Holiday Time

Another week, another Discuss HR, the weekly blog written by the members of Human Resources UK.

This week’s article is especially relevant.  It’s not about Australian oligarch’s dodging custard pies, or Lord Sugar’s complete lack of attention to absence management.  No, it’s about your holiday.  No doubt many of you are reading this in between the final tasks before you jet off for a fortnight, or if like me going to spend time at a wet camp site! Today Jill Hart-Sanderson looks at how to deal with the mountain of work that grows in your absence. (Ed Scrivener)

Holiday time

The start of the holiday...

The holiday season is now up on us and whether you’re rushing to get everything completed before jetting away to a sun kissed beach, or trying to figure out how you can run an efficient service with less than half of your team present, time pressures can start to build and build.

You know the story – you’ve saved hard and been looking forward to your annual two weeks of what should be a blissfully relaxing time. You’ve planned your workload but still find last minute crucial work landing in your in-tray. 24 hours before you jet off, you’re still trying to fit three weeks worth of work into three hours, and when you return you know you will have another three weeks of trying to catch up!

So what can you do? There’s been an ocean of books written about time management, and hundreds of theories and models to show us how to increase  productivity – but when the pressure is on, how many of us actually take the time to stop and look at what we’re doing?

Having the right mindset has a huge impact on how we use time. I’ve found by stopping and thinking about what tasks are in my own control and asking some pertinent questions really helps:

·         Which emails actually need my response?

·         What value will I get out of going to that meeting?

·         Could I use my answer phone so I’m not distracted when I’m in the middle of something?

·         Am I the right person to do the task or can I delegate it to someone who can do it better than me?

·         What’s the best use of my time right now?

·         Is this something that really needs doing – how will it affect the overall organisation if it doesn’t get done?

·         And for those outside my control - I can’t always change the situation but I can always change and choose how I feel about it and act upon it.

...the end of the holiday!

Another challenge for HR teams is how to get managers to set aside time for HR related tasks such as recruitment and employee reviews. I remember being given the responsibility of overseeing employee reviews for a large organisation, liaising with departmental managers to ensure they were completed on an annual basis. Initially I met some reluctance to the process from the managers, mainly as it was seen as very time consuming and not their core role. By streamlining the actual procedure and taking time to clearly explain the benefits to themselves, their teams and the overall organisation I was able to rapidly increase the number of reviews completed on time. I even persuaded one of the most reluctant managers, who initially said he didn’t have time to ‘do’ reviews, to use some of his time to help me refine the process before sharing it with the rest of the organisation.

By helping to build a culture of responsibility and understanding, with clear goals and expectations, people are much better positioned to make the right choices when time-pressed. By instinctively knowing what is urgent and important, and knowing that they’ll be trusted to make the right decisions when prioritising their work, people feel less pressured, in control, and able to work more productively.

What works for you when you are time-pressed? What are your top tips for taking control and getting what needs to be done – done?

About the author

Jill loves working with the team at Rambutan helping people to think, lead and communicate brilliantly in order to achieve business, team or personal goals. Before joining the Rambutan bunch, Jill was part of the HR Consultancy Team at University College London. Her previous management experience in both the public and private sector means she has seen how great HR support can make a real difference to individual managers and organisations as a whole

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Discuss HR is the blog for Human Resources UK, the leading LinkedIn group for those involved with HR in the UK.  Next week’s Discuss HR will be published on Thursday 28th July and will be written by HR recruitment specialist Ed Scrivener.