Smarter way to minimize wastage of working hours

Smarter way to minimize wastage of working hours

JAN 25, 2022

You see your employees come to office every day, sit in their designated workstation, log in and log out on time; but are you sure they are utilizing their working hours to the fullest? The answer would probably be no!

To minimize wastage of working hours, we must first under understand what activities are actually considered as non-productive in real terms. Ideally an employee must engage in tasks that are mentioned in his/her job description, skills for which they are getting paid, and which adds to the productivity of the organization. These activities are the primary priorities. There is a secondary category of activities which employees engage in for supporting their primary activities. However, employees have to engage in a third category of activities that were not supposed to be a part of their daily job profile, but they are substantial like administrative and HR activities or other self-well-being activities like take breaks, eat lunch, use the washroom, and travel to customers or attain industry specific seminars, etc. The latter two categories of activities are not a part of an employee’s employment contract, but they have to perform their primary tasks efficiently.

But how would you determine that time is being wasted? The answer is quite retrospective; not all the non-productive work done during the office hours can be called as wasted. For example, if you need to stretch out for a bit or read an article about self-help, it would not be right to tag them as time wasted, for employees need to relax and recharge for being efficient at job. Non-productive activities can be categorized into three categories: personal issues, work habits and corporate impediments. The following are some smart ways to check wastage of time:

• 1. It is acceptable that some time will be wasted in non-productive activities like personal call, checking social media sites, phone, and breaks. However, there should be some pre-defined policies describing about taking long breaks or attending phone calls and such other.
• 2. Implement HRMS software and tracking software to monitor the work time of the employees.
• 3. Engage employees in meaningful projects where that can make full use of their skills and interest and feel they are being recognized. Motivate employees to devise innovative work tactics and always make their contribution count.
• 4. Initiate periodic goal setting sessions and ask employees to review their own performance.
• 5. Curb access to sites like YouTube, Facebook, or Pinterest. Assess the need of internet of your employees and disconnect access to sites that are not necessary for them.
• 6. Make policies on conduct of behaviour in office and train your employees on soft skills like supervision, time management, communication, and problem solving.
• 7. Conduct sessions on stress management, talk to your employees and if possible, arrange assistance for them to maintain a good work life balance specially when that are strict deadlines to maintain or too much stress at work.
• 8. Initiate process improvement projects in your organization and understand how projects and deadlines are allotted to employees. Try to create a centralized and structured procedure with the help of automation to ensure minimum wastage of time amongst employees.