Time is money: Here’s how to get more of both using eSignatures

As Australians settle into the rhythm of the working year following the heady days of summer, a faint whiff of New Year’s resolutions still hangs in the air. People are determined to do more with less this year. Work smarter, not harder. Reclaim precious time.

See, today’s astute workers know that time is money. And, that time is tightly linked to their wellbeing and work-life balance. The more time saved, the better off they’ll be.

Problem is, some aspects of work still – somewhat needlessly – chew up precious time. 

Take travel. With more people back in the office, the impact of the daily commute is being felt again. In 2022, Australians spent an average 54 minutes per day and 169 hours per year commuting. And that’s just getting to and from work. Factor in the travel time between meetings – jumping in rideshares, walking across town, and so on – and there go more precious minutes of every day.

Of course, we’re certainly not saying that face-to-face meetings and in-office work should go the way of the VCR. Human contact is so important in building and maintaining relationships. It’s also incredibly valuable for those starting out in their careers. Yet there is always room for smarter use of travel time. Why commute every day when you could have a couple of productive work days at home? Why go across town for a ‘quick’ meeting to get a client’s signature, when you could instead email them a contract – and use the time forging a relationship with a new customer? 

The same applies in the office. Think back to the pandemic days of working from home. Without all those meetings with colleagues – plus the incidental chit-chat that buffers them – productivity soared. A two-year survey during Covid showed that the shift to working remotely (and, by default, reducing the number of internal meetings) boosted productivity by 6%.

Indeed, most employees would be happy to see the number of meetings fall. Nine in ten employees feel meetings are ‘costly’ and ‘unproductive’. And there’s this. When meetings are reduced by 40%, employee productivity increases by over 70%. That’s pretty huge. 

Getting smart about what meetings matter

Question is, how do you strike the right balance? How can you help dial down the number of unnecessary meetings and client catch-ups, while still fostering collaboration and teamwork?

It’s all about being smart about which meetings matter. If it’s just a meeting of suits to ceremoniously sign a new business agreement, you could easily send the agreement via email instead. This will save every ‘suit’ precious minutes and hours of travel.

Or, if it’s a meeting between team leaders to agree on the wording of a new workplace policy, why not send out the wording via Slack or your chosen chat channel, and get everyone on the same page there? As this article so succinctly puts it, “If a manager uses a two-hour meeting with 18 colleagues to make some decisions, they’re spending person-hours equivalent to one person doing an entire week’s work.” Ouch. 

Saving time in more ways than one

Reducing the volume of meetings in your workplace will definitely save you time. Getting smart about how you manage interactions and agreement processes can help save even more time. For example, an eSignature platform also helps reduce the amount of time spent preparing and acting on agreements. 

According to one Docusign report, when you use eSignature, the time spent collecting signatures is reduced by an average of 25-50% and contract turnaround time improves by 75%. What’s more, around four in five Docusign agreements are signed within 24 hours, and 44% are signed within 15 minutes. These speedy turnaround times accelerate the agreement process, and free up your time to work on the things you love. 

All those minutes saved quickly add up, helping you realise your goal of working smarter, not harder. So, what are you waiting for? Get started with eSignature today.