the top productivity tips to run your business

The Top Productivity Tips to Run Your Business

www.zenpayroll.com www.wheniwork.com


Wednesday October 1, 9AM PT



Joshua ReevesCo-Founder and CEO,

Chad HalvorsonFounder and CEO,



How productive are you?



28% of our work time

is interrupted



We work outside of work● 22% of respondents are expected to respond to work email when they’re not at work

● 50% check work email on the weekends

● 34% check work email while on vacation

Pew Internet & American Life Project



It takes an average of 15 minutes to return to serious mental

tasks, like writing reports or computer code, after

responding to incoming email or instant messages.



7 - 15 % of our day

spent on meetings*

* 1/3 think meetings are unproductive; 2/3 said meetings failed to achieve their stated goals



This is a problem



Productivity Tip #1:

Change up the work day schedule



Tardiness is a serious problem at many businesses



CareerBuilder conducted a survey in 2011 across 10,000 employees and hiring managers and found that:

● 16% of workers reported being late to work once a week the entire year

● 27% of workers reported being late to work once a month the entire year



Late employees can cost you...

Estimates for costs range from:

● $3,600 per hourly employee per year (CIRCADIAN’s “Shiftwork Practices”, 2005)

● 2.71 multiplier by hourly rate for employee or “Cost Loaded Time” (“The Cost of Employee Tardiness”, 2012)

● 30% to 75% of an hourly worker’s annual salary to replace her upon leaving (either quitting or fired due to lateness) (“Dilemmas Faced by Hourly Workers”, 2011)



What can you do to solve the problem?

What if you could control some of these costs by simply implementing a new way of thinking about the

forced rigidity found within hourly scheduling?



We analyzed 6,000 paying customers with employee counts ranging from 1 to 100+ employees from January to July 2014.

After analyzing almost 400,000 shifts scheduled by our customers, here’s what we found:

When I Work customers who scheduled on the :15 per shift saw a 8.3% difference in lateness when compared to :00, :30, and :45 shifts.



Run an experiment!

Schedule your employees at the :15 and :45 minute mark to see how it impacts lateness at your business

and throughout your team.



Don’t have hourly employees?

Try giving your employees some work schedule flexibility:

Go remote one day each week

Loosen the start time or end time of work days

Focus less on when work happens and more on success

Ask your employees what they want




Delegate and Get Help



How many direct reports do you manage?



The average span of control is 7.4



How should you delegate to your team?



1. Choose what tasks you are willing to delegate

2. Pick the best person to delegate to

3. Trust those to whom you delegate

4. Give clear assignments and instructions



5. Set a definite task completion date and a follow-up

system

6. Give public and written credit

7. Avoid reverse delegation

8. Delegate responsibility and authority, not just the task



Outcome: Give the team that wants ownership,

responsibility and accountability the chance to succeed

This means you can’t micro-manage them.



“By working only when you are most effective, life is

both more productive and more enjoyable. It's the

perfect example of having your cake and eating it,

too.”

Tim Ferriss



Personal Assistant:

Outsourcing Platforms:

Design:

Accounting:

Time Tracking

Payroll:




Go on Airplane Mode



“Meetings are just toxic, terrible, poisonous things during the day at work.”

“Meetings aren't work. Meetings are places to go to talk about things you're supposed to be doing later.”

Jason Fried, Founder & CEO at Basecamp



1 hour :)



10 hours! :(=



How many meetings do you have scheduled this week?



CANCEL. THEM. ALL.



Eliminate distractions and go into “airplane mode.”



Tools to use:




Take Breaks



How much break time do you take?

Go here to find out what’s mandated: http://www.dol.gov/whd/state/meal.htm


www.zenpayroll.com www.wheniwork.comThis is not a productive break



20- to 29-year-olds said they waste an average

of 2.1 hours per day



When is a break productive?



The University of Georgia found that cohorts with low to moderate exercise

intensity reported far greater energy levels than the cohort with no exercise.

Exercise



“If we want people to be more creative we need people to be able to

do less. Companies should allow naps in the afternoon. They should

get rid of the habit of clocking in and clocking out.”

- Vincent Walsh, professor of human brain research at University College

London

Napping



The Pomodoro Technique

Getting Things Done

Don't Break the Chain

The Action Method

Source: Lifehacker



It’s a marathon, not a sprint.




Create a "Library Hours" Work Ethic



“Everyone knows how to behave in a library. You keep quiet or whisper. You respect people’s personal space. You don’t interrupt people who

are reading or working, learning or studying. And if you need to have a full-volume conversation, you hit a private room.”

Jason Fried, Founder & CEO at Basecamp



Unnecessary noise can be incredibly DISTRACTING and UNPRODUCTIVE



Noise is one of the leading causes of employee distractions, leading to

reduced productivity and performance, serious inaccuracies,

and increased job-related stress.

One study showed that workplace distractions cut employee

productivity by as much as 40%, and increase errors by 27%.



Tips For Creating a Library Hours Work Ethic Among Your Team



Give them headphones



Give them music



Give them a place to talk



Give them reminders

“Hey! Get a room!”



Give them time to talk

Company LunchesCompany Outings

Company Break Room



Bonus Tip #6:

Get Started Today!



Thank You!



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Thank You!

the top productivity tips to run your business

Leadership & Management

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check work email

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work schedule flexibility

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