Are you analysing the effort versus output achieved of your team, so that you can plan the strategy for the next project? One of the challenges that most managers face is to bring the balance between spend on employee and productivity from an employee. A manager needs to optimize the productivity of the employee without stressing him/her out and still maintain the deadlines and ensure that the results are achieved. It is a tight rope walk! So, how can you improve your return on investment (in this case, your investment in employee) to get the maximum output from each team member?
Improper management of time
Surveys conducted in many workplaces showed that employees waste a lot of time during their office hours. This time waste may be simply talking to co-workers, browsing the internet, checking their mobile phones or simply spending time at the cafeteria.
Did you know that in most companies, meetings were considered to be one of the top time-wasting tasks? It is closely followed by reports creation and updating.
While these are known ways in which employees waste time, inefficient work practices also lead to improper time management. Many employees spend extra hours at their desk or don’t complete tasks on time, simply because they don’t efficiently manage their time.
How do employees waste time even when they’re working hard?
1. Not having a clear to-do list
Employees don’t have a clear idea of the tasks that they need to prioritize. So, they will work on different tasks without knowing the deadline.
2. Multiple instructions
Instructions should be clearly given to the team at the start of a project or assignment. Giving multiple instructions and making changes after the project has started can lead to inefficiency and reduced productivity. In many cases, employees get multiple mails with different task allocations. Each time, they get a mail, they drop what they’re doing and work on the new task. So, at the end of the day, nothing concrete is completed.
3. Communication gap
There is a lot of revisions and reworks because the instructions weren’t detailed and relevant to the project in question, in the first place.
How time management can help improve team productivity?
Now, we have an idea of the ways in which employees waste time and ways in which inefficient planning leads to reduced productivity. Managers need to think of ways to address the gaps, close the loopholes and train the team in time management techniques. So, even if employees spend their time chatting with co workers or in having a long team lunch, they will make efficient use of the available time to work productively.
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