Labour Law News
- EPFO Issues New Guidelines for Taxing
- Trade unions to protest privatisation, new labour codes
- Four labour codes may not come up before June-end
- Delhi HC seeks response in plea to increase number of Labour Courts, Industrial Tribunals
Old/New Cases of Importance
- Whole salary but not Rs.15,000 per month of an international worker would attract PF contribution. (Madras HC)
- Production bonus, medical & washing allowances etc. are wages for ESI contributions. (Madras HC)
- Liability to pay compensation on death of worker arises immediately after demise (SC)
- Principal employer will have to pay accident compensation to the worker of a contractor. (Delhi HC)
- Gratuity cannot be forfeited of an employee for abandonment. (P & H HC)
Good Reads
- How Netflix Reinvented HR
- Best Employee Appreciation Ideas For Large Companies
- How Apple Is Organized for Innovation
- How to Write a Cover Letter
Videos This Week
10 Documents Checklist Before Investing in a Property
5 lesser known tax saving tips | Tax Planning 2022
This is Killing You and Your Career
How many tabs/apps are running your device right now?
Chances are you are listening to music or podcast, answering or reading a text/mail, surfing the web on your phone or working on a report as you read this.
Right from our devices to our lifestyle, multitasking has become a way of life for everyone. Both your brain and devices have multiple tabs open at all times.
The dichotomy of surviving a job to pay bills and then following your passion on the side or having side hustle to buy your dream car or home, is now becoming a toxic trend. Just open your social media account and you would see channels and influencers a dime a dozen who have created a fortune celebrating multitasking as a superpower.
People take pride to be multitasking masters and it all seems good till we look at the price one has to pay for it. This culture does more harm than good at many levels.
- Poor Productivity
Your brain is not wired to multi-task. You pay a cognitive price due to this constant switching from on task to next, at such short intervals. Though it gives you instant gratification, it is detrimental to your brain in the long run as your brain loses its ability to focus and solve complex problems which take time.
- Lower IQ
Studies have shown a significant drop in the level of IQ of multi taskers. Just the knowledge of an unread email in your inbox before reading it drops your effective IQ by 10 points.
- Poor Performance
Contrary to what multitaskers believe they perform worse as compared to people who focus on one thing at a time. They have a harder time organising their thoughts and filtering out extraneous information, and they switch from one task to another more slowly leading to deteriorating performance.
- Technoference
Multitasking on your smartphones and tabs gave way to the concept of ‘technoference’. It is associated with poor relationships due to interruptions in interpersonal interactions.
- Chronic Stress, Social Anxiety and Memory Loss
According to a survey of college students, multitasking on their devices led to more stress and the more the participants multitasked, the more they suffered from social anxiety and other health conditions.
Chronic media multitaskers have poor working memory (the ability to store relevant information while engaged on a task) and damaged long-term memory.
Already snowed under it?
Do not let this bring you and your relationships down. The following techniques can help you develop the habit of focussing on one thing at a time.
- Pomodoro Technique
The technique boosts focus immensely. Choose a single task you will focus on and write it down, set the timer to 25 minutes and work on the task until the timer rings and put a checkmark on your paper. This technique will help you do more quality work and improve your focus immensely.
- 4 Quadrant Method
Declutter your mind by scheduling and prioritising your tasks one day prior into quadrants. So the next day you know what you have to work on immediately: the upper left.
When you are done with those things, or if you are stuck with any item on the upper left, then you move to the upper right.
The idea is that you never should do anything on the bottom left. In fact, if you can, these are the tasks that may make perfect sense to delegate to someone.
- Eliminate Distractions
It can be a co worker, your phone, social media notification and pop ups. Create mechanisms to eliminate such distractions. A pair of headphones are enough of a hint to your noisy coworkers, blacklist the websites you are likely to waste time on.
- Always Monotask
No matter how important two tasks seem to be. Always make it a point to monotask. It would increase productivity and give better results.
Always Remember – Do Less to Get More Done.
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