5 Great Ways To Skive Off Work Without Getting In Trouble

It’s hard getting up every day and driving into the office. You have to wait in traffic and it’s stressful. You then have to sit at the same desk doing the same thing over and over again. I bet you look at the clock on a constant basis because you want to go home, but it doesn’t make the time pass any quicker. It will actually slow it down and your day will feel like it’s going on forever, but you can’t help yourself. When will the day ever end?

License: Creative Commons image source
License: Creative Commons image source

Maybe you don’t need to look at the clock every 5 minutes. You’re in work until it’s time to go home whether you like it or not. I would tell you to start enjoying your work more, but it might not be possible. If all else fails you should learn to skive because it will give you a little break every once in a while. You need to be sneaky about it to avoid getting in trouble, so we’re going to look at a few ways to do it so your boss will never know.

Put a photo on top of your computer

If you have a photo inside a glass frame on the top of your computer you will be able to see if someone is coming. You can play on the Internet and if anyone walks behind you it will take a few seconds to switch back over to your work. Just make sure your employer doesn’t have any employee monitoring software installed on the computer because they will know exactly what you’re doing. Remember that work still needs to be done, so don’t get carried away.

Finish your work quicker

You might only have a certain amount of jobs to get done in a day. If you finished them quicker you would have the rest of the day to chill out. It’s obviously nice to help your workmates who are a little slower than you, but if they never offer to help you it’s possible you might not want to help them. You don’t necessarily have to sit doing nothing until the end of the day. You could look over your work to make sure it’s perfect, but at least you won’t need to start a new task from scratch.

Carry something about with you

Some of your friends might work in different departments and you won’t be able to email them if there is monitoring software installed on your computer, but you can go and speak to them. Just walk about with paper in your hand and you will look like you’re doing something important. You obviously won’t be able to spend ages away from your desk, but you will get a nice 5 minute break on occasion.

A fake emergency

Later on in the afternoon you might have had enough. You can’t take the stress anymore and you need to get out of there, but how can you do it without raising any suspicions? Text one of your friends and ask them to call your work phone. Pretend they have given you some bad news and it will give you a good excuse as to why you need to leave early. Your child might have been involved in an imaginary fight at school and you need to go pick them up.

Sit back and relax

Whenever you are in a meeting it’s a great time to sit back and relax. This only applies if you’re not the one doing all the speaking. You can just listen to what people are saying, but don’t get too involved in the discussion. Don’t ask any questions at the end and it means the whole meeting will have passed without you doing anything. If someone asks you a question you can just give them a quick reply and they will hopefully move on.

About the Author: James Kirby is an employee of WellResearchedReviews.com and he is a blogging enthusiast. He likes to write on a wide range of topics that interest him, be it lifestyle, technology or his personal experiences.

Balancing Your Side Gig & Family Life

Spending quality time with your family is important, but working is also important so that you can provide for your family. Sometimes, we take on side jobs to help add to our savings or make a larger purchase that we need. Working these side jobs, however, can often interfere with our family life, so how do you balance the two?

Talk about it.

It is important to talk openly with your family about your side job, especially if you have children. Tell them that you have taken on another job and your family time may be limited for a while. Let them know when you will be available and/or how long the job will last. This way, your children will know when to expect you home and when not to.
It is also important to talk about your responsibilities with your spouse. If your side job requires you to be on-call 24/7, you need to make them aware of this. If your spouse is unaware of your schedule, it could cause stress and conflict between the two of you.

Try to be consistent.

If you have the option of scheduling the time your side job takes place, try to make sure it is consistent on a day-to-day basis. This way, your family will not have to try and remember your varying schedule. Plus, your children will know that you will be home at a certain time every day, so they can try and schedule some quality time with you.

Spend quality time with your family.

Make sure to schedule quality time with your family. For example, if you only get to see your family on weekends, try to schedule some quality family time during those days. Take a special trip to the zoo, plan a picnic, or even have a family movie night. Making time for your family will help relieve your stress level, and it will also make them happy.

Have a family dinner.

Sharing a quality dinner with your family is important. It allows everyone to be together and lets everyone share the happenings of that day. If your side job keeps you from having dinner with your family during the week, make sure to always have a family dinner on the weekend. Anything from a big family dinner to ordering take out is perfectly fine, as long as everyone is there together.

Don’t bring work home.

If you are constantly bringing work home, you are erasing the line between family and work. When you bring work home, you tend to focus on work, and your bring the stresses back to the house too. This will impact your family, as you will not have time to spend with them. Make sure that when you leave the office, you leave everything at the office too.

Hire an associate.

If your side job becomes too overwhelming, hire an assistant or an associate to help you out. Even if they only fill in for you one day a week, that is one more day you have to spend with your family instead of coworkers. Sometimes that small break is just what you need to keep a healthy balance between your side job and your family.
Side jobs can interfere with your family life, but keeping an open line of communication with your spouse and your children as well as always carving out time during the week to spend with them will help maintain the balance.

About the Author: Michelle McCurdy is an author of children’s books and a mother who loves to blog and give advice in her spare time. She is only able to keep her busy schedule and balance the needs of her children and work thanks to her trusty Nissan.