Posts Tagged ‘tips’

Top 10 Tips to Increase Productivity in the Office

Sunday, April 27th, 2008

Productivity is very important for the growth and success of a company. Here are the top 10 tips to increase productivity in the office.

In any office setting, it is very important to find ways increasing productivity. Productivity is an essential in ushering in the growth and success of the company. Here are the top 10 tips to increase productivity in the office setting.

#1. Employ contingency management.

The key to overcoming procrastination lies on contingency management. Pick a mundane task that you just cannot pass on in a workday. Checking emails can be one of these tasks. You should then make the task contingent on working for roughly 30 minutes. After that period, you should stop checking mails and start working. Moreover, do not check your emails anymore, not until after work hours.

#2. Have a timer handy.

When you’re doing a certain task, you should practice timing yourself. Tell yourself that you going to spend just 30 minutes for a particular task, and proceed to timing yourself. This keeps you on your toes and motivates you to be more productive.

#3. Unschedule your weekly schedule.

The concept here is to fill your schedule with activities that are not work-related. Dedicate the remaining time to work-related activities. Schedule these activities for just 30 minutes at a time. Many 30-minute periods of focused and undisturbed work can go a long way.

#4. Use 2-folder email management.

Having too many folders for your emails is a waste of time. You have to spend time browsing through many folders to find a particular email. The smart thing to do is to use just 2 folders: Action and Archive. The Action folder is for emails that need working on. The Archive folder is for emails that contain tasks that have been completed already.

#5. Avoid perfectionism.

It’s fine to strive for the best. But if you strive to be constantly perfect in all your tasks, then you will surely obsess over every single detail of your work. This brings much waste of time as well. Thus, accept the fact that you just cannot be perfect at all times.

#6. Include detailed subject lines for your emails.

You will surely be sending emails to your colleagues. With detailed subject lines, your colleagues no longer have to open each email from you. They can just check the detailed subject line, and they will find what they’re looking for faster.

#7. Leave strategic voicemail messages.

Always leave your name and contact number at the start and finish of each message you leave. This way, the recipient won’t have to listen to the message all over again, just to catch your contact info.

#8. Hire a personal assistant.

Your personal assistant can do the menial tasks for you. You can then focus on the major tasks at hand. This helps increase your productivity as well.

#9. Dedicate peak hours for major tasks.

After a weekend off work, you are more energized during the first days of the week. This is actually a common observation. Thus, you should schedule the major tasks for the mornings of Mondays and Tuesdays.

#10. Do not bring work at home.

As much as possible, you should separate your professional life from your personal life. Bringing work to your home just stresses you out. It robs you of time away from the office. The following morning, your spirits will surely be dampened. You should then avoid this and get enough rest instead.

The Top 10 Tips to Help Improve Productivity

Sunday, February 17th, 2008

This article discusses the 10 tips to help companies improve their productivity.

Productivity is important to a company irregardless of their size or the market that they are in. In this article are the top 10 tips that have been proven to improve employee productivity and performance. It is understood that human resource is the most important component of any organization. Without people, there will be no existing business, organization or company.

These tips are important areas to watch out when you plan to further increase your productivity levels.

10. Curative Training – Curative Training should be a last resort. Curative employee training occurs when productivity levels are dangerously low. This is a form of damage control to help improve already down productivity ratings.

9. Pre-Screening – Company applicants should be screened efficiently before they are accepted. Their skill level and productivity rate should be checked to make sure that they will not be a liability to the company.

8. Pre-Training and Intensive Orientation – New employees should undergo training and an intensive orientation so that they will be acquainted with the processes of the company. Once they have undergone this they will have an increased productivity rate.

7. Constant Monitoring – You are only as strong as your weakest link, and with constant monitoring you will be able to see which area of production or service you are weakest at. This way, you will be able keep things in check as soon as they occur.

6. Incentives – Incentives help motivate employees to produce more because they know that they will be getting something extra if they do.

5. Stress Relief and Recreation – Stress can cause a slow production rate. That is why activities that relieve stress should be practiced as well as recreational activities should be implemented so that stress levels will decrease.

4. Delegate and Don’t Micromanage – It may be hard to let go of some responsibilities that you feel are crucial to the company, but micromanaging will only take up a lot of your time and decrease your productivity levels. Company’s heads should delegate tasks to able and qualified individuals.

3. Modernization – Modernization does not mean ditching the old and traditional ways completely. It simply means that you will employee modern ways like computerization and robotic aide to help improve productivity.

2. Avoid the Unnecessary – If something doesn’t need to be done, then don’t do it. Fretting over useless stuff will only take up your time and decrease productivity. Why fix anything that is not broken?

1. Keep the Employees Happy! – This is one of things that have been incessantly repeated. A happy employee works the best. This analogy stretches from parenting to economics. When an employee is satisfied with the work conditions, then he/she will work smoothly and without complains. This also greatly depends on the ideals of the company. This is easy for some companies if their goal is to make their employees as happy as possible.

If companies follow these tips, they can ensure that their productivity levels will increase and they will also have better, happier and stress free environment for their employees.