The signs and symptoms you may be a workaholic, and how to break the habit

The signs and symptoms you may be a workaholic, and how to break the habitThe signs and symptoms you may be a workaholic, and how to break the habitWe all take pride in our work, but some people find it difficult to draw a line between their professional and personal lives. If you habitually stay late at the office, always keep one eye your emails and struggle to switch off at night, theres a high possibility you could be a workaholic.While it might be the most socially acceptable form of addiction, workaholism is still a terrible habit to punkt into, and can have extremely negative effects on your physical health and mental wellbeing.In a recent survey carried out byUK call-handling specialists CALLCARE, 64% of respondents felt that their salary wasnt high enough to match the stress of their job.With experts claiming that one in four employed people show workaholic traits, its important we recognise addictive behaviour and the impact it can have on our lives.The signs and symptomsTh ere are some very obvious signs and symptoms of workaholism, but others arent as easy to detect.Obvious signs Chronic fatigue Frequent headaches Impatience and irritability Chest pains and shortness of breath Reliance on caffeine and other stimulants Self-neglectHidden signs Depressive thoughts Memory loss due to exhaustion Increased adrenaline and blood pressure Feelings of self-inadequacy Lack of appetite and poor digestionWorking hard, or hardly working?Studies have shown that working long hours is not conducive to productivity. Stress can have extremely negative effects on our ability to work effectively.Time ManagementA busy brain will find it more difficult to organise and prioritise.MemoryStress affects our ability to retain information, making us forgetful.FocusYoure more prone to becoming distracted when youre exhausted and on-edge.HealthStressed out workers fall ill often, making them more likely to take time off work.How to break the habit1. Give your brain a break The id eal work-to-break ratio is 52 minutes of work to 17 minutes of break.2. Dont eat lunch at your desk. Taking a proper lunch break will reset your mind and can help keep obesity at bay.3. Stay away from your phone. Switching off emails and calls when youre not at work allows you to properly relax, reducing stress.4. Go on holiday. Studies show that workers who dont use their holidays are less productive and have poorer performance.5. Decide on a strategy. Write down a list of steps you can take to improve your work/life balance (e.g. I will only work 5 out of 7 days)6. Seek help. Depending on the severity of your addiction, you may see the best results with help from a doctor or stab und sttze group.Perfecting the work/life balanceWorkaholism is a serious addiction and can be linked to a number of major health complaints. If you recognize some of the signs and symptoms mentioned here, it might be time to reassess your work/life balance.This column was originally published on YourCoffe eBreak.com.

Heres how to support a loved one during a job hunt

Heres how to support a loved one during a job huntHeres how to support a loved one during a job huntWhen your loved one is undergoing a job hunt, it can feel like your job hunt too. You can get stressed watching their stress, feeling helpless on what you can do to support them. But in our attempts to be supportive, we can make missteps and say the wrong thing, such as At least, you have more free timeOur helpful comments and suggestions can become one more burden that the job seeker has to carry. Heres how to do it rightListen to their frustrationsRecognize that you are not in the drivers seat in this job hunt, youre a passenger along for the bumpy ride. If your partner or close friend wants to vent their frustrations about a job falling through, your job is to listen and respect their hurt feelings, not offer pointers on what they could have done better.Searching for a new job, particularly when you are unemployed, can be a demoralizing process that leeches away at your self-esteem. You can be a confidence booster by offering words of affirmation and a judgment-free zone for your loved one.Some well-meaning friends try to help with tough love - telling the job searcher to just work harder and the offers will come, Ask a Managers Alison Green cautions. This can be excruciating for the job searcher, who might be working far harder than you know. Keeping the judgment out of the conversation is one of the most supportive things you can do.Dont hound them about itYou may think its helpful to check in regularly with your loved one about their job hunt, but those good intentions can become one more added pressure. This is one thing I personallyexperienced during one period of unemployment. Some family members would kick off phone calls asking if I had gotten a call back for an interview, and it would be dispiriting to have no good nachrichtensendung to share. To be supportive of your job-hunting loved one, make sure that the job search is not your only topic of conve rsation.Maintaining a healthy relationship during a tough time requires knowing what the other person needs. And that means communicating about it.For anxious individuals, you can express your feelings to your loved one assertively by sticking to fact, feeling, fair request, as clinical psychologist Dr. Arianna Brandolini dAdda suggests.Based on that understanding, heres one script you can tell your job-seeking loved one Today was the day of your job interview (fact). Do you want to talk about it (fair request), or would that be overwhelming (feeling)? Im happy to hear about it or we can just sit and watch your favorite TV show (fair request).Help with networking if askedYour loved one may want your help with crafting a cover letter, but sometimes, it can be easier to find an accountability buddy who is not necessarily emotionally invested in the outcome. Each job seeker is different in how they approach the hunt.Part of supporting your loved one is recognizing that your strategy to a job search may differ from theirs. If your loved one is open to you being more involved, try attending networking events together. It can make a room full of kompetenzprofil contacts less scary to know that you have someone in your corner.As The Muse advises, Volunteer to attend a networking event together (believe us, it makes the whole process so much less intimidating). Make sure you split up, and when you meet someone whod be a good contact for your friend, you can easily introduce the two of them.Above all, remember that your presence can be a present in itself. Show compassion to your job-hunting loved one by telling them that you respect and care for them so that no matter what they are going through, they know you will be there for them.

How to Conduct an Effective Exit Interview

How to Conduct an Effective Exit InterviewHow to Conduct an Effective Exit InterviewAn exit bewerbungsgesprch is a meeting with a terminating employee that is generally conducted by a human resources staff member. The exit interview provides your organization with the opportunity to obtain frank and honest feedback from the employee who is leaving your employment. Managers and supervisors are also encouraged to conduct exit interviews. Whentrust exists, the exit interview feedback is useful for organizational improvement and development. The exit interview is an integral component of your employment ending process because the information you obtain can make major improvements in your organization. In some organizations, the exit interview is conducted as a part of the employment termination meeting in addition to the rest of the steps on the employment termination checklist. Ask Questions, and Pay Close Attention You will want to listen carefully to what you are told in an exit i nterview and make sure that you ask a lot of questions. This will help ensure that you are hearing what the employee is saying and what he or she is not saying. Both are important. It is easy to make a leap of faith and assume that you understand what the employee is describing, but the employees words may not accurately convey the employees true feelings. During an exit interview, being attuned to the employees subtle differences in meaning is crucial to the usefulness of the information you receive. Its also best towrite down what the employee saysbecause you dont want to trust your memory. Understanding the Positive Aspects of Employment By understanding the positive aspects of employment with your organization, it will be easier to retain critical employees and improve workplaceproductivity. Because you are allowed to ask almost any question in an exit interview, its a good time to inquire about compensation and benefits atcompeting companies. You may discover you top the li st. You could also ask the person that is leaving for any positive information they want to share about managers, the organizational mission, the vision of the company, and if your organization excels at communication. Creating aComfortable Environment The key to conducting an effective exit interview is to create an environment in which the exiting employee is comfortable providing honest feedback. The organizational culture that fosters useful exit interview feedback is one in which employees are comfortable sharing ideas openly are encouraged to criticize processes, and methods and are never punished for sharing their thoughts. Distill Employee Anxiety You need to assure the employee who is leaving that the feedback he or she provides will be combined with other employee feedback and presented to management in an aggregated format. This helps distill any anxiety on the part of the employee that there will be reprisals for less than positive feedback. Employees are concern ed about their reputations, and they worry about how the exit interview data will be used. They want to be assured that if they run into their manager or coworkers in the future, their information has been kept private. How you quit your job can affect your future. So employees worry about burning bridges and leaving the employer with a less than favorable impression if they speak too honestly at an exit interview. Your goal is to create an environment in which the employee trusts that their feedback is used in an aggregated format with the goal of improving the organization. Ask the Most Important Question Finally, make sure that every exit interview contains the most critical question that you need to ask the employee. You want to know what caused the employee to start looking for a new job in the first place. Yes, marvelous opportunities do fall into a persons lap, and joboffers to move up the managerial ladder occur on occasion, as well. However, for your average employee wh o is leaving, you want to know why the employee was open to a new job and why he or she was looking in the first place.