Three years on from the first national lockdown, many of us are still working fully or partially from home. Having established our working-from-home set-up and routines quickly through necessity, we may have adopted schedules, practices, and environments that are less than optimal for the long term. Now is a great time to reassess how, when, and why you work from home, to ensure that you are getting the most out of the new culture of hybrid working.
One of the biggest problems when working from home is work-life balance. This statement might seem counter-intuitive, when working from home allows you to avoid a commute, put a sneaky wash on mid-morning, cook something lovely for lunch, or nip out for the school run every day. However, working from home blurs the boundaries between work and personal time, and you can soon find yourself answering emails at 7pm, or popping into your home office to do a bit of work on a Sunday. Great ways to avoid your work time bleeding into your personal time is to set up ‘do not disturb’ on work apps, include your working hours in your email signature, and block time out in your calendar for admin tasks such as checking emails, so that they don’t end up filled with meetings which then forces you to work late to catch up.
If you panic-bought a desk from IKEA the day before lockdown and shoved it in a corner of the living room, now might be a good time to assess whether your practical set-up works for you long term. Consider your physical comfort, storage and organisational space, light sources and noise distractions, and make practical changes where possible. Don’t neglect the power of smell either! Just adding a reed diffuser with an uplifting scent to your work area can subconsciously help you feel more energised and positive, and make you feel like you are ‘at work’ rather than ‘at home’.
One of the major downsides of working from home is lack of social contact – particularly if you live alone too. What may have started off like a lovely relaxing and quiet routine as a change from the hustle and bustle of your work environment, may now feel isolating and lonely. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many workers are now choosing to have ‘office days’ precisely so that they can be around other people, but even if you work from home full time, you can still interact with your colleagues. Consider scheduling a daily virtual coffee with colleagues, or making sure that every day includes at least one Zoom call with another person. Bonus points if you also bring your cat!
Working from home of course means that you avoid a commute, which most people would consider a positive benefit! However, it’s important not to absorb your commuting time into your working hours, or waste it on life admin. If you would ordinarily have read a book on the way to and from work, do that before and after you work from home too. If you walked to work for the exercise, take a walk round the block at the start and end of each day (which has the added benefit of making a clean break between work and personal time). It’s important to make working from home work for you, as well as for your organisation, otherwise you may as well just go back to the office…
