3 Office Inefficiencies That Are Wasting Time And Money (And How To Fix Them)

Guest Post:
According to recent studies carried out by Salary.com and AOL.com, the average office employee spends approximately 2-3 hours a day doing nothing, waiting for information/go-ahead from the boss, or wasting time that could be channeled into doing something more productive at work.

This translates into 10-15 hours per week for the average individual. This means that if your company has 50 employees, those employees are wasting 500-750 hours weekly not getting things done. This is a lot of hours unaccounted for.

Moreover, considering that you are probably getting paid by the hour or paying your employees by the hour, it makes sense that you would want to get the most for their pay. To do this, you need to take some steps first to identify the office inefficiencies and then eliminate them.

Social Media Sites and Excessive Internet Surfing

The average employee spends hours every day browsing the internet. Whether it is on the PC at work or their mobile phones, they frequently Facebook, tweet, pin or whatever it is that catches their fancy… all on company time.

This and the fact that all organizations have Wi-Fi makes it even more difficult for them to completely focus and work. Now, we’re not saying take away the internet, we all know that it is necessary for business functions. Instead, establish a clear policy on surfing the web for recreational and unofficial purposes.

Most employees say that they will often abide by these rules and requirements if they know where the company stands on this. If that does not work, install a website blocker and filter out those time wasting sites. While this may not completely get rid of the problem, it has been known to significantly improve employee productivity.

Fax Machine

Fax machines are outdated compared to e-mail and other internet technologies. They are time wasting, require you to wait by them to get the fax, and offer no privacy whatsoever – even when you have an office of your own.

Here’s what we mean: imagine that you have a meeting with a client and are running late, but need crucial information about the client that someone has to fax to you. Waiting by the fax machine is bound to cause you to be late.

The good thing is there’s an alternative: online fax systems. They are private, secure, easily accessible anywhere you are and can only be accessed by you or designated people. That alone can save you hours and, more importantly, it can help you get things done faster… and we all know the world is about fast results now. As with all business decisions however: be sure and compare what’s out there before selecting your company’s online fax service, great comparison services exist such as www.findafax.com.

Socializing With Co-workers During Working Hours

This is not so much an equipment problem as it is about the individuals themselves. It is not like socializing is bad – after all we are all social beings and we frequently need to collaborate on projects, it is just the fact that meaningless socializing during office hours tends to impact on worker’s output and productivity.

Employees typically get distracted; procrastinators use it as an excuse to get even less done and others struggle with being able to carry out their duties whilst actively engaged in a conversation about their favorite sports team. So, what can you do?

As an employee, get a headset that tunes out all distractions and sends a subtle message that whenever you have it on, you are busy. Also, establish a work schedule. This will help your coworkers understand when to come chit-chat and when not to.

Some other significant time wasters in the office include attending to personal business on company time, time wasting meetings (we all know how that goes), and  incessant email checking. We get it that you want to be connected all the time and reply emails as soon as they come in.

Unless your job description includes customer care or support, you might want to slow down on checking those emails. Apportion a block of 30 minutes every morning, around noon, and in the evening to check emails and reply them. This will help you get more done.

Sources:

http://www.salary.com/wasting-time-at-work-2012/

http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2011/10/24/how-much-does-your-time-wasting-cost-your-company/

Oscar King used to be an office supervisor and has had to deal with workplace inefficiencies on a regular basis. These days he primarily focuses on his passion of writing, but takes the time to share what he has found to be effective for keeping everything running smoothly. You can learn more about Oscar by visiting him on Google+.