Working Smarter vs. Working Longer
There’s always at least one person in your department who stays later than everyone else slaving over work… you wish you had that drive and commitment! But, when 5 o’clock hits and you truly are finished with your work, why do you feel guilty for heading home to the family… or for some of us, our pups (no shame)?
We’ve stepped into a new way of doing things—where “getting the job done” means overtime, overworked, and run to the ground. We’re caught up in the glamorous life of appearing unbreakable, infinite, and able to accomplish any task given. Not every given person on your team has the capability to work long, pressured hours and give you an incredible outcome every day—it’s unfair to make that a standard within any company.
How can we stop the working madness, build a team that working smarter and efficiently during the 9-5, and help them leave with completed work plus energy to come back the next day?
- Set reasonable limits. Help your team stay on task and produce great accomplishments in the allotted time they are in the office. You never want to run the risk of team burn out—no one can work well under that intense pressure.
- Learn team personalities. You may have top workers who are able and have the drive to work long hours, but most likely, you will have employees who fall in the middle and may end up pushing themselves past their breaking point. Learning personalities will help you decipher whether your team is doing well or are overcome with exhaustion.
- Create a quality-working environment. It’s popular to have everyone working on the floor—desks close together, and personal space even closer. It’s common to find yourself in this situation, but there are ways to create personal space for your employees to have a little thinking room. Provide private and public spaces for secluded work and collaboration. This will help those individuals who need a little extra peace to work efficiently rather than losing time due to lack of concentration.
Every manager desires for their team to have accomplished everything on their project list that day, but we all know that’s a far shot. Make the best effort to support your team and encourage them to be in the proper environment for them to work as effectively as possible. Sometimes people need to hear that it’s okay to get up from their desk and be in a more suitable place for how they work best! Pushing later hours will not always help your team work smarter. It’s about working smarter not longer.
Finally, if you would like to learn more about WorkCompass and our performance management software. Please get in touch today and request a demo.
