Imagine ending a day with a satisfied sigh knowing that you’ve had an uber-productive day. You checked every task that you had on your To-do list, the meeting with the client went great, and you were on the top of your game crushing every goal that came your way. When the clock ticks at 7 PM, you sit in your car whistling and smiling ear-to-ear.
Just the thought of having a super-productive day at the office gives us a lot of joy and contentment. However, in reality, we know that our life isn’t that productive. To motivate employees and skyrocket your productivity, we have broken the word ‘productivity’ into a list of things that can boost your workplace efficiency. That sounds productive, isn’t it?
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Let’s take a look at them:
P- Plants
Introducing plants and flowers at an office environment has many benefits for employees and employers. They add a lot of organic elements in an otherwise drab office environment. A study revealed that significant reductions were recorded amongst employees where plants were located in the office.
- Tension/Anxiety – 37% reduction
- Depression – 58% reduction
- Anger/hostility – 44% reduction
- Fatigue- 38% reduction
Apart from removing pollutants from indoor air, it is believed that plants increase workers productivity by 15%. The effects aren’t just psychological, greener workspaces are known to have physical effects such as lowered blood pressure and reduction in stress.
R – Rock the clock
One of the quickest ways to get things done is to timebox them. Timeboxing refers to the act of putting strict boundaries on an action or an activity. It gives you a good chance to get the task accomplished on time. It is one of the oldest tricks used by people who excel at time management.
Setting time boundaries around your work action will get you done more in less time. Timeboxing also contributes to making you more focused and retain information for longer times. If you are focused during your work, you would observe a steep rise in your productivity.
O – Open office plan
Open office plans are known to create an atmosphere of great collaboration between all levels of employees. As the architecture of an organization is designed in a way where there are no defined property boundaries like that of walls, so everyone in an office irrespective of their title is on even ground. The openness breaks down the communication barriers and allows workers to collaborate effectively.
As seniors and bosses aren’t in their confined offices, the open office increases the chance of more employee collisions which promotes more encounters amongst employees. It not only promotes more natural light but is also cost-effective.
D – Digital screens that track team productivity
If you ask any effective project manager how to boost productivity, he will suggest you track your progress at regular intervals. Knowing what other team members are doing, how they are doing it, and where company is heading makes you a well-aware and well-informed project manager.
Many project managers are using ProofHub to track the overall performance of a team. ProofHub clearly shows how resources are being utilized, how the projects are progressing so that you can get rid of inefficiencies in the project. Representing the critical project information in a beautiful format, ProofHub acts a great tool that makes more room for productivity in an organization.
U – uplifting office decor
A slew of research reveals how everything from the artwork on the walls to the modern furniture plays an important role in improving productivity at workplace. Picture yourself working in a workplace that is not well-lit and the interior is not pleasing to the eyes. Would you feel motivated and inspired to work in such surroundings? No, you won’t! It’s the little things like these that matter the most.
The point that we are trying to make is not to give a stylish makeover but to make things comfortable and enhance the office surroundings for the employees. You may not realize it immediately but the colors, decor, and plants will have a profound effect on the moods and brain activity of employees.
C – company culture
When it comes to the office environment, company culture is what brings it all together. Positive work culture can have a powerful impact to boost the overall efficiency. Maybe, we can take some lessons from Google, known for cultivating the best workplace culture in the world. Instead of taking time off to take care of daily chores, Google let Googlers get those chores done in office itself. The message is simple: You take care of your work, we’ll take care of you.
Likewise, when organizations go out of their way to foster an employee-friendly workplace, employees happily do the same for them. Create a workplace culture where employees feel respected and valued for what they do and who they are.
T – temperature
Believe it or not, finding the ideal workplace temperature is essential for employee productivity. Oftentimes, employees find the temperature either too hot or too cold at an office. However, you might be wondering what exactly is the relationship between temperature and productivity? A recent study found out that 68 – 76 F is the optimum temperature range conducive to boost and retain productivity at work.
Although, it’s hard to find a degree of temperature suitable to all, try to zero in a degree comfortable to most, if not all. As found by the studies, temperature plays a big role in improving or reducing productivity, so why not start being a little considerate towards it?
I- immediate action
One of the biggest things that come in the way to be productive is procrastination. We understand that procrastination strikes everyone and can be difficult to shake it off. No matter tempting it might seem to leave the work for tomorrow, the only way you can beat it is by acting on it immediately.
Procrastination and productivity is a choice. It’s up to you if you want to do your work or leave it for tomorrow. Take immediate action on things. If something takes less than two minutes or so, do it now. Be more proactive to be more productive.
V- view
However counterintuitive it may seem, your outdoor surroundings have a direct effect on your productivity inside an office. Do you know that employees feel up to 16% more productive when they have an outdoor view? It can be nice to have landscaped areas or natural scenes outside your window. While any view is better than no view.
There are days when employees have a huge workload, looking out of the window can help them to ease up a little and give eyes a pleasant sight to look at. So, if you have windows in your office, making employees sit near windows can be the fastest way to more happier and productive employees.
I- invest in technology
There are many recurring tasks that employees do almost every day that can be easily automated and can save them a good number of minutes. Being productive is as much as about working smart than working hard. There are so many task management software in the market that can help professionals to organize their work.
Many organizations and freelancers use ProofHub that makes task management less stressful. The online task management software empower teams to work together, get tasks delivered on time, allow teams to focus on getting things done and become productive.
T- turn off notifications
The next time you’re working on a high-priority task, turn off your email as well as mobile phone notifications. You’d ask why? That’s because constant email alerts on your desktop or phone can break your focus. It takes 64 seconds for a person to recover from being interrupted by an email notification or Whatsapp message.
If you can’t turn them off completely, it’s better that you set a fixed time to check them. This way you can prevent yourself being distracted by them and focus on the task at hand and be more productive.
Y- your desk
Chaos may breed creativity but organization is the key to success. Declutter all the irrelevant stuff from your desk. It’s hard to get the ideas flowing and focus on work when you have everything scattered on your table. To get more productive, organize your table. While organizing it, keep things as minimal as possible.
Think about what you use the desk maximum for. Get rid of the things that are not contributing to your overall productivity in any way. Stick those cheesy motivational quotes to get some motivation to work hard when you don’t feel like. Remember, clearing your desk will clear your mind and clarity makes way for focus which further translates to overall productivity at workplace.
To perform at your absolute best and take your productivity to a whole new level make the most of the above-mentioned tips. If you use some other tricks to boost your workplace productivity, do share them in the comments below.
