you can do to stop that?

Start by accepting their ideas and inputs. Make them a part of an active decision making or even goal-setting. At first, they might face difficulty and hesitation while making a decision on behalf of your team but you learn as you live.

Additionally, it’s not just about decision making, its’ also about finding better ways to accomplishing a task and solving problems, rather than using the same age-old techniques. Encourage your employees to bring creative ideas to the table. Not only, will it help empower your employees, it can also open up doors for many new and innovative ideas that might have the power to lead your company to greatness.

Makes sense, right?

A little appreciation can go a long way!

You have to admit, that we all crave appreciation and recognition in one way or the other. Either it’s work, or not, it’s always helpful to receive some applaud.

Have you ever noticed that we human beings have a tendency to repeat behaviors, good or bad? Similarly, positive feedback reinforces a spark in employees. Showing employees the appreciation for their work well done makes it even more likely that they will continue to be creative, and innovative.

It ensures continued high-quality work in the future as well.

Whether it’s a goal they have achieved before time or a report that was presented flawlessly, let them know when they have done a good job! It doesn’t cost anything.

Autonomy, give your Employees Autonomy!

Do not let your employees view their jobs as simply ‘work for pay’, and nothing more, nothing less.

Employee autonomy is crucial for learning. As a leader, yes it is your job to manage your employees, but instead of worrying about the small details, direct your focus on the goals and strategic objectives of each individual team member. Let them exercise choice and take care of the minute details. Rather than micromanaging, communicate the end-result and then help them build on that.

Bonus: Granting autonomy to employees improves workplace retention!

Have an Open-door Policy

Well-defined open door policy is what every workplace should have and need. No, it doesn’t mean it gives employees an opportunity for continuous complaining and nagging, No.

Maintaining an open line of positive communication with your team is an important aspect of running a successful business venture. It leads to higher job satisfaction and shows employees that you care about what they think. In order to truly empower your employees, carefully listen to their opinions and let them know that they are valued. It will enable them to play an active part in your company.

A simple gesture as this can do wonders!

And the list continues…

The success of organizations depends on the success of its’ employees.

Managers need to understand that empowering employees in the workplace is crucial for companies to thrive.    

The bottom line is, empowering employees at the workplace is about accountability and trust. However, if you follow the ways outlined above, you’ll be able to achieve a healthy workplace.

What have you done in your workplace to empower your employees?

6 efficient ways to conduct remote team meetings with least wasted time

A meeting is an event where minutes are taken and hours wasted.

-James T. Kirk, Captain of the USS Enterprise

Remote team meetings took up a lot of time. They were a necessary nuisance for us.

Be it an oxymoron, the truth of these words resonated with us.
So we decided to do something about it!

Reforming Remote Team Meetings

We came up with a rhythm in which remote team meetings were to be held.
After a lot of testing and re-testing, we gathered ways that helped boost productivity, while allowing the teams to stay on the same page as each other.

I compiled them in an infographic to make them easy to understand.

Conclusion

To sum up, it is safe to say that meetings CAN be a huge waste of time, IF conducted without planning.

They can help your business grow, innovate and flourish, OR result in a major downfall. It is all up to you.

In short, meetings are meant to help your team communicate, stay in line with each other and get to know each other better within a co-working space. This doesn’t mean they have to waste hours of your precious time.

Let me summarise the six ways you can conduct productive and purposeful meetings to stay on the same page with your distributed teams.

  1. Schedule all meetings | Plan your activities accordingly.
  2. Fix a meeting day | Avoid impromptu ‘get togethers’ and work disruptions. 
  3. Daily Briefings or Meet-ups | 5 minutes daily is better than 2 hours weekly.
  4. Set a ‘fun-meeting’ day | Optional & recreational- helps teams interact.
  5. Set up meeting agendas | Know what to talk about. Don’t jump in blindly. 
  6. Track Time for Meetings | Most important! Time is money! 

You can go ahead and apply these ways to your business to see the productivity boost for yourself.

To learn more, check out this excellent guide to conducting remote team meetings.

10 Habits to Adopt to Master Productivity

The focus in today’s world has shifted from counting the number of tasks completed, to the productivity levels, in a day. If the productivity is high, the number of tasks achieved is automatically high and the work quality is as per industry standards or higher as well. If the productivity is low, the rate of procrastination is high and the work produced is less in number and lower in quality, i.e. barely meeting the standards.

One cannot be productive 100% of the time during the work hours. However, there are some habits that if adopted by people, can help them become more active and productive in a day.

Many people are of the view that productivity is not something that can be controlled. Whereas, we believe that one can be highly productive or not productive at all based on their work demeanors and habits. Here are a few ways to master productivity in the workplace.

10. Discipline yourself to increase productivity.

There lies an incredible power in the discipline.

The human body is an intelligent machine that learns quickly and expects (and even works on) a routine. Our body functions in a circadian rhythm, the 24-hour cycle. If that’s disturbed, our body starts to retaliate as its something that goes against nature.

When you discipline yourself and schedule your daily activities, you can train your mind and body to be highly productive during work. Here’s what you can do:

  1. Wake up on a set time
  2. Regularly exercise
  3. Have a healthy breakfast
  4. Go to work 
  5. Check off all work tasks in order
  6. Leave work on time
  7. Go to bed on a fixed time

All this will help you be more active during work hours, helping you put your best foot forward.

9. Make a plan before you have to implement it.

Plan for the day ahead, a day before.

Schedule the work to be done on Monday on Friday of the previous week, so you don’t have to spend time figuring out where to start on a Monday.

This would save you a lot of time. You can just dive in and start completing the work that’s already in the queue. This will save you invisible minutes – namely, the time that just ‘flies by’ and you don’t even know where it went and what you achieved in it.

Make the schedule for Tuesday on Monday, and Wednesday on Tuesday, and so on. This way you will have tasks planned have deadlines for yourself and you will get things done much faster and right on schedule.

8. “Think you can do it, and you’re halfway there!”

Mindset is everything!

When you’re assigned a task by your team lead, and it is a big, important task, don’t freak out. If you panic and think that the task is well above your position and will take up a lot of time, or is difficult and beyond your skillset. Then there is no way that you’ll be able to complete it.

If you approach every task with a ‘can-do’ attitude, learn new things in the process, expand and improve your skillset and deliver the task, then you’ll be successful. Taking every task as a challenge you can beat is something that will result in your success within the company as well as wherever you go beyond that.

7. Prioritize tasks according to importance and relevance also increases productivity

Prioritize tasks to stay productive!

It is highly important to know which tasks are important and which can be delayed for a while and it will not matter much.

For example, if there is are two tasks: first, to post a social media update and second, deliver the monthly performance report to your supervisor. It is obvious which task holds more importance, definitely the latter. It varies from situation to situation, but being able to judge that for every situation is a skill that will allow you to be more productive.

Similarly, one must be able to judge the likelihood of completion of tasks throughout the day. If a task requires you to liaise with other departments to complete it, and they are busy, then it is better to complete the tasks that you can complete independently, in the meanwhile.

This will save the ‘waiting’ time and helps you achieve more in the same time.

6. Divide one task into small chunks to achieve it

A mountain cannot be crossed with one step or a huge jump.
It is impossible. However, if that mountain is crossed by traveling small distances at a time and with rests in between, it is completely doable.

The same is the case with being assigned large projects. You are not expected to deliver results in a day. The way to excel at those projects is by dividing the tasks into smaller chunks and working on those chunks, one at a time.

Soon, you will see that the project is reaching its milestones. The small chunks are coming together to form a complete solution for the project.

When you cut down the work pressure into chunks and deal with one thing at a time, you can get more work done. Then if you have this huge ball of pressure on you for completing one huge task.

In the latter case, most of your time will be spent worrying about the things that are yet to be done and you’ll end up achieving little to nothing.

5. Multitask to get things done on schedule increase productivity

Work on multiple things at a time.

It is a common myth that women are better at multitasking than men. However, there is no evidence to prove that. This means, men and women, both can multitask and achieve higher levels of productivity.

How to work on multiple tasks at a time? It is fairly simple. For example, you are asked to maintain an excel sheet for records and work on say, marketing tasks simultaneously. So you can go ahead with marketing tasks and switch tabs to enter records, and then switch back. Allocate 15 minutes to each task, alternating regularly.

This will improve your skills of thinking on-spot and switching between multiple tasks at a time.

4. Keep the goals in sight and work accordingly.

Can you throw a dart without the target in sight? NO! 

Always make sure that you know what you are working for and what you have to achieve through a certain task. Once you have a goal in sight, you will plan accordingly, set your schedule accordingly, and work harder and in the right direction to achieve that.

Once you know how the end-product should look, you will work on tasks to get that end-product. Instead of working blindly and without any idea of what and why you’re doing.

3. Technology is your friend, use it to excel.

Work smart, not hard.

Technology, in this day and age, is your friend and you can use it to make tasks and projects easier for yourself. You can use time tracking software like StaffTimerApp. Simply log your tasks, keep a track of where your time goes with written logs, image, and video proofs.

This will help you save invisible minutes, know what took up most of your time and know where the most unproductive time was spent. Using these insights, you can manage your time better. Remove wasted minutes from your workday and ensure that maximum productivity is achieved.

Automate the tasks that take up a lot of time in manual entries and extra, unnecessary work and redistribute your resources so as to fully utilize them.

2. Have the cushion time period in your schedule.

“Always keep room for dessert!”

Many a times, it happens so that priority tasks come up and urgent work is required on those. These aren’t the tasks that you can place on the back burner while you work on your routine tasks.

To ensure that your schedule can accommodate such tasks and still be on schedule, completing your routine tasks, you always need to keep a cushion time period on your schedule.

These are few minutes of ‘free time’ in each hour so even if you are working on side tasks, your own schedule isn’t disturbed.

1. Allow your brain to rest periodically.

Work using the Pomodoro technique.

Work uninterrupted for 50 minutes, take a 10-minute break. If you work like that, you will have higher productivity, with an active mind throughout the day.
That essential period of rest after 50 minutes will allow you to reassess your task plate. Reorganize to include any change required in the schedule. It will be like a reset period for your brain before getting to work again.

Remember, your brain is like any other machine as well. If it gets overworked and overheated, you will face burnout. Hence, reduced productivity due to exhaustion.

6 Ways a time tracking software helps you save ‘invisible’ minutes!

“It’s really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.” – Steve Jobs

This above statement is solid enough to take care of the question of why must we save time in the first place. Now that we’ve gotten this basic concern out of the way, let’s focus on the real topics at hand:

a) How can time tracking software help you save time?

b) What is the time you don’t even know is being wasted?

 

Let’s get started!

1. Increase productivity by reducing the ‘busy’ time

Productivity is generally calculated by looking at the work output and the time taken to get it done. If both those values don’t add up, then there must be some time that is being wasted. Even though you’ve been busy all through the work hours!

Where is that time going? When each and every minute of your time is logged in timesheets, simply knowing that your work or computer screen is being watched makes you improve productive focus.

With a time tracking software, you can also take note of the actual time you worked and the time lost in operational, technical and irrelevant tasks!

2. You don’t need as much time as you think you do

Many a time, you think a particular task may take you an hour, whereas, if you dedicate all your focus and attention to it, you can get it done in half the time!
Here’s what happens: Your brain automatically keeps a cushion time to accommodate all the ‘extra’ tasks and distractions that may come up while you’re working on a task.

When all those distractions are eliminated, the actual time required to complete a certain task is not quite as much as you thought. A time tracking software can help you achieve more in a lesser amount of time. Hence improving productivity by a considerable amount.

3. Improve focus when you know each minute is counted

Have you heard of the ‘Hawthorne Effect’? According to Wikipedia,

“The Hawthorne effect (also referred to as the observer effect) is a type of reactivity in which individuals modify an aspect of their behavior in response to their awareness of being observed.”

Over time, there have been many interpretations of ‘behavior modification’. However, the generally accepted interpretation is that once you know you’re being observed, your productive work focus improves considerably, lowering wasted time and distractions.

An automated time tracking software involves accurate time logs, screenshots, and real-time video logs, which are a digital alternative of being observed. Therefore, the effect on you will also be the same. You’ll consciously try to focus on work, while making an effort to not waste time.

4. Be accountable for your time and work produced in it

How many times did it happen that your boss asked you about the hours you spent on a certain task and the work output that was never enough? I know. Same.

Tracking your time using a timesheet software can help you log your tasks and record the time spent on each. With the latest time tracking technologies, monitoring can be done through screenshots of your computer’s screens taken every minute, e.g. in StaffTimerApp, an AI-driven automated time tracking solution.

Such a time tracking software integrated within your work station makes you more accountable for your time spent to work output ratio. You can always stay ahead of the curve by minimizing wasted time and improving work productivity.

5. Identify and remove ‘invisible’ tasks by tracking time

‘Invisible Tasks’ – what are they? These are the irrelevant tasks that take up your time when you begin working on one of your assigned tasks.

These side tasks may include: running to HR and back to take care of administrative formalities, operational tasks and technical difficulties (e.g. installing software, taking care of a faulty computer system, etc.).

The best way to get rid of these tasks is to delegate them to the relevant people. So you can focus better on your own work. In simple words, tell the HR to fill the forms themselves, or the tech department to fix your PC before you arrive to work, so your limited time is not wasted.

Using a time tracking software, you can clock your hours efficiently, so you know exactly where your time went throughout the whole work day.

6. Automated and intelligent reporting mechanism

How would you know what you or your team achieved in a day? Yes, intelligent reporting is just for that purpose. In an automated reporting system, you can better figure out where your work lags, and then take care of that issue.

It could be about employee availability or any work-related or personal issues they may be facing. By looking at their work reports, you can figure out the difference in productivity levels. Also,  initiate communication with them to trace out the reason for that change.

If the productivity levels are higher, then the change could be adopted by the entire team in one way or another. If its the other way around, then their problems could be dealt with, according to their nature.

Using artificial intelligence, what if your time tracking software can sort your day’s screenshots task-wise? In many of the latest softwares, this feature allows you to see exactly what task was performed, how was it performed, and where was the time wasted.

Once that judgment is made, then all the distractions can be identified and taken care of. This type of reporting also allows you to see the number of productive hours. Which helps you form a transparent invoicing and billing system.

These were the 6 major ways in which time tracking solutions can help you identify the areas of wasted time. Also, a solution to how you may reduce them. Most of the time, we are so engrossed in just getting things done.

Making some minor hindrances in our work the cause of our frustration. To regulate the workflow and enhance productivity, it is highly necessary for you to track time. And keep the energy levels of your team up.

Have a great, happy and productive work day! 🙂

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Proven ways to track employee’s productivity in today’s world

Employee Productivity is the buzz word of current times. Many people are trying to be more productive in their personal lives. Many more are trying to enhance their work productivity.

In some peculiar settings like a remote work environment, it becomes more important to track employee productivity.

Defining Employee Productivity

Employee productivity is the measure of the efficiency of an employee or a group of employees. It is often assessed by the quality and quantity of work produced.

Employee Productivity is a relative statistic. For an individual employee, it is assessed by comparing the individual’s productivity to that of a group of people. Employees with high productivity levels are often more productive than the average team. Similarly, people with low productivity levels are often not able to produce the average quality or quantity of work as compared to the rest of the workforce.

Why is productivity important?

Productivity is one of the more important agendas of the management, in the Corporate World of today. The reasons are manifold.

Cutthroat competition is inevitable in today’s corporate sector and having a slow and lazy team is simply not an option.

Much of the profitability of the organizations depend upon the workforce. So it is quite important to have a dependable and diligent team of employees.

The trends, expectations, and demands of the market are constantly changing. To keep up with the evolution and changing the landscape of the market, it is important that the employees are intellectually productive.

Tracking Employee’s Productivity

Having established the importance of employee productivity, let’s discuss some of the ways by which it is measured.

1. Track their time

Often it is a duty of the Project Managers to assign individuals with a list of tasks. Tracking productivity by means of tracking the time it takes to get a job done is one of the most common ways of measuring the productivity of an employee.

For this purpose, many organizations deploy Time Tracking Software. These tools let the employees measure the amount of time they spend on each individual task. They also help employers get a transparent idea about employee productivity.

2. Assess the value

There are many situations where just the measure of time is not a good indicator of productivity. For example, the productivity of a painter is measured by the time it takes to finish a piece. So, either the productivity will come out to be dismal or the efforts to enhance the productivity will result in poor quality work. Therefore, time is not always the best indicator of the productivity of an employee.

One of the widely used metrics of employee productivity is assessing the value that an employee brings to the table. The presence of a certain individual can bring value to your team in many ways. For example, an HR manager might be a source of motivation and positivity for the rest of the team.

An executive might be a good mentor for training newbies. A marketing executive with a stellar personality might boost your sales. An individual with great skills can affect your team in more than one ways and assessing the value they bring to the organization is a useful way to measure their productivity.

3. Cost-profit analysis

Making profits in the universal aim of all the businesses around the world. An employee is productive and profitable if he helps the organization generate more profits then the cost of retaining him in the company.

The cost of keeping an employee on the payroll consists of compensation, benefits and other expenses of the housing. If the revenue that he assists in generating are greater than the costs, then the employee is definitely productive and a valuable asset for the company.

4. Measuring Employee’s Productivity

Having established the importance of employee productivity, let’s discuss some of the ways by which it is measured.

 

5. Indications about the strengths and weaknesses

When you track employee productivity, you get useful insights about the strengths and weaknesses of the workforce.

The managers get to know about the employees that outshine the rest of the team. They get an idea about the team members who are unable to deliver the desired results. The management gets to identify productivity blockades and hurdles.

The data also becomes useful to identify low performing individuals. By correct identification of the problems, the management can take steps towards improving the situation.

6. Guides you about the budget

Managers who know the production capacity of their teams are in a good position to make good financial choices.

Productivity tracking is so much more than just the number of hours worked. It delivers insights into all kinds of available resources. These insights empower the management to make sound decisions related to budgets and financing.

7. A basis for performance appraisal

Everyone needs appreciation for the work they do similarly, employees do too.

Productivity tracking provides ample data for the managers to officially recognize the work and efforts of the team. Therefore, time and productivity tracking, as boring as it may sound, helps employees in making their efforts known to the management.

Praise and rewards can help increase the motivation level of the team. And this, in turn, can help in boosting the productivity of the whole team.

8. Makes employees more productive

It is a scientifically proven fact that individuals tend to be more productive when they know that they are being watched. Just like that, employees tend to be more productive when they realize their team leads are monitoring their progress. 

Moreover, when one employee gets praised for the work that he does. He sets a positive example for the rest of the team which in return establishes a positive work culture. 

Conclusion

Track employee productivity to find out hidden truths about your team. This will not only improve the organizational culture in many ways but also the profitability of your organization!

Like what you read? We have more for you:Top three-time tracking applications for remote employees