How to deal with major productivity killers at the workplace?

Read time: 7 minutes

It is often said, “You get the best sleep after a fulfilling day of work.” A productive person is always high on energy once they have accomplished all their set goals and tasks. However, it is easier said than done. Especially, in today’s times when there are many roadblocks that come on your way to productivity. Procrastination, smartphones, social groups, the internet, disorganization, and other distractions halt an individual’s steady performance. In addition, the pandemic has forced us to work from home which has its own challenges. Initially, it was complex to monitor employee’s computer working from home. All these factors have increased unproductivity among employees. This can result in a heavy financial loss to the employers. The loss of work can be a discouragement for employees. Since both ends are unable to meet their goal, it creates an urgency to eliminate all the biggest workspace productivity killers and eventually, overcome them in the long run.

10 Biggest workspace productivity killers and ways to overcome them

1. Smartphones
   It is safe to say that the current generation is living on their phones. In this aspect, technology has proved to be a bane for professionals. People get anxious when their mobile phones are kept away for a long period of time. A buzz of a notification immediately distracts the owner and all those sitting in the proximity of it. This creates an instant urge to pick up the phone and scroll through social media, resulting in many such instances.

   Make these little changes to avoid excessive usage of phones in the office:

   • Turn off the notification of all the distracting applications, especially social media.
   • Keep a track of your screen time and try to reduce it.
   • Give yourself a fixed amount of time to check your phone and scroll through your favorite social media apps.
   • In case of an urgent call, step aside from the main workspace and then attend the call.
2. Browsing through websites
   Often workers tend to browse through various other websites on their computers. They might be engaging in some personal work and can obviously disturb the flow of work.

   Avoid this by taking these measures:

   • The company can block all sites which are not related to work.
   • Address all the employees and explain the rationale behind all these steps.
   • Workers can complete all such petty tasks during their breaks or after work.
3. Distraction from colleagues
   Colleagues can either help you to reach the pinnacle of work discipline or completely shatter it. A little bit of conversations among colleagues is natural. However, the same habit can turn into the biggest productivity killer if overdone. It must be done in moderation, such that nobody’s work is getting hampered, and all the deliverables are being achieved.

   Measures that can be taken to avoid excessive conversations:

   • Employers can be transparent and have a healthy discussion regarding any change or rumor which has been doing rounds in the office.
   • Engage in the chatter during lunch or post working hours.
   • Keep in mind to maintain a healthy balance between work and chit-chat.
4. Not prioritizing work
   Wise people will always prioritize their work according to their attention span, time of the day, and the importance of work. You must keep a note of the hours in which you are most and least productive. The work or meetings which require a decent amount of attention should be scheduled in the mornings. Keep all your less important work like emailing and telephoning for the second half of the day. In addition, keep 5 to 10 mins separately for clearing your email box, so that it doesn’t collect a huge cluster of unnecessary and spam emails. This ensures prioritizing work from most to least important during an entire day.
5. Frequent breaks
   Taking a smoke or snack break in between work can prove to be a breather for your mind. It can be refreshing and you can start the work again with the same energy. However, if employees start taking these breaks frequently, it disturbs the workflow and eventually won’t be able to deliver the work on time. Also, high-calorie snacks can make the employees lethargic which results in low productivity throughout the day.

   Keep these breaks efficient by:

   • Setting a time limit and frequency limit on these breaks and adhering to them.
   • Employers can introduce certain rules and regulations regarding breaks.
   • Keep an eye on the snacks which you are consuming.
   • Avoid heavy snacking during working hours.
6. Congested workspace
   Often professionals who work from small cubicles tend to get bored and claustrophobic very soon. Since they are sitting alone in that tiny cubicle and only looking at their system throughout, an inconvenience is bound to happen. To avoid this, office spaces can be designed in such a manner that is appealing and attractive to the employees. They should have a place to take a walk, relax and interact with others. This makes way for a healthy working environment.
7. Unnecessary meetings
   Meetings and discussions are assets for collaboration and idea generation among teams. It also maintains discipline in the employer’s daily schedule. But uninformed meetings generally lead to low outcomes. Workers cannot instantly come up with ideas, and this is an unrealistic expectation. Also, the number of meetings should never be overdone. Overplanning always leads to low execution. The organization needs to find the right number of meetings in a day and communicate the same to the employees well in advance.

   Avoid unproductive meetings by doing the following:

   • Inform the workers about any meeting at least 8-10 hours in advance.
   • Keep all the discussion crisp and to the point.
   • Ensure all the necessary points are covered in that single meeting.
   • Do not overdo it.
8. Technical hitches
   All the employees are dependent on their system for working smoothly. If the system stops working, that automatically leaves the individual idle. As an organization, it is necessary to make sure that all your systems and other equipment are working seamlessly. In case of even a slight problem, it must be repaired immediately before the employee starts their day’s work.
9. Poorly organized workspace
   An unorganized workspace gives birth to an unorganized mindset. Files and documents all over the desk, pending emails, missed deadlines, and missed meetings will always keep you off the track. To be productive at work, ensure you get all your stuff organized properly and then start over with a fresh mindset.
10. No work-life balance
    Every individual needs to understand that work is a part of their lives and not the other way round. Under-working, as well as over-working employees, are not effective in the longer run. The latter can suffer from burnout, illness, lack of sleep, stress, and frustration. A happy and satisfied employee is the key to a successful organization.

    Improve your work-life balance by doing these:

    • Make sure to complete all your work during the specified working hours only.
    • Do not take your work back home.
    • Organizations should allow employees to work from home and offer flexibility on some days whenever needed.
    • A decent number of leaves is necessary for everyone.

How to ensure high productivity during work from home?

Ever since the pandemic hit in 2020, most industries have managed to move to remote work. Some of them have even decided to continue with it. But the major concern which arises, is how to ensure that employees are being productive while working from home? The answer is quite simple, the organization needs to set up a strong employee monitoring method.

This level of trust can only be provided by a professional software like the Kernel Employee Desktop Live Viewer which monitors all work-from-home employees and records their activities which can be viewed in real-time or later. It is well capable to even monitor employee Skype chat conversations and many more activities. These are certain features that make it an ideal tool during these times-

• The monitoring of all the employees’ screens is done irrespective of their geographical locations.
• It is wholly hidden from the eyes of the employees. Hence, no interruption to their ongoing work.
• All the screens of the systems are recorded live.
• Unlimited screens can be monitored at the same time.
• The software allows you to shut down and restart their systems in case of some emergency situations.
• The rights for viewership can also be delegated to others.

Conclusion

From employers to employees, productivity is required all to smoothly run the organization. But often various external factors challenge productivity in the workplace. These factors include- smartphones, browsing, distractions from colleagues, not prioritizing work, frequent breaks, congested workspace, unnecessary meetings, technical hitches, poor organization, and no work-life balance. All these have been discussed at length in the article along with the ways to overcome them. A professional utility Kernel Employee Desktop Live Viewer can be used extensively to monitor employees during this work-from-home period.