Any company or organization is run successfully by hard working, efficient employees. But the biggest reason behind a successful company is that the productivity at workplace is always on top notch. Success is not only about talent but also about the productive work the employees are doing consistently. Making small changes to work habits will drastically improve the levels of productivity and office efficiency. This will enable you to deliver quality work in a shorter period of time without wasting time on unnecessary tasks.So here in this article let us discuss how the productivity can be improved at work place to get better results.
#1 Take short and intermittent breaks at work
Productive work doesn’t always mean sitting at your desk and clocking hours after hours. This in no way makes an employee productive at work. Spending long hours at desk causes fatigue and shoulder pain. So take small break in the midst of work and keep your mind active.
#2 Stay Close To Your Office
Always find your accommodation near to your office. Commuting to office is probably the biggest time killer if your place of residence is far from your office. Although there are few companies that allow to work from home But not all companies provide that privilege. So make sure you stay near your office and your travel timings are not impacted in your work.
#3 Perform one task at a time
Although multitasking is an amazing talent but that does not reap good results every \]time. Multitasking is probably one of the biggest deterrents of productivity at work. Focus on a single task one at a time. Once completed, switch your gear to next task. The results for each tasks will be much better if you stop multitasking. Stay committed to a single task and produce the best quality work possible.
#4 Avoid Unnecessary Meetings
Meetings are one of the most important aspects of work. But sometimes, office meetings are very unproductive. It is often seen a whole team is attending a meeting/conference where as a maximum of two persons are required to attend. Strictly say no to such meetings when your presence is not required. Sometimes meeting invite comes in masses and consult only with your manager/supervisor whether your attendance is necessary. The productivity of your work will be improved immensely.
#5 Learn from Mistakes
Don’t expect to be perfect at work every time. Productive employees try several options or ways to get the best results at work. They learn from mistakes. Mistakes always teach you a lesson .Those mistakes should not happen again. Diligent work as well as smart work are the productive aspects of any successful task in any organization.
#6 Proactiveness
Proactiveness improves productivity to a larger extent. You never know what be will your next assignment. But being proactive gives you intuition to what can be your next task. As you are owner of a set of tasks, you are well aware of your current tasks. It can be an extension of current tasks or some new tasks depending on your previous completed tasks as they maybe interlinked in some way. Thus proactiveness can make your productivity improved to a large extent.
#8 Maintain Etiquettes
Sometimes employees are dressed shabbily. Dressing in proper attires in office gives a great mental boost and confidence to work. You should be comfortable in the dress you wear, and always follow the office dress codes. It definitely gives more motivation and improves productivity at work.
#9 Minimise interruptions
Interruptions are sometimes unavoidable. Distractions are avoidable. To improve productivity at work,identify all the distractions. The distractions can be any of the following – your mobile. Mobiles are biggest distractions in work. Try switching off the mobile and see your productivity at work. In case of any interruption, you need to adapt with your working environment and act accordingly. Say for example – an obnoxious employee is talking loudly in your workplace. You can politely ask him to lower down his voice and stay focussed at work.
#10 Make your own deadlines.
Any tasks will have deadlines. But the most productive employees are the ones who complete the tasks well before deadlines. It’s not that completing before deadline is necessary for appreciation and competing with your peers. The point is that you complete before deadline so that you may have buffer time to work on the minor stuffs on the same task. If you finish exactly on deadline, there may be some missing portions which you might have missed and it may be too late to complete. So in order to finish a task well before deadline, first try to identify the complex part of the work and finish it fast and then move on to the lesser difficult task and complete within deadline. In this way, you can improve your productivity at work.
#11 Make your workstation aesthetic
This might sound weird to you but there is no brainer if you keep your workstation clean, you will be able to focus on your work more. Put flowers and pictures especially some landscape around your cubicle or workstation. This can boost your productivity to a greater extent as mind remains fresh and propel bright ideas and simultaneously boost your productivity.
#12 Don’t have to be a perfectionist
It’s natural for anyone to vouch for perfection is any job or task. But even though you complete the task, you still think you lack perfection in your task. Of course, there is always place for improvement and modification but that cannot hold or stop you from moving on to the next task. You can always come back and improve your previous task or make further modifications depending on any change requirements. That doesn’t mean you lack perfection. Perfection is nothing but an illusion to stay perfect. Work with your maximum potential and stay happy with your task.
#13 Right tools and infrastructure
While you are working on your task, make sure you have every tools required in place before you commence with your task. You must have the right equipment, tools, software etc before you undertake any task. It not available, notify this to your manager and get this sorted or else this will significantly impact on the productivity of your task.
#14 Setting realistic goals
Setting realistic goals is vital. You can improve productivity if you set realistic goals from the start. Discuss your goals with your manage and feel motivated to achieve those goals. It will push you hard and you will be always be productive at work. Never set unrealistic goals that get take a toll on your health and your performance may get affected by pushing beyond your limits of effort.
Conclusion
However, employees must not neglect taking food at work. Thus timely breakfast, lunch is very necessary to have productive day at work. Maintain a heathy life , You will do wonders at both professional and personal life.
Great tips! I will use them all! I am trying to focus on the perform single task at time, because I can see how I make mistakes when I work on many tasks at the same time Thank you for sharing!
Great article with practical tips.
THe unnecessary meetings or unnecessarily long meetings is what gets me every time
You have compiled a great list of ideas, thank you 🙂 Productivity is crucial, especially in today’s world when it feels like we have more and more to do, whereas time remains limited.
Great tips. It’s so hard to stay focused at work, especially as a work at home mom! I need to prioritize my goals more. Thanks for the article!
Glad you liked the article Patricia.
Preforming one task at a time is definitely something I need to use I just want to take it all on! I also love the part about being comfortable in your work attire. There is nothing like wearing something you just don’t feel comfortable in you’re only focused on that.
Well said Jasmine. Focussing on one task at a time is very important which is often neglected.
Taking breaks is so important and something that too many people neglect. Productivity goes down fast after 2 hours so if you can’t take a break for your own sake, take it for the sake of your work quality then. Although, you should definitely prioritize yourself! 🙂
Teresa Maria | Outlandish Blog
Exactly Teresa. You need to take breaks at work. Quality of work decreases if one works continuously for long time without any break.
Great suggestions! I think we often take on multiple things at the same time thinking that multi-tasking will ultimately help us get more done, but we’re actually hurting our productivity. I’m going to have to try some of your suggestions!
Nice post. You make a good point with etiquette. It’s great for confidence and makes you really comfortable.
Really great post thanks for sharing these tips
Some really useful tips — I need to remind myself to take breaks, that is my downfall! Fab post!
Good article. I just have to stop multitasking and focus on one thing at a time. Also, I don’t take breaks as I should and my eyes and back are not happy about it. Thanks for sharing, I’ll try to follow your tips.
This is such a lovely and detailed blog post and I love the points you mentioned here will definitely come in handy!
Ayse x
Well written and informative. Some great tips to enhance productivity and avoid the afternoon slump.
Loved it!
Thank you Shamz.
Very practical article. I find it difficult to end meetings, even when they go off topic or dragging on.
Yeah sometimes they really go off topic.
Great tips and practical as well. These also make the probability of burnout less.
Insightful tips! I think these would be very beneficial to increasing work productivity and help individuals stay organized without burning out.
Glad you find the article helpful Tiffany.
Excellent tips – I’ll have to implement a few for when I have free time at work. I teach, so every minute is vital.
Glad you found this article helpful Georgia.
Great tips! Will make sure to follow this in my work 😊
Helpful list, thank you! Eliminating distractions and doing one task at a time definitely helps me be productive.