Every day, 2.1 hours are lost per employee in the workplace thanks to distractions and work interruptions. A truly professional outfit knows just how important productivity and efficiency is. If you were aware that much time was being lost in your business, do you think you could just let it go? No. You’d stamp it out. And these are the tools you would use to do it.
Photo sourced by UnsplashPriorities in the right place
Your employees aren’t always the ones at fault when it comes to work interruption. One of the worst culprits is their workload, instead. Not particularly how much of it there is, but how it continues to drip into their work day often at a sustained pace. Even small tasks take them out of the zone and have them spend too much time on lower priority jobs. Help them manage their time better by teaching them how to prioritise work. It’s a lot more productive to take one task on at a time and whittle down a to-do list rather than jump from one to the next, getting very little done in reality.
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A keen eye on workflow
It doesn’t matter why workflow is being slowed down, if you know about it, you can get to the bottom of it and fix it. Being uninformed about your staff’s progress is as bad as having a part to play in that slow progress. Use software like Wrike to manage projects as a group and see the tasks everyone is doing. Track their workflow so you can more quickly identify any problems. From there, it’s just a matter of communication and problem solving to help them work more efficiently.
When your tech fails
Even the most reliable of systems can play a big role in work interruption. Backing up your data and having access to more than one kind of network connection can help you get back into work quickly when your IT hits a brick wall. But for the more serious problem, you need a more serious solution. One of the services offered by offered by Prosyn Ltd. is a downloadable disaster recovery plan template. These kinds of plans help you get back on your feet a lot quicker after a catastrophic failure.
Photo sourced by Kaboompics // Karolina
Tackling distraction
Then there’s the all-too-human fault of distraction. Social media, instant messaging, mobile phones, and even the state of the workspace can be the tools of distraction. You need to communicate the risks and how you beat them. For instance, make it policy that instant messaging should be used only for delivering quick messages and not conversations. Set aside times of high productivity where emails, social media, and mobile phones are not to be used. Make sure your team is taking care of their workspaces, clearing clutter and organizing it every day to keep things simple, clean, and undistracting.
When tackling workplace interruption and distraction, you need a firm but fair hand. Offer shorter breaks between tasks so people don’t find it easier to get lost in distraction or the sheer size of their workload. Tackle the problem from a productivity and a human angle.
