Working from home entails a great challenge: being able to reconcile and separate work life from personal life (especially when both take place in the same area). To do this, establishing a regular daily routine or adapting a work space are some of the options to achieve it.
“It's important to keep in mind that while working from home, we tend to spend more hours at our desk unintentionally, either because we feel like we're less active or because the time we used to spend structuring our day during the week has disappeared. commutes to work. For this reason, it is now more important than ever to know how to organize and correctly manage the hours dedicated to work and family tasks”.
How to achieve a balance?
Telecommuting can bring many benefits. However, entities need to be aware of the additional challenges this can bring, as many employees now have new personal responsibilities, such as childcare or family concerns.
The WHO recognized burnout as a syndrome associated with work, but why can it occur when we are working from home? What can we do to prevent it from affecting our motivation and efficiency at work?
1. Prioritize and set schedules
The reality is that remote work has positive aspects, from the possibility of spending more time with the family, the flexibility of schedules, to saving time and money related to travel. In fact, according to the Happiness in the Workplace study, conducted by Udemy for Business, having a good work-life balance is the most important factor for workers (37%), above anything else.
It is true that we can face a peak of work in which it is almost practically necessary to invest more hours, which should be temporary, but not the general pattern.
This situation of lengthening working hours from day to day and for a long period of time generates mental and physical wear and tear on anyone. In this way, it is essential to stick to schedules, establish priorities and optimize our time. Likewise, it is important to know how to differentiate between “urgent” and “important”. There are many questions that can be last minute, but are they really important?
2. Breaks, a fundamental requirement in teleworking days
There are workers who have a great capacity for concentration and who are able to maintain it both from the office and at home. These workers start their workday and are able to stay connected and work tirelessly until they finish their workday late.
And although a priori this concentration may be admirable or may seem beneficial in terms of efficiency, the reality is that our mind and body need breaks to maintain productivity.
To achieve this balance and that our productivity is not diminished, if necessary, we must set alarms to take breaks during the workday, so that we clear our minds during that moment and separate our eyes from the screen.
We can also take advantage to stretch the muscles and recharge energy. In addition, of course, we must respect meal times and maintain a healthy diet, since, as stated by the International Labor Organization (ILO), eating improperly can decrease labor productivity by up to 30%.
3. Trust, the basis for leading remote teams
During the home office, people may feel questioned by their superiors or feel the need to demonstrate that they are being productive from home. Therefore, on occasions, they tend to take on more tasks than they can handle and, consequently, to work more hours than the established ones. This overload of work together with the feeling of 'not being able to do everything' causes stress in the worker that can lead to 'burnout'.
This exhaustion may perhaps be more common among managers and senior executives, due to their level of responsibility within companies, this syndrome can affect any worker.
In this sense, it is essential that there is a solid base of trust between the worker and the company, and even more so between the worker and the leader or person in charge of the project, in general, among the entire team. In this way, workers will have the security they need to delegate tasks and raise their hands if they need help to get to everything.
Sources:
https://cio.com.mx/como-evitar-el-burnout-mientras-se-trabaja-en-casa/
