For many of you, simply reading the top 6 things employees waste time on immediately evoked a negative reaction geared toward Facebook and Twitter. Before you persecute and ban social media, these areas of concern are the least of your worries. Employees waste a significant amount of time in areas that are directly related to the work culture. A survey conducted by Amplitude Research reveals that employees feel the following are the biggest time wasters:
Office Politics (17%)
Regardless of the size of your organization, employees feel a constant need to participate in office politics to secure their future. While everyone dreams of an office setting where office politics do not exist, this may never occur; however, the pressure of such antics can easily be minimized. CEOs, managers and owners should work to create a culture that rewards hard work and performance rather than nepotism and back scratching.
Communication (15%)
Most employees also feel ineffective and inefficient communication is a large time waster. Email is an essential tool in today’s business world; however, it can also lead to inefficiencies within an office. Managers should lead by example. Get up and walk over to a cubicle or office rather than to spend two days going back and forth in emails. It will also improve work relations and avoid misinterpretations.
Non-Work Related Office Talk (14%)
Technology is making it easier for office chatter to extend beyond a few minutes. Many companies encourage instant messaging for intra-office communication; however, individuals with procrastination problems or not enough work often drag others into their time wasting vortex with idle chatter. Address acceptable and unacceptable behavior on a regular basis as a reminder to everyone as to the reasons you have implemented such conveniences.
Computer-Related Drama (11%)
This particular time waster is often unavoidable; however, this percentage can be greatly reduced. It may benefit organizations to have basic technology understanding seminars presented by the IT department and to provide video and instructional tutorials for people to follow for basic concerns that can easily be addressed by any person regardless of their technological skill level. You want to ensure your IT staff is able to focus on larger and more pertinent concerns such as network security and hardware repair. You might also evaluate your staffing levels. You may need to hire more IT staff to ensure your organization is running as efficiently as possible.
Meetings (11%)
The dreaded meeting. Everyone dreads attending certain meetings because at least one person likes to hear the sound of the own voice and at least one other person has no voice at home, so they use meetings as a way to be heard. Are you are all picturing these individuals right now? It is critical to utilize parking lots to add any topic addressed not directly related to the intent of the meeting. It is also a good idea to assign one person to keep the meeting on target if the meeting host does not wish to do so.
Internet Exploration (9%)
In an interesting twist of events, web surfing is a bigger time waster than social media. Everyone, including company heads, is guilty of this. Whether people are looking for something to wear for a date, shoes for their kids or ideas for their next big holiday, employees are spending time searching the Internet on non-work related subjects. Some companies have gone to the extreme of blocking various sites from employees such as auction sites; however, this may have a negative effect on work productivity. Each company needs to determine whether or not allowing their employees to spend some time on personal matters at work actually increases productivity or whether it hurts productivity.
These top 6 things employees waste time on are all areas that can be improved. The most important element of increasing productivity is to create an environment and a culture that fosters productive behavior. These initiatives start at the top. To maximize your productivity you should reduce the pressure to engage in office politics, lead by example, create communication efficiencies with clear expectations, evaluate your IT department needs, assign a meeting wrangler and evaluate your Internet exploration policy.
This article was contributed by Joe Shervell for www.phoenix-training.co.uk, experts in business training’.
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