Managing Stress while working from home

Introduction

Working from home in normal times can deliver both benefits and challenges.  While there is potential for greater work / life balance and a more flexible working life, a lack of face-to-face contact with work colleagues can lead to poorer communication, less team working and social isolation.   Not being around the sights and sounds of others affects how we feel, how we work and how we learn. Efforts must be made to put systems in place to nurture a sense of connection between employer and employee, but more crucially amongst co-workers individually and across teams and departments.  

Many employees continue to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic and have had additional pressures of combining the workplace and home environment, for an extended period.  Employers should accommodate the additional stress on employees during this time when considering the demands on them.

You will find advice below for employers and employees on what  can be done to manage and control stress through support for employees while working from home, on a temporary basis (for example, during COVID-19) or as part of a planned approach and agreed working from home arrangement.  

Employer Role in Managing Stress while Working from home

Stress from working from home in normal times is different to the stress from working from home now, in COVID-19 times. Where mental health is concerned, the broader environment and global uncertainty cannot be isolated from the individual’s work environment. There are duties on employers to act reasonably, have competent management and supervision and alter the usual methods of communication, feedback and reward to reflect the current altered environmental reality to reduce occupational stress. It’s important that as the ‘where’ of work changes, so too do the ‘how’ and ‘when’ – changing just one element - the place – doesn’t facilitate a good system of work.

Employers should ensure the system of work, including managers’ behaviours, is adapted to recognise the many challenges of working from home and they should facilitate managers and supervisors so that they:

• accept that the daily scheduling of work tasks for many employees cannot be as precise as when in the workplace
• arrange a communication regime in consultation with team members, which recognises the other needs and demands of working from home
• respect the need for a more supportive, less critical approach from managers in order to address reduced motivation and encourage collaboration
• have a regular, rather than an ad hoc, pattern of contact, noting especially the start and end of the workweek, and engage in some phone contact rather than merely email.
• support those with people management responsibilities, with a flexible approach to their work day and week
• provide practical operational supports from a more senior layer of management or through formal or informal peer supports
• provide employees with the ability to control aspects of their work methods in order to reduce stress on themselves (and their reports, if they have them)  insofar as is reasonable.

Occupational health services are more important now than ever before. Employee Assistance Programmes (EAP), Occupational Health and other support systems should be clearly highlighted to employees, where available and contact details provided on a regular basis to all staff.

Records should be kept, in line with GDPR, of stress-related absences and return-to-work details taken and preserved.

Monitoring and supportive follow up of stressed employees should focus on facilitating a healthier and safer work environment and system of work, including making reasonable short-term alterations, where required.

How to Manage Your Stress while Working from home

• Make regular efforts to stay connected, using a range of media and increased communication skills: use more positive and supportive language and less critical terminology than before and talk to people about both positive and negative feelings.
• Do things which require your full concentration, which you enjoy for their own sake. It’s important to make the time for your own enjoyment of activities – the benefits linger on so notice your improved energy for the next work task afterwards.
• Plan and schedule a good range of passive and active, stimulating and relaxing actions into each day: make these new habits and stick to them by scheduling them into specific days/times.

Managing behaviour while Working from home during COVID-19

• Don’t underestimate the benefits of being around people – both in the workplace and otherwise. When this is not possible, mimic some of the social activities you previously enjoyed. Use the phone, the internet and even postcards to keep connected.
• Assume your behaviour is different due to this new arrangement – be mindful of how you are behaving and how others are reacting to you – is it cooperative and supportive or demanding and intolerant. Set yourself behavioural goals each week and see how you achieve them by reflecting honestly with yourself at the weekends.
• Distinguish work week from weekends: arrange separate activities at the weekends, to those done during the work week. Avoid letting the days run into replicas of the previous one.
• Are you controlling your environment as much as you can? Are you just being driven along from day to day, week to week, waiting for ‘the end’? Or are you driving your own agenda, setting goals, deadlines and standards in different aspects of your work and non-work life – goal setting and seeking feedback while attaining goals is crucial. Those who set realistic but demanding goals, break the goal into linking pieces and get regular feedback, are more likely to reach their goals. 
• Do you set and stick to a schedule? If you only work weekdays, Monday morning and Friday afternoon are critical times. Have a Monday morning, timed schedule. Ideally wear clothes that you only wear for work and be at the desk by a specified time. Similarly, Friday afternoon, change clothes when work day ends, put away the work equipment and cover it so that it is out of your sight.
• Every day, plan to do one thing you really enjoy – crossword, fixing something, a puzzle, a swim or a craft. Get fully engaged in doing this, for up to 30 minutes. After doing things we enjoy, we are more mentally alert and able to achieve.
• Arrange your work area so that it is attractive, quiet, well-lit and temperate.  Change it every few weeks with small items – new photographs, flowers or a new perspective / view, if possible.
• Keep as informed as you need but avoid over exposure. Listen to advice and recommendations from trusted sources and then avoid other news rehashing what is already known. Overexposure tricks us into falsely thinking that each version of the ‘story’ adds weight to the original, which adds to stress and anxiety.
• Have a positive non-work routine too. Set daily routines as far as possible, and change them every 3 to 4 weeks. Add small, do-able novelty challenges. Avoid highly ambitious aims like learning to play the clarinet perfectly – set up goals you can reach, in short time frames to allow you to experience and enjoy the results.  

Getting the Basics Right when Working from home for an Extended Period (e.g. during COVID-19)

• Get up and go to bed at similar times every day and have a short ritual around each – e.g. 5 minute stretch, cup of green tea, read a page of a favourite book.
• Keep up with personal hygiene and dressing for the occasion – work clothes don’t have to be those you previously wore into the workplace, but they should be different to your leisure clothing.
• Eat healthy meals at regular times to preserve structure – store junk food separately and only access at weekends.
• Exercise regularly – short spurts often, rather than random long physical challenges.
• Pre-allocate your time on weekly basis - for work, exercise, rest and for trying out a new activity.