Time Management Tips for Maximum Productivity

In any HR role, where the workload tends to be cyclical and your day-to-day responsibilities often go beyond your job description, it's easy to feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day to actually get what you want done. It's because of this that I consider time your most valuable commodity — and time management as one of the key skills you need to cultivate for long-term career success.

Many of you might already be familiar with a few time management concepts, but myself and many people I know have found value implementing these specific tips. And to really illustrate their efficacy, I'd like to share the stories of three different HR professionals from my London network.

Tip 1: Learn how to Properly Prioritise

After working at a long-established apparel company for a few years as an Compensation & Benefits Analyst, Amita was eventually promoted to a managerial position, which is exactly what she wanted.

Due to the increased level oversight that came with the new position, she began to take on more complex projects and bodies of work. She had anticipated this but wasn't fully prepared for how complex some of these tasks would be. This mainly consisted of benchmarking senior and more specialised roles, preparing RemCo reports, and owning some of the seasonal and year-end review processes that included promotions, merit, and bonus payments.

Amita knew what her key deliverables were, but she wasn't progressing on them at the expected pace. After speaking about this with her own manager, Amita realised that she was spending too much time on low-impact work instead of the more important, high-impact work.

''So after that chat with my manager, one of the strategies I started to employ was categorising all of my tasks. She showed me this matrix which really clearly outlined how I should be prioritising and going through my to-do list. That was a good starting point for me as I started to work in a more systematised or organised way than what I was used to as an Analyst.''

Here's what a simple priority matrix looks like:

There are many versions of this same matrix, some with even more categories, so I suggest doing an image search on Google to find which particular matrix applies to you the best.

So by learning to properly prioritise more on high-impact tasks, Amita was able to better manage her workload and have the time to take the lead on some big transformation projects. On our call, she mentioned recently implementing a new job evaluation and grading system which involved mapping existing roles to new grades, ensuring internal equity, and integrating the new structure with salary bands, bonus schemes, and other benefits. Go Amita!

Tip 2: Track Your Time

Several years ago, after a short stint at a recruitment agency, Grant started his HR career as a in-house Recruitment Sourcer at a leading investment bank.

And to no surprise, the job and the business itself were incredibly demanding and fast-paced. Grant quickly found himself needing to source for 20+ roles, which day-to-day involved running multiple searches on LinkedIn, requesting CVs from candidates, screening them, and preparing diverse shortlists under tight deadlines. As a result, Grant found himself regularly working late into the evenings, struggling to actually get things done and stay afloat above the waves of work that kept coming in. Realising he was on the edge of burnout and that the workload was unsustainable for a single individual in the long-term, Grant knew something needed to change.

So he spoke to his manager about the workload and they quickly put control strategies in place to ensure he wasn't constantly working at high, unsustainable volumes. One of the key strategies she recommended he start to personally implement was time tracking.

''So I decided to give it a try. I started to use the timer app on my phone and allocated specific blocks of time to each role I had. I would allocate the most time to complex searches, maybe an hour and a half or two max per role, and spend maybe just thirty minutes on the more junior or straightforward ones. I tried to be as strict as possible with those blocks of time and to stop working when that timer ended so I could move on to the next role I had. I even allocated time to do more menial tasks like organising my inbox so I didn't spend too long doing the less important stuff.''

Within just a few weeks, Grant saw a noticeable improvement in his productivity. He was able to turn shortlists around in much less time and was finally comfortable clocking off on time too. So by tracking his time and activity, Grant managed to regain control of the job and became a more efficient Sourcer. Today, Grant continues to work in the same bank and now serves as a Recruitment Manager.

Tip 3: Have a Work Ritual and an Optimised Work Space

During the first COVID lockdown in the UK in 2020, Caitlin quickly found herself having to adjust to remote working from being fully onsite. She was an HR Administrator, so a lot of her work involved methodical, process-driven, and oftentimes repetitive tasks that required attention to detail and focus. At the time, she decided to move back in with her parents in Norfolk. The issue was that with her parents and some of her younger siblings also stuck at home, they quickly became a source of distraction and occasional disruption.

On top of that, Caitlin often found it hard to switch into work mode, since she had never worked remotely before. She knew she wasn’t as productive as she could be and so looked for ways to optimise in her new normal. One day, Caitlin read an article about the importance of having a dedicated workspace and rituals to signal the start of the workday and trigger 'flow' state. Inspired, she decided to make some changes.

''I started by reorganising my space to minimise distractions, which at that time was a small desk in my room. I positioned her desk away from the door, decluttered it at the start and end of every work day, and also bought noise-cancelling headphones to eliminate any incoming noise from my brothers playing outside or my parents watching TV. I also implemented a simple morning ritual: every day, I would make a cup of tea, then review my to-do list, then put on my headphones to listen to some ambient music before starting work.''

These small changes had a big impact. Caitlin found that her new ritual and optimised space helped her transition into remote work and a focused state more easily. By creating a space and ritual that worked for her, Caitlin turned her workday from chaotic to calm and productive. Since then, Caitlin has moved back to London and is now looking to make a step into HR advisory.

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