Employees are easily the most important asset to any business. As an HR specialist, your job is to ensure that they are working to the very best of their capabilities. In most cases, that means using better time management to ensure productivity reaches an all-time high.
Here are 10 quick tricks to help you achieve that goal.
Paperless Office
Cloud computing has revolutionised the entire world of business. It’s a fantastic addition to any office environment, and will go a long way to keeping productivity high.
In addition to allowing for better collaboration, going paperless reduces wasted time. If this doesn’t help your employees do more, I don’t know what will.
You can also track employee productivity through software such as Hubtaff, which allows you track activity levels, time tracking, internet and app monitoring and plenty of other features to help you understand the level of productivity in your office.
Hold Short Morning Meetings
Teamwork makes the dream work, and it’s vital that each member of your team knows his or her job. Morning meetings are a great way to build a winning atmosphere. It also ensures that everyone knows what’s expected, individually and as a team.
However, overly long business meetings can have a negative impact on productivity. Keep them to no longer than 15 minutes to ensure that discussions stay focused and effective.
Have Schedules
Short business meetings are a great way to establish a sense of direction. You can also use simple task management boards to ensure employees understand the expectations. Seeing a physical representation of what work is needed will reduce the probability of encountering wasted time too.
Above all else, schedules will prevent key items being missed off. Whether it’s manufacturing, office work or something else, it’s always better to get things right at the first time of asking.
And Stick To Them
Having those schedules in place will naturally give the team a sense of purpose and direction. But it’s important that those tasks are handled in the right order. And the best way to do this is by encouraging one job at a time.
It’s a fairly common belief that multitasking is great for productivity. It isn’t. Instead, it simply increases the chance of mistakes and decreases the quality and quantity of work. Quite frankly, sticking to the priority at any given time is the far greater solution.
Stop Distractions
Dealing with admin and communication is a crucial part of any employee’s day. However, those tasks shouldn’t get in the way of their core work. Quite frankly, one of the best time management schemes you’ll ever offer is limiting email time.
Giving employees set windows to reply to emails will force them to dedicate more time to their main job. It’s one of the simplest introductions you’ll ever make, but it will have a huge impact on the overall workflow.
Embrace Smartphones
Technology can be our greatest enemy, but it can also be our greatest ally. If employees are motivated, smartphones can allow them to achieve far more from the working day. Even if it’s a case of scheduling or researching while on their travels, it has to be more productive than doing nothing.
Naturally, they are a great way to maintain great communication with other members of the team too.
Use Video Tech Too
Business travel can be essential, but it isn’t needed as often in today’s environment. In many cases, holding video conferences can save a lot of time for both parties. This allows staff members to place more focus on the content rather than dedicating time to planning the travel aspects.
Erasing the need for travel can actively help maintain a better working atmosphere for individuals and teams too. Essentially, it will make staff more productive in terms of time and money. Perfect.
Tracking
Encouraging increased workflow is one thing, seeing it is another altogether. Using time management software to track the output of each individual will soon pinpoint who is slacking. And this data can be used to force an improvement or rehiring.
Monitoring other aspects of the business operation is the norm, so this should be too. After all, the staff can have the greatest influence of all. Find the right time management software, and it will bring vast improvements.
Planning
One of the worst things any staff member can do is leave a meeting or business process without gaining anything useful from it. Just a few minutes of planning to establish what the aim of each situation is will encourage a far more productive output.
Ultimately, it’s about being switched on engaged. As long as employees are focused on achieving their main aims from key situations, there should be a far greater end product.
Flexitime
Sometimes, employees cannot do anything more in the day. At other times, it would be far more beneficial if they could stay an extra hour. Flexitime is great for employers and employees alike, and all HR teams should weigh up the pros and cons.
Working 9-5 might be the perfect guideline. But if changing it can achieve greater results, missing out on those opportunities would be silly.
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