5 Tips to Avoid Work From Home Burnout
Amid the COVID’19 pandemic, people have been confined within the four walls and have been forced to follow the transition necessary to carry out the business operations. Though the transition has left a long-lasting concern regarding productivity, the rising concern during these unprecedented circumstances is employee burnout.
While some employees keep on enjoying the perks of work from home and have become successful in navigating through this lockdown situation. However, as the boundaries between work and home place have been diminished, the blurry lines have made it impossible for others to maintain a balance between professional and personal boundaries. Though the strictness regarding the lockdown has been eased up in different locations across the world, some businesses still continue to proceed with work from home till the beginning of next year.
As per an internal study by the Robert Walters group involving 2,000 workers and 500 managers, it was concluded that 37% reported having experienced mental difficulties while working from home.
To deal with the burnout caused by the stress and uncertainty that originated from work from home, there are a number of tips that one can follow. Though the old school teachings rely on engaging in social activities, which is totally inapplicable in this case. To deal with this unique burnout, here have been compiled a list of a to-do list to bring about positivity in these unusual times:
1. Stick to a Schedule
Though due to physical workspaces, a certain defined boundary is created between work and home life. But due to work from home, not only physical boundaries have been compromised, but even the mental ones have diminished as well. To deal with this issue, it is better to practice psychological constraints to create consistency within one’s routine.
So work on maintaining a schedule and follow it as a ritual. Rituals, a set of activities followed at a specific timing, allows one to maintain the habits. Some of the rituals that remote employees can consider are as follows:
- Take a morning shower.
- Change into office or work attire.
- Move around the house before arriving at the desk or couch.
- End the day by switching off the desktop/laptop.
- Set the phone and other digital devices aside and engage in home chores.
2. Unplug After Work
It is one of the important rituals to be followed if one wants to come out of the work from burnout and bring about progress. To compensate for the lost connectivity and social spark, first of all, disconnect from the digital mediums after the closure of working hours. No doubt the inclination towards replying to the text messages and emails must be irresistible, however, this can lead to overworking.
To avoid the burnout caused by unintentional overworking, slowly limit the amount of timing you must be available for the job responsibilities to the working hours only. Attend business calls only when they need urgent assistance and relieve oneself of the unnecessary burnout. Rather spend that time in quality time with the family members, following a hobby or just enjoying a cup of coffee while listening to a favorite music playlist.
3. Exercise or Walk
When working from an office space, it is usually the responsibility of the employer to make sure that the environment provided is optimal. It includes but is not limited to the height of the table, the comfort level of the chair and the temperature of the office, especially the room. However, while working from home, these perks need to be maintained by the routine employee himself or herself.
While working in an office, people get a lot of room to move while carrying out the operations, be it getting down to the cafeteria for a bagel, getting into the copy room for getting oneself copies or just running towards a conference room for an urgent meeting with the clients. And all of these operations are limited to only a few square yards when working from home or just to the premises of the laptop pr desktop. So it is essential that one ensures to properly follow an exercise routine or just step out a bit while maintaining the precautions for not contracting the coronavirus.
4. Set Goals and Track Your Progress
One of the main causes behind burning out among remote employees has been found to be not able to accomplish the daily tasks. This can be associated with the simultaneous operations and overlapping of the office operations and home chores. This makes one person feel disorganized adding the agony for being unable to accomplish the tasks and eventually getting overwhelmed in the process.
In order to avoid getting overwhelmed, it is better to set out a list of tasks at the beginning of the day and following them in order. To make it more feasible, try to arrange the do-list in the order of the most important tasks followed by the lesser ones, so as not to collide the work routine with the family time. Also, keep a track of the tasks accomplished in the day. Following a list allows one to decipher how much efforts need to be put in, how much one is lacking in terms of efforts or scheduling and how one needs to prioritize the tasks for efficiency and productivity.
5. Engage in Virtual Team Building Activities
A support system is a key ingredient behind living a contented and well-balanced life. To carry off the burdens of a tiresome day, one needs to interact with family, friends or colleagues at a restaurant or through a call. Though due to the COVID’19 pandemic, the options for social interactions have been limited. However, there are a number of alternate digital options available to interact with friends & family.
Making a lasting bond, with or without involving digital mediums, is necessary to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Give yourself a break from all the office interactions and discuss trivial things to alleviate the mind of the work-related burdens. Only then one can remain productive as well as sane in a longer run.
By following the aforementioned tips, one can improve one’s lifestyle to a great extent and become more productive and efficient in both personal as well as professional endeavors!
