Author: Manoj-WS

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How to reduce stress in WFH ( Work from home) Environment ?

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Working from home might not sound like a stressful thing, but it might end up being so if you do not manage your work and emotions well. Workplace stress is a global issue. The increased build-up of stress can lead to mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression. The new reality of self-isolating due to the coronavirus has impacted the way we work.

Many people are now working from home, dealing with the realities of juggling home responsibilities with work responsibilities and not really having a clear line between the two. This combination of working from home plus self-isolating is the perfect recipe for stress, but there are ways to reduce it, and working from home can also be appealing—no dress code, no in-person supervision, no commute time, and the freedom to decide where you work. However, working remotely can present some significant and unique challenges.

After all, many of us are being thrown into this sudden transition from working in a physical office to our own homes. Therefore, it’s important to understand how to deal with and prevent stress while remote working.

What Is Stressful About Working at Home?

Employees who work from home may experience more of a blur when it comes to work and personal life boundaries, especially with the use of smart devices. Work-from-home employees may struggle more with the concept of unplugging and ending their workday compared to those who work in an office setting.

Here are some of the common sources of stress that many work-at-homers face:

  • Lack of Structure
  • Too Many Distractions
  • Difficulty Setting Boundaries
  • Social Isolation
  • Less Physical Exertion
  • No physical separation between your work and leisure time
  • Unhealthy lifestyle

So here are some tips on how to make your working home experience a stress-free one:

Take a short break from what you’re doing.

Taking a short break from the task you’re working on is one of the fastest ways to bring stress levels down. You don’t need to spend a large amount of time away from what you’re doing, just a few minutes can do the trick. You simply need to shift your focus to something else. Play a quick game on your phone, check social media, or watch 15 minutes of a TV show or movie, then try to get back to work.

Move around.

Movement is a great antidote to stress, and you should always incorporate short movement breaks into your workday. As little as five minutes of exercise can be enough to reduce feelings of stress and frustration. Walk a few laps around your home, do a 10-minute yoga routine, dance, lift weights, anything really works. The key is just to move. Not only will movement help reduce stress, but it also helps prevent stiffness, headaches, and eye strain by ensuring you step away from your screen for at least a little bit of time each day.

Call a friend or maintain regular communication with colleagues and managers.

Sometimes the best antidote for stress is simply talking it out with a friend. Practicing self-isolation or self-quarantine is beneficial for preventing the spread of COVID-19, but not so great for mental health. Self-isolating means we have less contact with people than we normally would, and that in itself can be a cause of stress. Pick up the phone and actually call or video chat with someone – in this case, texting isn’t enough and isn’t nearly as effective in reducing stress.

It is common for communication between team members to suffer when transitioning to remote working conditions. That’s why you should not hesitate to reach out to your manager and teammates from your ‘home office’ anytime you have a question or suggestion.

Conduct video chat meetings at regular intervals. A video conference is the best way to make sure everyone is on the same page about the projects you’re currently working on. Make sure the video chat platform includes features such as file sharing, screen sharing, and multiple users in one chat.

Master your time with a daily schedule.

Maintaining a daily schedule is an important consideration in preventing depression, reducing stress, and increasing energy levels. In the morning, actively construct your day. Think of the tasks that you need to get accomplished.

Having an outline of your responsibilities will guide your actions through the day and leave you with a sense of accomplishment when you are ready to “clock out”. Think about how to use this time to your advantage. Ask yourself if it is possible to grow the business, make work more organized and efficient, or learn a new skill.

Most importantly, wake up everyday and dress for success. You may not need to wear a suit but dress to be active. Be sure to wear proper shoes and leave the pajamas for sleeping only.

Replicate your regular workday.

The body and brain need routines from the most basic of sleeping and eating to other activities, such as work. We are programmed neurochemically to have basic daily cycles. When daily routines are disrupted, our neurological systems shift. Neurochemical imbalances can occur from a shift in daily cycles, leading to depression, anxiety, lethargy, and poor cognitive performance. The basics of a daily routine, including staying consistent with sleep/wake cycles, regular meals, exercise, and activity are essential.

Use online video chats instead of phone calls whenever possible. Maintaining face-to-face interaction with your colleagues is important, especially when isolated at home.

Separate work and life activities.

Work-life boundaries are more important now than ever. Boundaries are the psychological barriers between our life at work and life at home. Create a separation between work-related activities and those that are not. As much as possible, have a dedicated workspace free from distractions, leisurely activities, and household responsibilities. The distance created by separating the space can let you focus on a productive workday.

To reduce packing on more stress, be careful to manage your expectations. It is common to be less productive when working from home. Develop a hierarchy of work tasks, target the most necessary first then work down your list. If you are unable to complete all of the work, be kind to yourself, and take a break. It is recommended to have a dedicated workspace at home. You should at least have a desk if an entire room is not available. This helps prevent work from spilling over into other parts of your life.

Staying motivated.

Motivation and productivity take work, but, are attainable. The more that a person prepares for the day with a routine, the better off. Control the amount of time that you are not productive. It is fine to relax and watch a good movie, just have limits. Set boundaries for downtime. Getting in the habit of being sedentary will slow your mind, body, and energy. Conversely, consistent exercise and activity maintain an overall sense of motivation.

Be thankful for work.

Practice the awareness of gratitude for your employment. Remind yourself of the reason that you do what you do. Think about your journey and accomplishments. Familiarize yourself with the mission of your job. In a time when unemployment rates are at an all-time high, you have employment to report to. Convince yourself that you have a purpose, arise, go forth, and conquer!

It can be difficult to work from home for long periods of time. By practicing these coping strategies, you can increase the likelihood of success, limit stress, and improve your mood. Keep in mind that we are not in control of what happens to us, but we are responsible for adapting and responding.

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Organization tips to Work Smarter

Learning to work smarter, not harder can improve your productivity and performance skills, and it leads to job satisfaction. It can also make you a valuable person to the organization for which you work, increasing your job security. Implementing the strategies necessary to work smarter, not harder takes some practice and development.

Why is it important to work smarter, not harder?

There are several reasons why it’s important to work smarter, not harder.

  • Working smarter:
  • It saves your energy
  • It Increases productivity at work
  • It Increases motivation
  • It makes you more valuable
  • It Increases self-esteem

1. Focus on your daily routine

When you develop a routine, you can carry out tasks quicker as you don’t have to spend time thinking about what task to do. It’s like working on autopilot mode. Firstly you need to make a habit of weak up early in the morning.

To make the most out of your morning, prepare the night before. By taking just 10 to 20 minutes to prepare for the following day, you can make a huge difference in your workflow. You’ll wake up knowing where to start and what problems need solving while having the list to handle them, all because you prepared your mind the night before.

2. Keep growing yourself by learning new things

To become better in your profession and maintain a sense of fulfillment in all you do, it’s important to stay focused on your self-development. Keeping this goal may be difficult as life gets more hectic, but remember that you also enrich others and enhance your performance across the board by investing in yourself.

Staying competitive in today’s global marketplace means that organizations need to be innovative, adaptive, and ever-changing. Achieving this depends on the skill and knowledge of the workforce.
To innovate, try a new process, or do something new requires learning.

People need to learn new knowledge or skills to see things in a new light and take that next leap. When organizations do not support a continual process of learning, innovation does not happen, processes remain unchanged, and nothing new is ever accomplished.

Employees need to be able to challenge themselves to obtain new knowledge, ideas, and skills. Learning needs to be on a flexible, on-demand, and continual basis to contribute to this kind of cutting-edge performance.

3. Keep a track record of every small activity, make a to-do list, and arrange productive meetings usually

What is a To-Do List? The definition is a simple one. It’s a list of tasks you need to complete or things that you want to do.

Having a list of everything you need to write down in one place means you shouldn’t forget anything important. By prioritizing the tasks in the list you plan the order in which you’re going to do them and can quickly see what needs your immediate attention and what tasks you can leave until a little later.

One of the most important reasons you should use a to-do list is that it will help you stay organized. When you write all your tasks in a list, they seem more manageable. When you’ve got a clear outline of the tasks you’ve got to do and those you’ve completed, it helps you stay focused, while freeing up space in your mind for other more creative tasks.

When you complete a task, you can cross it off your list. This gives you a sense of progress and achievement, something you’ll lack if you’re always rushing from one task to the next. If you feel a sense of achievement, it spurs you on and motivates you to keep moving forward.

4. Set small deadlines

Deadlines are important for helping you achieve both large and small goals. However, you won’t instantly find success in the world of business by just setting arbitrary deadlines for all of your projects. Your deadlines need to set you up for success—they must be strategic.

Strategic deadlines are designed to help you move closer to your goals every day, week, and month. In this way, it keeps you experiencing small wins along the way, rather than simply painting a huge target that is months away, which adds to your stress levels.

If you want to achieve goals, writing them down is only the first step. The next step is to identify tasks and set deadlines to meet them. The reason to-do lists and deadlines are so effective is that they make large projects or goals more manageable.

Consider these tips while you set deadlines:

  • Schedule each step on your calendar. This will prevent you from procrastinating and missing deadlines.
  • Write down your deadlines. Writing down your academic goals and how to achieve them helps you analyze your thoughts and turn them into actions. Because it makes setting goals feel more concrete, writing them down helps you commit to them.
  • Figure out the right time limit. If you give yourself an hour to do your homework, you’ll spend an hour on it, but if you give yourself 30 minutes, you can probably get it done faster. Try not to make the time limit so short that it’s impossible to reach.
  • Use a timer  to keep track of time and prevent you from working too slowly.
  • Do the difficult parts first. Getting the tougher tasks over with can spur your motivation and make the rest of the project go more quickly.
  • Anticipate mistakes or delays. If you miss a deadline, what will you do? Figure out a plan ahead of time for dealing with problems so you don’t get discouraged or lose sight of your academic goal if something happens.
  • Determine your priorities. Start by figuring out which steps are most important in achieving your academic goal and see if there are any ways you can save time. If you run out of time, know which parts you can skip or do quickly.
  • Find support. Ask for help when you needed. Sharing your deadlines is important because it holds you accountable, making you less likely to miss or change deadlines.
  • Get creative by finding ways to make setting deadlines fun. Make a chart, create a calendar, or draw a picture to visualize the process of finishing your project.
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How To Use Technology As Advantage At Workplace

Technology makes a difference in keeping commerce completely organized. Frameworks like Extend Administration Program makes a difference in building, appointing, checking on, and surveying an assignment. Bosses and directors can effortlessly administer working environment exercises that offer assistance in keeping everything on track.

From the clattering keystrokes of a typewriter to getting real-time overhauls with a press on the console, the work culture has come a long way. And the appropriation of innovation within the working environment has enormously affected the way we utilized to work. Getting work done has never been so less demanding because it is now. The significance of innovation within the workplace is known by how it has made a collaborative work environment. Rather than remaining restricted to enormous organizations, present-day innovation is additionally making a difference little trade proprietors accomplish enormous goals.

With different equipment and program devices at their transfer, trade proprietors are more self-dependent than ever sometime recently. Let it be a confront-to-confront meeting through video conferencing or allotting assignments to different representatives, innovation has made things more streamlined and basic.

Make Your Business More Efficient

At its most essential level, technology permits you and your representatives to be more beneficial and proficient. Whether you’re employing a word-preparing program that permits you to alter with ease or an electronic bookkeeping framework that pulls information at the touch of a keystroke, technology makes life less demanding. You’ll plan deals calls and arrangements, track worker time, and perform numerous monotonous assignments that once took hours as they were minutes.

Be Competitive In the Marketplace

Anything product or service you give, you would like to compete. Your competitors use technology, so you would like to as well. The web permits you to do more than fair remain neck and neck with other businesses; it can thrust you ahead. Utilize advanced showcasing to advance your company and online deals instruments to offer over the road and over the globe. Grasp Client Relationship Administration (CRM) frameworks that permit you to track what your customers do and like. Wouldn’t it be great if you may target the proper client at the proper time within the shopper travel so they turn to you rather than a competitor? You’ll with technology.

Be Industry Relevant

Regardless of your industry or profession, there’s technology sharpened to form what you are doing less demanding. On the off chance that you work in well-being care, there are incalculable innovations that spare lives, secure understanding of security rights, and make it beyond any doubt suppliers get paid through protections. On the off chance that you’re a rancher, building wonders and mechanical autonomy will assist you keep up crops and progressing yield. For a composer, there are Professional Instruments, a computerized sound recording framework. An instructor who is looking to affect the following era of extraordinary masterminds won’t be able to do it without innovation.

Key Points for Which Workplace Automation Becomes Necessary:

Better Communication

Tasks are way better performed when there’s clear-cut communication between the managers and the employee. Be it an assembly by means of video conferencing or taking stock of the advance over moment informing. Different commerce communication tools accessible within the shape of desktops and versatile applications have made consistent communication possible. Thus, bringing superior coordination yielding the most excellent comes about in the working environment.

Improved Efficiency

The use of technology makes a difference unravel issues like record administration, report era, and development following that frequently obstruct worker productivity. Modern work environments broadly depend on computer-aided devices for proficiency. These instruments offer assistance cut down both the time and cash required for getting the work done. Encouraging the representatives with the most recent devices within the working environment makes a difference for them to be more inventive and proficient. Moreover, having a real-time framework for conveying comprehensive input on their work may help your representatives provide the specified result.

Enhanced Workforce

Enhancements come after the right decisions are taken and connected based on precise versatile measurements obtained. Incorporating innovation in the work environment offers assistance to the workers to do more with fewer endeavors. This spares both their time and vitality, which they can vest upon a few other works. Too, the cloud-based instruments empower workers to remain at their work indeed when they are absent. All these components offer assistance to bosses to keep a check on the efficiency of the workforce. Therefore, empowering them to require legitimate choices to guarantee an improved workforce.

Disadvantages & Impact of Technology in the Workplace:

Upgrades

As technology changes each day, normally, there can be changes to frameworks and programs, which would require updates as basic as downloading the most current adaptation. But on the off chance that you wish to update your framework exceptionally regularly, it can be time-consuming as well as costly.

Dependency

Depending heavily on computer systems can become an issue on the off chance that there’s a specialized glitch. In the event that the framework crashes, everything solidifies and the trade might come to a halt until the issue is settled. In expansion, when unused innovation is brought in, there’s a learning preparation that can lead to misfortune in efficiency. And at long last, in case innovation or computer frameworks are at the center of your commerce, it becomes inconceivable for workers to urge anything done exterior of the office.

Workplace Relationships

Increasing the presence of technology changes strategies of communication all through the work environment. Utilizing advanced innovation within the working environment with phones, content messages, e-mail, or video conferencing apparatuses diminishes the sum of face-to-face communication. Interpersonal connections and communications are important in arranging to set up a useful working environment and innovation can contrarily affect those relations. Working connections and in general company vibe can too be influenced by innovation, driving a diverted workforce. The developing utilization of social systems can influence the efficiency and effectiveness of workers at work.

Role of Technology in Today’s Lives:

More than 3.7 billion people utilize the web, and the worldwide versatile information activity is anticipated to extend about sevenfold between 2016 and 2021. This restores the truth that conclusion clients are investing more time in their portable gadgets. Concurring to a Nielsen report, 1.2 million terabytes of data is produced within the US yearly fair by smartphone clients alone. Versatile advanced media time within the US is altogether higher compared to desktop, concurring with the information from e-marketer and KPCB.

For Gen Y representatives, mobiles and tablets are the favored gadgets for media consumption. Since innovation has taken center organize, it appears as in spite of the fact that an inventive approach has taken over how we live, work, and play. As the world we live in begins to float absent from the physical working environment, what part can technology play? With Cloud innovation, working remotely is presently a reality. Within the Joined together States, the number of specialists working from home has developed by 115% since 2005.

It is evident that there’s a persistent move within the work environment, which is upgraded by the advancement of cloud-based collaboration devices and the expanded utilization of versatile gadgets. Based on an editorial distributed by Understanding UK, 79% of senior managers believe that the “anywhere, anytime” work drift is inescapable, and 86% of those directors who accept the most fruitful companies would be willing to create the change.

There’s a coordinated tie between the proceeding move in work environment developments and the benefits of social collaborative work. Technologies such as cloud computing/storage, utilize of tablets or smartphones, social media and portable apps have majorly changed the working designs. The utilization of these innovations features a positive effect on efficiency through an increment in collaborative work — a 131% increment in operational effectiveness and a 22% increment in on-time extended conveyance.