During the pandemic, the term ‘productivity’ has gained considerable traction, particularly with the rise of hybrid work models. According to a Forbes article, as of 2023, 12.7% of full-time employees work from home, while 28.2% work in a hybrid model. The rapid normalization of remote and hybrid work has led to the widespread adoption of modern workplace tools that contribute to company productivity.
However, despite the availability of new tools and software, employees still encounter new obstacles that they must overcome to maintain productivity. Here are the top 5 obstacles to productivity, according to Microsoft’s Work Trend Index.
1. Having inefficient meetings
Have you ever found yourself in meetings that seemed counterproductive and ultimately a waste of time?
Inefficient meetings are often characterized by unclear agendas, excessive durations, and minimal outcomes, all of which drain valuable time and resources from the team.
Additionally, in today’s era of hybrid and remote work, technical difficulties during video meetings can further worsen the issue, consuming a significant amount of time. Just imagine spending 5-10 minutes troubleshooting audio, video, or screen-sharing issues—that’s a big detractor from everyone’s productivity.
Despite the potential for collaboration and effective decision-making in regular meetings, when not properly managed, they can become counterproductive, leaving participants frustrated and detracting from overall organizational efficiency.
2. Lacking clear goals
Have you ever found yourself in meetings where you’re not quite sure what they’re about, the agenda is too broad, or worse, where there’s no agenda at all?
The lack of clear goals is a challenge faced by many teams and individuals nowadays. Without well-defined objectives and structure, employees may find themselves drifting into different topics simultaneously, often without reaching a concrete decision or solution.
This lack of clarity not only hampers motivation but also leads to inefficiency, considering the time and resources allocated to a meeting without a clear sense of direction.
3. Having too many meetings
If your schedule is packed with back-to-back meetings throughout the day, how will you get actual work done?
Instead of focusing on tasks, employees find themselves constantly shifting gears from one meeting to another, leading to reduced productivity.
A good rule to follow would be: If you can address the matter via email, why bother scheduling a meeting for it?
4. Feeling uninspired
When employees lack motivation or enthusiasm for their work, even the simplest task can feel daunting. This obstacle usually stems from different issues, including a lack of recognition, poor incentives, or a disconnection from one’s purpose.
Without a sense of passion or purpose, especially for people in the creative industry, progress stagnates and innovation stalls. Moreover, uninspired individuals may struggle to muster the energy needed to address challenges or think innovatively.
To address this challenge, organizations need to create an environment with the employees’ needs in mind. One that cultivates inspiration, provides growth opportunities, offers meaningful recognition, and realigns with company values and goals.
5. Not easily finding the information I need
Was there ever a time you spent hours looking for a particular file in the company database?
Whether it’s looking for a crucial document, retrieving an earlier of the file, or navigating through complex company databases, these frustrations can easily reduce productivity and hinder inefficiency.
This obstacle often stems from disorganized file structures, poor file naming, and inadequate training on system usage within the organization.
Moreover, the risk of losing critical data or making errors might lead to considerable project delays and even costly mistakes.
Solve the problem with SharePoint Online
SharePoint Online is the perfect solution to address the productivity challenges employees face nowadays. With SharePoint Online, you can easily access the right information at the right time.
- Customized libraries: SharePoint Online allows users to create customized libraries. By organizing documents, files, and resources into dedicated libraries, users can categorize information based on relevance, project, department, or any other criteria.
Additionally, SharePoint Online contributes to improved data security through access controls. Administrators can implement granular access controls, restricting different users or groups to files based on their roles and responsibilities. This ensures that sensitive information is safe from unauthorized access.
- Metadata Tagging: With SharePoint Online, users can add descriptive tags or labels to documents and files. These metadata tags provide additional context and attributes to each item, such as author, project name, document type, or keywords. This allows for more precise and efficient searches, as users can utilize filters and retrieve files based on specific criteria, reducing the time spent looking and improving productivity.
- Version Control Features: With SharePoint Online’s version history tracking, users can easily access previous iterations of documents, review changes made over time, and revert to earlier versions if needed. By maintaining a clear record of document revisions and updates, this feature enhances transparency and accountability.
Customer Success Story with SharePoint Online
We recently completed a SharePoint Online migration project for an Australian manufacturing firm, involving 18TB of data. Discover how they were able to reduce their total cost of ownership by 60% and how SharePoint contributed to their employees’ productivity.
