Let me guess, when the first lockdown hit and your employer made everyone work from home, your heart leaped. You relished the chance to sack off the daily commute, to get up five minutes before switching on your computer and work in your pyjamas, munching your way through a family pack of Doritos.
Maybe for a while it really was the dream too – keeping on top of the laundry basket, binging Netflix in your lunchtimes and getting to hang out with the cat all day…
Then somewhere along the line, the novelty wore off. Loading up your computer surrounded by laundry and crisp packets stopped feeling so good, and you started craving the clean minimalism of the office and the company and conversation of fellow human beings.
Here in the UK, the end of lockdown is finally in sight, but with many employers telling their staff that remote working is now permanent policy (a survey of 278 execs by McKinsey in August 2020 found that on average, they planned to reduce office space by 30%), it’s important to put measures in place to protect your home-working wellbeing.
I’ve been WFH for a number of years now, and these are some of things I’ve found helpful.
1) A positive early routine
Despite the allure of rolling out of bed and onto your laptop, I’ve found that how you start the day has a huge impact on how you experience the rest of it. If you feel dozy and flustered when you clock on, you can find yourself in a negative spiral that’s hard to shake out of.
A good morning routine can lower stress and set a positive tone for the day, and one of the benefits of working from home and not having to rush out of the house, is that it can be easier to put this in place. You may have more time to make a healthy breakfast, for example, do your yoga sun salutations, a 10 minute meditation or some journalling before switching on. I’ve recently started following the Wim Hof method, which involves having an ice-cold shower in the morning, which sounds like torture but is, I’ve found, amazing for kickstarting body and mind.
2) Morning light on your face
I got this tip from Dr Rangan Chatterjee’s brilliant book on wellbeing, the Four Pillar Plan. He talks about the importance of re-setting our body’s circadian rhythms each day by getting outside for a walk before noon. Research has shown that exposure to that blue-tinted morning light boosts mood and alertness during the day, as well as helping improve sleep. Whether you incorporate this into your early routine or use it as a chance to give your energy a boost and break up the day, getting some sun on your face first thing is so important, especially if you’ve dropped the commute and so aren’t getting access to this naturally.
3) Clear boundaries between work time and leisure time.
This is the big one. Research into new ways of working has shown that one of the main ways our mental health can be negatively impacted is through the blurred lines between work and home life. Although the commute can be a pain, there’s something quite healthy about leaving the office and all your work files and paraphernalia behind you at the end of the day. I never used to understand employers’ resistance to letting staff work from home when their concern was about slacking off, as I’ve always found that I do MORE work at home, not less, as it can be hard to put down your pens when you aren’t in an office seeing your colleagues walking out of the door. The research bears this out – that people can actually achieve better states of flow and engagement when they work remotely, which is really positive… as long as you also know when to stop.
What I’ve found can help is breaking focus by having a timed routine at the end of the day such as setting a reminder to go for a walk every day at 5pm, or doing a few minutes of focused breathing. That way, if you really want to go back to your work, you can do, but you’ll hopefully find you’ve switched into a different mode once you’re back.
4) An attractive workspace
Not everyone has the luxury of a home office, but even if you’re camping out on the kitchen table, you can make sure your environment is conducive to positive feelings and motivation. What that looks like will depend on your individual preferences, but might be about having pictures that make you happy, inspiring quotes or mantras stuck to your monitor or items of beauty in your line of vision that lift your spirits. Research shows that workplaces that incorporate elements of nature report higher wellbeing, creativity and productivity – so bring on the pot plants!
5) Virtual banter and connection with colleagues
One of the biggest things I’m hearing that folk are missing right now from the office is the banter. Even if your colleagues drive you nuts, there is so much value to be had in the camaraderie and collaboration that you get from working together in a physical space. We humans are social beings and aren’t designed to spend all day alone.
Despite working from home for a number of years now, I’m lucky enough to work in a (fully remote) team of lovely humans, via my work with Careershifters, and one of the many things I value about this organisation is the fact that real time human connection is so encouraged. We always take the time at the start of each Zoom meeting to share what’s going on in our lives, and what we’re excited about outside of work, so that these meetings are a chance to build relationships and connection, as well as to get stuff done. Despite that I’ve only met them in real life a handful of times, this culture has meant that I genuinely love my colleagues and feel like I know them as human beings – what they love doing, what their niggles and fears are, and even their celebrity crushes!
What can you put in place with your team (or clients) to create connection across the airwaves?