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Running a business is already challenging without thinking about how well your employees do their jobs. Of course, it is a part of your job as the leader of the organization to keep the company afloat.
Still, it won’t hurt to seek out help when it comes to these things, especially when your staff’s productivity is involved. You can have them trained for specific tasks. You may even choose unconventional productivity boosters, like allowing short but frequent breaks.
This article discusses the three most practical tech-based productivity secrets that small businesses can benefit from.
1. Provide Employees the Right Tools for the Job
Lacking the proper tools to perform tasks is the worst productivity killer in business. Scrambling to find ways to carry out their jobs with limited resources can make employees feel so frustrated and demotivated that they become less productive.
Fortunately, technological advancements now make work easier. Invest in the right set of equipment and tools to boost your employees’ efficiency in finishing their tasks, while making them feel more inspired to get more things done.
With the right tools, you can also automate tasks that would usually take up much of your employee’s time. These can also ensure the accuracy and quality of their output. This is particularly crucial in selecting skill-specific tools, like a drawing tablet and computer for graphics artists or a good quality camera for photographers.
Of course, you shouldn’t forget about the basics. Depending on the industry and your business’s specifics, you may also need to provide mobile devices for each of your employees.
Suppose you’re not ready to invest in brand-new company phones. In that case, you can buy a refurbished iPhone for each of your staff members to ensure unhindered communication with customers, business partners, and other employees. One more solution that helps to avoid significant spending on phones is using a landline phone service, so your managers can always keep in touch with clients even without internet.
2. Make Work Setups More Flexible
Different people perform best in various settings. While you may work at your peak when in the office, your employees may feel more comfortable in an environment other than their desks.
That said, another vital solution to improve employee productivity is to let them work where they feel most comfortable. Rather than thinking about the method through which they get the work done, focus on the results.
If they are more focused and motivated to work after not going through the daily commute, consider implementing a work-from-home setup. If they find it easier to work on their phones, let them.
Whether it’s working on mobile or remotely through the Internet, there are many technological provisions that can help make work more flexible while still ensuring productivity, including:
Group Chats
Meetings often take up a considerable amount of energy and time. The same goes for back-and-forth emails.
Considering these, take advantage of group chats for your team. Apps like Slack and Fleep are excellent tools for group messaging and discussions over chat, making communication across teams and the entire company more manageable and organized.
They also minimize time and effort spent in sending emails and allow employees to attend to urgent matters immediately. This way, you’ll be able to get rid of the classic excuse of missing the email.
The best part is that these group messaging apps can be accessed from both mobile and desktop devices. You don’t even need to have the app installed to read and respond to messages since most of them also offer web-based access.
Task and File Management Tools
Besides chats, collaboration apps and software also ensure that everyone is on the same page and can contribute to a project efficiently.
From simple note-taking to more elaborate file sharing, task management across the company would require less time for uploading and downloading files and repeating remarks with the help of tools like Google Drive, Google Keep Notes, and Trello.
Virtual conferences
Sometimes, written messages aren’t enough to clear things up about a project. In this case, consider using video call apps and software that allows your employees to talk to each other, no matter where they are. Skype, Zoom, and Google Meet are some of the best software for these virtual meetings.
Time Tracking
Time-cards are now a thing of the past, thanks to time-tracking apps that let business owners and team leaders monitor time spent on certain tasks.
Besides allowing you to determine whether your employees spend their time working (especially for a remote work setup), time trackers also hasten the computation of wages since the HR won’t need to check and calculate time logs manually.
More than that, these apps allow you to get useful insights into how the company’s time is spent and use it to identify optimization opportunities that could improve project planning and overall productivity.
3. Remove the Need for File Sharing
File sharing takes up precious time that could be used to perform other tasks. Besides waiting for one employee to send files to another, asking for documents to be sent can distract someone who’s focused on a specific task.
Since sharing files is a fundamental and common task your employees do daily, why not remove the need for it altogether?
Instead of sending and receiving files the traditional way, use file-sharing technology like Google Drive and Dropbox to make files ready and accessible to all authorized personnel. All you need to do is give the link to personnel needing access to the files.
These tools also allow the original document owners to designate roles to people using it. For example, files shared via Google Drive can be set to “View Only” mode to prevent those who shouldn’t be changing anything in the document from altering data, intentionally or not.
Plus, these file-sharing tools also make tracking changes easier. This will allow team members to identify who made what changes and clarify things, if necessary.
True Productivity Solutions
Besides providing your employees with coaching and mentoring for better performance at work, implementing useful tools and systems within your company also bolsters productivity significantly. Use the knowledge you gained from this article and watch your business grow today.
5 Tips For Increasing Productivity When Working Remotely
About the Author
Mirza Saqib Habib is the Business Manager at Dubai-based Teckzu, the perfect one-stop shop to discover, browse, and buy new and refurbished electronics such as smartphones, tablets, laptops and accessories. Mirza comes from a strong E-commerce background with over 6 years of regional experience. He has helped kick-start many startups in the past and is passionate about using technology to facilitate a seamless digital user experience.
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