More than two and a half hours a day are lost through technological and individual inefficiencies, adding up to around 80 days a year per employee. These are the dramatic findings of research from BACS Payment Schemes, which interviewed over a thousand employees of small firms and found that PC problems, printer predicaments, and colleague conflict are taking up massive proportions of the average working day in the current office space environment.
Technology tops the list of time-wasting as slow and crashing computers combine with infuriating printer jams can cost employees up to 48 minutes every day. Dealings with colleagues also feature heavily, wasting 34 minutes a day while needless phone calls (26 minutes), meetings (23 minutes), and emails (16 minutes) complete the top five. BACS offers some tips to make the office space more efficient.
- Ask employees to communicate with you about problems with other staff; for example, detailing extra work they take on due to a colleague’s absence or inefficiency.
- Collect data on absence and use it to find out who covers the extra workload and ensure they feel supported and appreciated for doing this.
- An hour’s training on a software package or in basic computer trouble-shooting can save much more time later.
- Although it may appear contrary, encouraging staff to take regular, five-minute breaks can increase productivity as staring at a computer screen for hours on end can be detrimental. Business owners would do well to follow this advice themselves too.
About The Sundance Company
Established in 1976, The Sundance Company has the experience to help you with your commercial real estate needs in Boise, Meridian, Nampa, and the greater Treasure Valley. If your requirements include property management, leasing, real estate development, project planning, construction or space planning then look to us. The Sundance Company has more than 1.5 million square feet of office and industrial space available in prime Boise and Meridian locations. More information available at www.sundanceco.com or 208.322.7300.
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