Time and Attendance Blog, Workforce Management Software

Working From Home? Here Are 3 Tips For Taking Care Of Your Eyes

Working from home full-time for some during these trying times of COVID-19 has throw a wrench into the concept of work-life balance. And, while some of us are slowly returning to the office, others have continued to work from home.

Wheter you have an arrangement with your manager to telecommute a couple days a week or if you are working from home full-time, here are 3 tips for taking care of your eyes from an article written by Sarah D. Young:

Adjust your environment: Sit about two feet away from your computer screen to reduce eyestrain. Position the screen so that your eyes are looking slightly downward, not straight ahead or up. Adjust the screen brightness and contrast until it feels comfortable, and consider using a larger font if you’re working hard to see letters.
Take regular eye breaks: Seldomridge advises following the “20-20-20” rule, by looking 20 feet away from the screen every 20 minutes for 20 seconds. Alternatively, you can close your eyes for 20 seconds every 20 minutes.
Use artificial tears: Because staring at screens reduces blinking and increases dryness, the use of eye drops (“artificial tears”) can help keep your eyes moist and alleviate dry eye discomfort. Seldomridge said a humidifier can also help add moisture to the air and help prevent eye dryness.

Bottomline: These tips can help reduce eye strain when we are forced to look at screens all day. Some experts suggest that we create technology-free zones in certain areas of ours homes, like the bedroom or bathroom. Just imagine spending the entire day working on the computer, getting in bed and scrolling through social media? We should instead, truly unplug by reading a book or spend some quality time with family members without our phones.

About ATS
ATS offers a broad portfolio of time and attendance solutions that streamlines the collection, calculation, and reporting of employee hours for workforce management and eliminates the manual tasks of payroll preparation, increasing efficiency and reducing errors in corporate payroll departments.

Thousands of organizations across North, Central and South America and Europe- including more than half of the Fortune 500 – use ATS TimeWork OnDemand, Workforce Planning, Employee Scheduling HR and payroll solutions to manage their workforce.

In addition, ATS provides modular analytic solutions that includes; workforce planning, benefits management, employee self-service, business intelligence, human resources, payroll, and advanced analytics based on a robust cloud computing platform for information and data needs. It also offers design, rapid deployment, support services, software updates, and enhancements; and consulting and training services.

To learn more, call: 866.294.2467 and to download a demo go to our website.

Covid-19, Social Media, Telecommute, Work-Life-Balance

3 Tips To Keep You Focused While Working From Home During COVID-19

Working from home during COVID-19 pandemic can make seem like you are working all the time. Know how to set boundaries between your work and personal life, as well as avoid professional isolation. And, if your office is closed due to the corona virus pandemic, you might be working from home for the first time.

If you are working from home for the first time and/or just can’t seem to stay focused with the knowledge that your TV and fridge is nearby, consider these tips for maintaining work-life balance and avoiding professional isolation. These tips are from an article by Elizabeth Grace Saunders in Harvard Business Review titled, How to Stay Focused When You’re Working from Home

Establish working hours- It may sound silly, but if you want to have a focused day of work, pretend you’re not working from home. Before I became a time management coach, my schedule was chaotic. I didn’t have a set time that I would be at my computer, and I would often schedule personal appointments or run errands during the day. And since my personal life didn’t have boundaries, my work life didn’t either. When I was home, I would feel guilty for not checking business email at all hours of the day and night. I never felt that I could truly rest.
Structure your day for success- Maximize the effectiveness of your time at home by structuring it differently than a typical workday. For example, if you work from home only one day a week or on occasion, make it a meeting-free day. If you can’t entirely avoid meetings, reserve at least half a day for focused work. Choose a time that works best for you, based on any required meetings and your energy levels.
Set boundaries with others- To make your efforts stick, be clear with the people who might see your work-at-home days as simply days you’re at home. Explain to friends, family, and other acquaintances that the days you’re working remotely aren’t opportunities for non-work-related activities. For example, if you’re home with your spouse, tell them, “I’m planning on being on my computer from 8 AM to 5 PM today. I’m happy to chat at lunch, but other than that I’ll be occupied.” Typically, when you set expectations and stick to them (say, really stopping at 5 PM), people understand your limits instead of assuming you’ll be available. (I also recommend having a place where you’re away from anyone else who might be home, such as an office or bedroom where you can shut the door and be out of sight.)

Bottomline: While some employees have been working remotely for many years and will likely keep their same routine, managers should remember that not every employee actually wants to work from home, a shift that can be stressful for some. However, as organizations increasingly mandate that many employees work from home during this pandemic outbreak, it’s becomes even more important that managers, communicate with their employees as some might be struggling with the change.

To learn more about ATS, go to our website. To download a demo of our time and attendance app or reach us by phone call; 866.294.2467.

Covid-19, Harvard Business Review, Time Management, Work-Life-Balance, Working Remotely

Some Tips On How To Avoid Going Bonkers While Working From Home

This current pandemic has forced many employees to work from home. And, for those employees who are not used to working from home, they could get easily get distracted, feel lonely and unproductive. Moreover, this might be especially true for employees who crave the social interaction of their colleagues and also feel exiled from the office environment.

If you happen to be one of these employees who, like many of us, are having a hard time juggling working from home and managing house-hold chores while helping your school-age kids with online learning, here are few tips from an article titled, Four Self-Care Practices You Can Do at Your Desk by Mandy Gilbert for Inc.com

Wind down with a five-minute meditation: I probably don’t have to remind you of all the studies that have been done that link daily meditation to improved mental and physical health. We all know meditation is good for us. However, finding the ability to pull away from your pressing tasks and give into a quick mindfulness session can seem downright selfish when dealing with all the urgent matters stacking up on your plate.

Turn off your digital devices and focus on the tangible: Screen fatigue is a huge problem and can become a very real hindrance on your mental health. As many of us transition to working from home, the problem is only becoming amplified. I know, personally, I cringe a little every time I hear the ping of my weekly screen report.

Practice workplace gratitude and celebrate your accomplishments: Tell me if this sounds familiar to you. You’re working away on a big project, caught up in the day-to-day hustle, when a colleague congratulates you on a recent achievement that you almost entirely forgot about.

Throw out the rules and text your family and friends: Our family and friends are our greatest support systems, so it can be hard keeping them at arm’s length throughout the day when you are going through a particularly difficult time.

That’s why it’s time to throw away the rule made up in the boardrooms of yesteryear that you shouldn’t be on your personal phone during work hours. Speaking from firsthand experience, it can be so rejuvenating to take a moment and check in with your loved ones once or twice a day. It lifts your spirits, satisfies your need for socialization, and can even make you more productive.

Bottomline: No one knows with absolute certainty, when many employees might return to offices. However, several tech companies including Salesforce, Twitter, IBM, Oracle and Google to name a few, has already said employees can work at home for the rest of the year, even after they have reopened their offices.

To learn more about ATS you can register for our next webinar Embracing The Future of Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning. To download a demo of our time and attendance app or reach us by phone call; 866.294.2467.

Google, IBM, Oracle, Pandemic, Twitter

Struggling To Manage Employees During The Holiday Season? Here Are Some Tips

Now that we’re into the month of December and the holiday season has kicked into full gear, here’s a question just about every manager probably has on their mind: Just how much work am I getting out of my employees this month, anyway?

Well, regardless of your religious affiliation the end-of-the-year holiday season impacts every workplace, and every worker, whether it’s retail, manufacturing, or healthcare. And, as someone who manages people, you probably only too well, that your employees will likely be distracted and stressed at this time of the year.

This article from Entrepreneur and Glassdoor titled ‘7 Ways to Manage Employee HolidayTime Off’ is a useful guide for any manager:

1. Plan in advance: Many industrial businesses have their holiday schedule planned well in advance, and there’s no reason any type of business can’t do that either. According to Brian Koniuk, a principal at the HackettGroup, manufacturers typically require employees to plan out their vacation for the coming year so they know in January who is working what holiday and who is off for the entire year. In other industries, like health care, Koniuk says schedules are made three to five months in advance.

2. First come, first served: If you are running a business that is busy during the holidays or needs to be staffed 24/7 year-round, one way to prevent employees from taking off in large numbers is to limit the amount and give workers off on a first come, first served basis, says Pat Sweeney, human resource manager at Old Colony Hospice and Palliative Care. “If they know they are going to want to be off over the holidays they know they have to ask for the time off way in advance,” says Sweeney. She says that starting as early as September supervisors can notify the staff that requests for time off have to be made as soon as possible. Hand in hand with a first come, first served policy is capping the number of people that can take off during the holidays.

3. Stagger the schedule: You may not be able to keep a full staff during the holidays, but that doesn’t mean you have to close early or provide a reduced level of service. To combat that, Kathy Harris, managing director of recruiting firm Harris Allied, says to stagger your employee vacation scheduling. For instance, you can have someone work in the morning during the holidays and another worker take the afternoon shift. Another option: have one employee work Monday and Tuesday and another Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The idea behind a staggered employee vacation schedule is to always have coverage, and at the same time, give employees time off during the holidays.

4. Keep a pool of part-timers: If you are operating a business that picks up during the holiday season, or you know a lot of your staff will be gone during that time, it’s a good idea to keep a pool of part-timers that you can tap when you need extra help, says Gary Should is, a small business consultant, coach and owner of a gymnastics center. “We have a pool of part-timers that we know can work the holidays,” says Should is. “Whenever we hit the holiday period or periods where we lose part of our staff they come on.” According to Should is, it’s a good idea to keep in contact with these part-timers year-round so you’ll know their availability ahead of time. Another option is to post a job in anticipation for holiday hiring.

5. Offer a holiday pay differential: For some people money talks even if it means they won’t be with their family during the holidays, which is why offering a holiday pay differential can keep your business staffed. According to Sweeney, it should be something that is part of the company’s structure and not something you offer just to entice an employee not to take off. “If you’re in a business you know there are a lot of requests for time off you can have some differential built in,” she says.

6. Institute a vacation blackout period: For some businesses, particularly retail, the holidays are the busiest time for them, which means they need a full staff if not more. If your business falls into this category, a way to prevent employees from taking off is to have a blackout period where no one can take off, says Tanios. If an employee wants off during a blackout period he or she would need to ask well in advance, and it would be at the manager’s discretion, says Tanios. It’s a good idea to inform employees from the beginning of the blackout policy so they aren’t blindsided come holiday time.

7. Let employees work at home: These days pretty much everybody has a laptop, iPad or smartphone that enables them to work remotely. If your staff doesn’t have to be on site, letting them work at home during the holidays can be a productive way to get things done without having to bring in additional staff. Working at home is a viable option only if the business lends itself to it and there’s away to ensure the employees are actually working. “In this day and age working from a virtual office anywhere is possible,” says Sweeney.

Bottom-line: During the holiday season, employees are likely dreaming of cozying up in Christmas sweaters with their egg-nogs or just dreading that visit from relatives that they see only once a year. Employees will be stressed out enough as it is, anything you can do as their manager to bring joy, could increase productivity and yes, profit to the bottom line.

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Glassdoor, Holiday, iPad, Smartphone, Time-Off

How to Build a Feedback Culture When Working Remotely

By Jock Purtle

A lot of things are changing about the way we work. The traditional 9-5 workday is slowly disappearing, or at the very least changing. And every year it seems more and more people are working remotely—currently around 43 percent of the workforce performs their jobs remotely in one way or another.

In general, there are a lot of advantages to remote work. Not only does it make it easier for people to achieve the coveted work-life balance, but remote workers actually tend to be more engaged and productive, when managed correctly.

How to Build a Feedback Culture When Working Remotely

But there are some things from a traditional office setting that remote work struggles to recreate, such as the ability to gather feedback from employees. Hearing people’s opinions about the way things work and the ideas they have for improving them is key to improving your business. But with less-frequent and less-personal digital communication replacing face-to-face interaction, some are wondering if feedback culture is in jeopardy.

In short: it’s not. Yet to make sure you can maintain this all-important feature of a successful, business, you do need to change some of your management techniques and adapt to the nature of a digital work environment. Consider the following to help you build a feedback culture when working remotely.

Hold Regular Meetings
In a remote work environment, efficiency is king. Having flexible work hours means people want to organize their days in the manner that makes them the most productive. And we all know people’s opinions of less-than-productive, something that makes people want to cut them out completely.

But you’ve got to avoid this. Just because people are working remotely, it doesn’t mean they are less important. You still need to maintain constant contact with them, especially if you’re hoping to build a culture of feedback into your remote work environment. You can certainly reduce their frequency, choosing to hold them once a month instead of bi-weekly, for example. Less contact discourages people from speaking out and making suggesting, stunting the development of a feedback culture.

During these meetings, make sure to actively solicit feedback. Ask people questions about your processes and about their jobs so as to encourage a dialogue. Saying just “Anything on your mind?” doesn’t promote dialogue, so you need to work extra hard to fight make it happen.

Give People an Outlet
No matter how often you tell people they can feel free to speak their mind, they are going to be more hesitant around management. You could have an incredibly open organizational hierarchy, but people will rarely say exactly what’s on their mind.

As such, to really develop a culture of feedback in your remote work, it’s important to establish another way for employees to express themselves. For example, you could set up an ombudsman program where people can discuss what’s bothering them under the protection of anonymity. Or, you could outsource your entire HR organization to a professional employer organization, streamlining this aspect of your business while also giving people an outside entity to speak to.

When you go this route, you can have this third party report on the general thoughts and feelings of your employees, which will make people, feel more comfortable that they won’t be singles out or reprimanded for speaking out against the way things are done.

Follow Through on Suggestions
If you want people to feel as though their opinions are valued—something critical to creating a feedback culture—then you need to make sure you follow through when people bring things to your attention. Of course you don’t need to implement every suggestion, but you do need to try.

In the cases where change just simply is not possible, make sure to discuss why this is the case. During your monthly meeting, let people know you’re aware of their concerns, and then explain to them why their suggestions cannot be accommodated, perhaps indicating at the same time that you’re going to continue to look for alternatives.

If you do this, then your employees will be able to see your words as more than just words. It will become clear to them that you care about what they have to say, and that your request for feedback is not just lip service but rather a genuine attempt at including them in the running of the business.

Work Hard to Build Trust with Remote Workers
Remote workers tend to fall out of the loop. Since they’re not in the office, it’s common to “forget” about them. And when this happens, you can be sure that they are not going to want to offer any feedback.

But just because it’s hard doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Make sure to spend time getting to know your remote workers by asking them about things other than work. Learn about their families and their hometowns, and do your best to cultivate a relationship as if saw this person in everyday in the office. Sure, it won’t be the same, but if you show people you care and that you trust them, then you can expect them to open up more when it comes time to solicit feedback.

Another way to build trust is by managing remote workers in a hands-off manner. Telecommuters value their flexibility, so if you harp over them at all times, then they will interpret this as an encroachment on their autonomy, which can create feelings of resentment and distance. Try to let people do their thing and enjoy the benefits of remote work, and you’ll soon see how this can open up the flow of communication and make it easier for you to learn about people’s thoughts and opinions.

Remote Workers Can Do It All
The most important thing to remember is that remote workers are the same as traditional workers in every sense. They may operate with different schedules and you may need to manage them a bit differently, but they are fully capable of doing everything your in-office employees can do, including offering feedback that can help make the company better.

About the Author: Jock Purtle is the founder and CEO of Digital Exits, an online brokerage service specializing in the buying/selling and appraisal of online businesses. He’s been an internet entrepreneur since he launched his first business when was 19-years-old, meaning his entire career has taken place online. He’s an expert on managing remote teams and enjoys sharing his experiences to help others.

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HR, Remote Workers, Telecommuting

Here Are Three Ways To Keep Your Remote Workers Engaged

The traditional way of work is on its way out and is not coming back, much to angst of some. Many North Americans, in particular, millennials are ditching the traditional approach to work which usually involves driving one or two hours to an office. Today’s workers and are instead looking for companies that offer flexible work options and if yours does not, good luck in attracting a range of talent.

Here Are Three Ways To Keep Your Remote Workers Engaged

If your company has embraced the new way of work and has a remote workforce, you probably know it can sometimes be hard to make sure they feel part of the team. Here are three ways to keep your remote workforce engaged:

Consistently Communicate

A consistent line of communication between you and your remote team members is vital to ensuring workers are engaged, getting the work done are motivated. Occasionally e-mail your remote workers during the day or schedule one or two phone call during the course of the day. Not only does this help them to feel part of the team, it also means you are always accessible and this can help to avoid problems.

Made Good Use of Technology

The latest workforce management solutions and HR applications can help with remote employee engagement. In addition, cloud-based tools like Skype can provide your company and its remote workers to access a variety of presentations, or obtain important HR and data related information-thus, ensuring team members can remain up to date with the latest and most critical information wherever they are.

Share Feedback

Include your remote workers in important decisions that are part of your company’s overall strategy and/or growth plans. When remote workers are not included in the decisions then can quickly become disengage, and begin to can feel unsupported and unsure of how much their efforts are appreciated by the company. As an organization, you should have faith that your remote staff can work independently and meet operational objectives.

If you work in the white-collar world, you will undoubtedly end up working with or supervising a telecommuting workforce at some point. How you handle remote workers will vary according to whether they work from home in the suburbs a dozen miles away, a few provinces or states away, or in another country.

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HR, Millennials, North America, Telecommuting, Workforce Management Solution

Building A Business Case For Telecommuting

Want to convince your boss that you should work from home? Make sure you have a compelling case, including facts to prove that working remotely will not impact your productivity. In other words, do your due diligence, talk to your HR personnel, other work colleagues, and be sure to take time to learn about your company’s history as it pertains to telecommuting, otherwise, it could backfire on you.

Building A Business Case For Telecommuting

Here are some tips from Melanie Pinola’s blog on LifeWire titled What You Should Know Before You Ask to Work from Home

“The first thing you should know, if you’ve never worked from home before, is that telecommuting has awesome benefits but it’s not for everyone.

There are many pros and cons to telecommuting. That said, if you want to give it a try, start with the basics below.

Find out what the current policy is

Check the employee manual. If there’s an existing remote work policy, then your chances of success are good. You can use the information provided to make your case in your remote work proposal.
If there’s no written information but some of your co-workers currently have flexible work arrangements, ask them for advice on proceeding. They’ll have the inside scoop on how easy it was to negotiate the work arrangement and how it’s working out for them.
Don’t worry if no one ever has established a flexible work schedule or remote work agreement at the company, though. You can be the first! (In my former job, I was the first person to start working from home regularly as a telecommuter as I was able to prove I could get my job done at home. See below for more details.)

Use your experience to your advantage

Because your supervisor’s support and approval will be key to getting your request granted, you’ve got a leg up if you are an established employee whom your supervisor trusts and values. Make sure you maintain that respect and continue to make yourself invaluable to the company.
Gather past employee evaluations that had positive comments related to critical telecommuting traits, such as: initiative, ability to work without supervision, and communication skills.
If you are a new hire, think about past experience at other companies that prove your ability to telecommute productively, such as occasionally working while traveling for work or working from home when needed on the weekends. If you don’t have past remote work experience, perhaps delay the request, however, until you’ve developed a strong rapport with your supervisor and proven yourself invaluable to the company.

Be sensitive to your employer’s needs and goals
Look at the company’s mission statements, website description, and other materials to see how they present themselves. If they say they care about their employees’ well-being or are innovative/progressive companies of today, you can use these “branding statements” in your proposal.”

If you are still unable to convince your boss about the benefits of telecommuting, don’t be dishearten, simply try again in a few months. However, if your company has a no telecommuting policy, you should also be respectful of it by either abiding by the company’s policy, or find a company that offers telecommuting to its employees.

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HR, Schedule, Telecommuting

Helpful Tips To Reduce Stress In A Tech Environment

May 9th, 2017 | Posted by ATS in ATS TimeWork OnDemand | Telecommuting Employees | Time and Attendance Canada - (Comments Off)

Technology companies including ATS, knows that a small amount stress can help employees move forward and perform at their best. What types of events can cause stress in a tech environment? Think about delivering a demonstration of your product, landing that much sought after customer, or deploying a solution on time and on budget. Participation during each of these stressful events–which are limited in length and can feel intense– can make employees kick into high gear and push themselves to get maximum results.

Helpful Tips To Reduce Stress In A Tech Environment

Staff writer for TechRepublic Alison DeNisco recent article titled 8 practical ways to make your tech job less stressful has some good tips for managing and monitoring stress in your tech company.

We have listed 5 of those tips in this blog. You can read the rest of the article in its entirety on TechRepublic website.

Allow work from home and flex hours

Allowing employees to work from home certain days of the week is a major stress reliever, said technology consultant Anthony R. Howard. “Many folks in tech are mobile—only they really know how busy they are,” Howard said. “Life is simply better in the home office. It’s up to you to get to your objective, and in doing so you will need to create efficiencies.”

Prioritize your work

Good time management is a skill that can be learned, according to Karen Williams, chief product officer at Halogen Software. “Take the time to differentiate between the really high-impact tasks you’re working on and the busy work,” Williams said. “Focus on the tasks that really matter and let the rest ride for the moment. Evaluate things like time constraints and potential profitability.”

Build short sprints

When a team is presented with a large project, building short sprints—in which you chunk out small pieces of work for the team to focus on, one at a time—is a way to prevent burnout, according to Anjoo Rai-Marchant, chief customer and technology officer at HighGround.

Write down your stressors

Whether you are anxious about a presentation or the results of an upcoming project, simply putting your worries on paper can relieve stress and improve your performance, said Andrew Filev, CEO of Wrike.

Disconnect

As tech work often involves staring at a screen all day, it’s important to disconnect to avoid eye strain, neck pain, and increased anxiety, Filev said. “Instead of making a break by exchanging on social networks or sending SMS to your friends, turn off your screen, turn off your computer, and rest your eyes for a moment,” he said. “Read a book or magazine, go for a walk, or make a coffee and talk with a colleague orally.”

Bottom-line: Every workplace has some level of stress and this will depend on the industry and/or tasks being performed by employees. And, while it’s important to be mindful that your employees are not overworked-your workplace should challenge employees to reach their potential.

To learn about ATS Time and Attendance Solutions, or to attend a bi-monthly webinar, go to our website. And, to reach an account executive, call: 866.294.2467.

ATS, Flex Hours, TechRepublic

The Data Shows Employees Go To Work Even When They Know They Are Sick

Have you ever wonder why your sick coworker chose to come to work? This behaviour continues to confound experts who lament that employees would do well to stay away from work when they are sick. Most of us know when we are too sick to work, yet we push ourselves and end up working too much and, by doing so, we may in fact, be prolonging our recovery time. And, to top it off studies have shown that a lack of sleep can weaken our immune system and make us more susceptible to colds.

The Data Shows Employees Go To Work Even When They Know They Are Sick

According to a recent survey by Monster, and highlighted in an article by Lily Martis, a whopping 75% of employees chose to go to work despite being sick. The article reads in part; “In the survey, conducted globally, we found 20% of respondents said they always go to work when they’re ill, and 55% of respondents said they’d only take a sick day if their symptoms are severe. Just one-quarter of the respondents said they’d stay home and either work from home (10%) or take the day off (15%)”.

Most experts agree that if you work for an unreasonable boss or and have to go in to work, try to keep your distance from others, wash or sanitize your hands often, and cover coughs and sneezes with a sleeve or elbow. You can also cover with a tissue but be sure to throw it away immediately and then wash your hands. You can also suggest telecommuting to your manager, for a short period so your co workers are not subjected to your constant sneezing. And, if your manager is concerned about tracking your time while you are working from home, there are a few modern tools including; video conferencing and cloud computing time tracking methodologies. Emailing your manager every hour or so, with an update on projects you are working on, while telecommuting should put her mind at ease.

Cloud Computing, Employees, Sick

Working Long Hours Every Day, But Is It Worth It?

Every boss appreciates a hard working employee, especially one who will volunteer to stay at work longer to complete that project and meet a deadline. And, in the world of retail and hospitality it’s almost become the norm that employees are expected to work long hours and some split shifts-especially during busy periods Christmas holidays included. But, if all your company’s projects have tight deadlines, does that mean you have to work overtime every week? As an employee in retail, does your schedule include a lot of spilt-shifts? Sooner or later, working these long hours will eventually take its toll.

We all understand that from time to time extra hours are required to get the job done. But, when does all this extra hours you are putting in start to affect your health and, more importantly starts alienating you from your loved ones?

Working Long Hours Every Day, But Is It Worth It?

In an article Minda Zetlin for Inc.com titled ‘10 Reasons to Stop Working So Hard’ she eloquently describes some of the drawbacks of working crazy hours. In no particular order, we selected five reasons out her list that clearly makes a case for why should not be working long hours every time:

“Most of the work is less important than you think-A few years ago, hospice worker Bronnie Ware famously published the top five regrets she heard from her dying patients. Those who’d had careers all regretted the number of hours they spent at work. But many of her patients also spoke of dreams they wished they’d fulfilled.

Your mood is a buzzkill-The kind of irritability and impatience that goes with being overworked and behind schedule will cast a black cloud over the people around you both at work and at home. If you’re an employee, it will damage your career. If you’re a small business owner, it will harm your business.

Sleep matters-“The way to a more productive, more inspired, more joyful life is getting enough sleep,” Arianna Huffington said in a 2011 TED talk. She would know. She fainted from exhaustion and broke her cheekbone and is now something of a sleep evangelist. “I was recently having dinner with a guy who bragged that he’d gotten only four hours’ sleep the night before,” she continued. She considered retorting: “If you had gotten five, this dinner would have been a lot more interesting.”

Your judgment is impaired-The research is conclusive: sleep deprivation impairs decision-making. As a leader, poor judgment is something you can’t afford. Crossing some tasks off your to-do list, handing them to someone else, or finishing some things late is well worth it if it means you bring your full concentration and intelligence to the tough decisions your job requires

You suck when it counts-I can tell you from experience that going into a meeting tired and distracted means you will suck in that meeting. You’ll be bad at generating new ideas, finding creative solutions to problems, and worst of all you’ll suck at listening attentively to the people around you. That disrespects them and wastes their time as well as yours.”

Bottom line: Spending long hours at work might help you meet deadlines, but those long hours, especially when they are done over a long period of time, can affect both your physical and, yes mental state. When you spend a significant part of your day working, there is not enough time to rest and recharge.

Christmas, Holidays, Hospitality, Overtime, Retail, Split Shifts, TED Talk

3 Tips To Keep You Focused While Working From Home During COVID-19

Some Tips On How To Avoid Going Bonkers While Working From Home

Struggling To Manage Employees During The Holiday Season? Here Are Some Tips

How to Build a Feedback Culture When Working Remotely

Here Are Three Ways To Keep Your Remote Workers Engaged

Building A Business Case For Telecommuting

Helpful Tips To Reduce Stress In A Tech Environment

Working Long Hours Every Day, But Is It Worth It?

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