Successful productivity within an organization stems from having the right tools and communicating tasks and processes clearly. As times have changed and industries have become more competitive and complex, productivity tools have become more of a necessity than ever before. Using certain tools that are available today can determine the success of your workforce and the organization as a whole.
Don’t overlook the importance of investing in productivity solutions as they may help set you apart from your competition and speed up your workflow. There are specific productivity tools available for various functions of your organization such as scheduling, employee health, communication and collaboration, and time tracking. Your organization can easily enhance your office workflow by adding some of these tools and strategies into your company’s daily function.
Make Use of Communication and Collaboration Tools
Communication is key for any organization to run smoothly. It’s crucial for all employees in the office to understand the rules and processes because poor communication can slow down the production process immensely. Without proper communication, it’s very easy for employees to assume that their coworkers are accomplishing assigned tasks when in reality nothing is really being accomplished. Proper communication is important in order to ensure that all assigned tasks are being completed.
When you are working in-office communication is much more natural because you can meet in person or stop by a coworker’s desk to check in if need be. However, if your organization is remote, things are more easily lost in translation, likely slowing down, or even halting overall communication.
Avoid lack of communication by using a service like Slack, a team communication tool intended to be used as an alternative to email. Although email is still a useful form of communication for shared documents and external conversations, Slack is a more efficient option for internal teams to communicate with one another quickly. Slack can integrate the apps you use every day such as Google Drive, Dropbox, and Box so you can share and access everything you need all in one central location. With Slack, individual team members can also set their daily status’, so the greater team is aware of their hours, if they are in a meeting or on a call, or if they are out of office.
Get Organized with Scheduling Services
Employees can’t accomplish all of their tasks all at once, therefore, it’s important to prioritize tasks. Employees should be encouraged to accomplish their most difficult tasks first, which will allow them to focus on smaller, less time-consuming tasks later on. At the start of the day, have employees list each task on a to-do list according to their importance and urgency. If employees complete their most overwhelming tasks as soon as possible they will feel more at peace throughout the rest of the workday and it will eliminate the overwhelming feeling of having numerous time-consuming tasks on their plate.
In order to implement this strategy into your organization’s day-to-day on an even deeper level, consider how your employees are currently tracking and scheduling their daily tasks and responsibilities. An organized employee is a more productive employee, so you might consider requiring employees to use a collaborative team calendar, like Google Calendar. An online calendar allows employees to keep track of their own schedules while also being able to reference their coworker’s schedules as well. This can help them create and manage their own tasks to determine the best times for meetings, breaks, and PTO. Employees can also access this calendar on their smartphone or computer, making their schedule accessible to them at all times.
Keeping a detailed calendar can also help employees track due dates more efficiently so they can better plan their completion of tasks over time. They can reference this information in the future as well to remind themselves how long it took them to complete a certain task and how much time they should set aside for similar projects in the future. Overall, a collaborative calendar can serve many useful purposes in an employee’s daily life.
Make Employee Health a Priority
Employee health should be top of mind at every organization as employees are an organization’s greatest assets. A healthy workforce can significantly boost efficiency and workflow, however, an unhealthy workforce can lead to decreased productivity and motivation, which can severely hurt workflow over time. Keep employees healthy and productive by offering them innovative tools like blue light glasses and memberships to motivational health apps.
Blue light glasses have recently become a popular item for individuals who engage with digital screens on a regular basis, which makes them a great resource for today’s employees. By supplying employees with innovative blue light glasses you will be helping them protect their eyes from the harmful blue light wavelengths that digital screens emit, which can cause eye strain and fatigue. Prolonged engagement with digital screens can ultimately slow down an employee’s workflow, and therefore, by shielding their eyes from the harmful wavelengths, you will be creating better efficiency and overall health for your employees.
Additionally, staying on task is often a challenge for employees as they potentially face many distractions in a workday, such as social media, smartphone alerts, and social interactions. When employees become distracted while attempting to complete a task, it can take a significant amount of time to bring their attention back into focus. If you encourage employees to take frequent breaks they will be able to decompress and clear their minds. After their break, they will likely feel more motivated and be able to accomplish their work more efficiently.
A health app, like MyFitnessPal, can help incentivize employees to take said breaks as they will likely be more inclined to exercise during them, to stay on top of their health. Encouraging employees to practice healthier habits can promote increased efficiency and productivity within your organization. Healthier employees have more energy, positive outlooks, and focus, and the simple addition of an app can make that more manageable. By investing in employee health you are ensuring a more productive future for your organization and a better quality of life for your employees both during and outside of working hours, which is very important in this day and age.
Encourage Employees to Use Time Tracking Services
One of the easiest and most effective changes employees can make to improve their daily workflow is to leave their work at work. When employees take their work home with them or even continuously think about tasks outside of work, it can actually decrease their productivity. In fact, it can cause restlessness, limit breaks, and tends to contribute to employee burnout.
An important step to increase productivity in an organization is to track production time. Tracking the average amount of time it takes employees or teams to complete certain tasks can help an organization structure its daily tasks more efficiently. As a result, employees will not feel like they need to take their work home. Using a resource like Hive, a well-known tool for productive teams, can help teams take their productivity to the next level. Hive teams can individually manage and track projects in their own unique way by using different styles of tracking, like Gantt or Kanban.
By allowing teams to track metrics based on individual needs they will be able to skip unnecessary steps and add in more useful steps that are specific to their team. This will help to significantly increase productivity and create more efficient tracking and production options across different departments.
Most organizations are interested in creating a more efficient and productive workflow in order to produce more and become more successful in the long run. An organization’s efficiency is often determined by its employees and the tools that are available to them. Therefore, it’s in the best interest of every dedicated organization to put employee wellness first and supply employees with top-of-the-line tools to help them work as efficiently as possible, while also remaining healthy.
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