You may attempt to optimize your work time by hiring assistants or support staff, upgrading tools and equipment, and improving your systems. Even so, you may not be taking advantage of every minute in the day. What activities are wasting your time at work? Business news website SmallBusinessTrends.com flags the top time-wasters.
- Email. Consider the amount of time you and your coworkers spend every day wading through emails that drone on with very little meaningful information. Many workers are careless in how they are organize, write, and send emails, which eventually adds up to hours of wasted time. Use an analytics tool such as Gmail Metrics to see your company’s email usage and take further action for improvement.
- Social media. Two-thirds of American employees log into social media accounts at least once per day while at work, according to a recent survey. Twenty percent of respondents reported spending an hour or more of their workday on social media. You probably don't want to block social media sites on your company’s internet—it’s an essential lead generation tool. But you may be able to set boundaries around social media usage while in the office.
- Meetings. At first, meetings may not immediately seem like time-wasters. But they require advanced prep time and include multiple people at once. Sometimes, meeting discussions can be had in a short email exchange, or fewer attendees may be necessary. Reduce your total attendee number and your meeting time, and start with a clear agenda beforehand to get more control. For many, meetings are a “necessary evil,” so try working to make them as productive as possible rather than getting rid of them completely.
- Talking and texting. People often chat and gossip with others at work or talk and text with friends and family members. You don’t want to stop communicating with others, and you don’t want to damage teamwork dynamics. But chit-chat unrelated to work is another time-sucker: 50 percent of respondents in a recent survey say “talking and texting” is the leading cause of wasting time, followed by “gossiping” (42 percent).
Although these time-wasters are important to curb, don’t micromanage your office or team. You may feel tempted to start policing people’s habits to ensure productivity, but studies have shown that micromanagement has a negative effect on morale. Taking moments in the workday to use social media may actually help relieve stress and feel closer to family and friends.
Source: “Time Wasters are Your Business’s Worst Enemies, Here are 4 to Watch,” Small Business Trends (Feb. 25, 2018)
