Keyboarding for Greater Productivity

If someone asked you to name one of the quickest and most effective ways to increase productivity in the office environment, what would your answer be?

Depending on the individual’s background and past experiences, the answer to this will be wide and varied and there is no real right or wrong answer. However, surprisingly, sometimes the simple things are overlooked and these can make a huge difference.

It’s a little like calling the technician to fix the photocopier and then finding out that it wasn’t plugged-in in the first place. Sometimes the solution is right under our nose, requiring little effort to remedy it.

And that’s often the way it is with our workplace, especially for repetitive tasks carried out every day. If we make a small adjustment to the skills of our team, the output can dramatically improve.

It’s worth thinking about the many tasks we perform every day at work. Where? How? Or from whom did we learn these skills?

Many of us, including our team members, are simply replicating the skills of someone else who may or may not have been specifically trained in that area or we may have taught ourselves. One of the most prevalent of these “self-taught” challenges is keyboard skills.

Except for the members of staff who have been specifically trained to touch type for example PAs and secretaries, a large number of the current workforce have to use the computer not because they planned to, but due to being pushed into it by the expansion of technology.

The result - 80 per cent of computer-based employees can’t touch type.

Imagine the amount of time lost each day through lack of speed and accuracy. Multiply this by all those team members at a similar level and it equates to a large loss in revenue to your company.

Let’s face it, companies invest huge amounts of money in IT and computer technology. As 90 per cent of business documents are electronic, it is a wise choice to stay abreast with the rapidly changing competitive business world.

But what about the people who are making use of this expensive equipment? What of the investment in them or, more to the point, their skills?

Improving basic typing skills to increase productivity

The good news is that improving basic typing skills has been shown to increase productivity across a company by a massive 40 per cent. The time saving and efficiency that contributes to this also results in other factors worth considering, those being:

• Improved lifestyle for the individual thanks to: less frustration, fatigue, better posture and increased satisfaction with output (having time to focus on priorities);
• Less overtime and less need for hiring temps to cover workload overflow; and
• Better company image thanks to a higher standard of accuracy when typing documents and emails.

If you’re a person responsible for staff training, wouldn’t it be good if you could ensure everyone had adequate keyboard skills. You could monitor their progress as these skills improved, giving you an indication of their strengths, weaknesses and measure return on investment.

Improving typing skills to the level of touch typing is something that can be easily learnt by the average individual. In most cases, people can achieve a relatively high standard within hours of undertaking a typing course.

For companies that choose to have their staff members enhance their keyboarding skills, the difference is significant. Skilling will improve those who are already fluent, and for those who pick at their keyboard, there will be a newfound freedom in the form of accuracy and speed.

Increased productivity is just around the corner!