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We all know that Christmas can be a very hectic time of year, juggling workloads, a busy social calendar and managing who’s off on annual leave. When the office is now accessible from anywhere how do we switch off and enjoy family time without being tempted to open that Outlook app? Here at CSG, we asked some of our customers and lovely friends for their input on how they manage the balance between looking after their clients and digging into their Christmas dinner.

Claire Swindell, Director of Client Services at Spindogs, said:

“It can be really hard to switch off over Christmas, but one of the ways we work is to start managing client expectations as early as possible. We communicate our Christmas opening hours, get in touch with clients to find out their festive needs as early as September or October, and then having a strategy of how we will handle any emergencies over the Christmas break.”

Samantha Fell, Operations Manager at Bro Myrddin, said:

“It’s important that everyone, staff and residents alike, have a happy and worry free Christmas with family and friends. We communicate our Christmas opening hours to residents as early as possible, giving us time to ease any concerns that may arise. Working with the local authority we can ensure that any Out of Hour emergencies are responded to during the festive period, and make sure that contact details and instructions on how to use this service are available on our social media platforms and answerphone message. We want staff to enjoy their well-deserved leisure time but ensure our residents can access a service should they need one.”

Kirsty Jones, Client Support Team Leader at Spindogs, said:

“The Support Team work hard to ensure that we are wrapping up everything before the office closes for the year. Of course, we cannot plan ahead for unexpected emergencies however we work closely with our IT Team to ensure that our emergency inbox is monitored. If anything, critical does come in we have hands on deck to ensure that it is looked at as soon as possible. It is important for us that we all enjoy our downtime whilst ensuring our clients have peace of mind that we are here to help.”

Lisa Baker, Editor of News from Wales and owner of Need to See IT Publishing, said:

“I often work 7am-9pm and struggle to take long periods off work. In reality I rarely switch off. Working from home makes it hard to stick to the ground rules and I often work Fridays and weekends. Of course, Christmas it’s harder because I’m in my workplace and it’s easy enough to just pick up a PC. I do struggle to chill out, but tell myself the world won’t stop if you breathe, relax and watch a movie sometimes.”

Rhiannon Headlam, Paid Advertising Strategist at Spindogs, said:

“Christmas is by far one of the busiest times of year for our department. With “black Friday” and “boxing sales” happening left, right and centre, it’s so important for us to be on the top of our game. This means always being on hand and sometimes needing to do last minute tweaks to campaigns. It’s also crucial for our team to schedule as much of this prior to the Christmas period. Christmas is meant to be for relaxing, and enjoying the festivities with family and friends – try not to get too caught up in the fast-paced world of online sales.”

Jo Thomas, Business Development Manager at Chepstow Racecourse, said:

“It’s very difficult to switch off over the festive season as it’s an extremely busy time for us at Chepstow Racecourse. Christmas party nights on the 7th and 13th December, and with it being biggest day of the year on 27th December with our Coral Welsh Grand National, it’s all hands on deck!  Santa’s visit is fab, though back to it on Boxing Day and an extremely early start on 27th make for a hectic festive time! Once we are on annual leave though, we get to relax with a mince pie and some mulled wine!”

If you want to find out more about remote working and systems that can help with this, call our team on 0330 400 5465 or email sales@csgrp.co.uk!

Are you guilty of checking your work emails over Christmas? There's not right or wrong answer - the beauty of technology is that we can choose when we work, you just have to be careful not to push yourself too far.

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