Working from home and wellbeing

Working from home & wellbeing
7 easy steps for a healthy balance

Working from home can present a number of challenges, particularly to professionals who haven’t had experience of this before. Do you pay enough attention to your wellbeing while working from home? With these 7 tips you ensure a good balance.

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Some experience working from home as isolating and lonely. Looking after your wellbeing is key to staying mentally and physically healthy whilst still being a productive and effective worker.

Tips to ensure a healthy balance between working from home and wellbeing

1. Maintain your routine

While working from home, try to stick to your normal day-to-day routine as much as possible. Get up, get dressed and sit down at your desk in good time so you can go through emails and set your tasks up for the day.

When the working day is done, log off and move your attention to something unrelated to work to avoid feeling burnt out.

2. Create a dedicated workspace

If you don’t have a separate room to work in, try your best to still create a dedicated space to work in from home. Keep it clutter-free and away from any distractions. If you are working from home with children, try to carve out a space that is free from children’s paraphernalia.

If you discipline yourself to only work in this space, you’ll find it easier to keep your focus and still enjoy your time in other parts of your home.

3. Be a home worker, not a lone worker

Communication is key when working from home.

Work out what you need to put in place to enable you to communicate with colleagues (for example WhatsApp Web, Skype for Business or Fuze), but try not to use too many different platforms.

You’ll mainly be communicating about work, but don’t miss out personal conversations too which do happen more naturally in the office.

4. Talk face-to-face where possible

Wherever possible, communicate with your colleagues via video.

Face-to-face conversations are more engaging than conference calls and will help you feel more connected to your colleagues and creates a team spirit.

Just remember to dress appropriately and keep your background neutral and not distracting to those seeing your screen.

5. It’s okay to take a break

The nature of an office environment can mean you’re more likely to take a break to chat to a colleague or go out and buy lunch. Therefore working at home means you need to be more proactive about taking a few moments off work to give yourself a break.

Go for a walk outside, make a nice meal or take some time out to chat to a friend on the phone.

Short breaks will help you refocus on your work which ultimately supports your productivity and wellbeing.

6. Maintain your physical health

You’ve probably heard it before, but eat well, sleep well and exercise well. These are the cornerstones of good physical health and shouldn’t be ignored just because you’re working from home.

If you find yourself with more time in the day as a result of not commuting, it’s a good opportunity to do something for your physical health which has a knock-on effect on your productivity and wellbeing.

7. Take a moment to reflect

It’s very rewarding to end your day by reflecting on what you’ve achieved. Recalling these success and highlights on a daily basis will help you maintain a positive outlook on your work.

It can be difficult to adjust to working from home. However, if you can take some proactive steps to look after your wellbeing, you can keep your morale high and continue being productive at work.