The struggle to get back in rhythm is real. We know how desperately you want to avoid that feeling and the most tiresome first days at work after the holidays. Therefore, we created this small list that will help you get back on track.

Look at the first day of work like an opportunity to do even better than before. Yes, instead of looking at the upcoming workweek with mixed feelings, try and get that positive attitude going.

Plan the first day of work the day before. We have often said that planning your work the day before can be very helpful and good for your time management and productivity. Plus, this will exclude the chance of you forgetting something important or struggling with the deadlines.

Wake up earlier. Usually, the organism quite easily gets relaxed and it is harder to tune up back to your schedule, especially if before the holidays you have exhausted it with all the preparations for few days of family joy.

Keep track of your tasks and time. Fixating yourself on the work is primary if you want that first day to not be a struggle. Your timing and productivity levels may need a little push after the holidays. The time management and productivity software and other collaboration and productivity improvement tools will always come in handy for such tasks.

SCREENish time tracking wishes you Happy Holidays and a productive New Year!

Top 5 Reasons Your Company’s Private Network Fails Employee Engagement

The information in your database is out of date. This is almost always the source of numerous issues and problems. Outdated and inaccurate information create countless possibilities of mistakes that can and will compromise your projects success. Outdated information is also a major time loss and can affect your expenses. And for sure outdated information will bring your employees to repeat themselves, experience irritation, become disengaged, get frustrated and become more and more counterproductive by the minute.

• Make specified directories and regular clean-ups for outdated information to avoid such risks.

Renewing information and publishing content is troublesome. The handful of employees entrusted with the task of renewing and publishing information in your company’s intranet can also get really frustrated with the way the system works. If content updates require them to go through multiple different channels, write countless reports, and overall lose a substantial amount of time for something that can take much less. This will create the following issue – the information will be stale, most of it outdated, employees will have trouble finding what they need when they need it, and in the end, it will slow down the work process and further aid the disengagement problem.

• If you see your employees struggling with keeping the data updates, think of an easier way to organize and upload content on the server. And even hire helping hands or even interns.

Searching for information is hard and slow. Nothing gets more disengaging than that. If searching for information through your private company network is slow, hard and next to impossible, your employees will most definitely get angry, disengaged, and even stressed over the time issues one such problem creates. Functional searching capabilities are a must.

• Update the search capabilities and organization of content in your private network.

Your intranet cannot keep up with the amount of employees you have and gets overcrowded, therefore slower. – If you are experiencing staff growth and regular complaints on the network connect and server’s speed, you have to consider updating your plan and servers. Employees often get bored and even irritated if the network takes too much time to react to their queries. This essentially lowers the productivity and the amount of work done during working hours.

To avoid such issues always keep your internet connection and server’s speed adequate with your current employee count.

Communication is an everyday issue. When the communication’s success depends on your intranet you have to ensure the following:

The communication tool allows

• Fast interaction
• Both written and verbal communication
• Private messaging
• File sharing

If you seek to further improve the communication between your employees and make them more into a team, which is always advisable, you can think of the following:

• Forum
• Chat room or group
• Blog

Choosing the best suiting intranet option is important for employee engagement. In the digital era of today creating the optimal conditions for your team is a must. Their productivity, engagement, and efficiency depend on the way you choose to run and organize your company.

All these mentioned up are time essential. Are you sure your employees’ engagement is optimal and their productivity as good as you expected? Another tool that will increase the productivity and successful management is the time management and productivity software. Give it a go and see for yourself where improvements are needed.

Further reading:
Improve On Your Management
The New And Improved SCREENish – All You Need In One Place!
Timekeeping and Reporting Made Easy!

To refine your time management talents you have to start with the very basics of your daily life. These are the

5 Things to Do Every Morning to Improve Your Performance

Boost your energy. I would suppose you did not expect to see an exercise advice in this list. However, you will find that waking up and starting your day actively will help you increase your productivity and performance. Instead of having a lazy morning, try and give your body 10-20 minutes to wake up by making some stretching, yoga or other exercises that will make the blood rush to your brain and muscles.

Do not skip breakfast. I know this is hard to many people since they wake up, drink a cup-a-coffee as quickly as possible, and rush to the workplace eating a fast snack or nothing at all. This is stressful for your body, drains you out of energy and effectively decreases your productivity, focus and even ruins your mood. Once you are done with some active body stretching, give yourself a nourishing and easy to digest breakfast. You will feel calmer, energized, and more focused.

Prioritize. Always start your work day with the difficult and most important tasks. Give yourself the time to think them through and plan, creating the best solution to quickly take them off your to-do list with flying colors. Why the hardest first?  Because you will be fully awake, you will have more energy and, therefore, be more focused and productive. Yes, focus and productivity are critical for your time management abilities.

Start timing yourself from the morning. Timing our work is an essential part of attaining best time management skills. If we wish to optimize how we use our time we must know how much time we apply for everything we do, when is our activity high and when are we hitting the lows. That is why timing yourself will help you clearly see what makes you struggle and how to fix that. Time tracking and productivity are essential for the development of our individual skills.

Consult and communicate. Consulting and clarifying what has to be done during the day in the morning is also significant. This will save you the trouble of repeating and redoing. Avoiding unnecessary time lost is essential. By coordinating with your coworkers, subordinates and employees you will increase the overall productivity and decrease the mistakes that result from miscommunication.

Increasing your day-to-day productivity is possible if you start timing yourself and communicating. But as noted above, utilizing and taking care of your bodily energy is also important. Do not skip a day to tend to your health. You cannot be successful for long if you neglect basic needs like these.