Making Do With Less

In these shaky economic times, most of us are making do with less—less hands, less money, less supplies. The end result: A whole lot of people are getting fried, burnt to a workless crisp.

After all, there is only so much one human being can do.
There is hope. Here are some tips for getting through these tough times without compromising your own employment.

• Take your vacation days. Sure, you’ll stress out that something (or everything) will go wrong while you’re out of the office, but you need time to recharge. According to CNN.com, Americans alone coughed up 448 million vacation days in 2010—as in, they went to waste. Being your refreshed self is critical to your productivity, mental health and morale. Get away and think about things besides work; you might just come up with an insight or new idea while on your breather.
• Keep your boss informed. More responsibility means you are accountable for more bottom-line results. By keeping your supervisor apprised of your progress on key work, he or she has a better idea of what is going on in terms of the overall management of company operations. Proactive bosses will identify problems that lead to overworked employees. By giving them the tools to gauge how things are going, you can help them make informed decisions on whether to start hiring.
• Ask about hiring additional help. In some cases, everyone in the office is at breaking point. There simply aren’t enough hours. That’s when an honest, direct conversation with the boss is most timely. The worst thing your boss can do is tell you no, and if you make a clear case providing specifics on what types of activities a new hire could take on and how that might improve revenue production, your employer might listen.
• Document everything. Your colleagues’ delays can affect your production timeline, and you definitely don’t want the blame to fall on your shoulders. Document everything. Write email recaps of conversations, so you have clear communications about expectations and processes. That way, you will always have sufficient backup should a problem arise.
• Be efficient. With more tasks on your plate, efficiency is key. Create templates for regular correspondence. Approach your colleagues and find ways to collaborate and reduce redundancies. Anything you can do to eliminate just one step in your work saves time so you can concentrate on removing backlogs.
• Separate work from personal time. It has become very easy to check email while at home waiting for the water to boil—but email addiction is dangerous. It creeps into your personal time and leads to lengthy bursts of work that interrupt the time you need to recharge and not think about the office. One+