One of the biggest challenges most human resource professionals face on a daily basis is keeping employees concentrated on the job. A distracted employee can cost an employer more than $10,000 dollars a year. Just think, what could you be doing with $10,000 more dollars a year for each employee? That’s a lot of money that is being wasted. To help combat the problem, we’ve come up with the top seven ways you can increase productivity in the workplace by having your employees concentrate harder.
1. Break the Workday into Segments: Studies suggest that breaking the workday into segments allows employees to re-energize and stay focused in the midst of the many distractions in the workplace. Don’t spend your entire day trying to work on one task—instead, break your projects down into smaller, more manageable tasks that you can actually accomplish.
2. Gamification: Employers can use gamification to increase productivity in the workplace, by rewarding those who are the most productive. It’s as easy as using a simple To-Do list program, such as Todoist. This tool tracks the number of items you check off on your list and gives you points if you finish early, and dings you if you postpone a task for another day.
3. Music: Finding the right music to play in the background can be a good way for employees to become more energized and keep them motivated throughout the day. When I listen to music at work, it’s usually the same kind of music I’d work out to at the gym, because it pumps me up and gets me going. Encourage employees to use earplugs and find their groove, or find a happy medium in music you can all listen to, to help the day breeze by.
4. Design Your Office for Work: One of the things that make an office more conducive to increased concentration is the type of furnishings you choose. Look for furniture with rounded edges and make sure you have good feng shui in the office by arranging desks to face incoming doorways and keeping the clutter down. This will create an atmosphere of productivity.
5. Use Calming Colors: You might not think of it, but having certain colors in the workplace has been shown to enhance performance. When painting your walls or selecting furniture, go for calming colors like blue or green, instead of abrasive colors like bright orange or red, to take productivity to a whole new level.
6. Working in Teams: Whether you’re self-employed or you work for a larger company, finding a partner or team to work with can help you stay on track. If you work from home as a freelancer, consider joining a co-working space in order to stay motivated.
7. Avoid Work Overload: Creating an environment where work overload is a constant struggle will greatly decrease the productivity in your workplace. A feeling of being behind on a constant basis will decrease productivity because workers begin to feel discouraged and overwhelmed. Instead, try to make workloads manageable while rewarding achievements, small and large. A positive environment will encourage each individual to do his or her best.
What helps you concentrate at work?
5 Comments
It shouldn’t necessarily be gamified, but planning your day and managing your time can actually help stay concentrated. As for me, a person juggling two jobs, it’s extremely important to stay focused all the time in order to manage to perform all my tasks. I found out that if I don’t plan every step and time spent on the task I often lose the track of time and get distracted.
I’m probably a rare case, but music doesn’t keep me concentrated and distracts me even more, because I get too involved in it. I do better in absolute silence. But usually it’s almost impossible to avoid interruptions no matter whether you work from home or from office – everywhere you’ll receive personal phone call, emails etc.
It’s a lot easier staying focused on something you are passionate about. I always do my most boring tasks first so that I have the positive things in my day to look forward to, which is also a kind of reward for me.
The loss of concentration may have other basis than just not being passionate about the job. There may be some biological or better to say medical issues. But I think that getting a good sleep and having a half decent diet helps to keep you focused. Sometimes even an extra cup of coffee may become the reason of the inability to concentrate as you become too hyped up or even shaky.
The best way to keep focused is to plan your day and keep to it, but it’s important to plug relaxation into your daily schedule. Whenever you give your brain 5 minutes break every 30 minutes or every hour it kind of reloads and you‘ll find yourself more able to concentrate on your tasks.