Productivity is a word that gets thrown around a lot when it comes to work-related concerns. You can say that productivity and efficiency are almost the same since both concepts try to get the best output available from a specific input. In simpler terms, productivity can be measured by getting the best possible results in the least time and with the least effort.
Employees often go through a phase at work when their productivity begins to slow down. When this happens, not only does the employee’s performance get worse, but the entire workforce also starts to work inefficiently because other workers will have to pick up the slack.
Luckily, the continuous innovation of technology has provided several ways to help employees who feel like they are losing productivity at the office. Here are a few tips on how to use technology to do better work.
1. Maximize Chat Systems
Poor communication is a common feature in most relationships that go south; just ask a divorce attorney how often he (or she) has heard it before. The same goes for doing business, as inefficient communication has lead to an average loss per company of $62.4 million per year, according to survey reports. That is a painful price to pay for an issue that is relatively easy to fix.
There are several group messaging programs and chat applications that employees can use for better communication. By using these platforms, they will get responses real-time and significantly lessens the back-and-forth hassle of waiting for an e-mail response. Essential matters can be discussed faster, and people can’t use the old “I must have missed your e-mail” excuse anymore due to the messaging application’s synchronous feature.
2. Go for Automated Time Tracking
Many companies still use manual time-in cards and clock sheets to log in their employees’ hours, hurting their business in multiple ways. First, manual time tracking is more prone to time theft, and the lost hours from cheating employees can end up costing the company thousands of dollars that it could have invested instead in a digital time tracker.
Next, using an automated time tracker also lessens the burden on the HR department. Since they would not have to audit the employees’ manual logs anymore, they can use their saved time and energy on other important tasks instead.
Last but not least, digital time tracking applications also automatically save your workforce’s statistics that you can use for further research. By looking at how your employees spend their time at work, you can spot room for improvement and make better business decisions to increase productivity at the workplace.
3. Use New Office Tools for Improved Collaboration
In an ideal company, all the employees would be enthusiastically making suggestions and sharing ideas during meetings. However, not everyone is confident enough to speak out in front of many people. Sometimes, one employee’s shyness can become contagious during a meeting, and the manager ends up talking by himself the whole time.
New office tools such as Zoom and Google Meet can help solve that problem by scheduling virtual meetings. People might begin to be more comfortable discussing ideas in a virtual meeting because it feels slightly different from the actual face-to-face conversation but is just as effective.
These innovations are also great for people who do remote work since the meetings can occur while everyone is in the comfort of his (or her) own home. The applications are also available on multiple devices so employees can choose which they are most comfortable with.
Managers can slowly add these virtual meetings to their daily or weekly operations to start increasing employee collaboration. Over time, the team should feel more comfortable and motivated to work in an environment that values their thoughts and feelings.
4. Opt for File-sharing Technology
File-sharing is an important and fairly common task in every company. However, it can easily lead to decreased productivity when employees get significant down-time waiting for a co-worker to pass them the files they need.
Although file-sharing technology has been developed for quite some time now, many companies are still sticking with swapping manual files in folders or digital files in USBs. There are many free file-sharing tools on the web that can quickly transfer digital files from one employee to another.
File-sharing applications such as Box and DropBox also have history trackers to allow users to view if any changes have been made to the documents. This is an important feature since digital files are easier to modify, and security measures like this can keep people from trying to tamper with records. The trackers can also identify who made the changes so that managers can ask them directly what the modification was for.
A Final Word
Businesses should always prioritize increasing workplace productivity if they want to succeed in the industry. With the constant evolution of technology, it should not be hard to make work easier for your employees.
Several products on the market can make work more enjoyable and trouble-free for both the employer and the employees. It is up to the company to invest in these technological advancements and incorporate them into the business.