10 Reasons Why You Should Teach Your Employees Time Management


Businesses and companies have entire teams of employees that are working on specific features of products and services. Working in a team comes with challenges and obstacles to overcome, especially if the team is not cohesive and is not communicating effectively. Managers often try to find ways to increase teams’ productivity and efficiency, and sometimes they overlook details that play an important role.

It is about mental health and organizational skills. More and more companies decide to invest in employee wellness programs to help their employees achieve a healthy work-life balance. And this is a good start, but more investment needs to be made.

Providing your employees with training opportunities is a nice way to help them improve their skills. The truth is, many people develop and improve their skills on the job because life is made of a journey of continuous improvement. But it is equally important for your business or organization to support the development of your employees. Because this will indirectly contribute to the development and evolution of your organization.

Time management skills are one of the most important skills when working in a business team, or organization. And managers should encourage their employees and offer them opportunities for developing these skills. But, why is it so important to teach your employees time management?

1. Higher Productivity 

Time management skills include one of the most essential skills someone should put to practice at the workplace. And productivity is something every manager and leader is looking after, as losing time means also losing money and clients, say business experts from a professional writer serviceOpens in a new tab..

Developing your time management skills means that you learn how to organize your time so that you are the most efficient. And this is especially important in the context of the world pandemic when many people started working from home. Sudden changes in your work environment can negatively affect your productivity, but time management skills can save you.

Knowing how to organize your tasks and work schedule improves productivity. Because it also gives you the feeling that you are in control of your agenda, and this will increase productivity. Which will also benefit the companies.

2. Reduce Workplace Stress 

Workplace stress is one of the factors that can lead to burnout. At the same time, it can negatively affect employee productivity, work satisfaction, mood, work-life balance, and wellbeing. It usually appears when the demands from the organization conflict with the control an employee feels he has over meeting them.

Workplace stress has specific symptoms that are easily observable. Conflicts within teams might appear, employees might feel tired and fatigued, they might do over time and their performance is low. Teaching time management skills to your employees reduces workplace stress. Employees learn how to set goals, organize their time, prioritize tasks, and make use of their time in the best way.

3. Proper Management 

Every employee needs to manage his tasks and time so that he meets the deadline. But team leaders, department coordinators, or managers have a more important mission. Besides leading their teams and supporting them along the process, they also need to pay attention to how the project is organized.

This means that the right amount of resources needs to be offered to teams so that they have the tools they need to do their work. Time management improves the management of staff and resources within an organization, contributing to its efficiency and productivity. And it is healthy to keep in mind that time management is a skill that every human is naturally born with. All it needs is the perfect context and environment to develop, says a college paperOpens in a new tab. on soft skills by Bestessay.comOpens in a new tab..

4. Healthy Working Environment 

The working environment is very important for teams and employees. A stressful working environment can lead to symptoms of anxiety, depression, and even burnout. Employees that are not happy, are usually stressed, tired, and unmotivated to do their work. And even though many factors can lead to these, the working environment is an essential and important one.

The working environment affects how employees are feeling towards the organization, employer, their tasks, and colleagues. And an unhealthy working environment can lead to conflicts, low productivity and efficiency, and delays.

Time management could have a positive impact on the working environment, making it healthier. Employees will know how to properly organize their time and they will start working smarter. Working harder than smarter is usually linked to the underdevelopment of time management skills.

So, teaching your employees time management is important and it contributes to a healthy working environment. Which increases their efficiency, productivity, and job satisfaction.

5. Improved Attention 

One of the most common mistakes employees are making is multitasking. Multitasking gives people the impression that they can do more in less time, but in fact, it is not true. And attention plays an important role. When you try to divide it between more tasks, you do not focus 100% on any of them.

This prevents employees from achieving their productivity and efficiency and they end up doing less in more time. But following each employee’s working style and time efficiency can lead to micromanagement. And one of the best ways to prevent this is to teach your employees time management.

Time management training gives a wider perspective on tasks and work, helping employees organize it so that they are effective and productive. This means that they will focus solely on one task at a time. And when your attention is focused on one task, you improve your productivity.

6. Planning and Setting Goals 

The step of planning and setting goalsOpens in a new tab. is very important when working on a project. During this process, you identify your goals, so that you know what you should be working on in the next period. Within a business, there might be many milestones when employees need to set their productivity and efficiency goals. At the same time, this process takes place within teams too, and team members need to collaborate on this collective activity.

Knowing how to plan and set goals requires critical thinking and time management skills. You need to evaluate your skills and plan your goals so that you achieve them by the deadline. Taking into consideration that employees will be involved in planning and setting goals a few times along their work-life, teaching time management to your employees becomes essential. Employees would learn how to evaluate their personal resources and meet them with the company’s demands.

7. Reduced Procrastination 

Procrastination is something natural and every human on Earth did it at least once in his lifetime. And many will do it for a long time. Procrastination, even though it feels good and relaxing on the spot, can lead to delays, not meeting deadlines, conflicts, poor communication, and low productivity. But to solve this problem, managers need to understand it.

Procrastination usually appears when an individual has to face a challenging task. They often evaluate the task as being boring, difficult, and demanding and their resources as being insufficient. Difficult and challenging tasks are part of everyone’s job life, but the perspective on it can change them.

This is one of the reasons why you should teach your employees time management. These skills help them organize their most difficult tasks so that they meet the deadline and break them into smaller ones so that they are easier to achieve.

8. Improved Stress Management 

Stress is an important component of everyone’s life. Stress is a good thing at its core because it helps you prepare better for the challenges ahead. Unfortunately, today’s world is marked by high amounts of stress which affects not only the health of individuals but also their job performance.

Stress usually appears when someone thinks that his resources are not enough to meet the demand of the environment. And even though stress at normal levels can help you gain more resources and improve your focus and attention, at high levels it can be damaging. Work stress usually results from improper time management. Employees which do not know how to organize their time effectively experience huge delays and this can turn out to be quite stressful.

Having good time management skills helps employees improve their stress management and work towards reducing it. Besides, the organizational skills employees will learn in order to reduce workplace stress, they will learn others too. They will learn to relax, to practice mindfulness, exercise, and take breaks. They will learn how to manage their stress levels healthily. Because, inevitably, there will be stressful moments too.

9. Minimize Distractions and Interruptions

Many businesses have already imposed phone and social media usage limitations in the workplace. But while this might seem effective in the short term, in the long term it might reduce employee satisfaction and loyalty to the company.

Forbidding employees to not use their phones and social media is not the solution. Teaching them time management is. The most common source of delays, low productivity, and poor focus is represented by distractions and interruptions.

Teaching your employees how to minimize distractions and interruptions is essential. Like this, they feel they have power over their time and if they are productive and efficient, there is time left to spend on social media.

10. Work-Life Balance

A healthy work-life balance boosts employees’ mental health, wellbeing, and productivity. Working in a welcoming and healthy environment fosters more positive emotions and experiences linked to the job, so they will be more loyal to the company and engaged in their work.

Having an unhealthy work-life balance can lead to stress, fatigue, delays, conflicts, and less time for yourself. Having to do overtime is something no one wants, but many employees end up doing it because they are way behind deadlines.

Teaching your employees time management is a saving option. It helps employees acquire a healthy work-life balance while planning their tasks and organizing their work effectively.

Conclusion 

Time management can be a challenge for everyone. And even though we are born with it, we need the right context, environment, and factors to develop these skills. Time management skills can be taught in the workplace, as many employees will have to face challenges.

An employee who knows how to manage his time will improve his productivity, efficiency, attention, and focus. It will experience reduced levels of stress and procrastination and will foster positive experiences. Managers should consider providing time management training opportunities for their employees. Because a happy and productive employee helps the business develop.

Author Bio: 

Alice Jones is a writer and journalist from San Francisco, CA. She graduated from the University of San Francisco and got a Master’s degree in Soft Skills Training. Alice concentrated on such topics as social sciences, marketing, and teamwork. Her hobbies are reading, baking, and playing tennis. Find her on Twitter.

Steve Todd

Steve Todd, founder of Open Sourced Workplace and is a recognized thought leader in workplace strategy and the future of work. With a passion for work from anywhere, Steve has successfully implemented transformative strategies that enhance productivity and employee satisfaction. Through Open Sourced Workplace, he fosters collaboration among HR, facilities management, technology, and real estate professionals, providing valuable insights and resources. As a speaker and contributor to various publications, Steve remains dedicated to staying at the forefront of workplace innovation, helping organizations thrive in today's dynamic work environment.

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