We all waste time at work, intentionally or not. But what is waste, and what actually increases the bottom line? We asked 515 business leaders and senior decision-makers in seven countries what their biggest culprits are – and found that it is not the friendly chat with a co-worker over a cup of coffee. It is a matter of management and technology.
Our Powering Productivity research found that inefficient processes that sap time and energy away from employees is the most common cause of wasted time, whether it is through teams doubling up on efforts, general miscommunication, or just sub-optimized methods of working. Not only does it harm productivity, but these wasted efforts can often have a demoralizing effect on employees as well.
In the workplace – where time is money – it is essential that companies streamline productivity.
This is easier said than done, of course. You would be hard pressed to find a company that’s convinced that it will reach its efficiency targets.
Productivity tools can help to boost confidence in this regard. Technology is key to getting the most out of organizational performance and it can be expected to play an increasing part in company productivity initiatives. Efficiency is something that goes hand in hand with technological investment.
As part of their investment in productivity tools, companies will want to know they’re getting a good ROI, return on investment. But because efficiency and productivity are specific to each individual company, ROI can be hard to define. Naturally, the ROI of productivity technologies can also be a challenge to define.
Leaders in organizations should work to define what efficiency looks like to them individually. If they don’t, then their hunt for ROI will be another unproductive process that leads to more wasted time!