Is Cape Town traffic affecting your productivity in the office?

Find out tips on how to be your super-self at work!

Last Update 21 June 2017 

In March 2017, Cape Town was reported to be, “fastest growing and most congested city in South Africa.” Businesses were urged by The City of Cape Town to implement flexi-hours to aid in alleviating this congestion. It’s June 2017 and traffic has worsened with reports of 260 000 cars entering the city daily, causing people to sit in traffic for two to three hours a day!

With no sign of immediate relief, we can’t help but wonder if traffic is having an impact on our productivity in the office or if it could be the result of something else. If you’re reading this thinking, “traffic sucks and productivity sucks” then here is our advice about travelling;

Negotiate with your boss
The City of Cape Town has suggested that coming into work an hour earlier and leaving an hour earlier will already have an impact. Chat to your boss, let him/her know that you will be in the office at 6.30/7am so that you can be on your way home by 3.30/4pm. You’ll already decrease your time spent in the office and begin easing your road-stress. You can also negotiate coming in later and leaving later - this is to your discretion of course.

Turn traffic into your productive time
Instead of spending two to three hours just listening music or the radio, make it your couple hours of dedicated work. Modern technology is amazing, some products can can read your mails out to you - so why not deal with your admin in the car. Schedule over the phone meetings for 8am if you know you will be in traffic - bluetooth is the way to go!

Now if traffic isn’t the main issue in the office and you are feeling as unproductive in the workplace as your traffic-enduring colleague then possibly it’s something else;

Temperature in the office
If you’re thinking this is definitely not a problem, then you are few of the lucky ones. Most offices have the age-old battle with the heater or the air conditioner, “too hot or too cold” half the office is warm and half is cold. The solution here… a tricky one but here it is - compromise. If you, like us, gets far too toasty with the heater on, let the heater boil your blood a little, and then after an hour ask if you can turn if off for an hour, or at least turn it down. You’ll find the less time you focus on the heater then more time you will have to, you know, work.

Food at the office
This is a big one ladies and gentlemen, HANGRY. Everyone who has felt the tension bubbling over around 12.30pm will know what we are saying. Make sure you try eat some good sugar to keep you going. Fruits and nuts are fabulous for mid-morning snacks after your brekkie. For lunch time either pack a nice meal you can look forward to, which will give you enough energy to tackle the day with, or alternatively treat yourself to a nice meal outside the office to get some fresh air. Weirdly enough, we can't survive without coffee, however the less coffee you drink during the day, the more productive you will be in the long run. (we are trying to leave our flat whites behind - we know the struggle!) 

Inspire team excellence
If you are struggling to keep up with the demands of a grouchy boss, or unable to break through the brick walls of management then BE YOUR OWN INSPIRATION. You do not need to succumb to negativity, albeit it is easier said than done - all you gotta do is push through. Count to ten if you need to, take a walk around the office, breathe deeply but don't engulf it. You are able to inspire excellence if you inspire positivity. So no matter your position in the company - you can do it, be the positivity you want in the workplace!

By Tarina Meiring 

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Interested in checking out more about productivity - check out why Google employees are most productive! If you are stuck in traffic you might want to read our traffic survival guide for the next time you do find yourself hapless and hopeless in an endless line of cars.

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