Member Article

Pitman Helps the UK with the 'Summer Slump!' - FREE Productivity Coaching Released to Support UK's Workforce

As part of Pitman Training’s yearlong commitment to Push for Progress, following the launch of their free training and coaching platform for women on International Women’s Day, with the summer holiday season coming to an end, this month sees the addition of some great content aimed at supporting working women with their productivity, help you get your career back on track and find fulfilment at work.

Many women from across the UK have already signed up to access this free coaching including employees from many of Pitman’s partner companies and clients including McVities (Pladis Group), The Society of Heads, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, law firm Bruntwood and over 100 Pitman franchises across the UK, Republic of Ireland and international territories.

Research in the US, confirmed that there is such a thing as the ‘summer slump’ – a study by Captivate Office Pulse [1] found that throughout summer productivity drops by 20% during the summer and work turnaround time increases by 13%.

Pitman is keen to ensure businesses are armed with teams who are ready to jump back into more productive working in September, rather than suffer from an extended post-holiday slump.

Featuring Jennifer Smith FEPAA, who is an Executive Assistant and Pitman Training’s SuperAchievers ‘PA of the Year’ winner, alongside Pitman’s well-known ‘Fastest Fingers First’ typing speed test - Pitman Training is hoping to inspire and motivate women in the workplace, as many return back to work following a summer holiday or break with the children.

Jennifer Smith FEPAA, is an Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive at Power2 in central London. Jennifer’s 13minute vlog talks about her top tips on productivity. Jennifer says; “Productivity is key to my role and success as an executive assistant. In my video I talk through what productivity is and how we can become more efficient in our careers. Productivity is not about time management but attention management.”

**In her vlog Jennifer outlines her 5 top tips to help us be more productive;

1. Don’t procrastinate - don’t put off doing those tasks that you’re not keen on doing.
2. Know what times of the day are best for you - When are you most focused? When are you most productive?
3. Delegation - Evaluate your list and see what you can delegate.
4. Work on Inbox Zero - the stuff in your inbox is what you are working on, haven’t responded to yet or awaiting a reply on - everything else would be better in a folder.
5. “My To Do list is my Bible” - a hand written to do list that is updated daily is crucial. **

Alongside this video sits Pitman’s well-known popular ‘Fastest Fingers First’ typing test, to help people see what speed they are at, and practice to improve, if they feel they could benefit from better productivity through faster speed typing.

Access is available via the Press For Progress Career Coaching site - /pressforprogress

Pitman Training Group Managing Director, Claire Lister said: “Sometimes it can take us a while to get back into the swing of things after a summer break. Who remembers as a child going ‘back to school’ and saying “I’ve forgotten how to write!” or “I can’t hold my pen properly.” I’m so excited that we are adding more fabulous FREE content to our Pitman ‘Push for Progress’ to help combat the summer slump or the post-holiday blues – I hope that this month’s content may help you to focus on increasing productivity at work, help you get your career back on track and find fulfilment at work through the Autumn and Winter months.”

Pitman Training has led the way for growth in development and efficiency within the workplace for over 180 years - arming students with the skills they need to get the jobs that they want.

[1] officepulse - Captivate-Summer-Hours-Release-Final

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Becky Hayles .