Workplace Hacks And Habits That Are Less Beneficial Than You Think

As technology enables companies to function on a global scale, employers and customers alike have come to expect instant reactions to their needs. The office follows us everywhere in the form of smartphones and laptops. This increasing speed and urgency contributes to what has been called an epidemic of stress for nearly two decades now.

The very idea of a hack is a glitch in the system — going outside of expected parameters to produce a desired effect. In the case of work hacks, employees are generally looking for stress relief in their place of employment. However, in many cases the chosen hacks end up only compounding workplace stress.

Here are some workplace hacks that are not as beneficial as you may think, followed by a few healthy hacks that can truly help reduce stress:

Coffee, coffee and more coffee (or sugary sodas, or energy drinks)

An old standby hack is using stimulants to improve alertness and performance. Previous generations have turned to coffee as the elixir of life, and the prevalence of coffee chains indicates little chance of it going away. Now there are energizing beverages previous generations never even dreamed about.

Although moderate caffeine intake is considered safe for adults, hacking a workday with constant, powerful caffeine and sugar boosts (or even illegal drugs) can lead to serious health problems. In a recent workplace survey of over 1,000 office employees, Instructure learned that 34 percent of respondents choose caffeine as their stimulant and stress-reliever of choice. Sugar, alcohol, anti-anxiety medication and sleeping pills were also cited. Long term overuse of caffeine has been shown to cause migraine headaches, insomnia, fast heartbeat and muscle tremors.

Independent work

Employees can benefit by knowing how they produce the best work, and many find their groove being independent. Constant distractions in the workplace results in many leaving the office frequent, working remotely or independently as a hack for generating results.

Although controlling your own time and space is generally a good thing, completely closing off work contact with team members enables a long corporate tradition of encouraging competition in place of collaboration among coworkers. Employees who hack their work with isolation are cutting themselves off from sources of creativity and learning, ultimately leading to diminished trust and increased anxiety about taking healthy risks.

Flexible, alternate working hours

Flexible working hours sound good in theory. If an employee knows they are most productive during specific hours, those are times they should be working. In a variable environment like contract work or freelancing, flexible schedules can be beneficial. But for most it leads to difficult choices and personal sacrifices.

Not every job has to be 9-to-5, and there should certainly be room for flexibility, but working unusual hours drastically limits collaboration with team members and demands sacrifices of sleep and personal time. Hacking work with an alternate schedule has also been shown to increase family and personal stress, causes people to miss important life events, and often requires working longer hours to compensate for the perception of “missing time.”

Inbox zero

With requests and communications arriving to inboxes at all times of the day, employees have been adopting the daily concept of inbox zero. Although there are very real productivity benefits to maintaining an empty email inbox, it is easy to miss the point of the exercise.

Hacking work by immediately responding to every email is not the goal of inbox zero. Doing so only breaks down mental task processes and promotes a false sense of accomplishment that everything has been completed. Not only does this compound work stress because the “success” of an empty inbox is invariably short-lived, but people run the risk of overlooking critical needs and assignments in their rush to reach an empty inbox.

Healthy hacks and habits to combat stress

Employees frequently develop unhealthy strategies to cope with workplace stress, and most have negative consequences for both the person and the company. Bridge by Instructure has a few suggestions for healthy hacks and habits companies can promote with their teams:

• Stand up, exercise and move. Close those rings on your Apple Watch. Regular motion and exercise is hugely beneficial for physical and mental health, as well as maintaining energy levels throughout the day. Medical professionals recommend at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise along with regular standing and movement throughout the day to reduce stress.
• Be proactive with managers and coworkers. Most leaders are invested in their team’s success, but have enough demands on their time that team members feel ignored and meetings are pushed aside. Following up directly with managers and coworkers will encourage collaboration, build trust with leadership and help accomplish goals.
• Disconnect every day. Forty-four percent of employees leave their computers at work and even that is rarely enough to avoid the 24/7 business cycle. It is important for stress relief to disconnect from the daily grind and connect with family and friends, or even just enjoy personal time. Although working flexible hours has some benefits, people should balance that out with ample personal time.

All easier said than done, but even a little effort can make a difference. Many companies are built around the concept that employees should drive as hard as they can, at all times. Although most organizations are coming around to the benefits of work-life balance, some unhealthy habits seem baked into the system. By encouraging healthy habits, leadership can minimize the stress and increase engaged productivity.