ABC of working from home - a practical guide

Remote work has its ardent supporters and opponents. The former group usually includes employees, and the latter - employers. According to a report by the Californian agency Achievers Workforce Institute, 85% of the former prefer a hybrid model, and as many as 65% of entrepreneurs - stationary. Without radical changes in the style of managing dispersed teams, the dissonance between the expectations of both sides leads to a decrease in trust and identification with the organization, which translates into a decrease in efficiency. However, if we are the ones performing professional duties from home, the responsibility for its proper preparation and daily task management falls on us.

Remotely or hybrid?

Remote work became popular during the pandemic and then meant working from home. However, other possibilities have appeared - we also work in cafes or libraries. However, the healthiest seems to be the hybrid model, in which we spend two or three days a week in the office. Why? Lack of contact with colleagues leads to a number of negative consequences. A major threat is the feeling of isolation, fear about one's position in the company or fear of losing the opportunity to advance - we described these phenomena in an article analyzing available reports.

- The work model that was in force before the pandemic is completely exhausted. Five days in the office is a thing of the past for many, though of course not all, employees. Remote work will stay with us for good - believes economist Nick Bunker.

So how can we protect ourselves from exhaustion and maintain a balance between private and professional life when working remotely?

Take care of boundaries

The workday must have a clearly defined beginning and end. Remote work allows for a lot of freedom here. We have different rhythms and it is worth arranging a plan that takes into account personal preferences. As long as the employer does not set rigid working hours, we have full discretion: we can start in the morning or in the afternoon.

It is best if we choose a fixed time and create our own rituals around it. We need them to close what is private and enter work mode. However, a ritual does not mean activities requiring the use of incense and other exotic accessories - it is enough that we will start every day, for example, with a cup of tea. Repetition is key here.

No entry to the bed

If we work from home regularly, we need to take care of preparing a suitable workplace. Let's take care of comfort and aesthetics. If possible, let's work in a closed room, not a shared space where family life takes place. Proper screen positioning, adjusting its height and brightness are basic issues. Tips on how to do it best, can be found in the article dedicated to the health of our eyes.

Let's choose a comfortable chair that will ensure proper posture and protect against back pain. If necessary, put the computer on a raised platform - we should not lean over it. Let's try to work in a constant place. The vision of working from bed, although tempting, will not benefit us in the long run. Using the bedroom to perform work duties can later lead to difficulties in falling asleep.

No thanks to bathrobes

Many of us open work laptops early in the morning, still in nightwear. One email turns into several emails and a few hours pass unnoticed. Let's sit down to work prepared - after morning toilet and no longer in pajamas. If we do not take care of these details, the boundaries between what is private and professional will blur.

Lack of clear rules interferes with maintaining work hygiene. Even during the pandemic, the American Health Information Management Association appealed to those working from home to pay special attention to maintaining boundaries. Their lack is not felt immediately, but over time it translates into a feeling of overload and burnout.

- In 2019, about 5% of full-time employees worked from home. In May and April 2020, this number rose to an unprecedentedly high level of 60%. In a few months, a change took place that would probably take about forty years under normal circumstances - notes Nicholas Bloom, an economist at Stanford University, who has been studying the remote work model for over twenty years - Currently, remote work is about 27% of the market. According to our forecasts, we will stay longer at the level of 25%, but this still means a fivefold increase over a few years. It's hard to find an example of another phenomenon in the economy happening so violently.

Simple but key - work time

A workday, although we can divide it into different parts, must have a clearly defined number of hours. When we are in the office, part of the time passes in conversations with others and on coffee or meal breaks. We are also entitled to them at home. This seems obvious, however, people working remotely often struggle with a sense of guilt if they allow themselves breaks. Meanwhile, they are necessary - even for the sake of the eyes. For this reason alone, we should allocate at least 10 minutes of break every hour. The meal break should last at least half an hour, and the plate should definitely not be next to an open laptop.

Sport is health

Remote work frees us from the obligation to get to the office, which is a huge advantage. On the other hand, people working remotely get much less exercise. If this work model dominates, it is necessary to introduce physical activities into the daily schedule. These do not have to be strenuous workouts, just 30 minutes of walking a day. Lack of movement significantly worsens well-being and mood. We will feel this after 2-3 days spent entirely at home, in front of the computer.

Face to face

To avoid a sense of isolation and loneliness, it is worth organizing meetings with colleagues. A joint coffee will help in obtaining information about the situation in the company and will protect against a sense of alienation, which often affects those working remotely. Even when we work alone, at home, we are usually part of a larger team, with which we identify more or less. These bonds should be consciously maintained, as they play a key role in how we feel in a given organization. Good relationships promote efficiency and a sense of professional fulfillment - and that's what we all want.

Ode to home

The popularity of remote and hybrid work models is, of course, rooted in the Covid-19 pandemic. In its early stages, isolation was meant to protect our health and prevent the spread of the virus. Incidentally, it turned out that we appreciate staying at home, which we used to leave in the morning, only to return late in the afternoon or evening. Suddenly, arranging a doctor's appointment or picking up children from school was no longer a challenge - remote work allowed for a collision-free combination of professional and private life. Now, as these models have become widespread, we increasingly consider the right to flexible organization of work time and rhythm as elementary. When Amazon or Starbucks tried to bring office workers back to their headquarters, they met with strong protest. We fight for the right to greater freedom, which potentially brings benefits to both sides. However, it is important to stick to these few simple, seemingly banal, but crucial rules.