If you find yourself among the overworked employees in your organisation, there are ways to deal with the stress of the day-to-day grind.
According to the European Heart Journal, consistently working three or four hours of overtime a week can increase your risk of heart disease by 60 per cent. Work overload exists when employees are asked to work unreasonably long and difficult shifts for an extended length of time. These long hours are worked with few breaks or vacation days, at a pace that is equally unreasonable.
Experts say many workers are required to put in more hours and cope with stress levels that are higher than they have ever faced.
Some say this is as a result of the global recession, which has forced many companies to lay off workers, while striving to sustain the same level of productivity.
Whatever the cause, the implication has ranged from people developing effective multi-tasking skills to people breaking down at work. Yes, experts say too much work can cause health problems for you. They, however, stress that there is no reason to lose your cool or despair. This, they say, is because many people have devised ways to manage what many people regard as ‘excessive workload.’
To join this unique set of people, certified change management professional and founder, catherinescareercorner.com, Catherine Adenle, says the following tips will be helpful.
Understand your organisation’s strategy and culture
You have to first remember that your role exists for a reason and this will ultimately be determined by the strategy of the team that you belong to. This strategy is often expressed in a vision and in the mission statement. In some way, you should help the organisation to achieve its vision. If you are thinking this is not the case, you need to ask yourself how secure your role is. Make sure you understand and perform the tasks that are strategy-driven as well. The tasks that add value to the team, the company or the organisation are the tasks that you should always strive to complete first.
Relax
Yes, it is a simple tip, sit back in a relaxed position, drop your shoulders slowly and inhale through your nose, counting to five in your head. Let the air out from your mouth, counting to eight in your head as it leaves your lungs. Repeat several times. Try and don’t be overwhelmed by the number of tasks or deadlines at hand. After all, you can’t do all of them at the same time, so why worry about all of them at once?
Think
Compile a list of your tasks with allocated deadlines. Look and decide which ones you can complete independently and which are the ones you need help with? Separate the tasks based on timelines, stakeholders’ needs, ease of completion, dependencies and estimated time to complete.
Reflect
We all have different ways of working, and different styles and times when we are most productive. Think about when you tend to work best and use this time to do the most important or challenging tasks, then complete the easier tasks when you find it more difficult to concentrate.
People and resources
You must check that you have the staff support, resources and the training that you need to do an excellent job of your allocated tasks. If you do not network, ask questions, speak to relevant people and start working on obtaining them.
Prioritise
Once you have listed your tasks, set priorities based on the information you already have. According to priority, have a pipeline of your projects completed one by one, within the deadlines and other constraints. Re-order with your feasible but viable timelines.
Communicate
If you feel that you are struggling to stay on top of your work, it may help to share your concerns with your manager or supervisor. Politely ask him for a work in progress meeting to communicate your workload and assure him that you are capable of handling all the projects but he has to look at shifting some of the deadlines for you and also clarify on your list what is absolutely important to focus on first. Avoid using the word, ‘can’t’ during the meeting, but you can say, ‘I can get the work done but I need to be given more time on a few of the projects as I have documented,’ or ask him, ‘Would you mind if I do these projects in this order and to these timelines? This way, I can do a very good job and exceed your expectations.’ If he agrees, be sure to exceed his expectations by your deliverables.
Focus
Think of breaking your day into sessions, of maybe two or three hours. Take regular walk breaks after each session. First thing in the morning, when you get to the office, begin your day with a plan and assign tasks to each session. As you know, there will be urgent things that come up all the time, so be prepared to re-prioritise on the drop of a hat.
Execute
Set up a mental box around yourself during each session. Nothing else should interfere, unless of course, there are emergencies. Concentrate and work like a person on a mission. Everything else can wait.
It is okay to say no, sometimes
Agreed, it can be difficult in some situations, but saying “no” is sometimes the only way to manage a heavy workload. However, be mindful not to say no to important tasks and not say no all the time, but saying no when you genuinely feel and think you cannot do something is better than saying yes and not getting the job done well.
Successful workload management is therefore vitally important for your job satisfaction. Unfortunately, some managers aren’t always willing to see this. If that’s the case, hopefully, the tips above will help.
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