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Monthly Archives: November 2018

How much time do your employees waste?

Very few employees can honestly say they spend the entirety of their workday actually working. Whether it’s the 15 minutes you spend making your coffee in the morning or the 10 minutes catching up on Facebook after lunch, the occasional work break is inevitable.

A recent study showed that the average worker admits they waste three hours per eight-hour workday, not including lunch and scheduled break-time. However, a different study stated that workers only spent about 35 minutes, per day, not working.

While concluding the exact amount of time workers waste during their workday might be difficult (because no one wants to admit they are looking for deals on patio furniture rather than writing that “time-wasting” blog they were assigned), we can all say we have been guilty of frittering away some precious time during our workdays.

Here are the top four ways employees are wasting their time at work and a few ideas on how to be more productive during your workday.

Time Waster #1: Emails

Emailing has become the top form of communication in the workplace. What’s the first thing most of us do when we come into work? Check our emails. Technological advances in the way we communicate have brought about the notion of having to be connected at all times. Our clients—even our colleagues—tend to expect instant responses to each and every message, even when we are sick or on vacation. While email can be extremely beneficial, a lot of our workday is spent reading and answering emails. Many professionals have actually found they can get much more done during their workday if they don’t respond immediately to every single email.

Solution: Try not to check your email first thing in the mornings. Instead, spend anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour working on something more important first thing in the morning. This allows you to fully concentrate on what you have to do without any of those unread emails distracting or stressing you. You can also increase productivity by simply turning off your email notifications for short periods of time during the course of your day. It could be 15 minutes or 60, but you’ll realize that during that distraction-less time, you’ll be able to blast through your to-do list.

Time Waster #2: Online Distractions

The internet is known for luring employees deeper and deeper into its web (no pun intended) with each and every click. It is said that 60% of online purchases are made during regular work hours and 65% of YouTube viewers watch between 9am – 5pm on weekdays while (presumably) at work. Social media outlets such as YouTube and Facebook can be a great platform for brand awareness and business growth, but let’s be honest–how many times are you actually on these sites marketing for your company? You’re not. You’re wishing your uncle Brad a happy birthday. Some professionals have even admitted to spending time job hunting during work hours on the company computer–shame on you!

Solution: If you just absolutely can’t keep yourself from refreshing your Facebook feed every 10 minutes, simply block it. StayFocusd is an extension Google Chrome offers that allows you to set a certain amount of time you’re allowed to visit any website of your choice. Once that time is up, it denies further access to these sites. Company-wide, you can have your IT Company adjust your firewall settings to block certain sites entirely, for certain periods of time or just for certain people. If that seems too harsh, you can always better manage your lunch time. Take the first half of your lunch break to feed yourself and use the second half to completely indulge and get your daily fix of online distractions without feeling guilty. If you still can’t get away from these Internet sites, well, you’ve got a bigger problem, buddy.

Time Waster #3: Colleagues

Nobody enjoys spending their entire workday in silence. Humans are social creatures by nature. We all appreciate a little chat here and there during our workday. For that reason, co-workers can be awesome, but they can also be a major time suck.

What amazing thing did you do this weekend? Are we supposed to send this email this week or next? Where should I upload the document? Can you review this really quick?

We have all had those colleagues who would rather talk than work. While it can be very flattering to be the expert/most interesting one in your group, the fact that you are constantly engaged in conversation can quickly become irritating, not to mention that it can take up a huge part of your workday.

Solution: Headphones! Wear headphones while you work, at least while you’re concentrating on a project. Even if you aren’t listening to anything, having both of your headphones in will signal to your colleagues that you’re focused and in the zone. I understand some of us have very persistent co-workers who may still decide to come on over to your desk and give you a quick tap on the shoulder. At that point, simply tell them you are glad they came by because you need help with [insert irrelevant work assignment here]. If they leave your desk with some work to do, they’ll think twice next time they come on over for a chat.

Time Waster #4: Meetings

Meetings are a necessary evil in most companies. 47% of professionals say their biggest time waster is having to attend too many meetings. On average, 33 minutes a day are spent just trying to schedule these meetings. You don’t always need to have a meeting. Nothing makes an employee more frustrated than having their schedule filled with unnecessary meetings. We have all been to those meetings where literally nothing pertained to you and absolutely zero words came out of your mouth. While communication in the workplace is extremely important, there are better ways of communicating information that doesn’t involve attending meetings every other hour.

Solution: The next time you’re invited to a meeting that you believe might be irrelevant for you, ask the host why they think your presence is needed. You can then set up some sort of system where your supervisor can go in your place and simply cascade that information down to the rest of the team. If your supervisor is too busy to attend, then you could ask to meet with the host a couple minutes before to share your insight because you will not be able to stay the entire time. You can also make the suggestion that a meeting be handled via email or through your project management software. Using this strategy can at least start a project in the right direction without bogging down everyone’s time.

There are many other time wasters that we could discuss, but we’ll have to save that for another time–I have a meeting.

Who’s stealing all the bandwidth?

Click…wait. Click…wait. Click…ARGH! Sounds like someone is running out of bandwidth.

What is bandwidth?

Bandwidth is a lot like plumbing. The bigger the pipes, the more water can flow through. Similarly, the more bandwidth you have, the more data you can send or receive at any given time. An internet connection with a larger bandwidth can move a set amount of data (say, a video file) much faster than an internet connection with a lower bandwidth. However, be aware that with greater bandwidth comes greater cost and responsibility.

Is someone or something taking your bandwidth?

Our dedicated team of experts has put together a list for you to help you determine who/what’s stealing all the bandwidth? Don’t fall victim to these bandwidth bandits!

Who’s stealing all the bandwidth?

Not so long ago, it would have been ridiculous to ask an employer to give you free TV, free movies, free music and a free TV camera and crew at your house in case you wanted to work from home and conduct a meeting with coworkers. Yet, with the internet, all of these things and more are at the fingertips of most office employees and their remote counterparts. Naturally, a growing number of employees will use some or all of these services for personal use while under your roof and on the clock wasting your valuable bandwidth.

Many employees use much more bandwidth than necessary to do their jobs. As a business owner, what can you do about it? First of all, you’ve got to let your employees know that bandwidth is more than a commodity. Just like electricity, water, and leasing building space, bandwidth is a necessary expense you need to keep your business running. But unlike all the other expenses, the amount of bandwidth you truly need varies based on the workload and what you allow. It can be overused by employees who stream videos, stream music or play video games between completing company tasks. So, what are the most abused “Bandwidth Bandits”? Let’s take a look.

VIDEO:

Does your company upload or store video content on a daily basis? Many companies do these days, especially for marketing and training purposes. In addition to these, what about the videos that are being watched inbetween company projects? Viewing TV shows or movies online uses about 1 GB of data per hour for standard definition video, and up to 3 GB per hour for HD video. Downloading and streaming consume about the same amount of data. Since just about everything online is HD quality, you can see that those streaming and storing video content are usually the guiltiest bandwidth abusers in your office.

WI-FI:

Everything that is available to your employees through their internet connection is available through Wi-Fi. The extra strains Wi-Fi puts on bandwidth are caused by the users who connect their phones to Wi-Fi so they can save on their personal data plan. At no extra cost to them, they can stream video and surf online on their phones. Some people even use their phones to play video games while on (or off) their lunch breaks. Just being connected puts a small drain on your Wi-Fi, but all the rest can slow your network down to a crawl.

THE CLOUD:

Using the Cloud adds a lot of flexibility to your business. The scalability allows you to tailor your bandwidth needs as your company’s needs grow or shrink, but the amount of bandwidth usage varies as more and more files and programs are shared through the Cloud. With subscription-based software programs becoming the norm, there’s data floating in and out of your employee’s workstations all day. If you use heavy-hitting data drainers like HD video files that are shared between two or more employees, your Cloud gets weighed down fairly quickly. If not monitored properly, excess data usage through the Cloud can clog your system like hair in a bathtub drain.

VIDEO CONFERENCING:

Whether you’re working from home, meeting with clients, or even interviewing potential new employees, video conferencing is definitely a tool that makes good business sense. Many business trips have been replaced by video conferencing, and that’s good for your budget. But now you’re sending that information through your internet connection which needs to be factored into your bandwidth needs. The good news is that video conferencing costs a lot less than travel, so spending a little more on bandwidth is probably the most cost-effective way to meet with people one-on-one.

STREAMING MUSIC:

Many people enjoy listening to music while at work, and if the company allows it, then it’s no big deal. Right? Well, mostly right. Problems may arise when the streaming music is left running 24 hours a day or multiple people are competing, blasting their own tunes. The more people stream music, the more it will cause a drain on your bandwidth. Even though music streams at a low data rate, some services allow users to store their music files on the Cloud, and that causes a bump in the data flow. Accessing personal music files and streaming internet radio may not take up too much bandwidth, but the number of employees who are constantly listening to music adds up. If most of your employees listen to streaming music, then data usage should be monitored.

SOCIAL MEDIA:

Humans are social creatures and they search out ways to stay connected to people they are close to. Social media gives us many ways to stay in touch with others, but in the office, that comes at a price. When business owners calculate the bandwidth requirements for start-ups, they often don’t factor in their employee’s social media habits. Sure, most functions utilized through social media don’t use much data at all, but increasingly, video attachments are sent along with text messages. Even in a compressed state, video files are among the greediest bandwidth thieves.

As you can see, there are many ways your bandwidth is being used throughout the day and it can impact your business in a variety of ways. For example, just a few years ago, it was taboo for employees to spend time watching videos on YouTube or looking at pictures of their nephew’s graduation on Facebook during work hours. Today, it is generally accepted that employees will spend some time doing these things.

As a business owner, you can place limits or controls on these habits, but these actions may cost you in other ways. Employee morale is linked to online habits, and if employees can’t stay in touch with their friends on your time, they’ll probably take more breaks than they used to so they can wish Aunt Edna a happy birthday.

It’s a challenge to find a balance between the bandwidth your business needs and the bandwidth your employees need. As the one who writes the checks, it may not seem fair that you’re funding someone else’s online habits, but in today’s business arena, it’s the price of doing business. In the next blogs, we’ll show you how to rein in these data hogs all while maintaining positive company culture and avoiding mutiny.