22 Tools to Improve Your Workplace Efficiency

Do you find it hard to get things done at work? You’re not alone. Keeping your employees motivated, loyal, and productive can be difficult at times, but it doesn’t have to be.

You can create an office environment that fosters productivity and satisfaction with the right tools. 

To keep the gears in your workplace running smoothly, read on to learn more about improving your workplace efficiency and overall productivity.

What Is Workplace Efficiency?

Workplace efficiency refers to how well a business uses its available resources, employees, and time to achieve the desired outcome. When it comes to workplace efficiency, these areas tend to require the most improvement:

• Employee productivity
• Employee engagement 
• Office space utilization 
• Employee efficiency

Efficiency vs. Productivity vs. Performance

Efficiency measures the amount of output produced from a given input, while productivity measures how much work you get done in a given amount of time. On the other hand, performance refers to how well you meet goals for quality, quantity, and cost.

Advantages of Operating in an Efficient Workplace

The most impactful benefits of operating in an efficient workplace include:

Higher Customer Satisfaction

A well-organized, tidy, and clean workplace enhances customer satisfaction and improves team productivity.

Lower Business Costs 

Reducing or eliminating office distractions allows you to work more efficiently, resulting in lower costs.

Reduced Rates of Error

Highly efficient employees know how to prioritize and manage their time, resulting in improved employee performance and morale.

Increased Productivity

Working in a more efficient environment means higher organizational performance, resulting in greater productivity.

How Can You Encourage Your Employees To Work Efficiently?

If you truly want your employees to work efficiently, you need to become more efficient yourself and demonstrate how you do so on a regular basis. 

Let’s take an in-depth look at how you can encourage your employees to work more efficiently.

Communicate Openly

Figure out what works best for each employee and set up an effective communication plan that best suits their needs.

Work To Everyone’s Strengths & Weaknesses

Look over your employees’ strengths and weaknesses. The key here is to take an active role in helping each team member grow professionally.

Use Incentives & Praise

Developing a financial incentive structure, such as performance-based bonuses and praising them, can improve your employees’ efficiency as it boosts morale.

Try Out Some Team Building Tricks

By encouraging your employees to connect personally, you can allow them to build a positive attitude and supportive relationships. These activities can lead to better traditional business performance reviews.  

Give Ownership

If employees take ownership over their tasks, they’ll often do a better job of completing them. It would be best to give them a sense of responsibility for failure or success.

Don’t Micromanage

Ensure your employees know that you have faith in their abilities and let them know that you’re there for them. When it comes to styles of management, micromanaging is one you want to stay away from.

Offer Constructive Feedback

Negative feedback can be difficult for employees to hear, but you must provide them with constructive criticism. Regular feedback will help them improve their performance and allow you to build a better relationship with your entire team.

Top 22 Tools To Improve Your Workplace Efficiency

There are many tools available that can help you streamline your workflow. Follow this guide to learn more about these tools and how they improve workplace efficiency.

	Starting price (billed annually)	Free trial	Operating system	G2 rating
airSlate	$19/mo	Yes	Cloud, SaaS, Web-based, iOS, Android	4.5 / 5.0
signNow by airSlate	$8/user/mo	Yes	Cloud, SaaS, Web-based, iOS, Android	4.6 / 5.0
pdfFiller by airSlate	$8/user/mo	Yes	Cloud, SaaS, Web-based, iOS, Android	4.6 / 5.0
ProofHub	$45/mo	Yes	Cloud, SaaS, Web-based, iOS, Android	4.5 / 5.0
Monday.com	€8/seat/mo	Yes	Cloud, SaaS, Web-based,Desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux), iOS, Android	4.7 / 5.0
NoteLedge	$15.99/mo	Yes	Desktop (Windows, macOS) iOS, Android	4.7 / 5.0
Outfunnel	$59/mo	Yes	Cloud, SaaS, Web-based	4.3 / 5.0
Evernote	$3/mo	Yes	Cloud, SaaS, Web-based,Desktop (Windows, macOS), iOS, Android	4.4 / 5.0
Time Doctor	$5.90/mo	Yes	Cloud, SaaS, Web-based,Desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux), iOS, Android	4.4 / 5.0
Slack	$7.25/mo	Yes	Cloud, SaaS, Web-based,Desktop (Windows, macOS), iOS, Android	4.5 / 5.0
Avoma	$17/user/mo	Yes	Cloud, SaaS, Web-based	4.7 / 5.0
Trello	$5/user/mo	Yes	Cloud, SaaS, Web-based,Desktop (Windows, macOS), iOS, Android	4.4 / 5.0
Freedom	$3.50/mo	No	Cloud, SaaS, Web-based, Desktop (Windows),On-premise (Windows, Linux)	5.0 / 5.0
Flair.hr	€8.00/mo	Yes	Cloud, SaaS, Web-based, iOS	4.6 / 5.0
Calendly	$8/mo	Yes	Cloud, SaaS, Web-based, iOS, Android	4.7 / 5.0
Toggl	$8/mo	Yes	Cloud, SaaS, Web-based,Desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux), iOS, Android	4.6 / 5.0
Forest	Free	N/A	iOS, Android	N/A
BambooHR	N/A	Yes	Cloud, SaaS, Web-based,Desktop (Windows, macOS), iOS, Android	4.5 / 5.0
Kissflow	$15/mo	Yes	Cloud, SaaS, Web-based,Desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux), iOS, Android	4.3 / 5.0
SaneBox	$7/mo	Yes	Cloud, SaaS, Web-based,Desktop (Windows, macOS), iOS, Android	4.9 / 5.0
Focus Booster	$4.99/mo	Yes	Multiplatform	N/A
Bit.ai	$8/mo	No, Free plan	Cloud, SaaS, Web-based	4.2 / 5.0

*Please note some of these ratings may be inflated/deflated due to a lack of user reviews.

1. airSlate

airSlate is a document workflow automation platform that empowers anyone to create stunning documents and automate document workflows using a single platform. Our platform scales to fit anyone’s needs from simple tasks like editing PDFs and creating forms to eSigning documents and automating workflows. airSlate is everything you need to get your documents done. airSlate’s a no-code workflow automation platform that unites the power of four products – airSlate, signNow, pdfFiller, and US Legal Forms, a library of industry-specific legal forms in a single business solution.

airSlate offers its users the following subscription options:

• Starter – $19/mo (200 documents per year, no-code workflow creator, document generation, legally-binding eSignatures, drag-and-drop web form builder, integration and automation with more than 150 Bots)
• Growth – $79/mo (everything in Starter + unlimited documents, contract negotiation, payment collection, custom branding, and other advanced features)
• Enterprise – $399/mo (everything in Growth + dedicated integrations with popular CRM systems, solutions engineering assistance, custom integrations and API, and more)
• Automation Suite – $799/mo (everything in Enterprise + 25 document editing licenses with pdfFiller, 10 enterprise eSignature licenses with signNow, 85,000+ templates with US Legal Forms, and a dedicated Customer Success Manager)

2. signNow by airSlate

signNow by airSlate enables companies to move fast with everything they need to send and eSign their documents. Increase productivity with document workflows, impress customers, and save money while maximizing ROI with signNow. signNow’s customer list is comprised of small businesses along with lower and upper mid-market customers. In addition, signNow has been actively testing the waters with enterprise solutions for different industries and the signNow API.

signNow by airSlate offers its users the following subscription options:

• Business – $8/mo (for small teams and simple eSignature workflows)
• Business Premium – $15/mo (for medium-sized teams and branded eSignature workflows)
• Enterprise – $30/mo (for organizations with multiple teams and complex eSignature workflows)
• Business Cloud – $50/mo (for large-scale, specialized businesses and automated eSignature workflows)

The signNow Site License package is a usage-based pricing option for large businesses and enterprises sending over 1,000 signature invites per year. signNow charges $1.50 per invite with volume discounts available over 3,000 invites.

3. pdfFiller

pdfFiller is a document management cloud solution that enhances the user experience when creating and sharing PDF files. The platform provides a central location for document collaboration, storage, hosting fillable forms, a PDF converter, and video and image watermark capabilities. 

pdfFiller alleviates your workflow pains via seamless integrations with Google Docs, Office 365, and CRM tools such as Salesforce. Real estate, legal, medical, and business sales teams benefit from the basic, plus, and premium packages at $8, $12, and $15.

Large businesses and enterprises can reap the benefits of using the pdfFiller for Enterprise subscription with Basic and Premium plans at $96/user/year and $180/user/year, respectively.

4. ProofHub

ProofHub is a project management software designed for teams in any business. You can create your project plans faster and keep them up-to-date with real-time team collaborations and integrations with iOS and Android to make your work accessible from anywhere.

Its advanced admin control gives users more authority over their projects. The marketing, operations, and human resource efficiency teams enjoy with ProofHub’s ultimate control and essential packages come at a flat rate of $89 and $45 per month.

5. Monday.com

Monday.com is a project management tool for teams to track tasks, company updates, and client communications. Integrations with other apps like Slack, Dropbox, and Google Drive help you get more done faster. 

The marketing, sales, and IT teams all work together in one place. Monday.com offers five plans, starting with a free individual plan, a basic plan at €8/seat/mo, a standard plan at €10/seat/mo, and a pro plan for €16/seat/mo.

6. NoteLedge

NoteLedge is a note-taking app that helps you organize your thoughts and save important information. It is extremely beneficial to sales, marketing, creative, and design teams to store important information about clients and prospects, all in one central and easily accessible place. However, NoteLedge focuses on the creatives.

You can even use it to make mood boards, creative collages, and quick sketches that assist your design team to be as productive as possible.

There is a completely free version. However, if you want to upgrade, the pricing options start at a flat rate of $15.99 for the pro plan and $59.99 for the creative plan, billed annually.

7. Outfunnel

Outfunnel is an all-in-one marketing tool that will help you generate more traffic and leads for your business. 

Its main function is to align your customer data across all your tools. It has various features to manage your communications, online presence, and engagement, including email campaigns and web tracking.

This frees up time and allows your team members to focus on more important things, like generating leads.

Integrations with major platforms like Hubspot and Salesforce make it easy to get started. Outfunnel comes with two plans  — Basic starting at $ $59 per month, and Professional starting at $119 per month. There’s also a 14-day free trial.

8. Evernote 

Evernote is an all-in-one productivity and note-taking app that makes it easy to store, organize and share content across all of your devices. With a simple interface and powerful features such as document scanning, Evernote helps you keep everything in sync. 

Evernote integrates with other apps, including Google Drive and Microsoft teams. You can try Evernote free for 30 days before deciding whether to upgrade to other plans starting at $3.

9. Time Doctor

Time Doctor helps you track and report how you spend your time at work. The platform allows you to set goals, monitor performance, identify trends and measure results. 

With features such as time tracking, timesheets, and reporting, Time Doctor makes it easy to manage projects from start to finish. The pricing plans range from $5.90 per user per month to $16.70 per month, with a 14-day free trial.

10. Slack

Slack allows teams to bring all conversations and files together to work more efficiently from anywhere. It’s a real-time messaging, archiving, and search app for modern groups.

Integrating Google Drive, Zoom, Jira, and other services makes it easy to unify proper communications across your team. Slack offers a free trial plan with three paid plans: pro, business+, and enterprise, starting from $7.29 per month.

11. Avoma

Avoma is an intelligent meeting lifecycle assistant that helps virtual assistants, sales, customer success, and remote teams become more productive by allowing you to schedule meetings based on real-time availability, record and transcribe meeting notes, and generate AI notes for a meeting once it has concluded.

Avoma makes use of artificial intelligence, conversation intelligence, and revenue management. 

Its meeting collaboration, management, and assistant tools help you take meeting notes, allowing meeting attendees to give their full concentration to the speaker and get work done faster and wiser afterward. Avoma offers fair pricing plans ranging from $17 to $79/user/month with a 14-day free trial option.

12. Trello

Trello is a project management tool that makes it easy to share files, organize, communicate, and collaborate on repetitive tasks. With intuitive features such as boards and cards, you can easily visualize your projects. 

Integration with Google Drive, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, etc., allows you to work seamlessly across devices. Trello pricing options include the standard, premium, and enterprise packages costing $5, $10, and $17.50 per month, respectively, with a free trial.

13. Freedom

Freedom is a concentration software that enables marketers, executives, researchers, etc., to shut out any outside interference that they may be experiencing. Freedom offers an easy-to-use interface that ensures your team is productive and stays on task. 

There are no distractions when you need to get things done with various available blocking features for the internet and websites.

You can get started using Freedom with a free trial or you can jump right into their premium plan at a cost of $3.50 per year.

14. Flair

Flair is a collaborative HR management software that enables you to efficiently create and manage your team, recruit new employees, and onboard them successfully into your company. 

From talent management to recruitment, Flair’s design takes modern businesses into mind. It has powerful tools like time tracking, employee Hub, and payroll, making it flexible enough for any business process. 

Pricing starts at €8.00 per employee per month and depends on the functionality and features you’re looking for.

15. Calendly

Calendly is an online calendar that allows recruiting, sales, and marketing teams, among others, to easily schedule meetings and appointments in a super-efficient way. The platform includes routing forms, scheduling, recurring appointments, and reminders. 

Calendly integrates with many platforms like Google Analytics, Microsoft Teams, and Slack, making it easy to set up. With a free basic plan to start, Calendly also offers paid programs ranging from $8/month.

16. Toggl

Toggl is a time-tracking, project planning, and reporting app. It consists of tracking and reporting features that enable you to create tasks, log work hours, and easily track billable hours. 

The platform integrates with your Google Calendar or Outlook, enabling you to view your daily schedule within Toggl. Various organization teams can enjoy Toggl’s affordable plans starting at $8/user/month, including a free program.

17. Forest App

Forest App is a simple and easy-to-use tool that helps you stay focused on what matters most. With Forest, you can grow virtual trees. Each time you get distracted, your tree will die. 

The app integrates with social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook so that you can share your success stories with others. Virtual coins are rewarded based on how long you manage to stay focused without getting distracted. 

The best thing about Forest? It is completely free!

18. BambooHR

BambooHR is a web-based human resource efficiency software used by small and medium-sized businesses. It comes with onboarding, time management, performance evaluation, payroll, and compliance reporting. 

These tools allow companies to manage their employees efficiently. The product is available for free and if you want to take it a step further then you need to contact their sales team for a custom quote.

19. KissFlow

KissFlow is a digital workplace assistant that helps employees organize their workday and stay on top of what’s essential. The platform is customized with streamlined dashboards and dynamic reporting features to provide real-time data to users. 

Kissflow combines workflow, procurement cloud, and project products into one easy-to-use tool. Users can enjoy basic, advanced, and fully loaded plans at $15, $20/user/month and a customised offer, respectively. There is also an enterprise plan with custom pricing.

20. SaneBox

SaneBox is an email management tool that keeps your inbox in order by identifying, sorting, and auto-archiving your incoming emails. The system consists of a powerful AI engine that learns from user behavior to deliver only important messages to your inbox. 

Users can also set up rules to automatically file or delete messages based on sender, subject line, and keywords. SaneBox offers three plans: Snack, Lunch, and Dinner, priced at ($7, $12, and $36/month.

21. Focus Booster

Focus Booster is a time tracking app that helps you focus on your work. It is straightforward and has fantastic features such as a Pomodoro timer, distractions blocker, and statistics. 

You can track your progress and analyze how much time you spend on different activities on a daily basis. It also allows you to set goals for yourself and achieve them. Focus booster features two plans, starter and professional. The starter plan is complimentary while the professional starts at $4.99.

22. Bit.ai

Bit.ai is a powerful personal document collaboration and workplace platform that allows you to work with anyone in real-time from anywhere. The service integrates seamlessly with Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive.

With features such as workflow solutions and end-to-end sharing tools, the platform helps you improve your workplace efficiency and productivity. The pricing options are simple and affordable, with three options: free, pro ($8/user/month), and business plan ($15/user/month).

Wrapping Up

Improving workplace efficiency isn’t just about saving time. It’s about saving money too. That’s why it pays to be apprised of all of your options and take steps toward improving your team management and workplace productivity. 

It would help if you utilized the tools mentioned above as well! 

Using workplace efficiency tools takes the burden of enhancing efficiency off your shoulders (and your employees’ shoulders) by allowing everyone to focus on the most critical tasks at hand.

Originally published in July 2022, updated in May 2023 for comprehensiveness and accuracy