Under discussion is the individual’s ability to stay healthy while working in such an environment. It is not merely the type of work since being a customer service representative/agent uses none of those physical exertions other high paying jobs do (like nurses). Agents just answer calls after calls of enquiries that the customers need answered. They do so in an office that is conducive for such job ensuring that the comfort is somehow provided. But then what of the TIME?
Time is essentially affected in the sense that CSR’s usually deals with customers in another part of the world thus expected to be on the job at night when it is daytime on the other end to which the customers are in need of assistance. In so saying, CSR’s are awake when everybody else should be naturally sleeping. Take note that it is not merely completing the needed 6-12 hours of sleep to stay healthy BUT also of the quality of sleep. Here then enters the possible factors that can hinder that good quality of sleep: day time noise and the disturbing sunlight (both the heat and lighting it generates). These things affect the so called Circardian Rhythm that have to be in constant homeostasis, which I will discuss in the coming posts.
With this time includes the need to budget your time to make everything fit in to the schedule. Those given 15 minute breaks that you have to manage your food intake, the call of nature, the need to breathe and relax; the same with one hour lunch break as well. What of the appropriate time allotted to satisfy your customer at the other end of the line, or of the allowed time for you to put them on hold for you to be able to investigate or browse through their account? Therefore, bear in mind that you have a kidney, a heart, a whole system interconnected to take care of.
Yes it is stressful, but with proper time management and practice, you can get use to it. Well, not everybody can…but it is challenging to the extreme to know if YOU CAN?! Right?
More and more people says that their 24 hour is not enough to do all the things they have to do. They complain a lot that their work load is not parallel to their capability in accomplishing them all. Don't you ever wonder why the others can, and you can't? The secret will now be revealed to you: they follow the 7 Realistic Time Management Techniques to Effectively Deal with Heavy Work load.
There are times in which we are placed in a situation where we have so many things to do yet we only have so little time to accomplish them all. Whether you’re a student or an employee, being in this state can be very stressful and overwhelming. This eventually can affect different aspects of one’s life – physically, psychologically and mentally – which can lead to altered concentration or focus, and low productivity. The only solution for this problem is by learning to manage your time to accomplish all your goals and tasks. Below are techniques in order for you to do so:
Know and set your priorities You need to know that it’s impossible for you to do all things in one time. Know and set your priorities so that you know what to do first and which task can be done at a later time. To do this, you need to list down the things you ought to do and classify them if their urgent or not. Accomplish first task that need to be done at once.
Be organized Two ways of being organized at work are getting rid of clutters and following a schedule diligently. Too much clutter in your work area vibrates pressure and stress, and this would generally be a cause of delay when doing projects or certain assignments. A clean work area motivates you to work. Keep things in cabinets and put those you use often somewhere very accessible to you, and throw things you don’t need any more. Following a schedule keeps you in track of the things you’re going to do. Plan ahead on what you’re going to do the next day or the next few weeks so that all your tasks won’t meet half way. An overwhelming amount of workload would be the last thing that you want to get yourself into. Also try to fit play, family life and social activities to your schedule to prevent burnout.
Stop procrastination Procrastination is the leading cause why tasks and assignments bundle up into piles because you are constantly avoiding things that you should do. Decreasing this would expand a lot of time for you to work and lessen workload.
Don’t be overconfident Always saying “yes” to practically every task assigned to you because you think you can do it all increases the likelihood of compiling too many workloads that makes it very hard for you to handle. It is best that you only accept tasks you are genuinely confident to do and learn to say “no’ to tasks that seems not to fit in your qualifications or abilities. Delegate tasks to co-employees or to team members, if possible, to lighten burden.
Don’t be overconfident Another important principle of time management is to be carefully choose the amount of your working schedule. More often than not, the difficulty of being loaded with too much work to perform is because of your tendency to just say yes to many tasks. Make your own yardstick in accepting several tasks at a time. You can also entrusts other tasks to colleagues.
Take a break Insert some doses of relaxation and enough sleep to your schedule. All work and no play could bring your systems down and drive your knots crazy. Take breaks in between work to release pressure and take enough hours of sleep to energize you every day.
Managing time and accomplishing all your workload is very challenging. They must work in harmony to be able to see an increase in your productivity and decrease in your stress level. The only key to do this is to learn to take charge and discipline yourself because even though you already know all time management techniques but still you lack dedication, it would still be awfully hard for you to balance your time and effectively use it well.
Either it is internal or naturally occurring like aging, generic processes or sexuality; or external or the manageable ones such as poor diet, alcohol or drug abuse. Either way, Stress is defined as
“the rate of wear and tear in the human machinery which accompanies any vital activity”.
It happens to us all the time, but sometimes we are not aware of it until we are totally down already. We undergo Physiologic Stress when there is a disruption in our bodily organs or system making us more susceptible to microorganisms; Pathologic Stress when there is a disease or bodily harm like surgery, fever, infection; Metabolic Stress when we are fighting off those above mentioned disruptions (here includes the emotional stress you are probably looking for).
What I would like to point out here is the nutritional imbalance this stress can affect. And so:
• CALCIUM intake should be increased because emotional and physical stress increases its excretion and decreases its absorption. You don’t want to lose a tooth or bend your back due to stress, won’t you?
• PROTEIN intake should also be monitored since more of it will be broken down during such state. Muscle wasting will then take effect (your body will eat up your muscles if there are no enough protein available for it), plus your need for antibody production and recuperation is affected (like wound healing, infections, etc.)
• BALANCED DIET is needed to maintain healthy weight since stress increases basal metabolic rate (or energy usage), so try to have the Carbo-protein-fat balance diet.
• SMALL FREQUENT FEEDING is advisable to deal with stress better. Keep in mind that emotional stress increases gastric acid secretions thus relating it to acidity and even peptic ulcer.
• THIAMINE AND VITAMIN C are emphasized for these prevent nervousness, irritability, loss of memory or concentration ability.
Now, I tell you…it is not easy being stressed! So try not to be. Keep smiling!
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