2020 rapidly changed how businesses operate.
The coronavirus spread across the globe rapidly and forced people to quickly shift into working from home, which was uncharted territory for most.
People who were already working remotely typically had a home office, or at least a comfortable and familiar setup. However, the sudden transition forced many into something they might not have been ready for.
Mental Health
Employees are more worried about their safety, financial loss, and even about losing their jobs; Salima Hamouche highlighted these concerns in a research paper.
The same paper also points towards “information overload” through news outlets and social media.
Stress, loneliness, feeling disconnected, cabin fever, paranoia – all of it affects mental health and severely impacts those already suffering from mental illnesses.
How Does This Affect Productivity?
Surprising, very little.
Prodoscore, a provider of employee visibility and productivity intelligence software, revealed that not only has the productivity not declined, but it has also actually remained stable and even increased, despite research estimating otherwise.
There were general perceptions about Covid-19 bringing productivity down, and rightfully so, these are uncertain times. Of course, generalisation is not logical.
Those who were struggling with productivity before the pandemic hit are now unable to maintain it, and it’s widening the productivity gap.
Coping On a Personal Level
Organize
To be your most productive, assign a specific workspace in your house. Make it comfortable and personal. Create boundaries with your family, make them understand not to disrupt you while working. This will increase your focus and balance your work and personal life.
Communicate
Make yourself available to respond to your colleagues, communicate projects and discuss ideas. At the same time, empathise with colleagues who cannot be as dedicated because of their responsibilities at home. Create a healthy environment. It is a difficult time, and not everyone is on equal footing.
Schedule
While working from home, it becomes easy to slip into a habit of working overtime and not focusing on home and social life. Schedule your time and set priorities. Get the most essential or time-consuming work done first.
Coping On a Corporate Level
Assure
One of the significant stressors that employees are facing at this time is job insecurity. Ensure the stability of your organisation and communicate with your employees.
Motivate
Organisations should set up ways to create a dialogue with their employees. It is essential to encourage autonomy and acknowledge the emotions and reactions of your employees. Build a sense of normalcy and help your employees adjust while also ensuring that you empower them to experiment.
Empower
The first necessary step is to confirm that all the employees have the required equipment and technology. Essential safety measures should be taken to protect privacy and maintain data security.
Is working from home better?
Flexible timing, all the comforts of your own home, no commute, casual attire and many other perks come with working from home, but it’s not without cons.
Burnout
Prodoscore found that employees are increasingly putting in hours on weekends. Flexibility, which gives us a sense of control and comfort, is now becoming a part of the ‘always-on mentality. As such, burnouts are turning out to be more commonplace, increased loneliness is adding to the stress, which has been found to reduce life expectancy by 70 per cent! Additionally, even with the extra hours, staff development and upgrading skills are becoming a challenge online.
Work-Life Disbalance
Lack of boundaries can disturb both work and personal time while you WFH. Layoffs and salary cuts have increased work pressure and mental stress.
A survey conducted by Genius Consultants, an HR solutions provider, revealed that 48.51 per cent of people feel that their WFH schedule does allow them enough time to socialise, and 32.9 per cent of employees are not satisfied with WFH in lockdown.
Isolation
Social activity is now severely limited due to lockdown. WFH can further become a cause for people to feel disconnected. Virtual meetings with cameras turned off, and communication taking place entirely on chatting platforms take on a robotic quality; it leads to conversations between colleagues being short and simply work-related.
Difficulty Concentrating
Distractions come easy when working from home. Family, of course, is a significant factor, and the negative impact of a stressful environment on mental health is an issue entirely of its own.
How to Maintain Good Mental Health?
Self-Care
It is essential in this situation to make time for yourself. Eat healthily and exercise regularly. Explore your interests. Most importantly, empathise with yourself, accept your feelings.
Digital Detox
Set a time during the day where you won’t interact with any digital devices. Turn your notifications off and go out for a walk, and take in the beauty of nature. Play board games with your family, give more time to paper media, read books and magazines, and maybe even comics.
Breaks
Take regular breaks between work. These breaks do not have to be long, only for a few minutes. During this time, get up and moving, stretch your muscles and take in the view from your balcony.
In summation
The global pandemic has put things in perspective. Physical and mental health should be a priority for everyone; we cannot continue to take our lives for granted.
The lockdown has also made us realise that working from an office is not fundamental. Employees can now save time on their commute, be flexible and still be productive; employers can save money on office space, electricity bills, employee transportation and more. All signs point towards one conclusion, WFH is here to stay.
Although it will not live to be what it is today. A new hybrid model will emerge and blend the best of both. This will revolutionise the way we work. Big companies like Google, Twitter, Uber have already announced permanent WFH plans.
Written by Osheen Jain
Edited by Suranjan Das
| Osheen is a passionate student of psychology who works as a freelance content writer for PrimalWoke. Her interests include modern poetry, enjoying all forms of art, and being an obsessive bibliophile. Osheen has also been a TEDx speaker and you can find her on LinkedIn.