As the uptake of remote working is ever increasing due to the spread of COVID-19, it can prove to be a challenge to adopt this style of working as it is still new to some employees. As well as maintaining physical fitness it is important to maintain mental wellbeing as loneliness can be a big side effect of remote working.
David Price, CEO of Health Assured gives his top tips on how employees can keep mentally healthy during remote working. They are:
- “Draw a line between work and home: more straightforward than it sounds. Make sure you have a dedicated area where you do work, and nothing else even if it’s just a corner of a kitchen table. Treat this as your office for now, and take regular breaks.”
- “Stick to your hours: it can be tempting to set Slack to busy and start work a little later—or to keep burning through your tasks throughout the evening. This is counterproductive—best practice dictates that you ought to keep to your regular hours. No-one is expecting you to work more (or less!) while you’re at home.”
- “Keep yourself positive: take advantage of being at home to set the mood. You don’t even have to wear pants if you don’t want to (but you probably should!) Make that nice coffee you keep as a treat, listen to the music no-one else in the office likes, burn some incense, keep the thermostat at the perfect temperature.”
Mr Price also gave advice to employers on how to manage remote workers:
- “Communicate: stay in touch and talk regularly. Check-in at least once every hour—not in a snooping or invasive way, literally ask how people are doing, and if you can help.”
- “Set up a Slack or Discord channel, use Microsoft Teams or even get a WhatsApp group together so everyone can stay I touch in real-time.”
- “Encourage people to work within the hours they should. If you see someone online beavering away at 7 pm, make sure they understand that they’re not expected to.”
- “Reward and reassure people—make sure they know that they’re just as valued wherever they might be.”
Darius is the editor of HRreview. He has previously worked as a finance reporter for the Daily Express. He studied his journalism masters at Press Association Training and graduated from the University of York with a degree in History.
