Employee wellbeing is a major concern for companies all around the world. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought in plenty of changes that have modified the whole workplace landscape. Many companies have switched to remote working just to keep their employees safe. But this isn’t the end of concerns from an employer’s perspective.
‘Work from home’ has created several new challenges from an employee’s side as well. Remote working is not a new concept these days. But the recent pandemic has introduced remote working to a number of positions that have not been imagined before. So jobs that would generally require you to work from an office have been shifted.
This has introduced a lot of new challenges while workers. Not to mention remote working in this difficult situation has a lot of physical and mental consequences as well. As a result, top management in companies is going through a lot of new issues. And even after 6 months into the situation organizations are still experimenting and rethinking with different procedures to adapt to the changing situations.
Table of Contents
Embracing the new normal
The new normal can sound fun for many. Working from the comfort of your home with no line managers looking over your shoulders, wearing loose clothes and working on your workstation. This is the first impression that comes to your mind while thinking of remote work. Isn’t it all what you have ever desired?
Well, think again! Working from home is a lot much more difficult than you think. Working in a friendly atmosphere with your colleagues has its own set of advantages that cannot be ignored as well. And suddenly you are working among your family members. It’s not the same. More about
Employee wellbeing and Facts of Remote work
Keeping aside all the difficulties from a working point of view remote work is actually very comfortable. To be honest it gets rid of a lot of work-life hassles. You don’t need to wake up and run towards your office. You can just connect to your office right after going through your usual morning routine from your home. So far so good. The real struggle comes into play when you actually start to work. Some major troubles of working from home are as follows:
Isolation
The feeling of loneliness and isolation is one of the first difficulties you will face while working from home. It has created many concerns as employees reporting negative side effects such as symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Lack of motivation
At work, you have to sit on your desk working for a long period of time to get a specific task done. In an office setting, this can be a regular occurrence. Working among your coworkers is a motivating experience. And you will never find lacking in motivation with the availability of your friendly colleagues.
But this doesn’t work the same way for a remote office. You may lose focus in the middle of lengthy tasks or may get stuck at some point. In this situation, you are all by yourself. There is none to motivate you. Neither is there anybody to give you a fast-forward tip to help you troubleshoot your problems.
Disruptions created in home
Disruptions are common occurrences while working from. To begin with, your family members are not used to seeing you working from home. So it’s a new thing from their side as well. As a result, they may unknowingly cause you distractions from time to time. Losing focus is a frustrating experience for remote workers.
Finding work-life balance
Work-life balance is an important issue for all employee wellbeing regardless of the type of job. Whether you work remotely or from an office you need to draw lines between your personal and professional lives.
For remote workers, this becomes an added challenge as you are always working around family members. It can be difficult to communicate the matter to your family. To be honest, sometimes the matters are actually unavoidable. So the sensitive issues should be handled with care. It’s difficult for everyone. So the work-life and family life equilibrium should be maintained with great mindfulness and care.
Feeling restless
Working from home can inflict the same amount of stress as a regular day in the office. To add with that you will also have to carry out your personal and family responsibilities. This can prolong your work hours and you may end up working for more than 10-12 hours to cover up on all your responsibilities.
The feeling that you are not getting enough rest is terrible and you may experience burnouts. You may likely face other symptoms such as headaches, insomnia and back pain. There are instances you may face such rough patches while working from.
Ways to improve employee wellbeing
Despite so many shortcomings of working from home, many employees are okay with the idea. Rather people are very interested to work from home for at least some time in the future. Furthermore, an interesting fact is that even employers are interested to support remote work. So to make room for this to happen employers should take the following steps to make both ends meet.
Balance office work and family life
Working from home offers flexible opportunities to the workers. But it doesn’t actually mean you can get the perfect balanced work and family life. Too much flexibility can damage the chances of work as there is nobody to supervise you. This may even lead you to procrastinate and pile of loads of work for the future. This will also damage your chances of finding desired work-life balance
To avoid these consequences it’s necessary to work with a fixed timetable and not to try exercising any flexibility over that. You can also make your family aware of your working hours to avoid certain distractions. Dividing your professional and personal time will get rid of a lot of problems with WFH.
Look After yourself
One thing you should not forget to keep track of during the pandemic season is to look after your health. You must eat a healthy diet that promotes your work and regularly perform physical exercises. You should also look forward to spending quality time with your family. In general, you should do all the activities that enhance your mood. Organizations can also encourage their employees to take a day off to look after themselves once every year.
Practice mindfulness meditation
Working remotely requires you to perform the same volume of tasks that you would do from an office. So mindfulness is a prime concern while going along with your day-to-day tasks. You are going to have to correspond to your co-workers over phone calls on a regular basis.
Along with the professional interactions you may sometimes have to attend your family as well. Mindfulness meditation is the perfect way to keep your mind fit for all activities. Meditation is the best shield to avoid workplace burnouts. Mindfulness meditations are also very effective if you need to work on discrete tasks that require your brain to work spontaneously. Mindfulness plays a huge role in employee wellbeing
Arrange virtual Fitness and well-being activities
Physical fitness is a very important criterion for employee wellbeing. Physical exercise directly affects the mental health of a person. It is also a great way to alleviate stress, ensure peace of mind and promote forward-thinking.
Companies can arrange online fitness activities among their employees hiring a professional instructor to conduct training sessions. Working from a desk requires a person to be seated for long hours. This can be toiling on your back, spine, neck, shoulders and so many places. So regular physical activity is more than necessary to keep up a healthy life.
Organize virtual meetings and webinars among team members
Organizations should arrange regular online meetups and webinars among team members to keep them motivated. It’s not possible for team members to discuss thoughts and issues while sipping a cup of coffee these days. So the company can organize virtual discussions to share ideas among the employees.
Productive discussions like these often lead to new ideas that can generate profit for the company. Just being a part of such discussions may be very useful for freshers. Consequently, the employees will be free of the isolated feeling among them. this will further raise the employee wellbeing standards of the company. Being present in such meetings will clear up several of their confusions.
Regular performance review
Another way to motivate employees is to conduct performance overviews at regular intervals. This way both employers and employees can be aware of their progress with the job. It will also help employees find out their areas of improvement.
Employers can help their employees set smart goals for them with regular reviews. Find out the strengths and weaknesses of particular employees and assign them tasks accordingly. Taking such measures will enable employees to gain personal development even working from home.
Many private pa recruitment agencies in the UK are hiring employees and allowing them to work from home. In addition, they provide guidelines to the employees to maintain a balance between their daily job duties and personal life.
Regular reviews from the authority on employee health
The employers should conduct regular checks on their employees while remote work. This includes both physical and mental health check-ups. Organizations should keep track of whether their employees are suffering from any disorders. It’s also their responsibility to support the employee with the cure for the problem and ensure his sound health.
Concluding remarks
The best way to handle the current situation is to find a balance between working from home and working from the office. This will continue for some more time. So finding an optimal way to run the organization keeping employees wellbeing, health and happiness should be the utmost priority.
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