Although increased home working has been largely hailed as one of the major success stories of the coronavirus, enabling people to remain safe and productive whilst spending more time with their households, this new way of working has also amplified potential risks to mental health and wellbeing. Working from home doesn’t have to be a remote experience – but inevitably office workers feel isolated from their colleagues and the lack of routine human interactions can be challenging to adapt to.
“As humans we like face-to-face contact and non-verbal cues are really important for feeling connected to people,” says Nicola Hollerhead, Client Accounts Executive at SCB Global. “However, it goes deeper than loss of direct human contact – the pandemic has also created an absence of routine. Working remotely has meant that the lines between work and home life have become blurred and people are working in unhealthy patterns because there isn’t a distinct demarcation between the two.” With the second lockdown now come into effect in many other parts of the world, it is imperative to keep your workday structured and see that start and end rather than working into your personal time.
Working past the end of the workday is not a desirable outcome, as longer working hours can lead people to procrastinate more, fail to focus and ultimately become more stressed, reducing overall productivity. “The work-life balance needs to be correct and the working day needs to have a beginning and an end,” added Hollerhead. “It’s important that people normalize working from home and try to adopt many of their office-based habits in order to create a productive routine.”
The good news is that Microsoft Teams has several features to support home workers in managing their days. Teams has introduced a virtual commute, in which users can block out the time they would usually take for their journey to and from the office and use it to focus on themselves. That could involve setting daily goals, reflecting on achievements or even guided meditation, but more importantly it gives them the time out and mental space to prepare for and wind down from the working day without interruption.
Similarly, Hollerhead advocates blocking out time for lunch and breaks, just as workers in offices do. “Go and have a coffee or take a walk but embed this into Teams to make sure it happens, and co-workers know you’re unavailable,” she said. “Management is key here in encouraging employees to take breaks and have time off to ensure they are having a structured day.”
With winter arriving and additional lockdowns coming into effect, workers will need to take even more care of their mental health and wellbeing as the days get darker. Hollerhead therefore encourages organizations to use Teams not only for work tasks but to also to foster a sense of belonging and being part of a team. “As a company we make sure we have a regular Teams meeting where you can chat about anything you want,” she said.
“That could be anything from the challenges of running out of pasta to managing home-schooling children. It’s important to sit down and have that interaction just as you would routinely do in an office”
Teams can be a vital tool in enabling home workers to perform their job functions and collaborate with colleagues, but it should also be used as a key aid to boost employee wellness. Its capability to make home workers feel less remote from the office by connecting them casually and socially and to enable them to clearly demarcate their days between work and home life is very important. This offers struggling home workers the opportunity to create productive routines and balance their lives better.
