By Jerrywright Ugwu

It is a known fact that organizations measure their employees’ productivity and output based on how well they use their time at work. In a society like ours where relatives and friends, to a large extent, influence our decisions and play a huge part in our daily lives, it is inevitable not to entertain these set of people at the office. Often times, without prior knowledge of their visits.

In order to regulate how these social visits affect the output of employees, it is important for companies to create a policy to address this. This will help to maximize workers efficiency, ensure security and protect confidential information. Time spent receiving and chatting with visitors does not benefit either the organization or the employee. Therefore, the Human Resource Manager needs to look closely into it.

Unfortunately, so many organisations do not have clear policies on visitors at work. Below are some tips that I think can be useful:

  • Create designated visitor areas and ensure they adhere to it
  • If a visitor comes into your office, stand up to greet them but do not invite them to sit down. This will shorten the length of their visit
  • If you are busy, don’t encourage them to wait. Kindly set up an appointment.
  • Encourage friends and relatives to meet you during tea and lunch breaks