Work Less to Protect The Environment and You

Americans work longer hours and take fewer vacations than any other industrialized country in the world. We create higher stress levels for ourselves, alienate our children and senior citizens because we’re too busy and leave a HUGE environmental footprint.

The way we work into excess also drives our habits. We consume like crazy, driving ourselves further into debt – both financially and ecologically.

Before you start arguing, I’m an entrepreneur … I understand that running your own business requires dedication, focus and time. But, I also look back (unfondly) to the days of working for high-strung others. Working to the point that my hair was falling out due to the extreme stress and pressures of a demanding certain someone (that’s another blog entry entirely).

So what are the options?

One is to telecommute. At Snackbox, many of our workforce is comprised of extremely seasoned freelancers. By employing their talents and expertise, we’re providing our clients with brilliant minds who are adamantly opposed to being a part of the traditional workforce. Some may be stay-at-home moms with full-time nannies; others may be running from exactly what I experienced – the physical effects of intense stress.

Other options include requiring a specific number of hours each week – if you can’t get your work done in that amount of time, then changes need to happen. Perhaps your employee could use training on organization? Perhaps their workload is too extreme?

The first step to reinventing how we work? Talk with your employees. I’m sure they have spoken about many fixes behind your back … engage them and empower them. Together, we can all become better rested, more efficient and more profitable.