The Top 4 Drains on Productivity in the Workplace
CommandHound has spent years working with clients to understand accountability and productivity in the workplace. We believe that knowing what the drains on productivity are is just as valuable as knowing how to improve it.
It Is Easy to Get Bogged Down On Things That Seem Important But Negatively Impact Productivity.
Based on our research, we have found that there are four major drains on productivity at work.
- Multitasking
- Procrastinating
- Disorganization
- Distractions
But how do these actually affect you at work?
Multitasking
A study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology in 2014 found that interruptions of only two or three seconds (roughly the amount of time it takes you to move back and forth between tabs on your computer) were enough to double errors. Any attempt to juggle tasks just makes your brain work harder than it needs to.
However, if you dedicate a solid hour or two to making the presentation and stay conscious of avoiding email and coworkers, you will have plenty of time to do both of those after you finish your presentation, and maybe you’ll even be able to leave the office early.
Do you want to learn productivity solutions and strategies for stopping your multitasking and actually get things done? Read the Ultimate Guide to Productivity in the Workplace for tips and tricks to curb your multitasking.
Procrastinating
Always remember that there are two types of procrastination– productive and unproductive.
Productive procrastination involves steps that make accomplishing tasks and projects easier along the way, like making plans, brainstorming, and prioritizing to-do’s. Even if you feel like you are not actually doing the task, you are still making it easier for yourself in the long run by organizing and getting yourself in a working mindset.
Unproductive procrastination is much nastier. It includes any activity that takes your attention away from the primary task, and can include things like reading articles or checking social media or talking to friends and coworkers in an effort to avoid the task at hand. This type of procrastination can go on for long enough that it actually interferes with your work, leading others to think of you as unreliable or always running late.
Stop unproductive procrastination by holding yourself and your teammates accountable at work. An app like CommandHound will keep you on top of your deadlines and make sure that nothing falls by the wayside. Learn more about the most popular productivity solutions in the Ultimate Guide to Productivity in the Workplace.
Disorganization
Studies show that the average person spends over 4 hours each week searching for papers. Executives, on average, spend an hour a day looking for missing information. These significant periods of time mean that stress and agitation become larger parts of your day, while your time for effectively doing your job decreases. This also means that the business bottom line suffers due to frustrated employees and customers who cannot get their questions answered when they want.
Beyond just the implications at work, studies have found that people who are more organized and predictable tend to eat better and live longer than their more disorganized counterparts. While disorganization has been linked to more creative thinking, organization in the workplace seems to have more regular benefits. Using an app like CommandHound that tracks your to-do’s while also holding you accountable to your teammates will get rid of your disorganization in no time!
Distractions
Distractions are the final major impediment that we have found getting in your way with office productivity. While procrastination, multitasking, and disorganization all start from within you, distractions are not quite within your control. Maybe you have a chatty coworker just one desk over, or your boss really likes to email you for check-ins every few minutes. No matter where these are coming from, distractions at work can be a major problem.
Access to the internet is partly responsible for this. A survey recently featured in the New York Times found that respondents believed that access to the internet at work made them more productive and gave them more flexibility at work. But about 35 percent of people in this survey also said that they were working longer hours as a direct result of the internet. These findings were especially true for people who worked in offices. These longer hours clearly show that the major pitfall of access to internet at work is a decline in productivity.
So how do you stop multitasking, procrastination, disorganization, and distractions from getting in your way at work? Learn how to implement the most effective productivity solutions with the Ultimate Guide to Productivity in the Workplace, and spend less time doing better work so that you can get back to the things that really matter.
