Small businesses need to make the most of their limited resources to get ahead, and one of the best ways to do that is to keep employee morale up. Happy employees are more productive and are more likely to innovate, two things which help drive business growth. It’s also essential to make the most out of your employees’ limited time.
Improving workplace productivity isn’t as complicated as some people would like you to believe. Small changes can lead to significant improvements in productivity and efficiency. Your employees can achieve more with less work as well as reduce the time wasted on trivial tasks. Investing in the right tools can also affect change, which is why many businesses hire a G Suite service provider.
Here are a few simple but effective strategies for improving office productivity.
1. Be mindful of time spent on tasks
Most people think that they have a good idea of how much time they spend on their work assignments. However, a few studies have shown that only 1 in 5 people can accurately pinpoint the time passed since they started doing a task.
You don’t have to invest in time tracking tools to monitor your employees’ time management. It could be as simple as telling them to be more mindful of their tasks and to look at the time once in a while.
2. Set deadlines
Too much stress is a sure way to destroy employee morale, but a little bit of self-imposed stress can go a long way in keeping your employees focused on achieving their goals. This is particularly useful when working on an open-ended project.
Give yourself and your employees a realistic deadline, and break down the timeline into separate segments with actionable goals. You’d be surprised how a self-imposed deadline can improve focus and productivity.
3. Do small tasks immediately
Some entrepreneurs swear by the five-minute rule to improve productivity at the workplace. The concept is simple: If you know a task only takes five minutes or less, do it right away. This minimizes procrastination and ensures all tasks are worked on right away. This can also be used to break a more significant job into smaller increments.
4. Keep meetings to a minimum
Meetings: Managers love them; employees love to hate on them. There’s no question that they consume a lot of time at work, yet managers continue to schedule weekly conference room meetings that seem to accomplish nothing.
According to a Bain & Company study, up to a fifth of a company’s time is wasted on meetings. Before meeting your team for a huddle, ask yourself whether you can accomplish the same work through a conference call or email. If a meeting is essential, and sometimes they are, one way to minimize waste is to hold a standing meeting instead.
5. Focus on one task at a time
Many people in the corporate world believe that multitasking is the best way to improve productivity and efficiency. However, studies have shown that to be false. If you’re focusing on too many things at once, you’re not giving each task the attention it deserves. You might think that you’ve accomplished a lot, but you might find that the quality of the work has been affected.
These pointers will help you improve productivity in the workplace. During crunch time, you might feel the need to put in long hours to get more things done in a day. Instead, you should think of ways to get more work out of the same time frame. You’ll thank yourself in the future.
