Work is now busier than ever. It's global not local, it's 24/7 and it's moving faster than it has ever before. Considering this, it's important to differentiate between a busy worker and a productive worker. We need to give our employees time to think and not expect them to work long hours to get things done.
Here are a few ideas of what employers can do to get that rested and more productive worker.
- Lead by example. If your senior team pride themselves on sending emails at 11 at night or 5am, that is the culture you are creating. You need to let your employees know it is OK to have time away from work :your rested workers will be more productive and creative as a result.
- Worry less about where your employees are and focus on what gets done. Employers are often concerned if they can;t see their employees at their desk. If you agree clear goals and outputs, you really should not care where people are as long as they complete tasks and meet goals.
- Ban phone and laptop surfing during meetings. Ten years ago if someone was talking to you and you just started tapping on your landline at the same time, it would have been considered very rude. We now find it acceptable to have people on their phone while someone is talking. Meetings will take half as long if everyone puts away their devices and actually listens to what's being said.
- Run training on how to rule your technology, not let it rule you. You'll be amazed how little employees know about search settings on Outlook, creating rules on email, turning off alerts and updating notifications so they only see them if they tap on the icon. Our brain is wired for distraction so we need to understand these basic technolgoy hacks. Otherwise, our employees will react instantly to everything, as opposed to focusing on doing the things that will make the business great.
We need to remember that companies do not innovate, people do. So companies will need to take care of their main competitive asset - their people.