Working from home

Balancing productivity and well being

With more people than ever working from home, it’s important we consider the benefits and challenges that come with this. Some may relish in their new way of working life, yet others may struggle to juggle family life around work or feel isolated. Communication is key – we need to cultivate a sense of belonging.

Mind tools offer some top tips to help us keep our minds healthy whilst staying productive:

  • Design your workspace – make it somewhere you will enjoy working, have all your equipment ready and inform the rest of your household that this is your ‘office’ space
  • Establish good routines – keep to regular start and finish times and eat at regular times. Remember to take short breaks (5 to 10 minutes) to keep energised and focused.
  • Work securely- use only secure networks, maintain strong password protocols, don’t save sensitive data and remember to lock your computer when unattended
  • Make a to-do list – this could help to manage your workload and build structure to your day
  • Avoid backache with frequent movements away from your office chair
  • Ask for help when you need it – your manager may not know if you are struggling
  • Continue to celebrate success – whether this is on a personal level or as a team. Small acts of kindness can go a long way.

To read the whole article click here.

Health and Wellbeing

Back pain: four ways to fix bad lockdown posture – by copying astronauts

Lockdown could be bad for your back. Thanks to measures to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, many of us are now working from home. This means you might not be moving around as much, and your home desk setup (and the posture you adopt while working) might not be as good as it should be. These are all things that can lead to back pain.

Read more here

Working From Home

Zoom fatigue: how to make video calls less tiring

Many phrases have entered our vocabulary as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown “Zoom fatigue” refers to the mental exhaustion associated with online video conferencing.

Read here for advice on how to get the most out of online video conferencing