Finding the balance between ensuring your caseloads are up to date and avoiding feeling overwhelmed and burnt out at work can be difficult. With more and more social workers reporting feelings of stress, anxiousness and lack of sleep due to the high volume of work, it is important to check in with yourself and create helpful habits and tips to follow when you are at work. Below are some helpful changes you can make to your work routine that will help you to balance a healthy mindset alongside caseloads.
Be kind to yourself with when working out of hours.
It can always be tempting to stay another hour to write up those assessment notes, but what happens when you are staying behind most nights during your work week? Vital factors like your sleep, diet and stress levels are affected, and in turn, your mental wellbeing can be at risk. A good tip would be to only allow yourself to work late when it is absolutely necessary, and not to do it consecutively, or make it a regular occurrence. Although working late makes you feel productive, the negative impacts can lead to faster burnout and feeling unproductive in the long term.
Schedule your day with regular breaks
Ensuring your day has a structure and plan can help when you are feeling overwhelmed with different tasks, especially the small ones that you forget.
1. Always start the day with any ‘easy wins’ - that take up little time and brain power, that can help you feel motivated and productive right from the off. If you struggle to pick up the motivation after your lunch break, this would also be a good time to schedule in these too.
2. Then tackle any big tasks, such as large assessment reports or anything you have been putting off because it is daunting or a lot of work. Getting it done finally will always feel miles better
3. Schedule in regular 10 min breaks. Your mind will be able to focus at an optimal level when you give yourself time to rest between tasks. Consider getting up and going on a short walk, or popping out to get a coffee or a snack, to increase your blood circulation and give yourself a change of scenery.
4. Try to give yourself a ‘wind down’ task towards the end of the day, that you know won't leak into overtime, or leave you going home and thinking about it all evening. Good examples of wind down tasks are finishing up some case notes, or planning your day for tomorrow.
Categorise your tasks into ‘need to do’, ‘should do’ and ‘can do’
It's easy to get bogged down with all the small tasks we should be doing. But giving them a hierarchy helps you to take a step back and assess your workload in terms of what is manageable for yourself while still being beneficial for the service user.
Use this prioritising task when writing up your daily schedule, and only assign yourself ‘can do’ tasks towards the end of the day as a wind-down, or when you have a smaller workload.
Be realistic and say no to piling caseloads.
Communication with your line manager is key for this. If you communicate that you are beginning to feel the effects of burnout and explain why taking on extra work will not be feasible to provide the best level of support. Communicating this will ensure you are supported in your workload and helps you to avoid feelings of stress and guilt that come from not being able to complete the extra work you have taken on. We are all human, and your manager is here to understand that.
Leave it at work
Learning to leave work at work is a skill that isn’t picked up easily, but it is vital in a career such as social work. The job role is, more often than not, taxing on your mental wellbeing; with high-pressure situations, difficult decisions and sometimes upsetting outcomes. Making sure you process any negative feelings before going home, and leaving thoughts about work in the office, can help you see your time away from work as the time for yourself, helping you to feel more balanced and motivated.
We are proud to be a supplier of social work staff that creates a community where you feel supported, motivated, and encouraged to prioritise your mental wellbeing. Our friendly consultants are here to place you into roles that tick all your personal job criteria as well as your professional ones.
To get in touch with us about career opportunities within assessment project-based work, contact the team at info@imperiumsolutions.co.uk
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