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It’s that time of day again. It has arrived. Your eyes feel sandpapery as you struggle to keep them open. Your whole body feels lethargic, but your workday is far from over. It’s the dreaded 3 pm slump, and it hits hard several times a week, at the very least.  Even though you only have a few hours of work left you’re not sure you’re going to make it without a quick desktop nap. Why does this keep happening and how can you avoid the 3 pm slump all together? Here are some ideas to help you out if taking a siesta isn’t an option!   Why do I have an afternoon slump? The feeling of tiredness and fatigue is a natural response to circadian rhythms. Circadian rhythms are our body clocks and control our sleep cycles, making us sleepy between the hours of 2 - 4 am and 1 - 3 pm. Too little sleep, carby lunches, dehydration, and high-stress levels can also be contributors. Here are 5 ways to stress less at work.   Get Up The benefits of movement cannot be overstated in this case. Stretching, getting up and moving around can be one of the best ways to wake yourself up. Taking five minutes to get up and walk to the water cooler or to a co-worker’s desk can have great benefits. Hitting the gym on your lunch break also boosts your productivity once you get back to your desk. If you can, sit in the sun for 10 minutes or better yet, go for a quick walk outside. Walking meetings are also something you can put in place. Sunlight helps reset your internal clock. It also reduces the amount of melatonin your body produces. Sunlight is also the best source of Vitamin D proven to have many health benefits.   Interact Humans are social animals and interactions with others rev us up. If you’re working from home, having a quick video chat with a colleague can act as a great pick me up. If you’re back in the office, consider talking to a friend in the office to re-energise. Rather than sending that work-related email, go and talk to the recipient in person. Talking, smiling and laughing with others will make you feel less drowsy. Try to schedule collaborative meetings for the afternoon instead of in the morning. You can also give the Pomodoro technique a go. Work in 25-minute bursts with 5-minute breaks between. Then take a longer break after five 25-minute sets. There are several apps you can use for this but a normal timer will do the job.  Don't forget to give your eyes a rest from staring at your screen every 20 minutes. Look at something at least 20 feet away for 20 seconds.   Snack Not all snacks are good for you. While you might be craving carbs, cutting them out can help prevent an afternoon slump in the first place. A chocolate bar has a quick energy surge, but an even quicker drop. Go for fruit, veggies, nuts or a small quantity of dark chocolate containing caffeine. Minty chewing gum is also known to be a stimulant and chewing helps the brain fight lethargy. Don’t forget water either. Most of us don’t drink as much water as we should. But staying hydrated can help you stay awake and alert throughout the day. A mid-afternoon cup of green tea (avoid coffee) is also a good idea. For more work eating tips click here.   Plan Ahead Review at what times you’re most productive and schedule your most demanding tasks in at that time of day. Save easier tasks for when you’re not at the peak of your productivity curve. Most people’s concentration declines after an hour. So next time you feel your focus fading, switch to another task to change things up a bit. Listening to your favourite high-energy songs will also pick you up and make you feel pumped. Spotify has a great selection of playlists or you can create your own. Lasting throughout the day without hitting a slump starts with getting a good night’s sleep. You know your limits, and you know the consequences of pushing those. Save yourself a lot of effort and headache and stick to a bedtime that’s suitable for your body’s needs. Also, consider what you’re eating throughout the day. Experts say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day for a reason. Find what you like, but also consider the long-lasting health benefits of those foods. Yoghurt and whole-grain cereal are a couple of the many options at your disposal. Your body will thank you. Same goes for lunch. Getting the right nutrients at lunch is still important. Protein is a go for lunch, while you may want to cut back a bit on the carbs.

The annual Stack Overflow Developer Report has been going for almost a decade and holds the record for being the largest and most diverse survey of coders across the world. This year’s survey results bring together a whopping 65,000 developers’ preferences outlining how they learn and upskill, which tools they are using and what they want from their careers. 55% of this year's respondents identify as full-stack developers and about 20% consider themselves mobile developers. The most common combinations include back-end, front-end, and full-stack developers. It is important to remember that this survey was taken before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation and that the salary data does not reflect the economic impact the pandemic has had. For that reason, we haven’t gone into too much detail on the survey’s employment stats in this blog, but you can still view these in the full report here. Most loved tech For the fifth year in a row, Rust held the top spot for the most loved technology. In second place was TypeScript with Python falling into the third position on this year’s list, closely followed by Kotlin and Go. In terms of web frameworks, ASP.NET Core proved to be most popular followed by React.js and Vue.js in third place. When it comes to platforms, Linux, Docker, and Kubernetes make up the top three most loved by developers. On the other hand, WordPress continues to be the most dreaded platform joined by Slack Apps and integrations. Survey data also revealed that just under half of developers use Windows as their primary operating system with the rest split between macOS and Linux. A total of 825 respondents said they use GitHub as their main collaborative tool, followed by Slack and Jira. When asked about researching new tools, 60% of developers said they ask other developers about new tech or visit developer communities like Stack Overflow. Trying out new tools via free trials also proved popular. Unsurprisingly, around 57% of respondent felt they have a great deal of influence over the technology purchased by their organization.  Gender  Women developers account for almost 12% of developers in the US. In countries such as Germany, Brazil, and Poland, the participation rate is about half of that, which goes to show there is still much work to do to reach appropriate gender representation in the field. This is consistent with other research that women leave tech jobs at higher rates than men, highlighting that the industry has a way to go towards creating an environment where they feel included and can thrive.  Approximately 1% of this year’s respondents that write code professionally are transgender. Salaries According to this year’s data, developers who use Perl, Scala and Go tend to have the highest salaries globally averaging at $75k. It is interesting to see that while Perl is among the most dreaded languages, developers willing to use this technology are compensated with a higher salary. In the US, Scala Developers topped the income chart with an average salary of $150k followed by Go with $140k. Approximately 75% of respondents worldwide completed at least the equivalent of a bachelor's degree or higher. Of the respondents that write code professionally and studied at the university level, over 62% have a degree in computer science, computer engineering, or software engineering and just under 10% have a degree in another engineering field. Learning new tech Around 75% of respondents said they like to learn new technology skills every few months to keep up with innovations highlighting how crucial it is for developers to keep their skills fresh in order to stay relevant in their field. Visiting the Stack Overflow developer community was the first thing developers (a huge 90% of respondents) did when they got stuck on a problem. 52.8 % also found that watching tutorial videos or calling a co-worker or a friend was helpful. 78% of respondents said they also code as a hobby. However, developers with children or other caretaking responsibilities were less likely to do so.  Working overtime Over 75% of developers surveyed work overtime at least occasionally, defined as one or two days per quarter with 25.5% working overtime 1-2 days a week or more. Almost half of the respondents rated their company’s onboarding process as good while a fifth had no onboarding process at all. It would be interesting to see how the sharp increase in remote onboarding would impact these stats and if companies have invested more in their online onboarding experiences. Overall, developers seem to be satisfied with their jobs, with almost 65% reporting that they are either slightly or very satisfied with their job.  When asked about which three characteristics would most influence their decision to choose one job offer over another, the languages and technologies they would be working on were the most important. The office environment, company culture and flexibility of schedule were also top priorities. 

Whether you're working from home or are back in the office, stress can creep up on you sometimes. While some low-level stress can be helpful to get motivated, research shows that higher, chronic levels of stress can be detrimental to your mood, body and relationships. Here are some helpful steps to keep your sanity and stress levels in check. 1. Surround yourself with positive people. The people you surround yourself with at work can make a huge impact on your level of peace, satisfaction, and positive outlook. Hanging out with negative colleagues can contribute to your stress, especially if the crowd you’re with likes to complain. Choose who you associate with wisely. Find supportive and relaxed individuals who are fun to be around and nurture rather than hinder your mindset. 2. Take care of yourself. Reducing stress at work is often dependant on what you do outside the workplace. Pay attention to your physical and emotional needs. When these needs are met, you are stronger and more resilient to stressful situations. Regular exercise provides stress relief and improves mood. Being active can also help you burn off nervous energy and see things more clearly. Healthy food choices and plenty of rest also make you more resilient. Remember to put yourself first and meet your basic needs. 3. Work smarter, not harder. Regain control over stressful situations at work by prioritising and organising your work by the level of importance. Splitting up bigger tasks makes them less overwhelming and don't forget to give yourself credit for completing them. Try making a list of to-dos daily then, tackle the tasks by priority level and do the difficult ones first. Be willing to compromise if you are unable to complete everything you wanted to in a day.  Developing an end-of-day ritual when you finish work like tidying your desk and making a to-do list for the next day can also help you switch off. Find more tips to help you maximise your productivity and overcome procrastination here. 4. Focus on what you can control. Uncertainty is a source of stress for a lot of us. Try to focus on what you can control instead of getting upset by outcomes you can't. Spend some time identifying your stressors. What triggers your stress? What isn't working for you? What works well? Knowing this makes it easier to communicate with your manager and colleagues who may be able to make some changes to help you. Whether it’s scheduling things back-to-back, double-booking appointments, or trying to fit too much into a single day, over-commitment can also leave you stressed out. Many times, we underestimate how long a project might take us. We set personal goals that go unmet simply because we underestimate time. Unachieved goals may result in added stress. Focus your attention on the should and musts and drop tasks that are unnecessary. Avoid multitasking and give each task your full attention. It often takes longer if you're trying to do too much at the same time. 5. Harvest the good. ​It’s easy to get wrapped up in complaints and what is wrong with the workplace so take some time to think about the good things in your life and at work. Did something good happen today? Is there something you are grateful for? Consider writing it down. You might be surprised by how long the list is at the end of the day. Reviewing the day's highpoints with your colleagues is also a great way to instil more positivity into your team.   A healthier focus allows you to reconnect with what you like about your job, rather than what you dislike. Maybe your job highlights a skill you enjoy, such as managing projects or programming. Rather than focusing on the deadline of the project, live in the moment. Focus your attention on the happiness the job brings and what you are contributing by doing it. When you focus on what you love about your job you are happier and more content while doing it.

With the end of lockdown insight for the UK, the recent focus has shifted from survival to how the economy can begin to get back to work. It is estimated that 935,000 businesses signed up for the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. Despite its cost of over £10bn, it remains of significant importance to our economic recovery. Employees will continue to receive 80% of their monthly salary up to £2,500 paid for by the government in June and July. From the 1st of July, the government is giving employers the flexibility to bring furloughed employees back on a part-time basis. It will be up to individual businesses to decide the hours and shift patterns their employees work when they return. Claims from July will be restricted to employers currently using the scheme and previously furloughed employees. The scheme will close to new entrants on 30th of June 2020 with the last three-week furloughs before that point commencing on the 10th of June 2020. On the 29th of May, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that employers will have to start sharing the cost of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. From August employers will have to pay Employer National Insurance and pension contributions for their furloughed employees. In September employers will be expected to also pay 10% of furloughed workers' salaries, increasing to 20% in October 2020. This means that people on furlough will continue to receive 80% of their salary up to a cap of £2,500. What will employers be expected to pay for furloughed employees? June & July: - Employers are not required to pay anything. The government will pay 80% of wages up to a cap of £2,500 as well as Employer National Insurance and pension contributions. August:  - Employer National Insurance - Pension contributions The government will continue paying 80% of wages capped at £2,500.  Employers who have not made a claim for Employer National Insurance costs or employer pension contributions will be unaffected by the change in August as long as their employee's patterns don't change. September:  - Employer National Insurance - Pension contributions - 10% of wages to make up the 80% total to a cap of £2,500 The government will pay 70% of wages up to a cap of £2,187.50.   October:  - Employer National Insurance - Pension contributions for furloughed employees - 20% of wages to make up the 80% total to a cap of £2,500 The government will pay 60% of wages up to a cap of £1,875. ​ There is no doubt that this tapering system will provide some form of relief for the estimated 7.5 million people covered by the scheme and their employers. Guidance for Self Employed  The Chancellor also extended the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme with those eligible able to claim a second and final grant in August that will be capped at £6,570. The second grant will be worth 70% of their average monthly trading profits and is paid in a single instalment.  Individuals can still apply for the first grant (a taxable grant worth 80% of their average monthly trading profits, capped at £7,500) until 13th July. So far this scheme has seen 2.3 million claims worth £6.8 billion. Find out more about both schemes here.