0
0
Productivity, this overwhelming word that comes in all forms, shapes and sizes. It is what companies advocate, it is the primary umbrella under which the company can function and make profits.
The more productive we are, the happier the management will be. This means the company earns more. But what is it in for us employees should we become more productive? Is there anything in it for our personal gain?
Let me share some benefits why becoming more productive can work out for you as an employee.
Benefit #1 – Doing more with our time
Everyone has an equal number of hours a day, and becoming more productive allows us to do more with our time. It allows us to leave on time each day with a peace of mind, that the work required for the day has been completed. Of course it is the Asian culture that we are also slaves from: our bosses having bad impressions of us when we leave work on time. The number of hours spent at work however, does not determine productivity, but rather it might suggest that we are not efficient enough to complete the tasks assigned to us.
Benefit #2 – Doing better with our time
Producing quality work after putting a productivity system in place for yourself can only spell good news. Cutting down on simply spending time, by increasing productivity for yourself you will be on the ball more often. You will then better what you have on your plate than add more to it just to appear better to others. Of course adopting a productivity system is not easy, and it should be catered to what your work entails. However, the quality of work we produce is also one of the reasons we can quote when we hope to negotiate a pay raise or promotion.
Benefit #3 – Accountability with our bosses
Becoming more productive coupled with producing quality work is a win-win formula to keep our bosses at bay. You will start to realise your superior stops coming to you asking whether this or that is completed. But rather, they will trust that you are able to complete your work on time because your productivity level is speaking for itself. Of course, it is sometimes hard to measure productivity when you are handling projects but any form of measurement is not too small. When you are able to measure your input and output, it will set you on an easier path to becoming more productive.
Benefit #4 – Lowering your ‘cost’ as an employee
Compared to the employee who stays back all the time, and an employee who doesn’t, the company would have to pay the one who does stay back much more over time pay. Leaving on time will make you ‘cost lesser’ than your counterpart who does overtime. When it comes to expenditure, you are not considered a higher expense in the department. A trail of thought would be if your counterpart is unable to handle his workload and cannot finish it on time? Thus, making him inefficient.
Benefit #5 – Learning to un-multitask
Doing ten things at once has got to be the most time consuming and least productive way of completing tasks. Unfortunately, we are in such a fast paced world that everything should be done fast and as many as possible. We are engineered and trained this way. However, it is not true that with multitasking we become more productive, in fact, it might even drop our IQs and make it difficult for us to think and focus on something that requires deep thought. By learning to be more productive, we learn to un-multitask and in turn also increases our effectiveness not just as an employee but also as a person.
What I am trying to say here is that the focus is constantly on the employer trying to exploit the employee by coercing him/her to become more productive, and while that might be true for some, it is time we take another perspective of how is it good for us as employees should we choose to become more productive.
Of course it doesn’t stop our occasional complain now and then when our superiors breathe down our neck for work, but while keeping these benefits in mind, it can definitely propel us to become not only better employees, but also become better people. After all, being productive is not mutually exclusive to work.
Explore ways to become more productive at your work today, develop the system that works best for you and you might be well on your way to that pay raise you have been eyeing.
[plinker]
