Work-life balance Archives - Everpool Recruitment

The Healthcare job market is currently experiencing transformation and turbulence. Advanced A.I. algorithms and automation impact all jobs and influence which skills employers prioritise in candidates.

Geopolitical uncertainties and macroeconomic factors influence hiring decisions, leading to an influx in green jobs and new tensions in global hiring. Economic issues continue to impact the market, forcing certain companies to implement hiring freezes, lay off portions of their workforce, and find other ways to cut costs.

In this landscape, it’s becoming increasingly important for Healthcare candidates to find ways to become more flexible, adaptable, and resilient. So, how can you navigate the uncertainty of the current job landscape and build a career that thrives?

Preparing for Economic Uncertainty

Despite positive economic shifts last year, such as reduced inflations, financial issues still disrupt hiring practices. According to one report, the number of jobs available in the U.K. decreased by 25% between 2023 and 2024.

At a time when Healthcare job stability is fragile, now is the time to prepare yourself for financial headaches and job-seeking complexity.

Assess how to accelerate and improve your job-seeking process by working with recruiters and building a strong personal brand. A recruitment team can help direct you towards roles you will not find on your own.

An effective personal brand, characterised by a strong online presence, will help make you more ‘attractive’, particularly now that companies rely heavily on social media for recruitment.

Handling Technology Disruptions

Although concerns about A.I. and automation eliminating roles in the Healthcare industry are often highly exaggerated, there’s no doubt that technology will cause disruptions for many employees. The World Economic Forum predicts between 40% and 60% of jobs will be influenced by artificial intelligence in some way.

In disruptive and fast-moving industries like the Healthcare landscape, there’s a good chance new developments in the technology landscape will lead to changes in your responsibilities and tasks. Investing in digital literacy is the best way to prepare for this shift.

Learn as much as you can about the technologies affecting your sector and the skills current employers seek. Take online courses and classes, and follow industry leaders online to stay up-to-date with current trends and evolutions.

Explore how you can make yourself more valuable to your employers to minimise/minimize the risk of technological unemployment. Think about the unique skills you can offer as a human being, such as empathy, adaptability, and creativity.

Adopting the Right Mindset for Resilience

In turbulent times, Healthcare employers are increasingly screening candidates based on their technical skills and personality traits, such as resilience and adaptability. Business leaders know hiring employees with a growth mindsetmeans they’ll benefit from flexible team members who can learn from their mistakes and consistently improve their skills.

Cultivating a growth mindset by embracing challenges, actively seeking feedback from colleagues, and reframing failure as a learning opportunity can make you more attractive to Healthcare business leaders. The right mindset will also help you to preserve your mental health and wellbeing as you face the stress and anxiety of an uncertain landscape.

Assess your current thought processes and emotional intelligence, and ask yourself how to reframe your mindset from a positive perspective. Celebrate your wins, learn from your losses, and regularly practice self-reflection.

Embracing the Era of Flexibility

In a difficult Healthcare job market, it can take six months or more to find a new role.

Flexible roles have become increasingly popular for people searching for greater work-life balance and higher salaries. However, they do come with their challenges to consider. For instance, contractor roles lack the benefits of full-time positions and may not offer the same level of consistent income.

Consider your options for contractor work carefully, and ask yourself whether you’re comfortable navigating the challenges of a different career style.

Investing in Constant Skill Development

As mentioned above, one of the best ways to ensure your career in the Healthcare industry is truly unshakeable is to make yourself invaluable to your employer. The more beneficial you have, whether technical skills related to tasks that can’t be automated or soft skills like exceptional communication and problem-solving abilities, the better.

To ensure you’re investing in the right skill development opportunities, review the trends in your industry and speak to your Healthcare recruitment company to identify which skills employers are focusing on right now.

Remember, skill requirements can change rapidly. According to the Boston Consulting Group, 37% of the top 20 skillsrequested for the average U.S. job have changed in the last 8 years. Once you’ve identified valuable, transferable skills, look for various ways to develop them. Take courses and online workshops, or consider working with mentors from different backgrounds.

Staying Informed about Healthcare Industry Changes

Information is power when becoming a resilient Healthcare employee. The more you know about the trends happening in your sector, the faster you can adapt. Ensure you read up on employment policy changes to ensure your employees are treated fairly. Learn about how things like climate change and green jobs will affect your role.

Joining online groups and LinkedIn forums can help you gather valuable information to use as you work on your career development. However, investing in various networking forms is also a good idea. Connecting with people both online and offline through conferences, events, and workshops will give you access to a wide range of insights.

Developing an effective network will also help you strengthen your personal brand, boost your credibility, and allow you to share more engaging, thought leadership-style content across social media platforms.

Working with a Recruiter

Finally, working with a recruitment company is one of the best ways to improve your chances of achieving your career goals, regardless of uncertain times. A Healthcare recruitment company can help you with strategic career planning, ensuring you can identify your strengths and weaknesses, decide which skills you should be prioritising, and set effective goals for the future.

Your recruitment company will give you real-time insights into market trends and help you connect with companies looking for your skills, even if they’re not openly advertising new roles. They’ll also give you valuable tips on how you can optimise your CV and cover letters and prepare for various types of interviews.

The key to success is ensuring you get as much value from your relationship with your recruiter. Constantly communicate your goals, priorities, and expectations with the company, and pay attention to their feedback.

Become Unshakeable in Turbulent Times

The world and the Healthcare industry are changing at an incredible pace, directly impacting candidates in search of the right roles. To ensure you can continue to survive and thrive during this difficult time, it’s important to have a strategy for resilience.

Following the steps above to diversify your income streams, improve your skills, and optimise your job search strategy will ensure you can continue progressing towards your career goals. Work with the right recruitment team if you need help finding the right role in a difficult landscape, improving your brand, or preparing for interview success.

Contact Everpool Recruitment for insights into how we can help you navigate uncertain times in the Healthcare industry.

Maintaining a good work-life balance is more important than it seems. Investing in the right equilibrium between your professional and personal life improves your mental and physical health and can directly impact your performance.

Unfortunately, many Health and Social Care employees struggle to achieve a healthy work-life balance as their roles become more complex and demanding. Nearly 50% of employees worldwide are experiencing burnout due to poor work-life balance.

Fortunately, several ways exist to rebalance the scales and enjoy greater well-being while achieving what you want at work.

Understanding the Impact of Poor Work-Life Balance

A great work-life balance doesn’t just mean spending equal time focused on your personal and professional life. It involves consciously managing your time and energy to ensure you can meet your professional commitments while prioritising self-care.

Nurturing a healthy work-life balance improves your physical and mental health on a significant scale. In fact, one study in The Lancet found that the risk of stroke is higher in people who work more than their allocated hours each week.

Good work-life balance ensures you can build relationships with your Health and Social Care colleagues more effectively, as you’ll have greater emotional resilience. It also boosts your creativity, productivity, and efficiency in the workplace.

Conversely, a poor work-life balance creates various issues. When you fail to invest in self-care, your physical and mental health starts to deteriorate. The quality of your work suffers because you may be unable to focus, causing you to make consistent mistakes.

Plus, poor work-life balance harms your personal and working relationships, as you have less energy to contribute to connections with other people.

Achieving Work-Life Balance: Top Strategies for Success

Achieving balance in your role is crucial for your well-being and career’s future. However, it can’t be easy to define how to enhance work-life balance effectively in a demanding role.

Here are some ideas that work.

1. Assess your current situation carefully

Start by evaluating your current workplace situation. Use tools for self-evaluation, like online stress tests, to determine how likely you are to burnout. Pay attention to the common symptoms of poor work-life balance, such as:

An inability to “switch off” when you’re not at work.
Strained relationships with your loved ones.
Constant fatigue or regular illnesses.
Feelings of panic or fear on Sunday evenings.
A sense of disengagement or disinterest in your work.

If you feel your work-life balance might be out of whack, ask yourself where the biggest discrepancies are. Use time-tracking tools to understand better how you use your time throughout the day, and take notes of things that negatively affect your experience in the workplace.

2. Optimise your schedule

You must manage your time effectively to achieve a better work-life balance in a demanding Health and Social Care role. The better you are at organising your schedule, the easier it will be to assign the right amount of time to your personal and professional life.

You can use various strategies to give yourself more control over your time. Using a Pomodoro timer is a good way to organise your day into short, focused bursts of activity so you can get the most value out of your energy.

Time-blocking is another great strategy, as it involves dedicating specific periods of your day to certain tasks, which can prevent you from falling victim to procrastination or productivity-draining multitasking sessions. Use the Eisenhower matrix to prioritise tasks based on their urgency and importance and know when to say “no” to additional requests.

3. Focus on working smarter, not harder

Many Health and Social Care employees think investing additional hours in their jobs will make them more productive. However, working longer hours increases your chances of suffering from physical health issues.

Rather than focusing on trying to fit more into your day, look for ways to streamline and improve your performance. Developing new skills, like using technology to automate certain tasks, can save you significant time.

Setting boundaries is important, too. Ensure your team members and managers know what you’re physically capable of managing in your day-to-day routine. Don’t simply say “yes” to everything; set realistic expectations for yourself and share them with your colleagues.

4. Invest in effective collaboration

Collaboration is a powerful tool for improving work-life balance. When you can rely on other members on your team to help you achieve your goals and complete tasks, you’ll work much faster and more efficiently. Build strong relationships with your colleagues based on mutual support and assistance.

Offer to help them wherever you can, and ask them to return the favour when they have skills that will benefit the tasks you’re working on. Know when to delegate and share responsibilities with other team members, and avoid trying to handle everything independently.

If you’re struggling to make the most of your team, ask your manager for advice on how you might be able to delegate more effectively without overwhelming other team members.

5. Take advantage of technology

Technology can both harm and improve work-life balance. Being constantly “plugged in” to workplace applications and collaboration software can make switching off in your free time harder. However, technology can also help you to manage your time more effectively.

Productivity apps and tools can help you to more effectively keep track of your schedule, monitor your progress towards tasks, and allocate your time effectively. You can also use tools to help you automate certain tasks and streamline common processes.

Ensure you’re also taking the time to switch off. Know when to put email and messaging notifications on silent, and take advantage of automatic email responses to keep colleagues informed when you won’t be available.

6. Create a self-care routine

Finally, maintaining a good work-life balance in a demanding Health and Social Care role takes conscious effort. It’s easy to fall back into unhealthy habits, like working extra-long hours or forgetting to take breaks. That’s why you need to dedicate specific slots to looking after yourself.

When planning your day or week, highlight specific times in your schedule when you can dedicate time to important things like exercise, enjoying your hobbies, or spending time with loved ones.

Try to spend at least a small portion of every day doing something you enjoy, whether watching your favourite television show or taking the dog for a walk.

Devoting every ounce of your time and energy to your Health and Social Care career might seem like a good idea at first, but it can seriously damage your mental and physical health and even have a negative impact on your performance.

Investing in a good work-life balance is the best way to ensure you can look after yourself and achieve your professional goals.

Throughout the Legal sector, countless employees face expanding workloads and increasing pressure. The current economy means many organisations are forced to do more with less.

Managers are demanding greater efficiency and productivity from their teams than ever before. Yet, unfortunately, many employees struggle to adapt to these new expectations.

According to research by Development Academy, one of the main issues is that 82% of people don’t use a time management system. They use a to-do- list or their inbox only.

The same study revealed that only 20% of people do a monthly audit to review how they spend their time, and 1 in 8 people never feel under control at work.

Mastering workload management is the key to ensuring you unlock your full potential in the Legal workplace. It paves the way for career progression, reduces the risk of burnout, and contributes to a better work-life balance.

Here’s how to manage your workloads more effectively in the Legal Sector.

Step 1: Understanding Your Job Description and Objectives

Effective workload management begins with clearly understanding your responsibilities and role as a Legal employee. In a hectic workplace, it’s easy to lose track of where your focus and priorities should be, including how your performance will be evaluated and monitored.

Ideally, your job description and manager will offer insights here.

A good job description will define an employer’s expectations and the employee’s core tasks.

Often, asking for further detail and clarity when you are unsure can be helpful.

Talk to your manager about your responsibilities and how they align with the broader goals of the organisation. Ask them to identify the key deliverables they’re looking for in your work and how you’ll be assessed.

A precise knowledge of your responsibilities and the business’s objectives will help determine which tasks are most valuable to your to-do list. This will ensure you can effectively prioritise tasks based on the contribution they’ll make to your team, department, and business.

In addition, you will build a reputation as a significant and consistent contributor.

If you’re assigned a project that doesn’t seem to align with your role or the business’s goals, ask for more clarity; This demonstrates a commitment to generating measurable results for the company.

Step 2: Learn How to Prioritise Effectively

Based on what you learn about your Legal company’s objectives and your role, you can identify that some tasks on your to-do list are more important than others. For instance, while responding to emails is crucial, it may not be as critical as finishing a task before an impending deadline. There are various ways to evaluate your tasks based on priority, such as:

Using the Eisenhower Matrix: The Eisenhower matrix, or “prioritisation” matrix, breaks tasks into four boxes: neither important nor urgent, urgent but not important, important but not urgent, and urgent and important.
For example, sending an invoice before a deadline may be important and urgent. Brainstorming for a new task may be important but not urgent.
Reducing your priorities: Starting your day with a list of 25 crucial tasks to complete can be overwhelming. Set yourself up for success by being realistic about what you can achieve in a single day.Some people use the 1-3-5 rule, which involves selecting one big task to achieve each day, three medium tasks, and five small actions.
Manage your energy, not just your time: People naturally go through periodic changes to how well they can focus. Defining when your most productive times are in the day can help you plan your schedule to maximise your energy.

Step 3: Know When to Say No

For many people, saying “no,” especially in the workplace, doesn’t come naturally.
Most Legal employees want to be seen as team players, ready to go above and beyond whenever a manager comes to us with an additional task or project.

Unfortunately, saying “yes” to everything increases your chances of burnout, making it more likely to make mistakes when doing essential work and harms productivity and efficiency.

Even the most impressive Legal employee has limitations. We can only accomplish so much in the time given to us, so it’s crucial to know when to say no.

Talk to your supervisor or manager when you’re assigned a task you can’t handle based on your current workload.

Explain why you cannot accept the extra task based on your current workload, objectives and deadlines. A good way to ensure you make the right impression is to offer alternative solutions to the issue.

Explore who else on the team has the required skills or abilities.

Suggest putting another less valuable task on hold if the new project is essential and urgent.

Step 4: Boosting Productivity and Maintaining Focus

According to the American Psychological Association, 20% of people are “chronic procrastinators”. We’re easily distracted, particularly in a fast-paced workplace where emails, requests, and environmental distractions constantly bombard us.

It’s not just the distraction that steals your time in the Legal workplace, but also the energy you need to refocus. Look for ways to reduce your exposure to distractions, such as:

Use time management techniques: Time management techniques like the Pomodoro technique or time blocking help to ensure you stay focused on specific tasks for reasonable periods. They encourage you to take regular breaks and help to reduce the risk of “multi-tasking” or switching between different tasks.
Eliminate common distractions: Consider using noise-cancelling headphones to block out excess noise in a busy office. Switch your phone and instant messaging platforms to “do not disturb” when working on complex tasks. You could consider closing your email tab or setting up an autoresponder message.
Optimise your workplace: A tidy and comfortable office is conducive to productivity. Remove any clutter around your desk as often as possible, and look for ways to improve your comfort with ergonomic furniture.Placing your desk next to a window can give you a cognitive boost, improving your concentration with natural light.

Additionally, remember to take regular breaks. Your brain can only focus for so long, and simple strategies like heading outside for some fresh air can revitalise your mind. A collection of studies conducted by Washington State University demonstrate that spending time in nature can alleviate mental fatigue.

Step 5: Invest in Continuous Learning and Development

In the fast-paced Legal environment, workplaces and roles constantly evolve. You’re more likely to struggle with workload management if you spend much time on projects you don’t understand or work with new and unusual technology.

With this in mind, focus on constantly developing your skill set. Use courses, webinars, and online workshops to develop new technical (hard) skills relevant to your role.

Let’s take A.I. as an example:

You may become more productive if you’re comfortable using AI-based software to complete repetitive work.

Think about how you can enhance your soft skills, too. Improving your ability to communicate or working on your critical thinking and problem-solving skills can help you to become more efficient.

At the same time, exploring consistent development shows your employer you’re committed to becoming the most valuable employee you can be.

Create time during mini-reviews, weekly catch-ups or regular one-to-one meetings with your manager to discuss your development needs. Explore the skills and knowledge you need to continue improving your contribution and performance.

Master Workload Management

The pressure on Legal employees today is greater than ever. Asana even found that 80% of global knowledge workersfeel on the verge of burnout. While it’s your employer’s responsibility to ensure tasks are distributed fairly among staff members, it’s up to you to ensure you’re making the most of your time and energy.

Ensure you understand your responsibilities and the goals of the organisation/organization. Find ways to optimise your focus, eliminate distractions, and know when to say no.

If you’re still overwhelmed by the work you need to manage and are not receiving the kind of support you are looking for, maybe it’s time to explore a company and culture that takes a different approach. Contact us at Everpool for help finding a role that can improve your work-life balance.

Email: info@everpoolrecruitment.com or Telephone number: 0151 556 2090

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