Tips on working from home

Let’s talk about having less stress in our house

Working from home has always been a desire of mine. Thankfully I have come to experience this dream for about two years. Despite this length of time, I, however, cannot deny some of the challenges attached to this situation. Should we talk about tricks that could ease the experience?

I have indeed gathered various ideas from:

Let’s dive in.

When working from home, our house becomes naturally linked to our profession. As a consequence, our home is no longer a place of rest but another office. Then, stress received from our job infiltrates our entire leaving space.

Setting our workspace in a dedicated room is consequently ideal. It creates a location that will solely be devoted to work. Hence, such strategy has the benefit of increasing the mental separation between our life and work.

On the other end, setting our office in our bedroom is a no-no as doing so would trigger insomnia. Our bedroom would certainly no longer be associated with sleep but work. I have personally stepped into this trap. The presence of my computer screen utterly changed the feel of the room. I could no longer sleep.

What happens, if we share our apartment and cannot install our office in an empty room? What happens, when only a bedroom, kitchen or living room can welcome our workspace? The key is, once again, to establish a separation between work and life. The trick would, therefore, be to change our space.

The idea is that we should rearrange our area as soon as our working day ends. We, consequently, give birth to two settings I would call: work mode and out of work mode.

An out of work mode could be as simple as covering our computer with a cloth. By not seeing it, we can better ignore its presence. Another tip could be to move bits of our decoration around. We could also place our chair in a different location. We may get creative because the reward is high. When work is over, our house becomes once again our own. We step away from triggers that could remind us of our work, while at home.

Duxbury and Higgins (2002)¹ point out that people who spend, an excessive amount of their time on paid work, add tensions between work and family. ²

A study² also points that, “commuting serves as a buffer between the employee’s home and work domains, and the lack of a commute decreases the opportunity for employees to reduce the transfer of stress from one domain to the other.” Both findings add to the importance of creating a physical separation between our office and our home.

1. Source: Duxbury, L. and Higgins, C. (2002), ‘Telework: A Primer for the Millennium Introduction’, in C.L. Cooper and R.J. Burke (eds.), The New World of Work: Challenges and Opportunities, Oxford, UK, Blackwell Publishers Ltd.

2. Source: Is Working from Home Good Work or Bad Work? Evidence from Australian Employees by A. M. Dockery and Sherry Bawa, Curtin University (2014)

When working from home becomes a new normal, we can as well become too comfortable. Cosiness tempts us inside while we shy away from the cold, wind but also beautiful days.

Consequently, it is essential to use breaks as opportunities to physically step away from our workspace, but not in any fashion. Stepping outside, getting fresh air is undoubtedly a great way to get some vitamin D and boost our energy levels.

And for the times, we cannot step outside; we can still enjoy our breaks in a different room, “any room” but the one where work awaits us.

Before the arrival of COVID 19, working from home has often been interpreted as a confession of laziness. However, some can now see that although more flexible, working from home remains work. Commitments and responsibilities cannot hide away, pretending not to be at our desk. The label is falling.

Instead of the stereotype, what we see are habits erasing the notion of time. We stay inside and have no incentive to respect our limits. It gets more comfortable to work during breaks, and pushing beyond the clock becomes natural. After all, the tools are here, so if one can quickly finish today a project that requires extra attention …why not?

Nevertheless, this is a trap. It invites additional unnecessary stress into our lives. The Joint ILO–Eurofound report³ shows that telecommuters work longer hours than people located on-site. And according to the data received, we are referring to unpaid time. The report also adds that people telecommuting tend to work in the evening and weekend compared to on-site employees. Setting limits becomes then a priority.

I had never expected that working from home would make me more prone to snacking. So this change of tradition came as a surprise. On my first day, about two years ago, I did not recognise my eating habits. I ended within 24 hours, food that should have lasted for days. I fell into a rookie mistake.

Stressful workdays and boredom can worsen the situation. The call from chocolates, biscuits, peanuts and bars is also more audible when we are on our own. There is no distracting chatter. There are none of the coffee breaks we would usually get, when with colleagues. Grazing and work mix. It becomes convenient to munch while working. It is another form of multitasking that brings control and pleasure.

This predicament led me to:

Working from home made me half of the walker I used to be. Because I no longer commuted, I felt lazy. I no longer used to move as much as I used to. While my GP kept encouraging me to do 30 minutes of daily exercise, the reality of the impact of my new life, hit me. Spending most of the day sitting down, while no longer walking to work or a bus stop, could not be a healthy lifestyle.

Exercising is a solution to this issue. Some may go to the gym; others may do it at home. Fortunately, when it comes to physical activities, there are various options adapted to different levels of fitness. And let’s not forget that exercising leads to the production of endorphins and therefore helps reducing stress.

According to WebMD, “endorphins are natural chemicals that the brain makes to ease the pain.”

Merriam Webster defines endorphins as, “any of a group of endogenous peptides (such as enkephalin) found especially in the brain that bind chiefly to opiate receptors and produce some pharmacological effects (such as pain relief) like those of opiates.”

So what are examples of physical activities to practice? The NHS website contains examples such as brisk walking, dancing, aerobics, walking up the stairs, pilates and lifting weights.

There is a reality we cannot deny: working from home can get lonely at times. The lack of chatter and encounter with new faces can cause one to start craving for more. The trick could be to go into public spaces after work to get the feel of being in a crowd. However, under the current circumstances, with COVID 19, this is not an option we could apply. Nevertheless, there is still hope.

I have seen people working with their dogs and cats. They created an atmosphere that seemed peaceful. Our pets may sometimes walk on our keyboard, or bark while asking us to take them for a walk, but their presence is still priceless.

Family and friends are also on the list. We can seize the opportunity to be more present when talking to them face to face, over the phone or via video.

While snacking, working and doing other things, we may take one thing then move another. And after all this, we could find ourselves circled by clutter. Clutter does impact our mind as well as our stress level.

It is, in fact, said that cluttered space makes for a cluttered mind. A trick could be to set a 24-hour clock. Translation: when we displace things, we could decide to rearrange them no longer than 24 hours later.

Another tip is to set our working space to a neutral position at the end of our working day. “Neutral” means that we arrange our desk as a way to remove clutter. A working area set in a neutral position has the benefit of being more peaceful and greet us with tidiness as we start our day.

Although working from home has its highs, we should not ignore its challenges. I hope the tips and information shared in this article will help you overcome the temptations and rookie mistakes. Take a deep breath and remember that your home is still yours. As we have seen in this article, it should always be psychologically and physically set apart. Doing so will help decrease stress levels and prevent negative impacts on our family and ourselves.

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