productivity

How to Be a High Productivity Individual at Work

April 21, 2020 by Tim McMahon

70% of employees aren’t hitting their maximum productivity at work. About half of these aren’t even putting in any work. They are just sleepwalking through their day!

If you’re one of these people, you’re not just doing your employer a disservice. You’re shooting yourself in the foot. If you want to progress in your career and even in life, it’s in your best interest to put in the hard work.

However, maybe you’ve tried everything you can to be a high productivity individual but nothing seems to yield positive results.

We’re here to help.

Continue reading for effective tips to improve your productivity at work.

Plan Your Day

If you’re anything like most workers, you’ve probably tried [Read more…] about How to Be a High Productivity Individual at Work

October Unemployment- Jobs Much Better Than Expected

November 2, 2019 by Tim McMahon

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its employment / unemployment report for October on November 1^st.

Unemployment is still near record lows. Although the “Seasonally Adjusted” Unemployment Rate for October ticked up from 3.5% in September to 3.6%. However, the unadjusted U-3 Unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.3%. This Jobs report was unexpectedly good despite counting 30,000 “unemployed” strikers at auto manufacturers.

According to the Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:

“Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 128,000 in October, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 3.6 percent. Notable employment gains occurred in food services and drinking places, social assistance, and financial activities. Within manufacturing, employment declined in motor vehicles and parts due to strike activity. Federal government employment was down, reflecting a drop in the number of temporary jobs for the 2020 Census.”

Experts had been predicting that the economy would add no more than 75,000 jobs. In fact, MarketWatch on Thursday told readers that
the report would be “a big dud” due to the impact of the General Motors strike on the overall numbers.
If it hadn’t been for the strike the October numbers would have been even better.

Of course, the Commissioner is talking about “Seasonally Adjusted Jobs” from the “Current Population Survey (CPS)”
rather than looking at the results reported by actual companies in the BLS’ “Current Employment Statistics survey (CES)”
in reality, the BLS has done a lot of “Adjusting” over the last few months.
The original CES numbers the BLS reported for August was 151.517 million people employed in August
then later they adjusted it up to 151.607 million. And for September they originally reported there were 151.949 million employed
and currently they are reporting 152.962 million employed so that is an actual increase of 1.013 million NOT and adjusted increase of 128,000!
But in addition to “Seasonal Adjustment”, they adjusted September’s number up to 152.015 million
so the difference between September and October appears to be less than it actually was.

For more info see our Current Unemployment Chart and Current U.S. Employment Chart commentary:

October Jobs Report Smashes Expectations

Unadjusted U-3 was Unchanged at 3.3%!
Adjusted U-3 was up slightly from 3.5% to 3.6%!
Unadjusted U-6 was Unchanged at 6.5%!
Labor Force Participation hits levels not seen since 2013 at recent peak levels of 63.3%.
Unadjusted Employment Up
The unemployment rate for black Americans nudged lower to 5.4 percent, setting a new record,

Key factors in the BLS report were:
Employment in food services and drinking places rose by 48,000 over the month.
Financial activities employment rose by 15,000, with nearly half of the gain occurring in insurance carriers and related activities (+7,000).

Social assistance added 20,000 jobs in October, with most of the gain occurring in individual and family services.

Financial activities added 16,000 jobs.
Professional and business services added 22,000 jobs.

Health care added 15,000 jobs.

Manufacturing employment declined by 36,000 in October.
Employment in motor vehicles and parts manufacturing decreased
by 42,000, reflecting strike activity.

September Unemployment Rate Hits 50-Year Low

October 5, 2019 by Tim McMahon

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its employment / unemployment report for September released on October 4^th. Unemployment is at record lows. According to the BLS, the “Seasonally Adjusted” Unemployment Rate for September fell to 3.5% after spending 3 months at 3.7%. The last time unemployment was this low was in December 1969 almost exactly 50 years ago.

According to the Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:

“The unemployment rate declined by 0.2 percentage point to 3.5 percent in September, and nonfarm payroll employment increased by 136,000. Employment continued to trend up in health
care and in professional and business services… Health care employment rose by +39,000 in September… employment continued to trend up in professional and business services +34,000… Employment in transportation and warehousing edged up by +16,000… Government employment also continued to trend up in September +22,000…”

Of course, he is talking about “Seasonally Adjusted Jobs” in reality last month the BLS reported there were 151.517 million people employed in August and this month they are reporting there are 151.949 million employed in September, so that is an increase of 432,000 jobs.

For more info see our Current Unemployment Chart and Current U.S. Employment Chart commentary:

Key September Employment and Unemployment Numbers

This month’s Unemployment report was full of positive news.

Adjusted U-3 Unemployment- 3.5% down from 3.7% June through August.
Unadjusted U-3 Unemployment- 3.3% down from 3.8% in August and 4.0% in July, it was 4.4% in January.
Unadjusted U-6 Unemployment- 6.5% down a whopping -0.8% from 7.3% in August.
Unadjusted Employment (Establishment Survey)- 151.949 up from the 151.517 million the BLS reported in August.
Labor Force Participation Rate- 63.2% unchanged from August but up from 63.0% in July, and 62.9% June.

Key factors in the BLS report were:

Health care employment increased by 39,000

Professional and business services increased by 34,000

Transportation and warehousing increased by 16,000

Government employment increased by 22,000 approximately 1,000 of those were related to the upcoming census.

Hispanic and African American unemployment are both at the lowest levels on record.

Boost Your Productivity While Working from Home

June 20, 2019 by Guest Contributor

According to inc.com the average commute time in the U.S. in 50 minutes round trip. The same article said, “In England, the average daily commute time has risen from 48 minutes to 60 minutes in the past 20 years and one in seven commuters spends at least two hours on their daily round-trip commute.” Fifty minutes a day five days a week 50 weeks a year is over 200 hours a year or over 8 2/3^rds DAYS wasted a year. If you multiply that by 20 or 30 years you can easily waste a full 24 hour a day 365 day year of your life just commuting! If you count just waking hours it is more like two years wasted!

Instead of wasting time stuck in traffic breathing exhaust, most people would gladly choose the option of working from home. They can set up their own home office, start being their own bosses, or simply work out an agreement with their employer which allows them to work from home (at least part of the time). These are the people who get the best of both worlds – the comfort of being at home all day long and the paycheck that keeps arriving month after month – but only if they can remain productive and make everything work. Employers appreciate the less crowded facilities as long as productivity is maintained.

If you too are thinking about making this transition, here’s how you can boost your productivity and keep it at the highest level.

Create the Best Home Office to Suit Your Needs

Depending on the type of work you do and how big your home is, your new office could take up an entire spare bedroom, or you might be limited to a tiny corner in the kitchen. Both of these ideas have been used and you could make them work if you put your mind to it. It goes without saying that you’ll need to dedicate a certain part of your home to your work-related duties, so get right on it.

This could sometimes be rather hard, but you can make it work if you remember that size does matter when it comes to home offices. This means you need to give yourself as much space as you possibly can. Unless you do that, your motivation will plummet, and you won’t be able to get any work done whatsoever. [Read more…] about Boost Your Productivity While Working from Home

The Impact of Office Layout on Productivity and Engagement

August 14, 2018 by Guest Contributor

Being productive and bringing your “A-game” to the office is harder than most people think. Some days your employees just aren’t in the mood to be the best workers in the world, but you should still try to do whatever you can to keep them inspired. One of the things that can help you is the layout of your office. A bright cheerful atmosphere can go a long way toward increasing productivity. Here are some other things you can introduce to your office in order to encourage productivity on a daily basis.

Enough Maneuvering Space

No matter how big or small your office is, it should always have enough maneuvering space for every individual worker, because being crammed into a tiny space really doesn’t help you get creative and productive. That’s why you need to give everyone their own personal space and a chance to breathe, especially if you want them to be on the top of their game. So, calculate the amount of space you have and divide it by the number of your employees to see how much every single person is going to get, but try to maximize the space as much as you can.

Personal space is the best space

Once you give each employee enough space for their needs, you should also [Read more…] about The Impact of Office Layout on Productivity and Engagement

How to be Motivated at Work

January 19, 2013 by Guest Contributor

Your first job is often an exciting and electrifying experience, having set the milestone towards a hopefully vibrant and successful career. Over your first year on the job you are introduced to some rigors but you are bent on achieving results that exceeded your employer’s expectations. The novelty of the experience makes vitality spring forth into your working veins, getting you positively motivated and enhancing your productivity at work.

However, at a some point, in the middle of unending working papers or a time-consuming project, boredom, a lack of inspiration, or loss of meaning begins to creep in. You are not alone. There are millions facing the same dilemma, some will conquer it and start again, renewed and revitalized. To meet this challenge and avoid meeting your boss at his office for a tongue lashing or perhaps worse, here are some effective ways to keep you motivated and productive for optimal work performance.

Motivation Tip #1- Remind Yourself Of Your Goals And Performance Standards

Reminding yourself every now and then about your goals and the results help you focus more on the work at hand. If you can, set a certain deadline in a work diary and purposefully place it on the date that is ahead of the scheduled submission. You will feel proud of yourself whenever you get your work done on time and had been able to satisfy the standards you have set for yourself. You will get a sense of achievement with a deadline to discipline you and a goal to guide you.

Motivation Tip #2- Reward Yourself For A Job Well Done

Nothing succeeeds like success. The best way to gain momentum is to [Read more…] about How to be Motivated at Work

Simple Steps to Improving Employee Productivity

April 2, 2012 by Guest Contributor

By Steve Hutton

In the current economic climate it is vital that firms look to their own in-house policies to ensure that efficiency and productivity are maintained to give them the very best chance possible of enduring these uncertain times. One area in which companies can increase productivity is through reducing absenteeism and attrition, whilst also maintaining morale at the highest level possible. As they say “a happy workforce is a productive workforce”. There are a great number of ways that this can be achieved but the one I would like to focus on most is that of the working environment.

Often companies will prioritise the budget they have available to be spent on new systems, training and improving existing policies and procedures at all levels of the business. Whilst I agree that these can have an impact on improving productivity and output within the firm, they can be expensive and often are only be of limited duration. Often, by the very nature of these programs as soon as the projects have been completed, the Human Resources department suggests further programs and the cycle begins again.

The Importance of the Working Environment to Productivity

A more cost-effective method would be to improve the working environment on the company premises. Often simple updates can have a significant impact on morale and productivity. For instance, [Read more…] about Simple Steps to Improving Employee Productivity