Want to Boost Office Productivity? Ban These 7 Apps

ndetichia · 2013-07-12T15:34:56+00:00

If Google Drive, YouTube, chat--even productivity apps--are costing you money and productivity, it's time to give them the axe. Whether employee or employer, the fact is we are all easily distracted. Studies have proven that multitasking is a mythand although we can switch between tasks, we cant actually do many things at the same time. I learned a valuable lesson in my business about increasing productivity, and Im going to share it with you. In my office, we didnt think we had a problem with the staff wasting time on apps that distracted them from their primary functionat least no one was willing to admit to wasting time on Candy Crush when they should have been coordinating calendars. Imagine our surprise when we installed a device that prohibited access to sites and apps that are known time-sucks, and productivity magically increaseddespite the claims that no one had been using those sites previously. We couldnt argue with the results; many popular apps are bad for your business. Here are the apps you need to eradicate from your workplace: 1. Virtual drives. The first problem with drives, like Dropbox, Google Drive and Sugarsync, is that your employees have easier access to their personal photos, side projects and more, which they saved at home to their Google Drive, Dropbox and Sugarsync accounts. This means they can access them anytime during the day, which is tempting and distracting. The second is that virtual drives make your files much more susceptible to theft or even accidental sharing. An employee could accidentally share along with his vacation pics an important company file, and your information could end up in the wrong hands. Should you absolutely need a virtual drive, your most secure choice is a corporate drive with more security than the many free apps that make file sharing far too easy. 2. Digital media players. Netflix, Amazon Prime, Google Play and YouTube are far too tempting to keep in the office. Even if you access YouTube for a legitimate business reason, its far too easy to get sucked into True Facts About Sloths and Land Snails and Chameleons. You get the idea. Shut it down before it starts. 3. Addictive games. Games like Angry Birds and Candy Crush are expressly designed to entice folks, who intend to play "just for a minute," into losing huge blocks of time. Your staff may legitimately need a break, but youre much better off getting them up and away from their desks. A walk or even a foosball game will help them decompress and be ready to get back to work. 4. Social media like Facebook, Google+ and Twitter. Company policy must be clear here: Apps shouldn't be used during the workday, and business matters are never to be discussed on employees social media apps. This solves two potential problems: Lost productivity due to employees endlessly checking Facebook, tweeting and pinning their favorite things; and, second, the chance of someone inadvertently broadcasting interoffice drama or happenings to thousands, including potential clients. Your social media team should be the only people authorized to put your business out there on Facebook and Twitter. 5. Pornography and gambling sites. The reasons to keep these vices out of your workplace should be obvious, and lost productivity is just one of them. The other biggie is to limit your companys exposure to criminal investigations. You do not want to discover that your companys computer had been used to store illegal material. Again, the goal is to head these things off before they start. These vices dont ever belong in your office. 6. Most productivity apps. Youd be surprised how much time you waste when you open an app, wait for it to load, remember what you wanted to record, record it and then have to settle back to the task you were working on. Sometimes low-tech is best, and your biggest time saver could be a pen and paper. Jot notes and reminders as they occur to you, and youll be able to keep working without interruption. 7. Interoffice chat and texting. Multiple factors make this tip practical. First, your message is far less likely to be misunderstood if you make a phone call, eliminating miscommunications and the rounds of discussions that inevitably ensue to clear things up. Second, chat and text messages are distracting. They interrupt the workflow and disrupt concentrationit can take up to 15 minutes to get back to where you were. We waste time when we convince ourselves that everything must be dealt with immediately. As I said before, use that old-fashioned pen and paper to write down reminders to do things that don't have to be done ASAP. Youre the captain of your company, and if an app doesnt make your ship run more efficiently, then your best bet is to throw it overboard. Credit: Open Forum on Twitter

Thread starter ndetichia
Start date Jul 12, 2013

ndetichia

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Want to Boost Office Productivity? Ban These 7 Apps

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