How tracking what you do can improve happiness and productivity

Every project manager dreams of increasing productivity. To avoid losing productivity, it is essential for any business to succeed. A decrease in productivity can have a significant impact on your bottom line. According to the Fiscal Times, the American economy loses $227 billion annually due to employees taking sick leave. Productivity loss from illness is somewhat unavoidable, but there are lots of productivity-slashing problems that can be eliminated with careful project management. Here are some ways you can set productivity benchmarks, increase productivity, and track progress for your company.
Creating Benchmarks
Benchmarking is about how to identify the best practices within your industry or business. First, look at your competitors and see which trends they are following. It takes an analytical eye and a good understanding of statistics to identify current productivity levels and compare them with potential opportunities. The basic formula for determining productivity benchmarks is that your organization’s productivity equals the number “output units” divided by the number “input units” you are creating. Although “Input Units” can refer to a variety of things, such as capital, labor, and raw materials; “output” is always about the product or services you create from that input. Your organization will have a higher productivity index if you use lower input to produce the same output. Although this formula is abstract, it can be used as a benchmark to measure productivity.
New Methods to Increase Productivity
There are many options for increasing productivity. However, there are some trends that are being noticed in the corporate world. One of these trends are workplace smartwatches like the Samsung Gear S. These devices allow employees to send emails and make calls from anywhere, even if they’re not at their desks. Smartwatches also offer other features that can increase productivity. A smartwatch can send a list of project approval requests to the project manager, who can approve or deny them with a click anywhere he or she is. A smartwatch can also be used as an employee ID with dual-factor authentication. This allows for the elimination of lost passwords and entry codes and facilitates wireless approval. Smartwatches can be used by employees to send location-based notifications to them in research facilities and on manufacturing floors. This will alert them to any machines that are due for service or have completed cycles. Employers can track employee activities and movements using smartwatches, which allows them to identify potential productivity-enhancing team members.
Monitoring Productivity
There are many ways to monitor employee productivity. It is a good idea to ask employees how they feel and give them ownership over productivity solutions. Your employees often know the best way to gauge how things are going. Another method is to gather data and analyze it to track employee productivity. UPS is an example of such a monitoring system. UPS NPR reports track employee movements and deliveries using onboard systems in trucks and handheld computers carried by employees. Managers need to be cautious about what they do with the data they collect. They should not discipline employees based upon this data, nor should they collect data without speaking to employees about it. If the data is not handled with care, it can be invasive for employees to track employee productivity.
Software for Project Management
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