Is your Work Environment Stifling your Productivity?

The traditional office environment has been evolving in recent years and work flexibility is fast becoming an expectation rather than a perk in the workplace. Even just a decade ago, “going to work” involved a daily commute to share an office with your team. Today, your workday could just as easily start with a 1-minute commute to your home office where you liaise with your team remotely using various project management tools such as Buckets and Slack.

Research from the 2015–2016 US Census shows that the work from home, non-self-employed population has grown 10 times as fast as the rest of the workplace in a period of 10 years.

Businesses are now redefining the traditional mindset behind what drives productivity by giving employees more autonomy and learning to micromanage to a lesser degree in the process. In doing so, employees can work when and where they’re more productive according to their own natural productivity peaks.

With this advancement comes the opportunity for employees to assess whether their current working environment is positively contributing to their productivity and make some changes if this isn’t the case.

However, change doesn’t happen overnight, and much of pushing this work flexibility forward falls upon employers themselves to approach management with suggestions to improve their working environment and create one in which they can produce the best results.

When analyzing whether your work environment is working for you, one of the main things to consider is whether you work best in a structured or unstructured setting.

Structured vs Unstructured Work

Structured work is usually more common in larger organizations rather than smaller startups. Work is undertaken by following specific schedules and tasks that have a fixed order and deadlines in place. There tends to be a great deal of documentation and in-depth note-taking combined with consistent feedback, so that you always know what exactly what you’re meant to be doing and what is expected from you.

Those who prefer to have the majority of their week/day planned in advance with clearly defined tasks, deadlines, and delivery dates, will thrive best in a structured environment.

This way of working eliminates the uncertainty involved in unstructured work which can often lead to procrastination and distraction. It also puts more of a focus on reporting to management, having regular feedback, and following strictly outlined procedures with little leeway.

In comparison, unstructured work has much more flexibility and requires a lot of self-discipline. This is something that can easily eat into the day if you let it, but that doesn’t mean it’s not important. It’s just very easy to lose track of time while you get caught up in these kinds of tasks — such as responding to emails and attending meetings.

In an unstructured working environment, employees rarely get much feedback on their work and the onus is on them to work autonomously on tasks with the focus on completion rather than following a strict procedure. If you like the freedom to be more creative with how you work each day, you’ll want the flexibility of an unstructured work environment where you can manage your own schedule.

This usually means working more autonomously which has both its perks and downsides, i.e. you’ll have the space to be more innovative and manage your own time without micromanagement but you’ll still be responsible for producing results and ensuring you stay productive; which means dedicating time to figuring out what your best workflow actually is.

This type of working environment usually results in a very collaborative working relationship between employees, as they work together to solve problems rather than defaulting to management. However, this will be a problem for people who thrive on regular feedback and clear direction.

Your Working Style, Work Flexibility, and your Tech Toolbox

Most people who seek out more flexible working options fall into the “unstructured work environment” category, but the diverse range of remote work support tech now available means that even those who prefer a more structured work environment can work remotely.

In fact, a balance of structured and unstructured work is usually the ideal as this combines both productivity and flexibility.

Project management tools like our web and iOS app at Buckets are perfect for collaborating with colleagues and managing projects from start to finish whether you’re working remotely or in the office. Additional platforms such as Google Docs and Slack make it easy to share files/documents and collaborate at any time from anywhere.

Whether you prefer structured or unstructured work, these platforms will help you to stay focused on your tasks and reach your desired end goals on time.

The Next Step

If your current work environment isn’t working for you, you’re probably trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, i.e. a creative person into a business that takes a micromanagement approach or a detail-driven person who thrives on feedback into a very autonomous environment.

In this case, you need to have a think about what kind of environment would suit you best and try to adapt your work processes to align better with this ideal.

Thanks For Reading!

Buckets helps to supercharge collaboration and organization needs across the world. If you enjoyed reading this post, please let us know by clicking and holding down the 👏 button!

To sign up for Buckets, just click here.

For regular updates from the Buckets team, you can also catch us on Twitter @bucketsdotco.