Being productive is big business as we work more, take less time off and fight to function through tiredness.
According to an ACAS survey from 2015 half of UK employees don’t take their full annual leave entitlement. Instead on average, employees are cited to take 77% – equating to 6.5 days going un-used each year. In addition, presenteeism is becoming an issue for employees as more of us attend work but are not productive – HR Magazine cited in 2016 that almost 90% of employees come into work when they are not feeling well and thus do not function properly.
To this end we are looking at productivity tools driven by our need to work more effectively and have a selection of tools that genuinely make our lives as online recruiters easier day to day (some can be more trouble than they’re worth!). Read on for a few of our favourites.
StayFocusd
This productivity extension works by enabling users to put a block on the websites that distract them the most. From news and gossip sites to social media networks, users can enter the sites they want to block during certain times of the day or on certain days of the week. They can also set websites to only show for a designated amount of time to avoid getting distracted. Additionally there is a Nuclear Option whereby users can block a website completely!
Asana
A widely recognised and known group project management tool, Asana is great for seeing timelines of work along with assigning project tasks and completion dates to members of a team.
Skype
One of our favourite features from Skype is the group calling feature whereby multiple users in different locations can log on and call a client direct from a Skype account to a mobile number for an extremely small fee – calls between Skype accounts are of course completely free. We find this to be very cost effective.
The chat feature is fantastic too with its status updates and availability indicators. We use Skype a huge amount – it’s a great way to get hold of people quickly if they’re online and indicate to others when you’re unavailable if you need to focus.
Google Drive
The all-in-one tool that just keeps on giving! From Google Docs which are easily shared, marked and amended to enhance the efficiency of collaboration efforts to Google Photos, Google Calendar, Gmail, Hangouts and links to Google products such as Adwords and Maps – the search engine really has done wonders in giving us the tools we need to be more productive in one place.
Rescue Time
This clever app analyses productivity once installed. Upon setup you feed into it the activities (such as business and scheduling) which you attribute to productivity and the activities (entertainment and news/opinion) you attribute to time wasting. Your activity is then analysed during a period of time you specify and fed back to you, delivering some intriguing insight!
RoboForm
Use one password for everything? Told constantly you should never use one password for everything? Use one password for everything because there’s no chance you’ll remember a different password for each program/website that you have access to? You’re not alone!
With Roboform you have one master password you need to enter in each day. Once saved, it remembers all your passwords so you can be more secure in your daily browsing habits. Simply visit the site you have saved the password to and click the Login extension to sign you in.
As online recruiters we’re constantly vying for time, trying to be more productive – we can highly recommend all of the above tools from personal experience!
Castle Hill House