June 20, 2023 – Repertoire Magazine recently sat down with sales expert, keynote speaker and author Tim Richardson to discuss the importance of maintaining a sane and productive workplace. Richardson has worked for IBM and a Five Diamond resort property, and he’s worked as a professional speaker for almost 35 years.
For business leaders looking to take the reins and bring sanity back into their workspace, it’s important to set reasonable expectations for the office. Expectations are, of course, a part of the system, but there’s a significant difference between reasonable expectations and the kind of expectations that can kill morale.
“An overworked person is more likely to suffer from negative mental health concerns that are more common now than ever. If workloads are so high that there is no time for breaks, then workers aren’t going to be on their A-game and they certainly aren’t going to have time for new thinking and innovation,” Richardson said.
When employees feel that they need to be available 24/7, they sacrifice personal time with their families, or they can’t completely log off when they are “on vacation,” which creates a culture where they don’t feel that they can draw the line between their work life and personal life.
Richardson said, “We need time to recoup, we need time to rest, we need time to renew and restore. We need very clearly defined expectations. I think if a leader is intentional and has well established priorities, they’re going to create those clear expectations for people that include time to pause.”
The first step to establishing sanity is allowing people to truly clock out at the end of the day and take time for themselves. Workaholics have a hard time with a work-life balance, but it’s critical to the mental and physical health of your employees, as well as their productivity when they are on the clock. “Many professionals wear busy like it’s a badge of honor, when it should be more rewarding to be totally in control. We need to honor that people need renewal time and give people down time to refuel.”
Read more in the latest issue of Repertoire Magazine.