Once with the explosion of mobile communications technology the employees’ behavior has changed. So is the work and life balance. Smartphones and laptops help employees remain in constant contact with their work, but, what about their personal life?
A study conducted by Kelly Global Workforce Index, which obtained the views of approximately 100,000 people in 34 countries covering North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific has analyzed the impact of modern technology in employees’ productivity.
Here are their global findings: Continue reading ‘Modern technology: increased productivity but longer working hours’
A few months ago a study released by Ohio State University showed that college students who use Facebook spend less time studying and have lower grades than students who don’t use the popular social networking site. Now is time for another study, conducted by Nucleus Research, to show that Facebook also affects employees’ productivity at work.
In order to explore the business productivity impact of Facebook, 237 randomly selected workers have been interviewed about their use of Facebook. The results showed that 77% of employees have a Facebook account and 61% of these use this service during work-time. The average time spend on Facebook is 15 minutes some of employees spending up to 2 hours on the social networking site.
As for the reason they stated for using Facebook, Continue reading ‘Studies revealed that Facebook is a productivity killer’
For most of us summer means mountains, sea and sunshine, in one word …vacation. Most companies reduce their activity due to the fact that their employees are taking these well deserved breaks. But as all good things come to an end so it happens with our vacation. And after two weeks (more or less) of sleep and rest when we turn to our offices we feel like being in another world.
Hundreds of e-mails flooding the inbox and important things that remained unsolved for over a week are now your priority. But how can we handle with all these when your colleagues are asking you to share your experience from the vacation and to share photos? So here are some steps you have to follow in order to refocus on your work and to increase your productivity at maximum.
- Analyze the week. Take a quick view of all the events and activities that took place while you were on vacation and which one must happen in a very short time and cannot be delayed. Try to integrate one important activity per day.
- Organize the day. You must have a plan for each day and well organized work sessions. Take small breaks after every task finished. In the morning, it’s better to deal with the e-mails and only after that to get on other projects. As I said in first paragraph, schedule one important activity per day and other secondary activities. Continue reading ‘How to refocus on work after vacation’
When employees are slow to change or even refuse the change, it costs your company money. Adapting to change is crucial. Change is a very common issue that managers have in mind all the time and furthermore during the economic situation we currently face.
Is your workforce able to adapt to change and increase their effectiveness on the job?
This question was the starting point for a survey conducted by Right Management on more than 100 senior human resource professionals across North America.
The poll results showed that:
Your mobile phone is a powerful tool. Used correctly, it can significantly increase the amount of productivity that you experience throughout the day. Used incorrectly, however, it can easily distract you from the things that you need to get done. Use the following tips to increase your mobile phone productivity:
• Make use of Unified Communications tools. There are a lot of great tools out there that can link all of your different modes of communication together. This allows you to easily move between your phone and computer to share information in an efficient manner.
• Ask yourself what the most efficient method of communication is. Whether or not you are using UC tools, you should be consciously choosing the best method of communicating with your phone. Before placing a call, ask yourself if a text message or a voice conference would be more efficient. Conscious decisions lead to true productivity.
• Do not accept calls all throughout the day. Every time that you accept a phone call, you are accepting an Continue reading ‘Top Mobile Phone Tips to Increase Productivity’
If you want to increase productivity in the office then you need to make yourself and others accountable for using your time more wisely. The best way to do this is to create a system of daily productivity checks. You check in with yourself, you check in with others and you check up on others in the office. When this is done in an efficient and organized manner each day, it is successful in increasing productivity.
Set Daily Productivity Goals
The first thing that you’ll need to do is to set daily productivity goals. Most people find that it’s best to create a list at the end of the day to be accomplished the following day. This way, you know right at the start of the day what your goals will be. It is best if you organize these tasks by their contribution to your overall productivity. (See this Daily Productivity Planner for one example of how to do that.)
Determine How You’ll Do Check-Ins
Daily productivity goals work best when you hold yourself and your employees accountable for meeting those Continue reading ‘Start Doing Daily Productivity Checks in the Office’
Sometimes we all need a little bit of inspiration to stay motivated towards being more productive. One of the best ways to get that inspiration is to check out blogs and websites related to productivity. These offer easy-to-read bits of inspiration that can help us stay on task on a day-to-day basis. And most of them offer great tips for being more productive.
Here’s a look at the top ten websites that you might want to bookmark for productivity inspiration:
1. Zen Habits. This is perhaps the most well-known blog about productivity that exists and there is a good reason for that. It’s based on the premise that being productive can be done in a simple way. It offers great productivity tips and is one of the most inspiring reads on the web.
2. Online Organizing. This is a collection of blogs on organizing. What’s great is that there are multiple authors here so you get many different perspectives on staying organized and being productive.
3. Stepcase Lifehack. This one is an online community where you can discuss productivity issues with others. It also provides a great collection of articles that teach you how to do things more productively.
4. Ian’s Messy Desk. The posts on this website are really straightforward but also very motivating. Pleasant tips help you to get more joy out of each day while also getting more done.
5. Life Optimizer. This blog is all about how to live your life to the fullest. That’s what productivity is really all about. It provides suggestions for getting more out of each day by doing things efficiently and intelligently. Continue reading ‘Top 10 Websites for Getting Inspired to be Productive’
One of the biggest wastes of time for many people is the time that they spend commuting to and from the office. In addition to the general commute in the morning and evening, many people make smaller commutes away from the office during the day. A lot of people have to book appointments during the normal work day. Getting to and from those appointments takes a huge chunk of time out of your day. Just think of how many times you’ve left the office a few hours early to make it to a late-afternoon doctor’s appointment. By locating services that are close to your office, you can avoid a lot of wasted time throughout the year. This increases your overall productivity.
The most common appointment that is going to take you away from the office is the doctor’s appointment. Annual exams, dental check-ups and other regularly scheduled doctors’ appointments must be made during normal business hours. In addition to your own appointments, you may be taking children or other dependents to their doctors’ appointments. By locating doctors that are close to your place of business, you can reduce the amount of time that you spend going to and from appointments. Continue reading ‘Stop Wasting Time: Use Services Close to your Office’
Unified communications is a business and technology trend that has been ramping up for a few years now. The term refers to the streamlining of all types of communications in order to increase the efficiency of sharing information. Any business that wishes to improve productivity should consider learning more about the tools that are available to unify communications.
Defining Unified Communications
Perhaps the phrase “unified communications” is, in and of itself, one of the best ways to define the idea behind this trend. This trend is all about connecting all forms of communication so that you can easily integrate them. For example, you may integrate your voice calls and email together so that you can receive a message in one form (ie voice mail) but easily respond in another form (such as email).
Examples of Major Tools for Unified Communications
There are many different tools and software programs available to create unified communications. Some of the biggest examples include:
• VoIP. One of the first tools to really begin unifying communications was VoIP service. This is phone service which is routed through the Internet. This method of communication allows for easy integration of online information with voice interaction. For example, with VoIP it is possible to easily access and send files to someone with whom you are speaking. Continue reading ‘How Unified Communications Is Increasing Productivity’
One of the most important things that you need to learn if you want to increase your own productivity is to find efficient ways of dealing with the tasks that you have to deal with on a daily basis. Inefficient methods of handling daily tasks are one of the primary causes of reduced productivity. Taking the time to learn how to do these tasks in a truly efficient manner will end up saving you a lot of time (and reducing your stress) over the course of your lifetime.
One of the tasks that people often deal with inefficiently is the task of handling email. Some people check their email inboxes ten or more times per day. They look at the same email messages again and again before responding to them. Try simplifying your approach to email and you may find that your productivity immediately increases.
Some of the top tips to follow for dealing more efficiently with email include:
• Set aside specific times to check email. There is nothing that comes into your inbox that needs to be dealt with the minute that it arrives. Instead of checking email again and again, pick one or two times per day that you’ll deal with email and ignore it the rest of the time. Turn off all email alerts and new mail notifiers.
• Immediately open all spam and unwanted junk mail. Find the “unsubscribe” button or mark it as spam so Continue reading ‘Tips for Efficiently Dealing with Email’
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