As a human resources manager, you wear many hats. From recruiting and interviewing to conflict management and team building, your day is likely filled with a million things to do.
Sometimes it’s a struggle for managers to stay on top of the fast-paced demands an HR position holds. Thankfully, there are ways to manage personal productivity and make daily tasks flow more smoothly.
Here are a few productivity hacks that you – as an HR manager – can use to shortcut your way to efficiency.
1. Master Your Inbox
Every professional has a love/hate relationship with his or her email inbox. You can spend hours reading and responding to emails. Moreover, if email is your primary form of communication, you could get hundreds of them every day.
Create an email-checking schedule for yourself. Don’t keep your inbox open in the background all day taking emails as they come in. You will lose precious hours responding to them.
Spend one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon to tackle those emails. If available, use your email service’s “send later” feature. You can write responses in batches and send them out at specific times.
2. Avoid Multitasking
It turns out that we were all wrong about multitasking. Recent research has shown that multitasking lowers productivity and increases errors and burnout, which leads to more stress.
This is why it is so important to schedule tasks. You get more done if you focus on one thing at a time.
Give yourself an hour or two to research candidate profiles, and another hour to engage with them. During those times, don’t do anything else – don’t even check email or your phone.
The brain works best when focusing on one task at a time.
3. Use the Telephone
It is hard to convey emotions like gratitude or seriousness over an email or text. A simple phone conversation with someone can take less time and get more done than trying to compose an email or text message.
Plus, a simple phone call is more personal and builds a good rapport with others. Schedule a time where you will make your daily calls.
4. Schedule Social Media Time
Use tools like Buffer or Meet Edgar to automatically schedule and manage social media engagement.
Alternatively, if you would rather engage with candidates and clients yourself, schedule a specific time slot for it. Just like email, social media can eat up time without you realizing it.
5. Automate Tasks Through the Use of SaaS and/or Mobile Applications
Manage team communication better with Slack. It bypasses emails and allows teams to collaborate from anywhere instantly.
Get help with making hiring decisions using Clearfit, a unique online tool to help HR managers create better teams. Their predictive analysis platform can help answer questions like, “What do my best employees have in common?” and, “Which candidate should I hire?” This tool can cut your decision-making processes in half.
Manage meetings and interview appointments with an online scheduling assistant. Calendly helps you better manage your time by making it easier for you to set appointments. You tell Calendly when you are available, and people can sign up for your open time slots.
Use a tool like Focus Booster to make sure you spend the exact amount of time you intend to on a project or task. Set timers and keep track of your work with this handy little app.
6. Be Good to Yourself
Make time to exercise and eat healthy foods. It will help your body manage the stress hormones that build up during the workday. Moreover, be sure to get plenty of rest; it’s your body’s way of recharging and cleaning itself up to prepare for the next day.
During lunch breaks, don’t do office work. Instead, do some hobby reading, talk about something other than work with others, or just take in the scenery.
Lastly, be sure you take the time to learn something new. People who read and learn tend to be better at focusing, setting goals, and have better perspectives.
7. Don’t Forget to Delegate
HR managers and recruiters sometimes forget their option to delegate tasks to others. Wherever possible, delegate your daily tasks out to an assistant or use an online application.
Your Turn
Make your job easier by finding better ways to accomplish tasks. Whether it be through delegating, using an app, or just relaxing so you can tackle the next meeting with laser focus and efficiency.
What productivity hacks have you tried?