Christmas has been proven to have many stress inducing factors to it. It is meant to be a time for celebration, however, for those struggling with work-life balance, Christmas can be a stressful time of year. Christmas can be the busiest time of year professionally; working extra hours to meet tight deadlines along with the extra workload, on top of the pressures of home life around this time can lead to some people feeling the negative effects of Christmas stress.
Managing Workload
- Workload and stress have a clear link, and the festive period doesn’t stop regular demands of maintaining a household, if anything it increases them due to more visitors around this time. It is important to plan ahead and share out the roles amongst the household so that one person isn’t burdened with all of the responsibilities.
- Employers should look out for signs of stress during this time and be prepared to act on helping the person manage and control this stress. As well as this, employees should admit if they are feeling extra stress or are feeling overwhelmed and reach out to an employer and speak to someone that can help.
- Autonomy should be encouraged in order to allow employees to compete their work and personal commitments according to their own personal schedule. Meeting the demands of work and private life can be harder over the Christmas period. A recent survey revealed that 54% of employees feel Christmas stress with 49% of this including finishing work and projects and a further 44% being the increased workload they have to complete. 60% of these employees suggested that flexible working hours would be the most beneficial solution to these problems.
Managing Financial Stress
- Identify the cause of this stress – don’t ignore it! Decide on and set a budget, stick to it and avoid temptation.
- Find low cost ways to have fun – spend time with family and focus on ways to spend time together rather than spending money.
Managing Loneliness
- Connect with friends, family, neighbours, members of the community – Christmas is the perfect time to come together and build on relationships.
- Volunteer! Whether it’s in a food bank or picking up litter, volunteering has been proven to have many benefits on top of combatting loneliness.
- Make plans in advance for Christmas Day – buy yourself a gift, attend a church service, connect with the community, go for a walk to interact with others.
Work-life Balance
- Time Management – allocate time for specific activities/tasks well in advance. Some of our own research revealed that prioritising work tasks (49%) and taking time for yourself (43%) are popular ways of managing work and life. This means that working flexible hours could contribute to reducing stress over the Christmas period
This month we are focusing on managing stress at a busy time and also starting to forward plan for 2020. Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter for ideas and hopefully some inspiration
To find out more information on how to achieve work-life balance, visit our website www.cmcbp.co.uk or contact Clare on [email protected] or check out our recent blog on Work-Life Balance.
Written by Siobhan Headd.
