Art of been productive at work
The birth of technology in the 21st century, has drastically changed the paradigm of work in many work places, with the rate and pace at which new innovations are been introduced one wonders if they will be work for the humans in the work place.
Human Resources worldwide are struggling to retain the exceptional performers in this fast-paced environment, and this is becoming a huge challenge for organizations whose competitive advantage is directly linked to the availability of human resources.
The work place has been invaded yet by another gigantic worm called social medial, this has seriously taken a ding-dong on most productivity hours, pausing a serious peril on how to monitor and account for the hours of each and every staff, organizations have tried to put measures on how to contain this problem via restricting of certain sites and limiting access to internet during certain hours however the challenge remains huge especially on how to monitor individual smart phones without invading the individual privacy.
Facebook, Whats App, Twitter, Instagram, google and many other social mediums have greatly impacted the work place, positively or negatively the work place will never be the same since the invasion of these technological paradigms. On the positive side they have provided quicker access to information which was not the case a few years ago, access to information as we all know, is a good recipe for quick decision making. Now my question follows below;
Should technology use you? Or you need to use technology? Most people have failed to understand this simple notion. And they have unknowingly allowed technology to use them yet they still argue that they are in control. The question is how will you know that technology is using you?
?When you can not leave your phone for a day without been online
?Failing to take 10-20 minutes without checking your phone
?Spending more than three hours surfing internet without a due reason
?Sleeping late because of social media
?Working up early and checking your phone for any status updates
?Failing to complete a task at work due to excessive hours on internet
?Commenting and sharing any news updates which does not even concern you
?Forwarding and reading long messages and video clips shared on the social groups
?Been a member of more than four Whats App groups and you have over 100 messages to read
?Spending time watching peoples updates after every 5 minutes
If you are a prey of more than 5 of the above listed, then its high time you looked at your watch and check what time it is?
Individuals should strive to strike a balance in the usage of social media, ideally you set times when you can check and respond to messages, usually between 07 hrs to 08 hrs before everyone comes in the office and between 1 pm -2 pm during lunch breaks, such good habits allow us be accountable and productive. And as Human Resources we need to lead by example by ensuring that we don’t allow technology to use us!
A simple question for reflection;
“Would you hire a person for your own organization who is the spending the exactly hours you are spending on social media yourself?” and allow him or her to work for you?
Article written by Chendela Yangeni