As we all know, time is of the essence in today’s workplace. No one has the patience to spend more than a few minutes with a manager who can’t produce results and meaningful change. This is an urgent and multifaceted problem that needs to be addressed and solved for good, but what exactly does this entail?
The question of how to solve this difficult problem can be answered by approaching it from three angles: organizational culture, the management skillset, and individual approaches to time management.
The Problem with Traditional Time Management Practices
Traditional time management practices focus on time rather than the quality of the tasks being performed, and the results associated with them.
In most organizations, an employee’s performance is measured by the hours he or she works and how many tasks are checked off a to-do list. It is reasonable to assume that when this kind of behavior becomes ingrained into an organization’s culture, it has a direct impact on how employees think about their work responsibilities and how they approach everyday tasks.
How to Handle Time Management Office Hours in Your Business
In today’s office world, there has been a huge shift in what managers expect and what employees expect when it comes to time management and office hours.
Thanks to the pandemic, more employees than ever are looking for flexible working and remote working options.
However, in traditional organizations, these alternatives are often under-used and turned down because they enable employees to conduct business hours in a more effective manner.
American workers want the flexibility to e-mail or text colleagues outside of their standard workdays when needed rather than sending them emails or leaving voicemails for meetings that can’t be scheduled outside of regular office hours.
The Problems With Traditional Time Management Practices
Unfortunately, traditional time management practices often lead to high staff turnover rates and unmanageable hours that result in lower employee morale, which ultimately affects productiveness at best and employee loyalty at worst.
A Lack Of Autonomy
This is especially true for organizations that have rescheduling procedures or policies that require their employees to ask for approval in order to work outside of traditional office hours.
Resignation and lower morale are often the results of employees being forced to work longer hours because there aren’t enough workers around to fill open shifts.
In many organizations, employees’ workloads increase if they need to work extra hours because their coworkers are either overworked or sick. This has a direct impact on their health and well-being, which can also affect the quality of their work and its outcomes.
As a result, this inevitably ends up affecting their professional relationships and interactions with colleagues as well as time management objectives overall.
Too Much Experience
Another issue comes when organizations don’t correctly employ people with experience and skills to complete the work they are assigned.
For example, if an employee has the knowledge and skills to take on a specific project, but their company only trusts them with running daily errands (which would require different skills), the employee might end up feeling disappointed in where their career is heading and how they can progress further in their career.
This also creates a bigger problem when employees need to take over other people’s responsibilities under certain situations as they may not have the necessary background knowledge or expertise to accomplish new tasks.
The pandemic has shown many employees that they can work in ways they never thought possible, meaning extra training such as doing an Online MBA accounting is becoming much more popular amongst employees wanting to improve their own prospects and get the job that is right for them rather than a job that is willing to take them on.
Time Management Tips on How to Make the Most of Your Time at Work
As you can see, traditional time management practices rely too heavily on structure and planning which in turn leads to poor work outcomes because the quality of tasks assigned is often not up to par with other employees’ needs or expectations.
Due to this, the dilemma of how to effectively manage time in today’s workplace is more pressing today than ever before.
Luckily, there are new and innovative ways for organizations to speed up the overall process without sacrificing quality or productivity levels.
The same goes for individuals who are looking at ways to increase their own performance and handle time management pressure in a more efficient manner: more time with high-quality results using less time overall.
Time Management Tips for Employees
If you are an employee looking to improve your own time management, or you are an HR professional looking to set out a company guide on how to employ time management, the next steps will be helpful to you.
Think Differently About Work
The first step is for employees to learn ways of thinking about their work and way of doing things which allows them to see the bigger picture associated with their tasks.
Focus On ‘Time on Task’
The second step is to consider how they can increase their productivity at work by increasing the amount of time they spend on tasks.
Most of today’s workers are spending the bulk of their day at their desks, they are losing out on opportunities to create quality work through missed breaks and short lunches.
Instead, employees should be taking breaks while they are eating lunch every once in a while, as well as taking a short walk around the office building or city when they can. These will help increase creative ways to solve problems and find creative solutions that will ultimately save time in the long run.
Look For Opportunities For Teamwork
The third step is to consider opportunities for team-oriented exercises.
Working with others may seem like a waste of time, but it can actually be quite beneficial to employees who are looking to share information and resources in order to reach their daily goals.
For example, creating a shared document that everyone can edit, such as one that includes a task management tool, will allow employees to see what’s on their co-worker’s plates so they know how best to help them or engage them in the project.
