Employee time management can often be a stumbling block for businesses and their teams, even with a growing number of tools designed to keep employees on track. Distractions can sometimes dampen employee productivity, which can affect a business’s bottom line. Moreover, poor time management can even have an adverse effect on an employee’s work-life balance, and some studies have found that it can even lead to anxiety and a rise in stress levels.
But what if you are an employer first getting a strategy together to ensure everyone in your organization manages time effectively? In this guide, we touch on the basics of time management and strategies you can adopt
What do we mean by time management?
Simply put, time management is the process of strategically planning and organizing one’s workday to prioritize tasks effectively and allocate adequate time for completing them. This approach leads to steady progress toward daily, monthly, and long-term goals for most employees.
Common employee time-management issues
Let’s briefly touch on some examples of challenges where time management can have an organizational impact.
Procrastination station
According to Forbes Magazine, employees waste an average of at least 30 minutes per day. Other estimates are as high as 2.9 hours per day. Some of this is due to simple procrastination and doing “busy work” instead of delving into the duties that move the needle.
Juggling tasks
Multitasking can sometimes lead to essential facets of projects falling through the cracks. Though in the moment a person may feel they are accomplishing a ton, data suggests that it can decrease a worker’s productivity by 40%.
Project perfection
Sometimes, the blocker can be a team member who is simply looking to deliver the best possible outcome from their work. Though aiming for high standards is a desirable trait employers look for, perfectionism can become an obstacle if someone overanalyzes details, leading to “paralysis by analysis” and delays in decision-making. This can lead to missed deadlines and hinder team progress, and even take a toll on an employee’s mental health.
Now that we have covered some common roadblocks, let’s move on to seven project management methodologies to help you and your team approach projects more effectively.
7 ways to improve employee time management
1. Set clear goals
Make sure that your employees know their duties, deadlines, and project goals from the start. You don’t have to be a micromanager, but employees work best when they have a specific goal to work toward. If necessary, deadlines can be renegotiated. However, workers are less likely to procrastinate if they work toward a fixed end date.
Clear goals also mean having some idea of what your project will look like when it’s complete. That sounds obvious, but horror stories of software projects that get completely revised midstream, resulting in years of delay, suggest that management must keep employees advised of the final form of the project.
2. Provide time-management training and techniques
The myth of “multitasking” has been debunked. Humans cannot complete more than one task at a time. Instead, give your employees time management techniques to prioritize which jobs need to be done first and those that can wait.
One popular technique, the “Eisenhower Matrix,” is a simple four-block chart that divides tasks into Important/Urgent, Important/Not Urgent, Not Important/Urgent, and Not Important/Not Urgent. Tasks are then marked as necessary Do, Schedule, Delegate, and Delete.
Other time management techniques are available. You should choose the one that is best suited to your work environment.
3. Foster a productive work environment
Is your workplace too bright or too dark? Are workers constantly interrupted by delivery people coming and going? Is the freeway offramp located right by your window?
There are some things you can’t avoid, but you can make the work environment as productive as possible. Minimize distractions and discomforts. If your building is near a loud source of noise, consider a white-noise generator to reduce the unpleasant sound.
You can also place reasonable limits on personal phone calls and texting during work hours. Review your state laws with HR or your legal advisor. These limits should be included in your employee handbook when a new employee is hired. The same is true for personal use of company computers. Extraneous web surfing should be discouraged and limited to break times.
4. Use time-tracking apps
Time-tracking apps don’t have to be the sign of a micromanaging boss. They can be used to focus attention on a single task and track the amount of time a job actually takes. Employees may be frustrated by lack of time when, in reality, they could be underestimating how long a task takes to complete.
Time-tracking apps give everyone a better idea of how long different parts of a project take. They help you assign tasks according to who can most effectively complete them in the shortest amount of time.
5. Track employee productivity
Employees can’t improve their performance if they don’t know which areas need improvement. Productivity software lets you and your workers know which areas a worker excels in, and which areas are weaker and need work.
Productivity trackers help find peak productivity time and downtimes in your workday. If workers are more productive near the beginning of the week and productivity declines as Friday approaches, you can adjust deadlines and assign projects accordingly. Employee tracking lets you reward top performers and help lower-performing workers improve their weak spots.
6. Provide breaks and downtime
It turns out that employees need regular breaks. Workers, particularly remote workers who set their own hours, may not want to take breaks, preferring to “power through” and leave early. According to the Harvard Business Review, breaks are essential for avoiding burnout and job fatigue. Employees get more done at work when they take regular breaks.
The use of time management software can help you track your workers’ breaks. As a manager, it’s your job to encourage break time and make sure that workers feel that breaks are part of the daily routine. Discourage “lunch breaks at the desk.” Have a dedicated onsite break area so your workers don’t have to take breaks in the loading dock or on the street. Check your labor laws: some states, like California, mandate paid rest breaks, with penalties if employees are denied breaks or must take “working” breaks.
7. Leverage technology
Take advantage of available time management technology. There are a number of time-tracking and employee management software packages available for employers to help their workers effectively complete their projects. Time tracking software integrates with your other payroll and timesheet software, minimizing errors in your overall HR paperwork.
- Time card apps interface with the employees’ workstations to better monitor the time a worker spends on each task. Time entry apps also keep tabs on an employee’s break time and ensure that workers take their full assigned rest and lunch breaks
- Time and project trackers monitor the hours spent on each task. This helps employees and employers understand the total number of hours spent per project and where any wasted hours are going. They also enable you to spot bottlenecks in project chains. For instance, where a design team is losing productivity waiting for a response from an off-site contractor
Bottom line: Effective time management can have benefits for employees and employers
While organizations have many approaches to time management, finding a strategy that works for your specific team makes good business sense. Employees can approach their tasks with greater intent, and employers can help team members discover more effective ways to achieve goals without adding stress. As you chart your company’s path forward, we hope these strategies serve as valuable guideposts as you grow your business.
