The Challenges of Working From Home

It’s Important to Maintain Your Schedule.

The coronavirus pandemic has created a brave new world for business professionals. While it’s nice to have a break from the region’s notoriously bad commutes all working from home, that has been traded in for a kids-at-home, home-schooling, hard-to-stay-focused workday.

Many workers have either been furloughed, laid-off or had their hours reduced. Finances are tighter than ever, there’s always the threat of coming down with the virus, and family life has been adversely affected for the foreseeable future.

How does someone balance their daily work demands with keeping the children entertained, groceries in the house and the pets happy? The stress level of most workers has been elevated considerably since COVID-19 took over our lives, even if the disease doesn’t come knocking.

Dr. Wayne Jonas, the executive director of Samueli Foundation Integrative Health Programs, which specialize in chronic illness, and the former director of NIH’s Office of Alternative Medicine says that pushing yourself through stress can lead to physical, emotional and mental burnout.

“The saying ‘No pain, no gain’ does not apply to stress,” Dr. Jonas says. “Your stress response can get stuck in the ‘on’ position, so you are always in a stressed and anxious state. It is likely that many communications professionals feel this stress but may not recognize the impact prolonged exposure to this ‘crisis mode’ is creating.”

Many mental health advocates suggest that people working from home take “wellness breaks” during the day, working around business and family commitments. Stepping away from your desk for a while reinforces the importance of finding a balance between work and home.

10 Ways To Effectively Cope

1. Keep Regular Hours
This may be a tough one with the comforts of working from home. Set a schedule and stick to it.

2. Keep Your Morning Routine
Continue to do the same activities you normally do, whether that’s an exercise routine or just relaxing and reading the paper. Have a cup of coffee as you begin work to keep your routine intact.

3. Get Dressed for Work
Again, maintain your usual go-to-work schedule. Dress for work. It may be tempting to work in sweats or pajamas all day, but it will hurt your productivity. You won’t feel in “work mode” if you look like you’re in lounge-around mode.

4. Set Workspace Ground Rules
If you have children in the house, they need to have clear rules as to what they can and can’t do while you’re working.

5. Have a Dedicated Workspace
Don’t set up your work desk right in front of your big screen TV or on your nightstand or on the couch. Make your home workspace resemble your workspace at your job. This helps establish a consistent mindset that it’s time for work.

6. Schedule Regular Breaks
Try to keep your breaks and lunch schedule consistent with what you experience at your office.

7. Keep in Regular Communication With Co-Workers
It’s a good idea to check in with people you work with or management on a daily basis. With everyone in a different location it’s critical that you keep in touch with what everyone on the team is doing.

8. Ask for Help if You Need It
It’s important to have the equipment and information you need to do your job properly at home.

9. Communicate Often
Be flexible when keeping lines of communication open by emailing, texting or calling people you work with. Make sure everyone has your cellphone number and be available to accept work calls during working hours.

10. Have an End to Your Workday
Have a specific time you end your workday and stick to it. Then go for a walk, jog, or do something fun with the kids. Don’t just keep working into the evening. Make sure you maintain family time.

While this pandemic has altered our normal routines for the foreseeable future, the important thing is to keep as much of your daily routine consistent as possible. Not only will you reduce your stress levels and be more productive, you will also be able to readjust to work in the office after the pandemic has finally run its course.

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