Hey friends,

We score another #1 for Singapore!

Asana published a survey recently and compared with other advanced economies such as Australia, France, Germany, Japan, the U.S., and the U.K., Singapore knowledge workers lead the chart in spending time on “non-essential things.”

That is defined as “work coordination,” which includes following up on things, searching for information, and communicating about work.

I would personally include:
➡️Unnecessary Zoom meetings.
➡️Switching from task to task every 5 minutes.
➡️Responding to every single email immediately.

Do not forget that not every work hours go into work. And I’m not just talking about lunch.

According to a separate study by Milieu Insight, at least an hour per day is spent on non-work matters. So our 69% of “non-essential things” work out to almost 3/4 day of paper shuffling.

Is it any wonder why Singaporeans are still top of working hours produced?

Perhaps an easier way to raise productivity isn’t to put people through another course and SkillsFuture SG them.

You just need to coach them to shuffle papers faster or reduce the steps needed to shuffle them.

If you are keen to read the paper, you can get it here 👉https://asana.com/resources/anatomy-of-work

Have a great week ahead!

P.S. Podcast production is suspended for the time being. The reason is mentioned at the bottom where I provide a weekly update on my work-in-progress online LinkedIn course.

📝 Maximising employee engagement ROI in the post-pandemic world

It is easier than ever to leverage digital tools to help you scale your employee engagement initiatives and create a closer connection between recognition and rewards.

Post-COVID, emotional connections and the new habits and norms that are formed between employees and their work will lower employee turnover, increase productivity, and motivate.

Fostering these connections requires senior management and the C-suite to adapt and rethink their current working culture.

📱Software/App Recommendations

TLDR

Summarize long-form content with one-click

There is so much content being created every day.

From emails to whitepapers to newsletters, there is barely time to switch between them.

One way to still keep yourself abreast of them with less time is to read the summary instead of the whole piece of content.

And if that is not provided by the source, you can use TLDR This to summarise any piece of text into concise, easy to digest content so you can free yourself from information overload.

Another great use of this tool is to automatically turn a lengthy PDF into key bullets for your PowerPoints or Keynotes

💁‍♂️LinkedIn Course Update

(80% completed)

😲 There has actually been zero progress at the time of this writing! I was so dead busy with work last week and was hoping to complete the rest of the recording this week. Then renovation happened and is still happening. According to the contractor, tiling work will continue until 29th April.

I was hoping to bunk at my friend's place in hope of a quiet environment.

Guess what?

He has four renovations happening around him right now.

Much as I hate to touch my weekends, I probably will do it over this so I can clear this off my list.