Leave the Office Earlier

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Leave the Office Earlier
Leave the Office Earlier.jpg
AuthorLaura Stack
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Publisher Random House
Publication date
2004
Media typePrint
Pages300
ISBN 978-0767916264

Leave the Office Earlier is a self-help book by Laura Stack focusing on time management. It was published in 2004 by Random House. The book explores ten key factors that improve results, lower stress, and save time in the workplace.

Contents

Background

Stack is an American executive, author, [1] and speaker focused in the fields of time management and workplace productivity. [2] She is the president of The Productivity Pro, Inc. [3] [4] and is known by the moniker "The Productivity Pro". [5] Stack is the author of seven books including Leave the Office Earlier, and began the "National Leave the Office Early Day". [6] [7]

Reception

A review by Publishers Weekly stated "Quoting a 2003 workplace study by COGNA Behavioral Health called "Worried at Work: Mood and Mindset in the American Workplace," Stack argues that workers are stressed to epidemic proportions. Building on the platform of the acronym "PRODUCTIVE," Stack, who holds an MBA and gives inspirational speeches, introduces 10 quizzes and consecutive chapters based on the productivity factors: preparation, reduction, order, discipline, unease, concentration, time mastery, information and equilibrium. By combining fill-in-the-blanks charts and lists with her established techniques, Stark presents a method of organization that can be individualized and effective." [8]

In their book The 25 Best Time Management Tools & Techniques, Pamela Dodd and Doug Sundheim rank Leave the Office Earlier third on their list of "The Best Time Management Books". [9] while The New York Times deemed “the best book of the bunch" of time management books it reviewed in June 2004. [10]

Related Research Articles

Industrial and organizational psychology Branch of psychology

Industrial and organizational psychology, an applied discipline within psychology, is the science of human behavior in the workplace. Depending on the country or region of the world, I-O psychology is also known as occupational psychology in the United Kingdom, organizational psychology in Australia and New Zealand, and work and organizational (WO) psychology throughout Europe and Brazil. Industrial, work, and organizational psychology (IWO) psychology is the broader, more global term for the science and profession.

Time management is the process of planning and exercising conscious control of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity. It involves the balancing of various demands upon a person relating to work, social life, family, hobbies, personal interests, and commitments with the finite nature of time. Using time effectively gives the person "choice" on spending or managing activities at their own time and expediency. Time management may be aided by a range of skills, tools, and techniques used to manage time when accomplishing specific tasks, projects, and goals complying with a due date. Initially, time management referred to just business or work activities, but eventually, the term broadened to include personal activities as well. A time management system is a designed combination of processes, tools, techniques, and methods. Time management is usually a necessity in any project management as it determines the project completion time and scope.

Human resources is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include manpower, labor, personnel, associates or simply: people.

Stress management is a wide spectrum of techniques and psychotherapies aimed at controlling a person's level of stress, especially chronic stress, usually for the purpose of and for the motive of improving everyday functioning. Stress produces numerous physical and mental symptoms which vary according to each individual's situational factors. These can include a decline in physical health as well as depression. The process of stress management is named as one of the keys to a happy and successful life in modern society. Life often delivers numerous demands that can be difficult to handle, but stress management provides a number of ways to manage anxiety and maintain overall well-being.

Productivity is the efficiency of production of goods or services expressed by some measure. Measurements of productivity are often expressed as a ratio of an aggregate output to a single input or an aggregate input used in a production process, i.e. output per unit of input, typically over a specific period of time. The most common example is the (aggregate) labour productivity measure, e.g., such as GDP per worker. There are many different definitions of productivity and the choice among them depends on the purpose of the productivity measurement and/or data availability. The key source of difference between various productivity measures is also usually related to how the outputs and the inputs are aggregated into scalars to obtain such a ratio-type measure of productivity. Types of production are mass production and batch production.

<i>Getting Things Done</i> 2001 book by David Allen

Getting Things Done (GTD) is a personal productivity system developed by David Allen and published in a book of the same name. GTD is described as a time management system. Allen states "there is an inverse relationship between things on your mind and those things getting done".

Absenteeism is a habitual pattern of absence from a duty or obligation without good reason. Generally, absenteeism is unplanned absences. Absenteeism has been viewed as an indicator of poor individual performance, as well as a breach of an implicit contract between employee and employer. It is seen as a management problem, and framed in economic or quasi-economic terms. More recent scholarship seeks to understand absenteeism as an indicator of psychological, medical, or social adjustment to work.

Employee engagement Relationship between an organization and its employees

Employee engagement is a fundamental concept in the effort to understand and describe, both qualitatively and quantitatively, the nature of the relationship between an organization and its employees. An "engaged employee" is defined as one who is fully absorbed by and enthusiastic about their work and so takes positive action to further the organization's reputation and interests. An engaged employee has a positive attitude towards the organization and its values. In contrast, a disengaged employee may range from someone doing the bare minimum at work, up to an employee who is actively damaging the company's work output and reputation.

A virtual workplace is a workplace that is not located in any one physical space. It is usually in a network of several workplaces technologically connected without regard to geographic boundaries. Employees are thus able to interact in a collaborative working environment regardless of where they are located. A virtual workplace integrates hardware, people, and online processes.

Programming productivity describes the degree of the ability of individual programmers or development teams to build and evolve software systems. Productivity traditionally refers to the ratio between the quantity of software produced and the cost spent for it. Here the delicacy lies in finding a reasonable way to define software quantity.

Norman Bodek

Norman Bodek was a teacher, consultant, author and publisher who published over 100 Japanese management books in English, including the works of Taiichi Ohno and Dr. Shigeo Shingo, and taught a course on "The Best of Japanese Management Practices" at Portland State University. Bodek created the Shingo Prize with Dr. Vern Beuhler at Utah State University. He also was elected to Industry Week's Manufacturing Hall of Fame and founded Productivity Press, and was President of PCS Press. He died on 9 December 2020 at the age of 88.

Workfront Software company

Adobe Workfront is a Lehi, Utah-based software company that develops web-based work management and project management software that features enterprise work management, issue tracking, document management, time tracking and portfolio management. The company was founded in 2001 by Scott Johnson. Workfront has 1000 employees and approximately 4,000 customers with offices in the United States and EMEA.

Workplace communication is the process of exchanging information and ideas, both verbally and non-verbally between one person or group and another person or group within an organization. It includes e-mails, videoconferencing, text messages, notes, calls, etc. Effective communication is critical in getting the job done, as well as building a sense of trust and increasing productivity. Workers may have different cultures and backgrounds, and can be used to different norms. To strengthen employee cooperation and avoid missed deadlines or activity that could affect the company negatively, effective communication is crucial. Ineffective communication leads to communication gaps, which causes confusion, wastes time, and reduces productivity. Managers and lower-level employees must be able to interact clearly and effectively with each other through verbal communication and non-verbal communication to achieve specific business goals. Effective communication with clients also plays a vital role in the development of an organization and the success of any business. When communicating, nonverbal communication must also be taken into consideration. How a person delivers a message has a large impact.

Human factors and ergonomics Designing systems to suit their users

Human factors and ergonomics is the application of psychological and physiological principles to the engineering and design of products, processes, and systems. Four primary goals of human factors learning are to reduce human error, increase productivity, and enhance safety, system availability and comfort with a specific focus on the interaction between the human and the engineered system.

A psychosocial hazard or work stressor is any occupational hazard related to the way work is designed, organized and managed, as well as the economic and social contexts of work. Unlike the other three categories of occupational hazard, they do not arise from a physical substance, object, or hazardous energy.

Chris Bailey (author) Canadian writer

Chris Bailey is a Canadian writer and productivity consultant, and the author of The Productivity Project (2016) and Hyperfocus (2018).

Activity-based working (ABW) recognises that people perform different activities in their day-to-day work, and therefore need a variety of work settings supported by the right technology and culture to carry out these activities effectively. Activity Based Working’s heavy emphasis on the creation of a culture of connection, inspiration, accountability and trust empowers individuals, teams and the organisation to perform to their potential. On a personal level Activity Based Working also enables each person to organise their work activities in a productive and enjoyable way that best suits what they need to do, and who they need to do it with. Although not normally driven by cost-saving as the business strategy, it can produce efficiencies and cost savings through the nature of collaboration and team work helping to work more effectively. Inspiring spaces that evolve from an activity-based approach are designed to create opportunities for a variety of workplace activities, from intense and focused work to collaborative settings, areas for impromptu meetings or more formal meetings.

Ron Friedman (author)

Ron Friedman is a psychologist and behavior change expert who specializes in human motivation. He is a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review, CNN, Fast Company, and Psychology Today, as well as the author of the best-selling non-fiction book The Best Place to Work: The Art and Science of Creating an Extraordinary Workplace.

Timeblocking or time blocking is a productivity technique for personal time management where a period of time—typically a day or week—is divided into smaller segments or blocks for specific tasks or to-dos. It integrates the function of a calendar with that of a to-do list. It is a kind of scheduling.

The 52/17 Rule is a time management method that recommends 52 minutes of focused working alternated by 17 minutes of complete resting and recharging.

References

  1. "7 Habits Of Parents Who Leave The Office At 5 P.M. Guilt-Free" Fast Company. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
  2. "8 Ways to Be a Productive Intern" U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
  3. "How to Hold a Productive Meeting Even When You’re Out of the Office" Fox Business. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
  4. "Key to organization, productivity" The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
  5. "How to Beat the Work-at-Home Blues and Winter Blahs" PC Magazine. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
  6. "June 2nd is "National Leave the Office Early Day"" WGBA-TV. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
  7. "Work so you can leave the office earlier every day" Times of India. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
  8. "Leave the Office Earlier: The Productivity Pro Shows You How to Do More in Less Time...and Feel Great about It" Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
  9. "The Best Time Management Books" The 25 Best Time Management Tools & Techniques. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
  10. "OFF THE SHELF; A Medley of Inspiration For the Disorganized" The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-10-09.