10 negative habits that compromise the productivity of professionals and the impact on companies

Although technology is an ally for companies and professionals, it can also become the main responsible for the low productivity of employees in companies with the occurrence of negative habits.

According to research carried out by Workfront , employees spend only 43% of their working week on tasks they were hired to do and are interrupted by internet tools at least 14 times a day.

When professionals work online or close to their smartphones, they are just a click away from tempting distractions from their personal lives, such as chatting with friends and family, accessing social networks or searching for content of personal interest. This high connectivity that technology offers is not negative in itself, but it generates negative habits and needs to be properly managed, both by the professional himself and by the company.

To solve this problem of negative habits, managers need to create a culture of good use of the internet in the corporate environment , first by maintaining an open dialogue with employees about the consequences of wasting time. Management tools can also be used to control and optimize the use of technology resources and define strategies together with the team so that productivity remains at a high level.

Research on professional productivity

In the survey, 94% of employees surveyed stated that the time wasted was due to the ease of searching on Google. Still on the survey, 47% of respondents say they access social networks even though it is prohibited in the company, 40% send emails with jokes, 26% exchange YouTube links and an incredible 11% watch pornography during working hours, that is, 1 for every 10 employees.

The main culprit behind such alarming numbers is the habit of wasting time in the workplace. Below are some habits that most harm productivity in companies:

1. Using your cell phone to exchange messages
2. Internet browsing
3. Conversation and gossip among employees during working hours
4. Access to social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram)
5. Distractions generated by co-workers
6. Snack breaks or private calls
7. Use of personal email
8. Unnecessary and unproductive meetings
9. Excessive internal and external noise
10. Inadequate or limited work space for carrying out activities

For Home Office professionals

At the moment, considering that the economy is shaken by the pandemic, the search for employee productivity has become even greater, taking into account that every cent of the company's revenue, for the most part, requires more work now.

1. For remote workers, some habits must be taken into consideration to avoid loss of productivity, such as:
2. Inappropriate home work environment
3. Distractions from home or household chores
4. Working hours not well defined
5. Inappropriate clothing or use on leisure days
6. Lack of communication with colleagues and managers

In addition to the problems listed, security , such as loss of information or compromise of technology resources whether working from home or not. Internet speed often compromised due to improper use of these resources.

Companies that define rules or limits are unlikely to be able to control when employees work remotely. Most companies adhere to internet access control, defining what can and cannot be accessed by employees, even if they are working from home.

Waste of time

To help managers, we have a calculator that allows you to estimate the cost of wasted employee time. This way, it becomes easier to define some type of solution for low productivity, in an attempt to improve the corporate environment .

Of course, the impact can vary greatly in each company, so the most important thing is that managers monitor their team's productivity and recognize this problem of wasted time as a reality, so that measures can be taken to avoid any negative impact on the company's results.

This is an always controversial topic and requires a lot of common sense when defining strategies to keep the team always productive and motivated, without causing frustration in employees or creating a negative work environment.

In your company, how is this issue of wasted time and use of the internet and cell phones by employees handled? Share your experience and opinion in the comments!