COVID-19 has drastically changed the idea around workplace productivity. As many people went completely online, they were subjected to numerous studies that evaluated their efficiency and compared it to pre-Covid levels. However, even disregarding the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, workplace productivity has always been an area attracting enthusiastic research and often times unfounded conclusions that target all the parties involved, including both employees and companies.
Top 3 myths about workplace productivity
1. You can easily measure productivity
One of the biggest misconceptions about workplace productivity is that it’s allegedly easy to measure. The notion gets more problematic, depending on the conditions. If the said employee is in charge of certain tangible products, it’s certainly easy to find out the quantity produced or, say, delivered in a particular time frame. However, in today’s digitally advanced world, people don’t just produce goods but also deliver services or perform strategically important tasks that can’t be as easily quantified. By using the productivity metric system that only focuses on the count, you are missing out on the quality aspect of the job performed. If, for example, you’re trying to measure the productivity of an online therapist, you can always look at the number of patients he or she has met with, but it’s also important to evaluate the quality of each meeting. Hence, measuring productivity takes time and effort if done properly.
2. Working at the office increases productivity
Now that so many employees work from home, the discussions about the level of their productivity prevail. Many claim that people can be most effective when they work at the office only. However, a study has found that working from home leads to a 13% increase in performance, which shouldn’t be surprising. Many people prefer to get things done alone and not have to commute every day. In addition to that, colleagues can be highly distracting. Working at the office might lower productivity, which is why many companies have adopted a hybrid model, allowing employees to come to the office a few times a week and work the remaining time at home.
3. There’s a one-size-fits-all time management strategy
Managing time can be tricky, depending on what role you’re currently fulfilling. Companies often ask their managers to help teams implement time management techniques that will keep everyone on track and facilitate excellent productivity. However, every person has their strengths, weaknesses, and behavioral patterns that require for uniquely tailored time management solutions. From the wide range techniques out there, three deserve the most attention:
- To-do list is the most straightforward approach to managing time. You can just simply create a list of tasks and organize it based on the urgency and required level of commitment. - Eisenhower matrix is a framework that prioritizes tasks by urgency and importance and divides them into four boxes (1 - what you’ll do first, 2 - what you’ll schedule for later, 3 - what you’ll delegate, and 4 - what you’ll delete). - Pomodoro technique is particularly popular amongst procrastinators and focuses on 25-minute work intervals. In other words, you dedicate 25 minutes to a task, take a 5-minute break in between, and work for 25 minutes again. When it comes to misconceptions about workplace productivity, the most important thing to keep in mind is the fact that humans aren’t robots. Every person approaches tasks differently and might find certain environment or conditions more appealing for achieving excellent results in an optimal amount of time.
