Mandatory sabbaticals and other burnout antidotes

We've been working hard at Deeson to take a holistic view of what keeps people happy, motivated and well in the long term.

Digital agencies are exciting, fast moving places with the opportunity to learn new technologies and skills every day. However, this combined with project deadlines and other team commitments can lead to unsustainable working habits or crashes in motivation.

We've been experimenting with techniques that foster a sustainable passion for your work, both at an individual and at an organisational level.

With people distributed in the UK and in Europe, different ages, lifestyles and variety of roles we've found that one size doesn't necessarily fit all. Senior team can feel overwhelmed by supporting junior team members and juniors can feel that they have a lot prove.

I will explore what's worked, what's failed and what we're trying next. The session will be suitable for both senior management and individuals looking to have a positive impact on their teams.

Topics include:

• Mandatory sabbaticals - costs and benefits
• Culture - matching your expressed and implied expectations
• Self organising teams - helps or hinders
• Flexible working hours - how to stop collaboration suffering
• Mindfulness - how does this relate to the workplace
• Distributed and co-located team members - different approaches required
• Macro and micro factors - every day habits set the overall tone
• Team structure - delivery and professional development are two different views