One of our key New Years resolutions for 2014 at Para-Sols was to see us all working less and therefore working more!
We’re all terribly guilty of working through lunch and not taking breaks due to our heavy workload and complex projects that we don’t wish to interrupt at risk of losing our concentration. However, numerous studies have shown that skipping breaks and lunch can hamper productivity and even increase mortality, though don’t tell the protection providers about that!
There are a number of ways you can take breaks at work that help concentration, physical fitness and mood. One of the most beneficial are frequent “micro-breaks”. Taking a few moments from your desk and your screen to stretch your legs and give your brain a chance to catch its breath.
Away from the excitement and obvious activities available in London, up here in the Northern office we have converted part of our office into a breakout room; complete with a study area, bean bags and a hula hoop! Rather tenuously dubbed the Para-Chills room; it can be used for recreation and also as a brainstorming area with ideas daubed on the wall as they occur to us. It is amazing what you can come up with while you’re taking a well earned break. You’re then refreshed and eager to return to work and the results show a high level of increased productivity; ergo work less to work more!
So give it a try and please share your ideas for taking breaks and if you have a more appropriate tool for de-stressing than hula-hooping we’d love to see that!
A blog post by Jo Campbell
