Reasons people waste time at work

Does anyone in your office seem to be “so busy” all the time-yet fail to accomplish anything? Why is that? Let’s look at a few reasons why some colleagues become professional time wasters.{{more}}

• Unclear job responsibilities and ambiguous priorities. Even after they are hired, some people are still not clear about what they are supposed to be doing and in what order they are supposed to do it. For those reasons, they spend a lot of precious time spinning their wheels, doing tasks that do not make the most effective use of their time. Once these workers become aware of their responsibilities and how and when to do them and what tasks are the most important, they have a much better chance of accomplishing expectations.

• Failure to delegate. Today’s employers expect workers to do more with less, and workers know their jobs are on the line. To justify his or her existence, then, everyone wants to look good and be seen as necessary. With that in mind, some employees will take on more than they should instead of delegating tasks and sharing responsibilities to get a job finished more quickly.

• Distractions. The Internet, e-mail, colleagues, phone calls-any distraction can derail even the best planned day. Employees have to be encouraged and taught to develop the discipline that is needed to minimize the impact of distractions so they are able to get to their assigned tasks and get them done.

• Disorganization. If you spend more than one minute looking for a document, you are disorganized. Do not waste time hunting down information that should be available at your fingertips-get control over those piles of paper on your desk.

• Lack of follow-up. One extra, final step might be all a job needs to prevent utter frustration. Make sure completion of a task is reported to the right people; doing so can eliminate the guessing game and panic that ensues when people don’t know the status of a project that was supposed to have been taken care of (and actually already has been).

• Ineffective tools. Nothing is more frustrating than being asked to get a job done with the wrong equipment. Make sure workers have exactly what they need to perform at a high level of excellence, and encourage them to speak up if they don’t. Simple adjustments can sometimes be all that is needed.

Karen Hinds President/CEO –
Workplace Success Group,
Toll Free: 1-877-902-2775;
Tel: 1-203-757-4103
Karen@WorkplaceSuccess.com
www.WorkplaceSuccess.com
Creator of The Workplace Success Program (TM)