Any business knows that productivity is key to growth, let alone staying afloat. Whether you are talking about a production line, a traveling salesperson, and yes even your office space; productivity is going to be the main driving factor which will allow your business to not only stay in business, but also experience growth year over year, month over month.

Here we are going to describe 23 ways to improve office productivity which will in turn allow you to realize higher profits, more output, and less money being wasted to lost productivity.

First on the list? Improving office productivity through computer applications:

Science proves that taking more breaks allows us to be more productive.

How does that work if we technically will have less “work time” by taking all these breaks?

It gives us time to collect our thoughts, time to let our mind roam, and even some time to talk and bounce ideas off of others.

So, instead of making employees hate working because you limit them to one break a day; let them take a short one every hour or two and watch the ideas and productivity outputs increase!

Not only should you be organizing your desk, but also the entire office.

A cleared out area allows for a clear mind to work at much higher levels of clarity. Whether you have a cubical office design or a more open concept; requiring all areas of the office to be clear on either a weekly or daily basis should be a must.

Sure, not everyone likes to clear. But, if you give employees 10-15 minutes to clean their area at the end of every day I’m sure most people will be happy to do so (especially if you explain it is part of your initiative to improve productivity in the office)!

Some people have a habit of checking their email every 10 minutes while they are waiting for someone important to get back to them.

In reality, the likelihood of them replying back right away even if you get back to them quick is slim. On top of that, it seems down right desperate.

By implementing 2-3 time periods (again, depending on the department) that people should check their email; you will end the constant refreshing of email pages by a lot of your work force. This allows people to get back to work and pay much more attention to their work at hand.

There can be multiple things wrong with your lighting system that might be throwing off people in the office.

First of all, if you have fluorescent lights then you might just have a few (or a lot) of lights in your office that flicker or even worse, buzz. This can cause eye stress, annoyance, and a general distraction.

On top of that, you may have either an under-lit or over-lit office. Both are bad, and it’s up to you to find the optimal light output for your office. This can be done by surveying employees on your lighting system and going from there.

Lastly, low quality light can be an issue. An easy way to not only improve the quality of light but also get rid of flickering and buzzing light issues is by upgrading your reduce your energy usage by up to 30% or so. Sounds like a win-win situation here!

Not only will they help with productivity, but they will also clean the air of toxins which will keep the air fresh and not-so-stuffy.

Stop making it so difficult to get around. Make it easy to get to the bathroom, to the trash, or even to an outlet.

Time is money, and if people are having to spend time just to get to the most basic things you aren’t setting up your office for success (literally).

Using office design to increase productivity can be difficult, sure. But it doesn’t have to be all that complex. You could even get some people together to brainstorm what could be done to best optimize the space you have to best serve efficiency in the office. So while there will never be the “best office design for productivity” hack or tip (due to all offices being different), you can always use some general guidelines and common sense to help you out.

Wherever the noise may be coming from, while it may not effect everyone it may be effecting some people.

Now, this can be an easy fix if the noise is coming from within the office. To solve this issue, all you need to do is address the area of concern and fix it. But, what if the noise is coming externally on a frequent basis?

Well, you can do either of two things. Firstly, you can try to address or confront the external noise producer and see if there is anyway for it to stop at least during your time of work. If that doesn’t work, then you might need to install sound proofing technology into your walls. This can get pricey sure, but you’ve got to weight the benefits of having less noise in the office versus the cost it is going to be to make the upgrade.

Although you might think that you won’t be able to get everything in if you shorten meetings, you would be mistaken!

In fact, having shorter meetings make them much more focused and thus; more productive. Even if you have two meetings over one a week because they are shorter, it is much better to have two 10 minute meetings over one 30 minute one that lacks purpose.

On top of that, do you really need to have a meeting? Or, are you just holding meetings to “have a meeting?” If it is the latter, try scheduling meetings only when they are needed, rather just out of habit.

Looking for ways to motivate the office into getting stuff done? 43Folders.com and it’s a simple concept: work for ten minutes, break for 2, then repeat this 5 times (or an hour).

You might say, “are you mad?! No way I’ll let my employees take a break every 10 minutes.” But here it out…

Maybe you shouldn’t implement this tactic specifically, but make a variation that works for your needs but still allows for productivity to be most optimal. And yes, there will be times when extreme concentration is required for more than 10-20 minutes, and obviously this doesn’t have to be a “set in stone” type deal. Instead, make it a generally accepted practice to partake in such method of break and work balancing.

(We already talked about more breaks in #3, but we thought this hack was worthy of its own).

Have you ever listed a job listing opportunity with one of the qualifications as “multitasking?” If so, you’ve got it all wrong. In fact, you should be listing a qualifications as “the ability to be laser focused on one thing at a time.”

Multitasking Parkinson’s law” in short says that we will fill whatever time is allotted to complete a given task.

Why do you think people with a 3 month deadline to get a presentation done still find themselves struggling to get it ready to go last minute? Because they will fill the entire time they are given to finish it. This goes with any task, and if you shorten the time allotted to finish tasks you will see more getting done because people will work to fill the allotted time given.

This of course can be used too far and not given enough time to get things done with all the proper due diligence required. Finding a good balance of long enough but not TOO long will be difficult, but start looking into deadlines and what exactly defines how far out they get set and start thinking about setting shorter (yet still doable) deadlines.

Studies show that standing will not only improve health, but it will also improve productivity. Focus goes up and thus more work can get done.

call center workers showed that pollution in the office reduced productivity levels. As you can imagine, pollution is a major issue in a lot of places, especially in bigger cities.

This guy’s name is Humphry. He’s about 24 years old. A chemist. And, by the looks of him, pretty content with his accomplishments and station in life. He’s the boy wonder credited with creating the first incandescent light. He seems to be thinking, “I’m just a genius. No biggie.” It’s around 1802. England.

The incandescent light bulb is our homie. It has been with us, creating warm, flattering light, rendering colors beautifully, and making human life at least 45% more magical for almost 200 years. Even though 90% of its energy is emitted as heat, making the standard tungsten light bulb almost inexcusably inefficient, we’ll always have love for the incandescent light bulb and its flattering light.

Many brilliant minds have contributed to the incandescent lamps we have today, but Humphry Davy stands out to me for his ingenious invention that led to “the most profound invention since man-made fire.”

Custom Electrical Services was recently voted for first place for the best Urbandale electrician!  The pole was taken by USA Today Best, and was presented by the Des Moines Register.  The voting is segmented into different areas by city.  Not all areas have the polls closed as of date.  The Urbandale closed on September 27th, 2016.  The Des Moines metro voting closes on October 11th, 2016.  Custom Electrical Services would like to thank all the Urbandale and residence who took the time to vote.  We are proud to serve the Urbandale area 24 / 7 as well as all of central Iowa!  Custom Electrical Services is a member of the Urbandale Chamber Of Commerce.

We take pride in our work.  Our track record supports this.  Our electricians are not only licensed.  They receive special training that gives them superior customer service skills compared to other electricians.  We work hard to provide the best customer service experience possible.  Our electricians understand that your home is your castle.  They show respect for you and your property.  We are not your typical electrician that comes out and says your project is going to cost X.  We take the time to evaluate your entire electrical system as well as perform our full page safety inspection.  This provides a TON of added value to our service.  When is the last time someone took your panel cover off and inspected all your connections?  Most customers say not since I have lived here!  Electrical connections can loosen over time.  Wiring can expand and retract as loads fluctuate on the circuits, this expansion and loosen the connections inside your panel or breaker box.  Loose connections can leave to excessive arching and can cause fires.

Who are you letting into your home?  Our electricians receive an extensive background check.  We are not going to send a criminal into your home.  We realize the delicate nature of having strangers come into your home.  While you may not personally know the electrician you can rest assured we do!  Our background checked electricians are team members, not sub contractors.  We employee them full time and work one on one with them on a daily basis.  We work with them to develop the best customer experience possible.  We want you to feel comfortable with having our trained service technician in your home so you can be just as comfortable as we are with them.

In addition to a 3rd party background check our electricians receive drug testing.  You would not a person on drugs drive your kids to school!  So you defiantly don’t want an electrician on drugs performing wiring in your home!  Are drug tested and background checked electricians were the seal of safety.  This seal is worn with pride and taken very seriously.  When you see the seal of safety on our electricians uniform you know that you are working with a safe professional.

We proudly serve Urbandale and all Des Moines metro customers 24/7.  We understand that your electrical emergency may not take place during regular business hours.  That is why we have a never close policy. Our phone is always answered by a live person regardless of the time or day.  You can also contact us online by clicking here.

Custom Electrical Services is your first choice for an electrician serving Urbandale Iowa.  We perform countless service calls and wire new homes in Urbandale Iowa.  Our projects in Urbandale are some of our favorites.  We loving helping people such as your self with all there electrical needs.

We offer all electrical services for Urbandale.  Our electricians in Urbandale carry many of the parts necessary on their service trucks for that emergency repair.  Have an electrical problem in the middle of the night?  We our electricians in Urbandale offer 24 hour service for those unexpected emergencies.  We realize that your electrical emergency is unexpected.  Our electricians are trained to help you get your home or business back up and running safely!  Our electricians love to help!

Our Urbandale Electricians can handle any task.  From changing that high light bulb to totally rewiring and updating your electrical in your entire Urbandale home.  Many of our customers have simple jobs, while others need an complete electrical update!  Need an new electrical panel or breaker panel?  Our electricians can replace that old electrical panel correctly and to code.  Many Urbandale customers who replace there panel ask us to install a whole home surge protector.  This device when installed properly in your home can protect your entire electrical system and electrical appliances.

Have some smoke alarms not working properly?  Our Urbandale electricians carry top of the line smoke alarm units as well as carbon moxide units on there service vans.  We can handle any smoke alarm call.  From changing a smoke alarm battery to updating and replacing all the smoke alarms in your entire Urbandale home.  Don’t have any smoke alarms?  Our Urbandale electrician can fish in the necessary wiring in order to add high quality smoke alarm units in your Urbandale home to offer you the earliest detection possible in the event of a fire.

Have worn out and failing plugs and switches in your home?  Our Urbandale electrician can replace some or all of your plugs and switches in your home.  We carry the latest styles and colors of electrical devices to complement the style and colors of your décor.  We install the most reliable child resistant / tamper resistant plugs.  These plugs help to reduce the chance of electrical shock by preventing a foreign object from being inserted in the electrical receptacle.  Have plugs by water or in your kitchen, bathroom, or garage?  We can install GFCI receptacles in the proper areas to offer you and your family the best electrical protection possible.