Do you think your work is a stressful place? Well, you’re not alone. According to research conducted by the American Psychological Association (APA), 75 percent of their respondents consider their daily jobs as the major contributor of their stress. This workplace stress often results in a turnover, absenteeism, lower productivity, and other more costs. Elizabeth Dorrance Hall Ph.D. says, “If you’ve ever found yourself struggling with something (or someone) at work, you’re not alone. Most people will encounter a work conflict at some point, and one of the best strategies for managing this stress is taking time to cope.”
With that in mind, let us recommend some of the top productivity tools you can use at work to increase your work productivity, to lessen the office stress you experience, and to stop seeing its negative toll on your life.
Focus @ Will
Focus @ Will is a research-based application which aims to increase everyone’s office productivity. It uses scientifically optimized background music which is effective in reducing the external distractions felt by workers. This kind of approach enables an individual to reach their “work mindset” faster which will eventually translate to more work done. “A mindset is a belief that orients the way we handle situations—the way we sort out what is going on and what we should do,” Gary Klein Ph.D. explains.
What’s exceptional about this application is that it also informs the user how much he has improved over time in terms of productivity.
Google Calendar
“Do you find that there is never enough time for everything? If so, it is probably because you are not scheduling your time effectively,” Barbara Markway Ph.D. says. Google Calendar is probably one of the best tools for organizing and keeping track of all the happenings and events in your life. It’s an application that is easy to use to jot down important dates, reminders, reservations, and affairs you need to remember. Make sure also to maximize the feature of switching the views, depending on whether you want to see a daily, weekly, or monthly calendar.
AgreeDo
According to several types of research, meetings kill productivity in the office. Most of the companies agree that meetings consume time and are only one of the sources of work stress. AgreeDo aims to change this kind of mindset. Its mission is to redefine meetings.
AgreeDo guides teams in creating and sharing meeting agendas. Throughout this process, they are allowed to add comments before the meeting so that everyone is aware of the specific details of each agenda. It can also be a way to reduce explaining time since everything is on the platform already. It is also helpful in conducting meetings since everyone can easily track what they have done and what they still need to do.
HootSuite
HootSuite is perfect for individuals who manage several social media accounts as demanded by their respective jobs. This classic application is helpful in monitoring all the social activity in all of your accounts using only an easy-to-use dashboard. It also enables you to schedule your online posts, organize your followers, track performance and analytics, and delegate social assignments to your other team members.
Hemingway Editor
Every job requires writing as an essential task. For example, digital marketers need to proofread their marketing proposals while engineers still need to draft an email to their co-workers. Believe it or not, this task takes time. The Hemingway Editor is an online tool which easily checks your composition—its errors, readability, and more. It will save time when it comes to countless editing.
Trello
If you are a visual organizer, Trello is perfect for you! It looks like a Pinterest board, but instead of seeing countless pictures, the application allows you to add labels, checkboxes, and to-do cards which you can drag and drop. Add to this the feature which enables you to set a deadline and sends a reminder through email 24 hours before the deadline. This board is also open to collaboration with other people—perfect for a workplace setting.
These tools will increase your workplace productivity at any time of the day. The best thing is that they will also eliminate some of the stress you experience because of an unorganized and cluttered work setting.