Avoid These Time-Wasters at Work to Improve Productivity

If you are trying to improve the productivity of your team or looking for methods to work more efficiently yourself, the first important thing to do so is to avoid time-wasters at work to make the most of your work time. From the peers who often stop by for gossips to doing online shopping while you are on the clock, there are always lots of time wasters. Avoid these time-wasters at work to improve productivity.

Avoid These Time-Wasters at Work

Recognizing your time wasters is your first step in decreasing them. In this article, we have outlined some common time wasters so you can recognize the traps you and your team might fall into.

Overwhelming emails

According to research, an average person sends and receives an estimated 121 business emails every day. Reading and replying to email can readily consume a huge 28% of the workweek. Furthermore, sometimes it takes much longer to look through old messages searching for that one relevant thread where someone shared a document. If your business deals with lots of emails, there is a big chance that you are wasting hours of productive time.

Multitasking

Doing two things at once doesn’t mean achieving two things at once. Most of us are physically inadequate in concentrating on more than one thing at a time. Multitasking can reduce productivity by as much as 40%. However, there are many reasons people try to multitask at work, from nearing deadlines to repeated delays. You might feel like you’re getting more done, but you’re just making the same tasks take longer and probably delivering worse results.

Unnecessary meetings

Meetings are an essential part of any business but sometimes, they seem less important and more corrupt than they have to be. That’s because unnecessary meetings tend to be draining on employees and waste company time.

Social Media

Checking your social media accounts in your break time is fine. The problem is that it is so addictive that it can quickly add up when you check your accounts 5 to 6 times every day. A study reveals that workers waste at least an hour and a half every day scrolling through their social media accounts during work time. If we make a rough estimate of the entire week, you can lose almost a whole workday on social media.

Personal Conversations

Talkative coworkers, text messages, and even personal phone calls can consume a considerable amount of time. Did you ever face a situation of non-stop gossips and realized that an hour slipped by before you noticed? Sure, it takes some time away from your to-do lists, but it’s also necessary for your team to develop closeness and support.