Lately, we have been putting in some extremely long hours.
In our company, we have a policy that we do not work Sundays unless there is an absolute need such as a weekend install or emergency.
We have not been able to maintain that rule as a result of the many client deadlines that required huge preparation beforehand over the last three weeks.
Yesterday was the first day we had no critical client needs in that time period.
So, we rescheduled anything that needed to be for that day and shut the shop down for the full day.
For those of us who are reward oriented, having a full day off with pay is definitely a neat surprise.
Perhaps, for us smaller shops this type of reward is easier to do. But, one can also reward one's hard working technicians in larger organizations with the same.
When we run our own small business, it is very important to recognize poor performance as a result of fatigue. It is not too difficult for smaller shops to get caught up in client needs while forgetting the health and well being of our employees and ourselves.
This is especially true in a small shop where everyone really enjoys what they are doing and are passionate about the services and products they provide. For some, our wife/husband or girlfriend/boyfriend can provide the AWA (Audible Warning Alarm) when the limits are close or breached! ;)
Even then, the best of us can reach the edge of burn-out without realizing it until it is too late.
So, even though we have more client deadlines to deal with, we take the opportunity to rejuvenate, regenerate, and refresh our selves by doing other things. And that is very important: No reading tech or researching tech! The time should be for other things: Like spending time with our family, significant others, or some sort of leisure activities.
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.
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