Play Office Party Bingo for Easy Stress-Free Gatherings

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Play Office Party Bingo for Stress-less Office PartiesThis technique works well if you are going to a party with a friend but you can also play on your own.

Create a list of sterotypical party behaviours prior to the party and then see how many you can spot.  For example:

  1. Inappropriately/trashily dressed
  2. Couple hooking up for the first time
  3. Sucking up to the boss
  4. Having an argument
  5. Getting stuck talking to the biggest bore
  6. Married but flirting heavily with the opposite sex
  7. Too drunk to know they are being an idiot
  8. Career suicide conversation
  9. Old man leering at younger woman
  10. First woman to ditch her heels
  11. Someone drinking a “Shirley Temple”
  12. Table or chair dancing
  13. Best dancers
  14. Worst dancers
  15. First person to fall asleep

Have fun and make up your own categories.   Having a silly Party Bingo list will assist you to stay interested in what is occurring and provides lots of internal amusement when you spot something on your list.

This technique works equally well for office parties and family gatherings.  Let me know what categories you come up with!

What is the Opposite of Stress?

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I recently asked my network, ‘What is the Opposite of Stress?’   As you might expect there was a wide variety of answers.   Some folks shared a single word, whilst others shared a scenario.   The answers grouped into several broad categories:

 

1.     Relaxed, Calm and Peaceful

This category received the highest number of votes.  Many people mentioned relaxing on a beach, often accompanied by drinks with paper umbrellas.   I often ask peoStress Relief at www.cognitusuk.comple to visualise serene or peaceful scenes to counteract the pressures of stress.   When we think of ‘peaceful’, we envision a lowered heart rate, a oneness with nature and an absence of tension.  For many people, this nirvana is definitely not in an urban environment.  Read more »

Reduce Stress with Office Christmas Bingo

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You can reduce stress and have immense fun playing Office Christmas Bingo.   Score one point for each of the following items.   Feel free to make up new categories of your own.

  1. Accurately guess the first person to decorate their desk
  2. Someone breaking up a romance to avoid buying a gift Visit www.cognitusuk.com/blog for Christmas stress relief tips
  3. Accurately guess who will flout the no-Xmas-card rule  Read more »

Stress and a Healthy Desk

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Have you ever considered that you might be stressed because your desk is unhealthy?   A recent survey says that 68% of office workers never clean their desks.   Stop and think for a minute about what might be lurking in and around your desk.  Experts estimate that 10 million bacteria may be hanging around under your hands on the surface of your desk.   One study goes so far as to suggest that the average office desk is 100x dirtier than a kitchen counter and 400x dirtier than a toilet seat.  Ooh Yuck!

How can this be, your office has a cleaner, right?   Why should you have to clean your desk yourself?   Cleaning companies report that most cleaners are hesitant to clean people’s desks for fear of disturbing papers and personal memorabilia.  So if you don’t clean your desk, it’s not going to get done.

Here are some tips for keeping your desk a clean and healthy place: Read more »

Stress at Work – Employer Responsibilities

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The public profile of work-related stress seems to be increasing.  Hardly a week passes without an article about work stress in a UK national newspaper.   What is it about work in the twenty-first century that is so stressful?   Perhaps this “epidemic” of stress is a result of technology, but it may also be due to economic uncertainty or changes in working practices which favour short-term contracts, outsourcing and lean thinking.  

Regardless of the cause, stress remains one of the most important contributors to absence from work.  Estimates from the latest HSE – Labour Force Survey indicate that self-reported work-related stress, depression or anxiety accounted for an estimated 11.4 million lost working days in Britain in 2008/09. 

What are your responsibilities as an Employer to manage stress in the workplace? Read more »