Unlock the Secret to Increased Productivity
Most managers and employers resisted the work from home trend. The primary reason for the reluctance to allow employees to work from home was the fear of a loss of production.
Bloomberg News published a story that work from home employees are logging more hours.
Business News Daily published a similar article regarding increased productivity for employees who work from home.
https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/15259-working-from-home-more-productive.html
It seems that these fears could be somewhat unfounded. What is it about working from home that seems to have a positive effect on employee productivity?
Let’s face it, the office is full of distractions. Water cooler gossip, the occasional chit chat either in the morning or toward the end of the day. Then you throw in extended lunches and other distractions such as impromptu meetings and working house decrease.
Stress is the leading cause of a decrease in productivity. The demand of performance can have a negative effect on our ability to complete our work. Even knowing there is a deadline doesn’t always mean we will meet the deadline.
Contrast the office atmosphere with your home office. In your home office it is just you and your work. It is more difficult to be interrupted and there are fewer distractions. Sure, if someone wanted to, they could binge watch Netflix rather than complete their to do list. They could do this at the office as well.
Fewer distractions, and less stress seem to point toward more production. Employees who work from home also appear to work more hours, as they start their day early and end early. They may also take a working lunch and work later.
A question that should be at the forefront of your mind should be, what happens when we return to the office?
The short answer is, we will quickly fall back into our old habits and routines. As a result, productivity will return to pre Covid-19 levels.
It is possible that many businesses will maintain some amount of work from home capability. In fact, we can expect to see an increase in work from anywhere. Much like work from home, work from anywhere employees share a similar level of productivity.
So, what is the secret to unlocking more productivity out of your employees?
Stress Reduction.
Finding ways to reduce employee stress while maintaining accountability is a careful balance. Companies should find ways to keep stress low. Accountability doesn’t need to be thrown out the window, and in fact accountability is necessary.
One way to introduce a focus on accountability is to stress time management. Knowing how to properly manage your time will teach focus and reduce idle time. Proper time management is vital and can go a long way toward reducing the pressure to perform.
Working from home and the general sense of freedom that accompanies it, seems to have had a positive effect on work performance.
There are exceptions to every rule and as my teenagers would tell you rules are made to be broken.
You may find that your work from home employees are less productive. Not everyone can manage their own to do list. Some people require more management than others.
Certainly, a mobile workforce has the capability to be more productive. The ability to work from anywhere is both exciting and a little scary.
In order to empower your employees to work from home or work from anywhere you need to have the right communications platform.
Unified communications can bring your email, CRM, customer service as well as voice and audio calling all under one roof. Done properly Unified Communications is a productivity enabler.
Done wrong however, the wrong Unified Communications solution will negatively impact your bottom line.
To learn more about solutions that are designed to empower your business check out our website.
