With UK productivity at a record low, one of the New Year’s resolutions of all professionals will likely be boosting this figure in the workplace. Downloading the five apps below will help HR professionals to tick off their 2018 work resolution and have their most productive year yet.
1. FocusList
The first step to higher productivity is to be on top of the daily agenda. FocusList is an app that helps to plan the day using 25 minutes intervals and timeboxing. Start the day by planning activities giving each task an estimate. Then go through the tasks in 30 minute blocks (25 minutes work + 5 minutes break). This helps to separate work time and rest time. Last but not least it even helps to go back and see how good the estimates were, how much time was spent on each task, and what time of day the professional work the most efficiently.
Download FocusList on iOS for £4.99.
2. Doodle
Every professional has experienced the endless email chains with colleagues and potential candidates trying to find a date for that meeting. Doodle solves this problem by removing the back and forth allowing to get a date in the diary with just one message, giving more time to spend on tasks that matter. Simply suggest the possible dates, send to the participants via the app, email or iMessage and then let them instantly vote on which options work for them. Doodle does the rest, confirming the best date for everyone.
Free to download on iOS and Android.
3. Cisco Spark
The meeting date is set, next step is to prepare everyone for it. Cisco Spark Meeting Notes makes sure everyone is prepared prior to the meeting by reviewing and updating agendas whilst scanning through the shared timetable. But also, the collaborative note taking feature means that, crucially, everyone is clear on the key outtakes from the meeting. Handily, Cisco Spark also provides everyone with a number of notes templates so no one wastes time doing the same thing over and over again.
Download the app on Cisco Spark’s website.
4. Wunderlist
It’s a common thing that productivity and ‘to-do-lists’ go hand in hand. Wunderlist is one of the best out there as it’s also a task manager. It makes it easy to capture, share and complete to-dos. It allows to share to-do lists with colleagues and assign tasks to individuals. This means everyone can collaborate seamlessly with the team, making sure everyone is constantly up to speed. It also eliminates the need for constant progress reports. Also, Wunderlist instantly syncs between all devices which allows an access to to-dos from anywhere.
Free to download on iOS and Android
5. Focus@Will – The musical muse for productivity
Many HR professionals work best when listening to their favourite music. Therefore, focus@Will is a great shout for those individuals. It is a productivity platform and app that allows professionals to be 4x more productive while they work. It provides scientifically optimised music to reduce office distractions helping to get stuff done. Professionals can simply curate a playlist specific to their needs. It helps to boost their concentration and focus levels. It’s not just a playlist, it’s music for productivity and it has all the benefits of a Spotify playlist without losing an hour creating it.
Download Focus@Will on iOS and subscribe for a free 2 week trial.
Content authored to Gabriele Ottino, MD of Doodle
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