Staying focused for more than 8 hours every day can drain out all energies and enthusiasm towards work and this in turn impacts productivity and performance. There are billion things that tempt you during the day to welcome blissful distraction, such as checking social media posts, replying to emails, and the list of to-dos all contribute to piling onto added stress.
Just the very thought of replying to all emails in your inbox and making time out for discussions or meets, takes away a lot of productive man hours during the day. At the end of it all, employees are left juggling for more time to get tasks done which then demands long working hours.
If you can relate to the scenario, then maybe the list below can help reduce signs of stress and productivity burnout that eventually happens due to prolonged long working hours and lack of vacation breaks.
To ensure that you and your team is safe from brain drain and doesn’t run out of energy to focus on productive functions, here are few tips, managers and employees could follow to prevent productivity burnout:
Researchers have proved that taking short breaks such as stroll in the garden or stretching your legs for few minutes, can help you de-stress and relax on long working days. It also reduces brain fatigue and walking can significantly increase creative thinking by 60%. So it’s time that HR managers allow employees few unwinding minutes, instead of being glued to screens as the way to measure performance and productivity.
There are times when you face a mental block and are stuck in between a presentation or pitch staring blankly at the screen, hoping for some answers to occur to you. But this never happens. Getting your part of the story right needs practice. The best way to hone your message and story is to verbalise and talk it to people.
See: Work Beyond 40 Hours? Think Again About Overwork
Sometimes the only way to stay motivated is to create hard stops for yourself and the team to deliver within a stipulated time period. This allows you room to compete with none another but your own self to thrive onto expectations without compromising on quality. Thriving on hard stops helps you quantify outcomes and productivity results at the end of the day. You stay focused and driven towards your targets and eventually meet larger goals of life.
Mozart in the backdrop when working or some sensational music helps you calm senses and blocks out distracting noise to focus your energies into work. Research studies have proved that listening to music during work hours heightens ability to absorb information, increases focus and enhances productivity.
When you have tasks that demand timely delivery and you are setting pace against time and yourself, the first step would be to stay out of emails and IMs. People spend almost 20-25% of their productive time on emails and blinking chat applications on mobile and desktop. If excellence is on top of your mind, stay away of distractions and allot particular time in a day for checking emails and formulating responses to them.
Short breaks help rejuvenate and get back to work more focused than you were before. While this idea may seem impossible for many workaholics or those who observe undeterred commitment to job. But you got to remember that your company can survive some days without you.
Time off from work leads to higher productivity, greater employee retention, better workplace morale, and overall offers significant health benefits. Short breaks or vacations have always been the friend for long-term productivity. It indeed helps prevent burnout at work.
In an interesting survey by Staples Canada, 43 percent of Canadian workforce is worked up and suffer burn out. Dan Schawbel of WorkplaceTrends.com and managing partner of Millennial Branding notes, “Businesses nationwide are tasked to do more with less, so while many workers are still happy at work, employers need to adjust to win the war for talent and optimize productivity, engagement and loyalty with employees.”
If you aim for a highly productive and focused workforce, then you need to get a microscopic view of things and align strategies right to influence productivity with a positive mindset.
Also read: Burnout and What It Means For Those Who Notice It
