Holidays are coming, which means another year end/beginning – is your business ready? How much is procrastination costing your business? According to the European Journal of Economics, procrastination can be defined as “avoidance of the implementation of an intention, [and] frustrates an individual’s stated purposes by simply putting it off until it’s too late or nearly too late.” (‘Effect Procra…

 Holidays are coming, which means another
year end/beginning – is your business ready?

How much is procrastination costing your business?

According to the European Journal of Economics, procrastination can be defined as “avoidance of the implementation of an intention, [and] frustrates an individual’s stated purposes by simply putting it off until it’s too late or nearly too late.” (‘Effect Procrastination on Work-Related Stress’)

Does this seem familiar at all?

Expenses. Paying bills. Typing up minutes & agendas. Filing a tax return. Finding the cheapest flights for the next business trip.

Often such admin is viewed as monotonous, boring, low-impact tasks that take up precious creative and profit-driving time. People procrastinate in the workplace because they put off tasks that they should be focusing on right now in favour of doing something they are more comfortable doing or find more enjoyable. It is not always the case that this time is wasted or used for non-work related tasks – sometimes more exciting or ‘time-worthy’ projects overtake these boring tasks.

“But why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?”

We are all guilty of this attitude at times, myself included. And when it applies to things like food shopping, washing the car or hoovering, it’s not that big a deal.

But when you procrastinate with your business, it’s a different story.

Not only has procrastination been linked to wasted time, poor performance and work released stress, it costs the UK economy millions through lost productivity, stress-related disease and absenteeism.

If this sounds like something you or your staff may have suffered from, you are not alone.

It is a problem that is not just visible in small pockets of the workforce; with the UK ranking only 14th out of 34 European countries both in terms of hours worked and in terms of productivity, it is a problem which spans the UK and much of Europe.

How can we avoid it and drive productivity?

Start to list all of the things you tend to procrastinate. You will find that often they are things that you don’t enjoy doing.

Could you ask someone else to do these tasks? Perhaps an expert in the field, like sending your admin to SmartPA?

We have also been told that these procrastinated tasks are often put off because people don’t know how to do them or are afraid that they will mess them up. Again, get help from professionals.

Rather than spending hours trying to read the small print on your tax return, or trawling the internet trying every flight website to save a few pounds; delegate such tasks to a team of experts to save you not just stress and aggravation, but time – as we all know, time = money.

Top 3 Resourceful Moments

Support

Providing directions to client lost abroad with no access to Wifi

Research

Comparing different bottles of Prosecco in order to choose the best option for Christmas presents

Administration

Working through a client’s diary to create a fully online business contact database for mailing lists

Meet the Team – Michelle Scarisbrick

Reminder

The SmartPA offices will be closed from 12pm on Monday 23rd December for the Christmas break, returning on Monday 30th December where it will be business as usual. Then back with a bang for 2014 on Monday 6th January.