‘Tis the season to be jolly, but for 73% of the UK workforce the build up to Christmas is anything but merry, with concerns that work will ruin their festive cheer.
Additional social commitments, end of year project deadlines, getting ready for ‘New year, new targets’ and trying to prepare for time-off, along with the pressure of being ready for the big day itself means the season of goodwill is a testing time for a lot of people.
So, knowing you’re short of time, we thought we’d gift you 5 simple tips to help get everything done, helping you to make time to truly enjoy the festivities:
1) At Christmas, organisations often treat their employees to additional perks. With what feels like so much to do and so little time, consider offering more flexible hours, earlier finishes or extended lunch breaks.
2) Ignore Your Emails – how often are we in the middle of completing a task when you take a quick look at your emails – and then boom! Something comes up, you get distracted and the original job is unfinished. Set time bands each day when you look at your emails so they don’t govern your day and your workload. If someone needs to get you immediately, they will call. Also, try and remove work emails from your personal phone. Technology is great but it means we can never switch off and are always on call, often distracted by emails that can be dealt with in work time.
3) He’s making a list and checking it twice… Sounds simple, but write down what you need to do, prioritise it and tick it off. Making sure you do the most important tasks in the morning to give you a sense of momentum.
4) Turn off social media app alerts – research from the Global Web Index indicates people now spend an average of 2 hours per day on social media sites, with other studies estimating that 2.5 hours of work productivity a day is lost because of social media distractions! That could equate to 12.5 hours a week – imagine what you could get done in that time!
5) Take regular breaks to avoid burn out – research has show that regular breaks create better, more productive employees
And finally… Christmas comes but once a year so make time to enjoy it.