Working life mindfulness to customer servers and other busy people
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Christmas carols banging in your head and kilometre-long queues to the cashier? A familiar situation to many of us who work in customer service. An expert of The Centre for Occupational Safety shares her tips of how to relax in the middle of a busy day.
Many relaxation tips are aimed at those who work in expert positions. It may be difficult to say to somebody who works, for example, at the cashier during the rush hour, to take a break in the break room. We asked Päivi Rauramo, an expert at The Centre for Occupational Safety to share her views as to how to relax during a stressful day.
”From the employee´s point of view, a reasonable workload promotes health, well-being and capacity to work”, says Rauramo.
Work flows well when the employee´s resources and skills are sufficient to meet the requirements of work. If there´s too much work or it´s too heavy, monotonic or difficult, the employee starts to develop symptoms. They affect work and deteriorate the quality of his or her free time.
”It´s important to be able to recover already during the day at work, in order to have energy left to do things that matter to you in your free time. A healthy person can bear occasional stress peaks and even enjoy them. On the other hand, too much or too long-lasting stress can make you sick.”
Rauramo sees that it´s very important to plan work in such a way that different tasks vary and that it´s possible to recover between tasks.
According to Rauramo, haste and stress as well as insufficient employee onboarding may affect recovery from work, as does poor physical condition. Going out for lunch or taking a coffee break together with colleagues gives you energy and a welcomed break during the day.
And don´t forget to drink water. Rauramo also underlines that there´s no point playing the superhero. It´s best to listen to your own body and weigh the fluidity and burden of your work.
Päivi Rauramo´s top 10 tips for good recovery:
1. Change your work postures and tasks. Sit, stand, move.
2. Chat with your colleagues whenever you have the chance.
3. Greet and encourage your colleagues and smile to them! Joy is contagious and smiling makes everybody happy.
4. Take minibreaks. They are often more effective than long ones.
5. You can also have a ”minivacation”: relax and quiet down at work, whenever you can. Close your eyes and think about a nice memory or a place.
6. Don´t try to exceed your limits. Listen to your body and assess your work´s flow and your own powers.
7. Ask for help or a replacement before symptoms of tiredness hit you.
8. Turn to your superior if your workload is repeatedly too high or you don´t have time for breaks.
9. Did you know that your superior has to monitor the team members´ workload and - whenever needed - support and help them, and take care of sufficient employee onboarding?
10. Also remember to eat well and drink enough water.
Text:: Marie Sandberg-Chibani