Are You Getting the Most out of Your Work Day?

ARE YOU GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR WORK DAY? What can you staff produce in an hour? and your INVOICE BILLABLE SERVICE MANUFACTURED SALES HOURS PRODUCTS REVENUE No matter what productivity looks like for your business, you need to get the most from work day, every day. How can technology help you save time and accomplish more? your 2 DAYS A WEEK: Time the average worker spends on unnecessary internal email. [1] YOUR BUSINESS CAN BE DIFFERENT! WHEN SHOULD X. YOU EMAIL? WHEN SHOULDN'T YOU EMAIL? • The task or question is urgent. Time spent waiting for an email response is time wasted. If you need an answer in order to finish You know an employee is already working on something more urgent. Phone calls and visits are interruptions, which can drain productivity. Ask yourself whether a task, pick up the phone. your message can wait until the current task is finished - if so, send an email instead. You need to have a conversation. If your email thread reaches three messages, a phone call will probably be more efficient. You need to share precise or complicated information. Email is a good way to provide a written reference for data or instructions. If the task is urgent, call or drop by your employee's desk, but supplement that conversation with a quick email. HOW TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP: Use a company wiki - a collaborative, easy to edit web page - to share event information, policy updates, and other company-wide information with employees instead of sending mass emails. WIKI 25%-50%: Percentage of meeting time that is actually wasted. [2] SPEND LESS TIME TALKING ABOUT WORK AND MORE TIME WORKING! Stay on topic. Enforce a "no tolerance" policy for digressions, side conversations, and rambling. If someone raises an Schedule shorter meetings. Be reasonable about attendance. Limit meeting invites to employees who really need to be there, or make the meeting optional. This ensures that employees who are working on something urgent can stay on task, while those who truly need to attend the meeting will make the time. Meetings tend to stretch to fiII available time, so give them as little "stretch" room as possible important but off-topic point, follow by scheduling shorter meetings. on it later - don't take up up everyone's time at the meeting. This will ensure more efficient meetings that don't lose everyone's attention. HOW TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP: Make calendar apps work for you; you can manually change your meetings to 10 or 15 minutes instead of the default 30-minute time slots offered by most apps. Meeting timer. keep tabs on your meetings' efficiency so you can better manage your meeting time. apps like COMA (Cost of Meeting App) can help you 76 HOURS A YEAR: Time the average worker loses to a disorganized desk. 3] CLEAR OUT THE CLUTTER AND MAKE YOUR COMPANY MORE PRODUCTIVE! HOW TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP: It's time to go paperless. Unplug the fax machine, print as little as possible, and use digital documents. Encourage employees to make their to-do lists digital – and mobile. A wide appointments without all the sticky notes. tasks and range of smartphone apps can help workers manage Become more productive every day by introducing technology MERICaN EX ESS to your business. Use ReceiptMatch", a built-in feature OPEN ReceiptMatch of the Enhanced Business Gold Rewards Card from Cature American Express OPEN to streamline your Select from Llbrary Business Card expenses. My Beceipts Settings OPEN AMERICAN EXPRESS (visual.ly THE HUFFINGTON POST SOURCES: 1). Research firm Atos Origin, 2012. http://www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2012/dec/17/ban-staff-email-halton-housing-trust 2). 3M Meeting Network survey. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201204/why-meetings-kill-productivity 3). Brother International Corporation survey. http://www.startupnation.com/business-articles/9707/1/tips-for-small-business-workers DC