10 Bad Workplace Habits That Are Draining Your Business Productivity

As a business owner, you know that time is money. Plus, productivity is what matters a lot. A productive business will be profitable.

Not only that, the less productive it is, the less money you’ll stand to make. And that’s bad for business no matter how you slice it. This guide will show you 10 bad workplace habits that may be leading to poor productivity in business.

If you notice these, you’ll want to take corrective action as soon as possible. This may even include the termination of employees that continue to do these on a regular basis. Let’s take a look now at the following:

Showing up intoxicated or hungover

Employees who are abusing substances may show up intoxicated or hungover. In case of the latter, they may call in sick. You may send them home or find a replacement for them.

Either way, if this becomes a habit, it’s a violation of the company’s substance abuse policy. If you have an employee that needs treatment for substance abuse, more info can be found. It’s important that you do what you can to make sure they get the help they need (even if it means taking time off from work).

Arriving late or leaving before shift ends

An employee can make a habit of arriving late without calling beforehand. Some may even decide to clock out early before their scheduled shift ends. This can lead to disciplinary action including a write up.

But if they are continuing to do this regularly, this can lead to termination. This leads to both time and financial loss. 

Insubordination

You may ask an employee to do something and they’ll refuse to do the job. This is a classic case of insubordination. This can lead to disciplinary action including dismissal.

It’s important to find employees that are willing to perform the tasks you ask them to do. They may get lazy and not do the tasks.

Lying

When asking employees questions, you want to make sure they are 100 percent truthful. If they lie even on a regular basis, you won’t know the truth until it’s revealed sooner or later. If you catch them in a lie (and you have the evidence), you can discipline them accordingly.

They may lie about minor infractions. However, if they lie about certain things like stealing from the company, this can lead to automatic grounds for instant dismissal. You may pursue criminal charges if there is theft involved and laws appear to have been broken.

Creating a negative work environment

There are employees that may be nothing but negative people. They aren’t getting along with others. They are always in a bad mood.

The attitude they may have will be not only towards their co-workers, but also you and other members of management. This kind of behavior will not be tolerated as it will bring down morale and thus productivity.

You will need to put your foot down and let the employee(s) know that their bad behavior won’t be tolerated. Depending on your style of leadership, you will need to make a decision on how to deal with negative employees.

Being easily distracted

One of the things your employees may be indulging in is their mobile devices. They are texting, on social media, or just not paying attention to their work. You want to implement a rule where your employees should not be able to use their mobile devices (unless on their break or lunch hour).

You want them to pay full attention to the tasks they need to get done. When they pay attention to their work, they are productive. When they are productive, that’s good for business.

Taking longer breaks than scheduled

Longer than usual breaks can lead to procrastination. So when your employees are taking their break, make sure they are following the schedule. It can be a 15 minute break or an hour long lunch.

It shouldn’t be any longer beyond that. Not to mention, it’s important for people to keep track of the time whenever you are taking a break. Set a timer on your phone and when it goes off, it’s time to get back to work.

Keeping many tabs open

If you are working a desk job with internet access, you may have a habit of surfing the web. You may even keep a lot of tabs open. Thus, it will make things a lot more distracting.

You’ll be shifting back and forth between web browsers and your work. When your bosses are monitoring you remotely, they may start to notice a lack of productivity. They will be warning you either via email or face to face.

They may also write you up as part of disciplinary action. Failure to maintain your productivity can lead to further discipline including discipline. This depends on how you have it all set up.

Multi-tasking

Multitasking may not be something that can lead to termination. However, it can lead to a lot of time being wasted. At least two percent of the world have the ability to multitask.

However, the rest of the world cannot. So it’s important to take it one task at a time. Plan and prioritize your tasks for the day.

Accept the fact that you cannot do more than one thing at the same time. Just focus on the priority based on urgency and move on to the next one.

Refusing to communicate

Whether it’s in person or via email, your employees will need to respond to you as soon as they can. Ignoring your messages can be considered insubordination. Especially when you need to keep in contact with those that need to get tasks done and meet deadlines.

You need updates on what’s going on. You want the communication to be as open as possible. When someone intentionally ignores those attempts of communication, you’ll want to know whether it’s intentional or if they forgot about it.

However, if they continuously blow you off, this may result in your taking disciplinary actions.