As we move into late summer, some welcome elements of pre pandemic life are emerging. However, many office workers continue to work from home, with countless businesses moving to permanent hybrid working models; whereby staff split their time between home and office working. Our latest blog is an excerpt from one of our bespoke Home Worker Digital Learning Courses which is designed to support staff working from home either full or part time. Work/ Life Balance The work/life balance is an importance part of any healthy workplace. Keeping control of your work/life balance can help reduce stress and prevent burnout. In many ways working from home can improve your work/life balance. For example, not having to commute can free up time to spend with friends and family or to devote to hobbies and exercise. Whilst most employees will still be required to work standard office hours, home working can allow greater flexibility and autonomy. Some workers find that the lack of commute and increased autonomy can reduce stress levels. This is a wonderful benefit of home working. However, if not managed correctly then home working can blur the boundaries between home and work life and cause health and wellbeing issues. Here are some tips to keep the balance in your favour. Set a Routine Without a solid routine, it is all too easy for home and work life to blend together. Aim to stick to your normal sleep and waking patterns. Get up, dressed and get ready for the working day ahead. Don’t be tempted to work late into the evening. Stick to your usual finish time and make sure you shut down your machine. After hours avoid checking your emails and focus on using your evenings to connect with family and friends or enjoy hobbies. Take Regular Breaks Working from home can make it more difficult to take regular breaks. Without the office tea round or chats with colleagues, it is all too easy to just carry on working. Taking regular breaks from work is crucial in helping manage work related stress and fatigue. Research shows that taking breaks make people more productive. Where possible, take your break outside and get some fresh air. Being in nature is calming and great for wellbeing. If you can’t get outside, then at least move away from your desk area. Always have your lunch away from your desk and try and switch off from work for a while. Aim to have a minimum of a 30 minute break for lunch and two additional short breaks. If you are feeling stiff or tense then some simple yoga stretches could really help. Digital Wellbeing Working from home usually means less real-world interactions with other people. This can lead to more time communicating digitally. When coupled with spending all day on a computer, this can mean we are spending almost all day looking at screens! In the evenings, try to have a digital break. If you aren’t sure how much time you are spending on your devices, then monitoring your time may be a good starting place. Many devices have inbuilt monitoring, or you can use various Apps to keep an eye on usage levels. Can we help your team with Workplace Wellbeing? Get in touch now to chat about our varied Health and Wellbeing services. Get in touch Here at PEMCO we are committed to ensuring a good work/life balance for our own team too. As part of our continued dedication to our staff’s wellbeing, we are delighted to announce we are taking part in the North Yorkshire County Council Workplace Wellbeing Award! There are three levels to the award which progresses from the bronze entry level to silver and then gold. Each level builds on previous achievements and has core corporate components relating to organisational culture, leadership and employee engagement along with specific lifestyle elements to deal with preventable ill health issues in the workplace. We are starting the process from August 2021 and look forward to keeping you all up to date with our progress! Previous Next Fill in your details below and we'll get back to you. Details. Name Company Email Phone Select area of interest Health & Wellbeing Learning & Development People Safety Property Safety How would you like to be contacted? Email Phone Teams Your message.
