If there are two words that should be music to any manager or employee’s ears, they are productivity and efficiency. When a workplace hits that sweet spot, it’s like a symphony. Things get done and you can look on the day as a time for real progress. On the other hand, work interruption can turn a day into a complete waste of time. So, what are your main concerns for work interruption?
Health and safety
An accident on the workplace is going to cause a lot of problems for you. For one, it’s likely that you’ll have one less employee to handle all the work that needs done. Then you’ll need to pay worker’s compensation above that. So for that reason (and many more) you need to make safety a priority in work. Falls, fire safety, ergonomics, and hygiene should all be standardised. This means making a health and safety code for the office. Perhaps even employing a health and safety officer to watch over it all.
Photo LinkMissing employees
We touched on how health and safety snafus may very well take one of your employees from the workplace. Securing a safer workplace doesn’t eliminate that risk entirely. Instead, you should have plans on how you’re going to deal with it when it happens. This means finding a replacement. Temp agencies can be a good stop gap, but they are expensive. Nowadays, many business owners are instead turning to cross training. If a gap is left, you can just as easily rely on of your own people to fill it.
Photo LinkTechnical issues
In some cases, it’s not your people at all who are the cause of work interruption. Rather, it may be the set-up that is interrupting their willingness to work. It’s all about preparing backups for the problems that can arise. For example, in a power cut, having FG Wilson engine parts can help you keep your generator working. Using a diversity of internet connections can keep you accessible. Think about the different ways technical failures can interrupt your business and how you fix them in advance.
Distraction (internal)
We are all human. Which means we are all prone to distraction. Being a good boss isn’t about jumping down a distracted employee’s throat. Instead, it’s about finding the ways to help them eliminate distraction. For example, helping them find motivation or systemise their workload so they’re able to focus better. At the same time, disabling some of those more distracting internet sites can be a good idea, too.
Photo LinkDistraction (external)
They’re not always the source of their own distractions, either. In a workplace with a lot of people, a task can just as easily get interrupted by another task. So it’s about helping people prioritise which part of their work is the most important. One way to do that is by setting up a ticket system. If someone has a task they need done by someone else, they leave a ticket. You can prioritise those tickets, too. A green ticket can mean it’s a job only they can do, but it’s not urgent. A red ticket can mean it’s a job only they can do, and someone else’s workload is frozen until it’s done. This will help a lot of people juggle their responsibilities better in any office.
It’s all about how you handle your equipment, your employees and the processes of workflow in the office. Plug the holes mentioned above and your business will be running like a significantly smoother machine.
