Holly welcomes guest blogger Monique Rivers:
In today’s office world, efficiency and productivity are top concerns of executives and business owners alike. We all want to complete more tasks in less time – fortunately, there are lots of smart technological solutions that can help managers to boost the productivity of their employees. Here are top 6 tools and apps that are crucial for making your employees more efficient in their daily work output.
Weekdone (https://weekdone.com/)
Improving productivity is useless if you cannot accurately measure the output of your employees. Weekdone is an app that will help you to track their productivity by means of a daily or weekly data-rich report, which documents the progress of your team.
Employees can share their progress, plans and problems, while you set quarterly team objectives and watch how they’re reached week by week. The app will generate your report and send it to your email – you can also view it on the web and mobile.
Huddle (https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/huddle/id501101411?mt=8)
This is a task management app that will help your employees identify what they need to work on, control their workflow and delegate tasks to others to achieve the best results in less time. The greatest advantage of this app is that it works offline – you can review and approve file tasks without going online. The app also allows to share objectives, send feedback, hold discussions and collaborate. A true one-stop work dashboard that boosts employee productivity.
HipChat (https://www.hipchat.com/)
HipChat is a team chat tool that will help your team to communicate while working on a project and share files. One user can participate in several chats and the app generates a searchable chat record to keep hold of these conversations. The tool also allows video calls and screen sharing – everything your team needs for smooth collaboration.
Producteev (https://www.producteev.com/)
This is another task management tool, but it also features a team management section that will be of great value to the overall task organization at your workplace. Dividing workflows into networks, projects and tasks, you’ll make sure that everyone at your team is aware of their responsibilities.
Followers of specific tasks receive status updates when tasks are completed. The app works on mobile as well, helping your employees to stay connected to their work on the go. You can use Producteev for free, benefiting from an unlimited number of projects and users. An upgrade of $99 a month will give you more support and Outlook integration.
When I Work (http://wheniwork.com/)
This is an app for scheduling staff hours. Filling in a minimal amount of data, you’ll create a web-based scheduling interface that will help your employees to stay connected to their schedules, both at the office and on the go. Missed or vacated shifts can be filled by sending your employees a mobile notification – if they’re interested, they can fill the shift with one click. The app is intuitive, simple and effective.
PingPong (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pingpong-spot-networking/id734147693?mt=8)
Good communication is essential for improving productivity. This app will enable easy communication for a group of people gathered during a discussion, lecture or meeting. It will help you to induce relevant questions from team members and assess how well your employees understand the topic of the meeting.
During the course of your meeting or information session, you can use PingPong to create questions, share them with your employees and ask them to respond. This will give you a clear idea whether you’re on the right track or there are still some areas that should be addressed.
Having the right tools at your disposal can make all the difference in employee productivity. What tools does your team use to collaborate, communicate or manage their tasks? Share your recommendations below to help other business owners maximize the efficiency of their employees.
Monique Rivers is an Australian tech blogger who also loves good food and fashion. She works at Study clerk and ninefold.com. Ninefold is a company providing efficient and powerful virtual servers for all those occasions when a business needs to move their ideas into the cloud.
