In today’s economic climate, where everyone, whether a consumer or a business, is struggling, it’s more important than ever to get the most out of the working day.
If you own a small business and want to ensure that your employees are as productive as possible without you having to be the bad guy and crack a whip constantly, then check out the following productivity-enhancing ideas:
Boost Your Productivity Today with These 6 Tips
1. Remote Working.
When you think of “working from home” it’s easy to imagine someone lounging in their pyjamas watching daytime TV while they have a spreadsheet open (but forgotten) on their laptop.
That couldn’t be further from the truth. If you allow your most trusted employees to work from home, in most cases they really will work.
Remote working is a privilege, and most people see it as such. By allowing your employees to work from home you save them the hassle of a daily commute, meaning they have more free personal time. This can be a brilliant motivator.
2. Collaboration.
Investing in unified communications tools or a good groupware solution will make it much easier for people to work together.
Even small teams can benefit from unified communications systems, version control systems, and groupware.
If people need to talk frequently, or will be editing the same documents at the same time, then anything you can do to make that go more smoothly will increase productivity.
3. Automation.
How much time are people wasting on manual backups, fiddly document editing, or entering data into archaic expenses spreadsheets.
The technology is there to automate a lot of tedious tasks. It might take a while to set it up, but over the course of months of repeating that task it will save you a lot of time.
4. Improve Efficiency With Time and Attendance Software.
Part-time employees. Freelancers and contract workers. Remote employees. Traveling employees. Those who work outside of regular business hours. And full-time employees.
There are so many different ways your employees could work for your business. How do you actively and effectively keep tabs on your workforce’s time without driving yourself – and your workers – crazy?
Many companies have turned to time and attendance software to keep track of the work being done. Digital agencies use online timekeeping software so they can accurately bill each of their clients. With multiple employees from different departments all working on the same client, it’s essential to keep track of who is doing what, and for which client, so you can bill appropriately.
But digital agencies aren’t the only companies that need to keep track of time. Take a look at the list of worker types above. If you work with even one of those types, you could benefit from time and attendance software.
There are a lot of great benefits to time management software, the biggest one being an improvement in efficiency across your organization.
First of all, time and attendance software can reduce human error. Whenever a person tries to process time cards manually, there’s always a chance for mistakes. Even when we’re as careful as possible, all it takes is a misplaced decimal, or a key accidentally hit twice to mess up the numbers. And that can impact your payroll, time-off requests, and other HR functions.
Software helps eliminate most of those potential errors. When all of your time cards are digital, the system will automatically calculate everything for you, so you don’t have to worry about data entry mistakes.
This will give you greater accuracy in labor tracking, as well as employee compensation, and provide more significant insights into how your business is run.
You can easily see if there are any issues in your employees’ time usage with this kind of software as well. If you have employees who are consistently late or are having a friend punch in or out for them using a manual system, the software will eliminate those issues.
It also helps your business become more efficient, as you can see more clearly if you are over-staffing or understaffing certain shifts or days, and adjust accordingly.
Would you be able to tell if an employee took more than their allotted sick leave or vacation time if they had to submit a paper time-off request form?
Automated time and attendance systems can make it easier to manage and monitor time-off requests, which will reduce the amount of absenteeism your company might be experiencing. Now you can spend less time worrying about missed deadlines or poor customer service due to absent employees.
To help you improve your own efficiency, these systems reduce paperwork.
Paperwork is a major time-suck for many companies, and the more you can automate processes, the better. Put your trust in your employees and your system, and save yourself time and headaches.
With just a click of a button, your employees can punch in and out, and you can easily see what your entire staff is doing. Say goodbye to those filing cabinets and save a few trees with the right time and attendance software.
And to top it all off, time and attendance software increases employee satisfaction. These systems empower your employees to access their information on their own time, which gives them greater visibility into their roles and benefits. Providing an easy way to self-report on time and projects with these systems will also show a high level of trust and care in your employees.
If you’re looking to improve the way your company tracks time and attendance, and boost overall efficiency simultaneously, it’s time to consider a time and attendance software for your organization.
5. Ditch the Distractions.
Try to make sure that each employee has the time they need to do their job.
Your programmers shouldn’t be answering the phone, your HR manager shouldn’t be unpacking deliveries, and your PR person shouldn’t be helping your secretary figure out what’s wrong with that Excel spreadsheet.
Granted, in a small company sometimes it is “all hands on deck”, but those moments should be the exception.
If your employees are spending more time on tasks that are outside of their job description than they are on their actual job, your key projects will be suffering. Sort it out.
6. Be More Flexible.
If there’s one thing that can destroy productivity, it’s low morale. And if there’s one thing that destroys morale, it’s being micro-managed.
Give your employees a chance to prove themselves, and let them manage their own work day. Stop worrying about them being five minutes late back from their morning break, or taking lunch early. If people need a few more minutes to clear their heads, give it to them.
Some people work well in short bursts, other people can spend all morning struggling for inspiration, then have a marathon of productivity. As long as the work gets done, does it matter how they did it?
About The Author
This article was written by Jon Platy, the content producer for Principal Homebuyers, blogging and writing content for their site. In the last few years, he has worked harder to become more productive in his work and swears by the Pomodoro Technique.