Staff Management Tips

There are three simple methods of boosting your mental alertness at work so that you stay as alert as possible.

The first one is to make a daily list of things to do as soon as possible after getting out of bed. Research has shown that the brain is most alert soon after having a good nights sleep. According to workplace psychologist Mike Clinton from Kings College in London, “the activity of planning at the beginning of each day may be the single most productive task you achieve”.

The second way might be a little harder to do for most but according to a Harvard University study, they found that people who have an afternoon snooze from about 12.30-1.30pm,  were the clear winners in memory and learning tests. Between those times, the body is closest to sleep mode.  What I used to do sometimes was go down to my car and grab a quick 15  minute nap and I always felt a lot better and more alert after wards.

And thirdly, most optometrists would agree that roughly every twenty minutes we should take a break from the computer monitors and give our eyes a break by focusing on something else for awhile. Eye strain induced by computer monitor glare is linked to a drop in workplace productivity and perhaps even low office morale.

The unfortunate thing is that sometimes we are all underpaid. At times it’s the companies way of saving money and at other times, it’s our own fault by underestimating what we are worth to the company. It might be time to renegotiate your salary with your current employers. However, in saying that, you need to do your homework. Find out how much you should be worth by checking with someone in a similar position as yours both within the company as well as outside your company. A good start would be a site like www.mycareer.com.au/salary-centre here in Australia. If you live in another country, there are similar websites available to you to use.

When you go in to negotiate, according to Donald Asher who is the author of  Who Gets Promoted, Who Doesnt’t and Why, you should say something along the lines of, “if you want me to stay in this position, you’ll want to bring me in the door at appropriate pay”. Remember though, that what you earned in the past in totally irrelevant. What the going rate is now, that’s what matters when negotiating.

It’s a common misconception in networking that the only time to contact people is when you need a job. That’s not the way to get a pay rise. You need to be systematic about it and find an excuse to contact your business friends every three months or so. This way that old expression wont apply, “out of sight, out of mind”. That’s the last place you want to be with your business contacts, out of mind. Powerful Hollywood producers do the networking  thing really well and in the business world the simple rule applies that it’s not what you know, but who you know. As I mentioned yesterday, sometimes the only way to get a pay rise is to find another company to work for.