When you hire a worker, the goal is to increase your company’s productivity. However, there are many ways in which a worker can get distracted and not get as much done in a day. What can employers do to eliminate distractions and keep a worker’s focus on the job at hand?

Block Social Media Sites

Unless there is a reason why a worker needs to be on Facebook, Twitter or other social sites, they should be blocked at work. Ideally, this would mean that they are blocked throughout the entire network so that workers can’t access those sites on their phones.

Let Workers Make Their Own Schedules

If possible, let workers come in when they want and leave when they need to. As most people know, not everyone is at their best at 8 a.m. Creating a flexible schedule allows those who concentrate better in the afternoon or evening hours to work when they are their most efficient.

Let Your People Work from Home

Some people do their best work when they are in a quiet room away from all distractions. Allowing workers to get the job done from home may make it easier for them to focus on their to-do list as opposed to office gossip or thinking about where they are going for lunch.

Use a Spam Filter

The use of a spam filtering service ensures that only emails that are relevant to work get through to an employee. This is helpful because when a person gets hundreds or thousands of emails a day, it can be overwhelming to know which ones to start with. Furthermore, it can make it difficult to find legitimate messages from clients or others that may be important or time-sensitive.

Offer Rewards for Hitting Productivity Targets

There are times when using a carrot is more effective than using a stick to get people to do what you want. Offering cash bonuses, extra time off or other perks for making a certain number of sales or meeting other targets may entice workers to focus on their jobs as opposed to outside distractions.

When workers are focused on their goals, they can get more done in less time. This benefits the employee because they don’t have to stay late or take their work home. It benefits the employer because it means less money spent on labor costs. It also means that products or services can be delivered on time and at a quality level that customers expect.