If you’ve been thinking that work has gotten busier, and you’re constantly chasing your tail to get your actual job done, you’re likely not wrong.
The rise in popularity of online meetings (thanks, pandemic) is just one area where many workers feel a time-suck. According to a survey of around 10,000 workers, employees spend 62 per cent of each day doing busy work.
You know, all that stuff that is “work about work”, such as emails and Slack messages, pointless meetings, searching for information, switching between apps, managing shifting priorities and chasing status updates.
It’s exhausting and it ultimately results in people having less time for that skilled work they were hired to do. Additionally, it leaves little space to think: workers simply don’t have time to take on the sort of strategic planning and process improvements that could make them more effective at their jobs.
Long-term, this leads, of course, to burnout. This is a significant issue in the UK: A recent report found that almost half of workers are burnt out, suffering from poor mental health and work-related stress. That is all costing the economy about £28 billion annually.
So what can be done? The good news is that there are some things you can do to help manage your workload––and your stress––during the day-to-day.
The task rollover method is a productivity practice which involves organising your time into blocks, allowing you to get work done, and then moving on to the next task, before you lose focus or get too overwhelmed.
A key part of the practice is in identifying those tasks that are essential, such as those projects that will have the most impact, and are most closely aligned with your goals.
After that, you should identify the less-important tasks that you can “rollover”, for example, only giving a block of time to once or twice a week. And also take a look at work that is best delegated elsewhere in the team or organisation. What can you take off your list entirely?
Designed to allow you consider what matters most, this is a tool to help you to prioritise your priorities, and set boundaries around your output. This should help you to feel less overwhelmed and give productive time back into your day.
Ideally, of course, the issue of overwhelm is one that is best handled at a leadership level, because as a worker, you’ll always be subject to the whims of your manager or team lead.
If you are finding that your own efforts to streamline your workload are consistently being sabotaged, or your attempts to make your working life less hectic aren’t having an impact, a move to a new place of work could be the ultimate solution.
You can find many current job opportunities on The London Economic Job Board, such as the three below.
This is a fantastic opportunity for an experienced IT Business Analyst who is looking to expand their knowledge and work with the market leader in LNG trading and optimization, with one of the most diversified portfolios. You’ll lead BA activities, working with technical teams and data scientists to shape and deliver portfolio optimization solution options for traders. You’ll actively manage requirements through the end-to-end solution delivery lifecycle, from detailed design to implementation, testing and release, and ultimately the transition of expertise to the support teams. Significant experience in an IT Business Analyst role is required, along with other skills; browse those here.
As Group Indirect Tax Manager, you’ll take on an international advisory role to manage the indirect tax position of the Liberty Global (LG) group, including the UK and NL corporate entities. You’ll provide indirect tax advice to the business and input into specific strategic and M&A group projects and transactions, as you support high-growth businesses in the portfolio with indirect tax aspects of their operations. You’ll need a professional finance qualification and specific knowledge of UK indirect taxes (EU indirect taxes desirable). Want to apply? Get all the information here.
Bloomberg is seeking an ESG News & Research Product Manager. Your work will include improved ESG news/research classification and discoverability on the Terminal, creation of a proprietary ESG News Sentiment scores product, as well as a Controversies product, using AI for better insights. You will work with both Bloomberg and third party data, news and research, and develop a business plan for Bloomberg’s ESG News offering with clear success metrics. You will need a strategic mindset and the ability to represent plans to senior management and across teams, as well as demonstrated understanding of how ESG news/controversies impact the market, what news aligns to materiality, and how regulatory and how voluntary frameworks can impact the behaviour of investment activities. See all the skills you’ll need.
For thousands more career opportunities check out The London Economic Job Board now
