5 Habits that are Decreasing Your Productivity at Work

Completing tasks without stretching your daily hours is something that employers are already brainstorming to achieve. This is a concern because there’s a significant disparity in the output against the resources consumed by every employee. While an average American ends up working 258 hours extra every year (1 hour every day approx.), the expectations from workplace productivity have fueled the debates again.

At the personal level, the everyday productivity quotient is influenced by hundreds of factors. People’s habits are one of the leading entries in the list. So be it inefficient management of your time or ignoring health, identifying the bottlenecks in your current routine is the need of the hour. This article highlights the 5 main habits that are deteriorating employee productivity quotient at work.

Checking notifications

There’s a reason why organizations have a policy that restricts the usage of mobile phones during working hours. Mobile phones are the greatest source of distraction since the enormous content available is difficult to resist. In the US, 50% of smartphone users check their phones multiple times in an hour. And this is a sign no less alarming as the notifications from social media apps, chat apps, emails instantly break the focus you had built. Make it a habit of not scanning anything except your official email or any other project management tool you have subscribed to. Set contact filters so that you get notified about work-related emails and pings only during your working hours.

Having lots of things at the desk

The work desk is a personal space and we tend to fill it with personal items, mostly unwanted. Things like books, pictures, devices, food boxes contrive towards a messier place.

Having a cluttered free desk is one of the most important productivity hacks since it is directly related to visual distraction. The more things we see around, the higher are the chances that we detach away from the point of focus. Especially jobs those of which are detail-oriented, cleaner surroundings do have a productive impact. However, it’s perfectly alright to have a few important possessions in reach.

Ignoring the importance of using productivity tools

There’s a common misconception that productivity tools are just meant for managers, team leaders and decision-makers. It is important to understand that task management is essential for every person and sometimes demands automated assistance. There are thousands of tools that help project management including scheduling and responding to meeting invites, accumulating email inboxes from different ids into one dashboard, outlining daily tasks, setting long-term goals and tracking progress. In fact, as per the harmo.ie study, 67% of the surveyed respondents believed working gets faster if the information from different apps appeared in a single dashboard. procrastination is a very common thing but finding the right workflow management tools like CRM, HR, finance, etc are efficient, quick and helpful in many ways.

Eating at your desk

Sipping your coffee while staring at the screen is what we all do. No matter how wonderful a multitasker you are, doing anything alongside work will divide the focus and often lead to distraction. Besides causing burnout, this takes a toll on your creative abilities. Quality outputs are achieved by deep focus and eating will only diminish it. Eating, itself is a meditational experience and should be done separately, away from the work desk. So next time, don’t turn down an invite to the cafeteria. However, keeping a snack jar on the table for quicker access is fine.

Not taking breaks

Staying in the chair all day long is nothing but insensitive towards our body and a sure shortcut to deteriorate productivity. When you don’t get up from the seat, problems in the hip joints and the knees ought to occur. Taking short breaks at regular intervals lets your mind buffer and reboot before you take up the next set of tasks. As mentioned earlier, doing everything at the work desk is not a preferable idea. You must always look forward to getting up and moving away from the desk for a while. Just take a quick stroll across the floor. Go near the window, grab a coffee, break into a brief conversation or even check your WhatsApp. Give yourself a break.

Achieving maximum results in the shortest possible time is the driving force for all of us so that we have ample time for life outside the cubicle. In the pursuit of the same, remember that revamping the routine is an essential step.