10 Ways to Increase Productivity Onsite

As a tradie, no two days are the same. Sometimes you’ll feel as though you have a million things on your list to get through, while others, you might find yourself twiddling your thumbs. If you don’t organise your days as best you could, your productivity onsite may suffer.

Here are our top ten suggestions to make the most out of your working day and boost productivity.

1. Prioritise

One of the best ways to increase productivity on site is to prioritise. Making priorities for the week and each day can help you understand what needs to be done and by when. For tasks that are due on the same day, determine the urgency behind each of them to establish where they should sit on the list. Assigning a time estimate for each is another way to determine the priority in which each task should be completed.

2. Avoid multitasking

Although multitasking might seem like a great way to increase productivity, it can actually hinder it. Trying to spread your focus across multiple tasks can often have the opposite effect. As the brain isn’t giving its full attention to one task, it’s likely that you’ll end up doing each task ‘half-baked’ and usually won’t finish them. This means that you'll still feel unaccomplished at the end of the day, as you couldn’t finish much during the day.

Instead of trying to do multiple things at once, concentrate on tasks individually and aim to complete them to the best of your ability.

3. Delegate appropriately

Delegating tasks from your list is a great way to increase productivity. Meeting with your team and comparing jobs means you may be able to assign a task to someone else who is more skilled in that area. For example, if you know that one aspect of a job isn’t your strong suit, but someone on the team is highly efficient at it, see if it’s something that they’d be happy to take on for you. Delegating is a two-way street, though, so make sure you help others where possible.

When it comes to delegating, many of us are guilty of assigning tasks we don’t want to do (the more mundane tasks) to others – especially to apprentices. Although this is an easy thing to get into the habit of doing, try to keep it to a minimum or share these ‘less fun’ tasks with your team.

4. Take breaks

It might seem like a strange thing to put on a list of things to do to increase productivity, but taking breaks can help to improve how efficient you are during the day. Working too hard can cause both physical and mental exhaustion. Taking regular breaks allows you to clear your mind. By not constantly stressing about a task or issue, it’s common that you’ll come up with the solution when your mind isn’t actively focused on it.

While taking breaks is important, be sure to have them scheduled – regular ‘unscheduled breaks’ have the danger of falling into the procrastination category – a place you definitely don’t want to be!

5. Limit distractions

Distractions are one of the biggest time eaters onsite. For some, it might be your phone. For others, it might be a particularly chatty colleague (we bet you’re already picturing someone…). Whatever it may be, eliminating or limiting these distractions can seriously increase productivity. While it’s impossible to eliminate distractions completely, minimising them can make you four times more productive. If your phone is one of your biggest distracting factors, leave it in the car where possible. If you need it with you, put it on do not disturb and schedule small amounts of time throughout the day to check it.

6. Use software

As technology has continued to evolve, new software solutions are always becoming available to use. Instead of going back to the office to fill out paperwork and manage quotes, mobile apps like WorkBuddy contain features to help you work remotely. Tradify is another great one to help with tradie admin tasks like invoicing, scheduling, and time tracking.

7. Implement clear processes

To help manage tasks and increase productivity, having clear processes for all employees to follow will help eliminate any confusion. Hopefully, these processes or guides will decrease any questions your staff have about a task. It’s a great tool to have and can be constantly added to if more questions keep being asked.

8. Put safety first

On a worksite, safety is the most important thing. Without having employees trained in safety procedures and policies, the risk of injury increases. Taking shortcuts to try and finish a job faster is dangerous and should never be encouraged. Although shortcuts might be tempting from time to time, getting injured and being unable to work isn’t worth it.

Following the correct safety procedures also means that you’re less likely to make errors that you’ll have to fix later – basically, creating extra work for yourself. By simply wearing protective helmets, having steel-capped boots and participating in safety seminars, you’re making yourself more productive.

9. Track your time

It may seem like a strange suggestion, but tracking your time will help you identify areas where you or your employees are possibly wasting time. It also helps to identify the areas where you might be losing time. For example, if you notice your team has trouble completing a specific task, a new workflow or process can be set up, and extra training to address any knowledge gaps. Tracking time also helps keep your team accountable for their work rather than procrastinate or dawdle through jobs.

10. Outsource where necessary

Outsourcing, where necessary, is another excellent way to increase productivity. This differs from delegating as it calls for someone external to provide you with a skill set you don’t possess. For example, tradies who run their own business need to advertise it to attract customers. Often, digital media and marketing aren’t tradie’s greatest skills! Outsourcing the marketing side of your business to a marketing professional will allow you to focus on the areas of things you do best – rather than struggling through tasks you aren’t sure about.

Every business has productivity struggles from time to time. Shortcuts are taken, and distractions are everywhere on worksites, but putting a plan in place to minimise or even eliminate these timewasters will benefit your business in the long run.

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