Five smart gadgets to boost productivity and stay healthy at the workplace

how to increase productivity, tech trends 2018, CES 2017, open space, digital workflow

The workplace is like a second home. Americans spend less time sleeping, than they do in the office. The average American employee spends 8.8 hours a day in the office, compared to 7.7 hours they sleep, according to a report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. So, when you spend so much time among co-workers, you realize they influence your mood and your attitude. The impact is not always good.

To block out daily distractions and maximize office productivity and efficiency, you have to create a positive working environment where you’ll feel confident and motivated. With so many useful gadgets on the tech market, you can now equip your workplace in a way that will allow you remain productive.

 

Das Keyboard 5Q

The company Das Keyboard presented their 5Q model keyboard at CES 2017. But this is not a typical keyboard. It’s connected to the Internet in a way that allows you to program certain keys to light up and reflect notifications or triggers. For example on the demo, they showed how they made the T key light up when Trump tweeted.

So what’s the benefit of using this device in the office? That’s simple. If you’re a marketing director, you should always be aware of what your competitors do to promote their products. You can easily set any key to notify you about all press releases and posts your competitors publish. Right after the button “Publish” is pressed and the post/press release appears on the website, your key sends you a signal.

5Q saves you time. The tasks you have to get done tomorrow can now be completed today. Simply put, this gadget is like a watchful spy, that is constantly doing research for you and making you more productive.

 

Bose Quietсomfort noise-cancelling headphones

Most modern offices have an open space design. This means you can’t avoid hearing every little detail of the tasks that, let’s say, Tom explains to Jack on the other side of the office. But you not only hear Tom. There is also Jane, who is welcoming a new employee and Michael, who’s explaining to a client how to make a subscription. Eventually, so many people are talking, that you feel like you’re not in an office, but in a noisy Italian pizzeria during the lunch rush. It’s not the best environment if you want to be really productive.

Bose Quiteconfort is a must-have in open space offices. Its noise-cancelling capabilities allow you to block noises and disсussions that you are not taking part in. Once you put it on, you’ll be able to isolate yourself from the noise and focus on the task at hand.

 

Fidget cube

Everyone likes to fidget. How many pens have you gone through by drawing pictures while talking with clients on the phone and listening to their complaints? This isn’t a sign you’re nervous or emotionally unstable. Fidgeting can help relieve stress and increase focus. Also,  using a fidget cube is a much better alternative than playing games on your smartphone during a meeting or conversation.

The cube is small. It has a little joystick, combination-lock knobs, several buttons of varying clickiness, a rolly ball, a spinning dial and a switсh. Its size allows it to perfectly fit in the palm of your hand. It doesn’t require recharging. The only minus of the cube is that you can’t put it in your pants’ pocket – that would look awkward.

 

Foobot climate controller

Poor health decreases productivity. It’s more difficult to focus on work effectively when you have a runny nose, sore throat or a headache. When you work in an open space office, the air is usually dense and opened windows don’t always solve the problem. Foobot is a gadget that helps you breathe easier, feel energetic, stay healthy, and as a result, work more productively.

This isn’t your average air purifier. It is programmed to notify you when the air gets polluted. It identifies possible pollution sources and alerts your mobile or tablet through the Foobot app, offering you to get rid of the things that are possibly polluting the air around you. The gadget can notify you about carbon monoxide or dioxide in the air and offer you to open a window or turn on the air conditioner. It can also tell you how long you should keep the window opened or conditioner turned on.

 

Lumo lift

We all slouch from time to time. But no one in the office cares about it. There is no mom who’ll tell you to sit straight. When focusing on a task, we don’t always pay attention to how we sit and control our posture.

Bad posture habits lead to a decrease in productivity. Oded Cohen, UpRight CEO, comments: “The reality is that most business men and women spend eight to twelve hours a day sitting slouched over at their desks, which leads to back pain, decreased productivity, poor health and missed work days”. These pains cost American employers $7 billion a year in decreased productivity and lost work days.

Lumo lift is a gadget designed to solve bad posture problems. It is a tiny device that you wear on your cloths. It is connected to a mobile app and is set to vibrate each time you slouch. You should enter you height, weight, email address and name into the app. Then, clip it to your cloths (it should be somewhere under the collar bone). And align the sensor when you change position. Used correctly, this device can help reduce back pain as well as increase productivity.

 


 

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