Due to the outbreak of the recent COVID-19 situation, most of us are working from home. Big as well as small companies allow their employees to work from home to slow down the spread of COVID. Working from home has its advantages and disadvantages. You may save your time and money while travelling but, in many cases, it may rise to higher levels of stress. You are not only dealing with work responsibilities but at the same time, you have to handle your home responsibilities. It is usually difficult to maintain a healthy balance when work and life happen in the same place. Additionally, the restrictions on movement, social distancing, fewer entertainment sources add to mental stress.
What makes it Stressful About Working from Home?
There is always a lack of boundaries on when to start working and when to stop. There is no definite schedule to wake up and go to bed or when to stop all social media activities. There is no pressure to wake up early for office. There is more flexibility in life but this flexible can result in longer working hours. Also, the delayed sleeping time due to social media can give less healthy sleep and results in mental stress.
There are too many distractions while working from home, it may be from television, cooking. You may need to play with your kids and share your time while watching favourite shows online. Also, there is no restriction on office calls, you may get after-hour work calls as you are working at home. There are also distractions with your home and kitchen appliances like microwave, refrigerators, washing machines. If your kids spill something then you may need to load your laundry during work. You may get unexpected overnight guests and they will not understand that you may need to get up early start work from home.
You may feel isolated while working from home as in offices you have co-workers coming to your desk share laugh, coffee and small chit chat. While working at offices we all well-dressed professionally and have many colleagues to share the workload. Whenever we feel bored or exhausted, we may go out for coffee with our co-workers and share work-related discussion over coffee. This helps to reduce the stress level and provides a healthy environment.
Few tips to reduce anxiety and stress while working from home
Have some dedicated workstation – It always has a dedicated workspace even if you are working from home. This will help to reduces the distractions. Space may be at some corner of your living room or at one end of a dining table or even a dedicated small study room. Anywhere you locate the workspace you need to stick with that. If you are not allocation any dedicated working space then maybe your whole home becomes the office. This may result in misplacement of documents or later you may organise them from all over the home. This small step will reduce the stress level to a greater extent.
Take advantage of the latest technologies and equipment – In our office, there is a well-set workstation with dedicated desktops, Bluetooth devices, camera and more. The meeting rooms have a proper arrangement of video conferencing, Bluetooth speakers, mics. While at home we may connecting through our mobiles which have poor quality and it is sometimes difficult to presentations. It is good to have the latest high-quality devices like Bluetooth headsets, camera, dedicated desktops and more which will help you in working. You should also use the latest software like zoom, teams, skype for making calls, one drive etc for sharing data.
Talk to your co-worker regularly – We may probably communicate to our co-workers through office messengers, emails all the days. But is it always helps to have a healthy personal chit chat to get an idea on some working tips? You can have a small video conversation to share the workload. It will give a sense of working from the office.
Take some time for your personal things – One of the biggest disadvantages of working from home is that we are not taking time for our personal thinks. You should take small coffee breaks, go for a small walk, take some for simple stretches and exercises you can do from home. Organise your time for your laundry, organise your workplace and kitchen, help your partner on cooking. Dedicate your time for sleep, eat and social events. It is good to be to have a bath and then well-dressed while working which will give a sense of discipline and helps to reduce any stress.
Take proper sleep and avoid using mobile late at night – It is always advisable not to use mobile phones while sleeping. The late-night screens will alter your sleep pattern and make it difficult to get sleep. A shorter sleep will lead into the tiring day, you will feel dizzy throughout the day. it will lead reduces on work and also results in stress.