Learn To Let Your Staff Switch Off And Reap The Rewards!

The majority of people feel the pressure of our ‘always-on’ culture and don’t recognise the importance of learning to switch off. Perhaps you’re a business owner who is feeling stuck in an unavoidable position of never being able to fully disconnect. Or maybe you’re an employee in a business where the culture makes you always feel pressurised to have your work phone to hand.

When researching this article, I didn’t have to look too hard to find stats like;

• 1 in 3 people are mentally unable to switch off from work
• 26% of people find the pressure to be ‘always-on’ interferes with their personal life
• 20% of people feel mentally exhausted by their constant connection to work

Now have a quick look across your business. Who are the people behind those statistics?

Switch On To The Idea Of Switch Off!

As easy as it was to find those scary stats, it’s important to say there is a groundswell of people pushing back against this.

It’s important to remember that technological advances over recent years have been enormous. At first, companies were slow to react to the enormous potential for flexible and remote working, tech solutions were unreliable, complicated and often prohibitively expensive. As that changed, more and more organisations embraced the efficiencies available to them. Almost overnight, people could work from anywhere with the need for little more than a compatible device and a reliable Wi-Fi connection.

Large businesses could reduce their estate overheads by hotdesking and remote working. Small businesses could operate from the convenience of their local coffee shop.

Perhaps it was inevitable that this convenience would eventually worm its way into the heart of our homes, intrude on our downtime and, gradually, blur the lines to such an extent that people started to feel guilty for not being online.

As mentioned, there is a growing trend against this. Mindfulness, digital detoxing and the ability to switch off are becoming more fashionable. That said, it’s likely to take quite some time for everyone to catch up!

Help Your Business By Learning To Switch Off

It’s important to heed the health warnings surrounding how people feel about being always-on. If your staff are feeling under pressure and stressed, there is a risk of them developing health problems and compulsive behaviours.

Who hasn’t spotted the people in the room who repeatedly check their phone even when there haven’t been any tell-tale pings of emails and messages arriving?

Why Learning To Switch Off Is Beneficial For Your Business:

1. You’ll Stop Damaging Your Reputation

Whether it’s staff or clients you’re communicating with, sending emails at anti-social times damages your reputation.

It gives the impression you are overstretched and perhaps even aren’t on top of things. For both staff and clients, that’s not a useful image to project. For example, if your clients feel you’re overstretched they may lose confidence in your capacity and ability to meet their needs.

Ultimately, this could lead to them looking for alternative providers who have the capacity to deliver what’s promised. Learning to switch off when you arrive home will help you relax and give the impression you’re in control.

2. Your Staff Will Stay Loyal To You

There are no two ways about it, recruiting and training staff is costly. So if you’re losing people because there are other employers out there who take better care of their staff, you’re throwing money away. In summary, high staff turnovers result in lower morale and a negative company culture.

Recent Randstad research revealed that more than 50% of staff who responded would consider leaving a company who put profits and revenues above the wellbeing of their staff.

Supporting your staff to know that flexible working doesn’t have to be repaid by sacrificing their personal life, you take staff loyalty to a whole new level.

3. All Work And No Play…

Make Jack and Jill dull employees! When people feel overworked, it’s only a short jump to disengagement. If, as a manager, you’re promoting an environment where a 12-hour day is a norm, remember The Spice Girls’ advice, “Stop. Right now, thank you very much!”

Conversely, if you promote a healthy work-life balance supported by manageable work schedules, you’ll find your team will work 21% harder for you!

Time To Make A Change?

Achieving a significant culture change in your business can be complicated. You need to lead your staff on a journey into the unknown whilst also maintaining your successful business and, ideally, continuing to grow.

If you would like to learn more about switching off or any of the topics covered in this article, please book a call with me to find out how we can help.