Employee productivity has been a focal point in the great “work remote forever” vs “return to office” debate for both sides. Regardless to which side of the argument you stand, it is apparent that organizations have placed an emphasis on investing in employee productivity tools to make sure there is no dip in performance whether working in the office together or working remotely .
Why Implement Employee Productivity Tools
It’s a simple answer, right? The obvious goal is to increase employee productivity through tools that enable them to be more efficient and less distracted . But, not just any or all employee productivity tools may provide the results your team is hoping to achieve. It is important to understand some of the main causes of lost productivity.
Our Favorite Types of Employee Productivity Tools
When it comes to tools designed for employee productivity for businesses, they usually fall into a few main categories: Communication, Collaboration, Organization, and Project Management.
1. Communication Tools
Communication tools have long been part of business practices and are an essential element, especially for distributed workforce teams . Communication tools include your phone, email, instant messaging services, and conferencing tools.
2. Collaboration Tools
Collaboration can often go hand in hand with communication, but they don’t necessarily have to be the same. Collaboration tools like Trello, Figma, and the Google suite make it easy for multiple users to work on the same project simultaneously and collaborate in real time.
3. Organizational Tools
Organization tools make it easy to find your work and for all team members and users to easily access the relevant information and documents. Using a file-sharing service like Dropbox makes it easy for any employee to find the information they need (as long as the files and folders are neatly organized).
4. Project Management Tools
Having a plan can drastically reduce distractions, multitasking, and unnecessary communication to get everyone on the same page on where a project stands. Using a tool like Asana can clearly map out and detail the steps to take in any project, showing you what order tasks need to be completed and being able to share the status of any task with other collaborators.
Zight (formerly CloudApp) – The Visual Communication Employee Productivity Tool
Zight (formerly CloudApp) is our totally unbiased favorite employee productivity tool. Well, maybe there is a little bias, but there is still a ton of great reasoning and intent behind it.