7 Ways to Reduce Employees Wasting Time at Work

Someday you feel tired when you return from work and sometimes you are full of energy, well not full but energetic. 

It happens so that when you are efficient in your work, you have a productive day, and you bring the mood to the house.

And, if you have a lazy day throughout the work, you bring that inactiveness with you. There is no question that we all have experienced different after-workdays.

Employees have to be very considerate about the time they spend at work. The way we, as employees, handle our time, our responses, and our enthusiasm is triggered. And, with that energy when we come to our house, it determines our personal experience.

Time is limited in everyone’s itinerary, and it needs implementation techniques. Management of time will not solve everything intruding productivity; we have to fill all the leaks and gaps in our routine.

We should stop wasting time. 

Why do Employees Waste Time?

Employees need a reason to keep on doing the work. Salaries and commitment make them present in the office, but they need something more to work efficiently. They need inspiration.

In fact, for everyone, it is essential to have an interest before working. We must develop our inner excitement for work.

And, in the absence of this excitement, we simply want to pass the time at the office and go home.

There may be disturbing agents in the office. Some source of noise, some disturbances that will stop you from being productive.

And some of the disturbance that comes from the insufficiencies and inadequacies you feel at work.

You may have notifications on your mobile phones, there may be celebrations going on in another room, your manager may be jumping on you for taking more breaks, or you may not feel like working and want to go home. The temptation not to work surrounds us everywhere in the office.

They all force you as an employee to waste time.

But there are some ways to counter most of the unseen hits on your time management. You have to build an insight into the problems and solutions later.

Ways to Reduce Wasting Time at Work

1. Confrontation

The best thing to do when someone is consciously being immoral with work time is to confront them in front of coworkers.

But how to confront them with retention? This is a plausible conflict for the employer.

As a leader, you have full authority to question disciplinary issues while in office. It is essential to preserve equality among employees. You have to maintain an unbiased environment and solve all the problems.

You should also openly applaud the hardworking employees. Recognizing the value will motivate all the employees to perform better. After all, our job is to motivate employees at the end of the day.

As employees, we must be ready to face the consequences of our behavior. We should acknowledge our mistakes and discuss the inappropriate. 

Time is only valuable when we add value to it. We should maintain that.

2. Communication

It often happens that if something is unnoticed, that thing ceases to exist after some time. It will be of no value. It happens with things that we use. We stop caring, but things are just for use.

However, when we don’t give enough care to someone, we will lose their trust and respect and stop caring. You can replace things, but not people. 

Employees can be replaced in practice, but it is not morally correct. To make employees care and conscious about their duties, we should frequently engage them with conversation and meetups.

At the office, we can have group meetings in intervals so that they feel watched and spend their time with honesty. If we care and share with the employees, they will certainly reciprocate with fulfilling responsibilities.

It will also build good relationships and collaboration between the employees. Good communication creates many favorable reactions.

3. Incentives

You cannot pay someone to be at work in time, to do the job you are already paying, and it’s ironic.

But for prospective interests of the company, you can show appreciation to the employees with certain perks.

These perks can be in the form of expected leaves, deserved bonuses, and applause in front of peers.

Employees may take it as a competition, an enticement, or even as a recognized company leash. Whatever the remarks, they will do their best when in office and give maximum output and less trouble.

4. Monitoring

Fear is a motivation. When we constantly realize that there is going to be trouble, we become sharply vigilant.

It is like when we know, food is going to run out, we get hungry, and in the morning after the alarm, we feel sleepy. Many fear-invoked stimuli make our practice to our true potential.

Monitoring your employees gives them a similar fear. They would try to keep track of their activities when they know that someone is watching them, even if it is not true. No one can watch no one forever. 

There are many monitoring applications and time tracking software that help to see the activity in the employees’ monitor. It can differentiate between idle time and ideal time spent.

Attendances, activity monitoring, reducing alerts and notifications, and report preparation on employees can be done using a single software. 

However, in respect and consideration of the employees’ privacy, monitoring software must be installed with their consent. It will surely help employees from wasting time at work.

5. Mobile Use

It is a problem everywhere. Mobile use for responding to the notification of social networks glues people to their smartphones for hours. And, employees lose much time because of excessive mobile use.

It is really addictive and people using phones during work hours are unaware of the time loss they are suffering.

In a sense, they are innocent victims. The pleasure of virtually stepping out of the office boundaries has made social site exploration more appealing to employees.

The best thing that can be done, in such a scenario, is that we can make no phone rules during office hours. Calls can be received, but nothing more than that.

In fact, everyone should put their phones out of sight. The temptation of using it when placed on the table is high. So, the remedy is simple, remove the urge.

Everyone can agree on the understanding and implement it in the office rather than impose it on the employer. Instead of using phones, you can talk to each other when felt like it.

6. Recreation

Employees must be allowed to take steps to calm themselves down from the stresses of work in a healthy manner. They must not be glued to their work desk and allowed to stretch once in a while.

An employer needs to think about the physical and mental health of the employees. Only with clear thought can humans express themselves and have maximum productivity at work.

They must be allowed to access their favorite playlist while working without disturbing others. Music helps to concentrate and calm down.

They must be encouraged to take short breaks, and it significantly reduces the chances of breakdowns from overwork.

A little bit of chatting among friends in the office is good for relationship building and a healthy office environment. Table tennis and foosball can be installed for employees to distract from work thoughts for some time.

Giving employees the necessary liberty to relax resolves their need to waste time.  

7. Belief

After all the tactics to micromanage the employees’ time, the employer must not develop a place for doubts. Believing someone and making them realize their trust is the strongest method to establish faith in each other.

Employees shouldn’t be questioned about all the trivial things they do in the office. It may be of their personal importance or for recreation.

If they do their job fine and satisfy everyone, they should receive the space and trust they deserve.

However, if someone falsifies the established belief by being an imposter, we can start time management from the first step.

Conclusion

When we work in an organization, all our timelines are tangled with each other. Each one is responsible for changes in the plans and schedule of the other. 

We may inspire or surprise with our activity in the office. Some may take the action of wasting time as a cool thing to do, while some may be annoyed.

Some may follow, some may complain. Either way, we will be responsible for unnecessary activity in the office, which ultimately wastes more time.

If employees waste time at work, they create ripple effects of time waste, resulting in project delays, incomplete work, and companies being uncompetitive. From personal to organizational, there are losses of many types, not alarming but passive effects.

So, it is clear that we need to be more conscious about our time at work. And, why only work? It must be considered at every place.  We lose a minute for every second we stray. Wasting time is pleasurable.