Can’t switch off from work? Read this.
The Government is considering legislation to allow people the right to disconnect so that your home doesn’t turn into a workplace 24/7. Now more and more employees and employers are looking at the importance of doing so as we all continue to work from home.
At RECRUITERS, we believe that everyone should feel inspired in work, secure when they’re there and leave fulfilled every day. However, leaving fulfilled is getting harder for people to measure mentally as a result of working from home. When is enough, enough?
Accept your limits
First of all, it’s important for employees to accept their limits. Acknowledge that there’s not enough time in the day to achieve everything. Accept that the world won’t end when you stop working in the evenings.
Remember that tomorrow is a new day
Write your to-dos for the next day, at the end of each day. By doing so, you’ll feel more in control and reassured that your tasks will get done.
Say sweet dreams to Siri
A simple yet incredibly effective task is to set your phone to automatically switch to sleep mode in the evenings. Do yourself this small favour every night in order to avoid
Doomscrolling and the consequences of it! People will still be able to reach you but you will not be constantly alerted to social media notifications, push notifications from Apps or email alerts.
Grab a breath of fresh air
We recently partnered with SeaChangeNow, a leading people development consultancy in Ireland to produce a free
six-serious webcast designed to help people during difficult times. We show how nature has an enormously positive impact on our conscious and subconscious. If you need further proof, here’s an article by
National Geographic that shows that we get closer to nature – be it in untouched wilderness or a backyard tree – we do our overstressed brains a favour!
Fresh air and exercise are scientifically proven to relax and clear your mind. Without our usual commute to and from work, it’s very easy to forget this.
Take up a hobby
With a new year, there’s never been a better time to take up a new hobby. For some, a new hobby can bring new pressures and, possibly even disappointments, if you don’t follow through on them. Therefore, it might be a simple new task of picking up your old reading habits or dusting off your old bicycle – things you’ll never forget how to do and do well.
To switch off completely, our
client services director talks about his new hobby of painting by numbers and completing jigsaws. These types of hobbies are “very procedural and light touch for your cognitive processing” says McFadden.
Stick to a routine
Most importantly, it’s important for people to stick to a routine when working from home. Switch off at regular times, wake up at the same time, take a walk and have your coffee in the mornings. This again will provide a mentally structured plan for the day and a trigger in the evenings for your mind to know that it’s time to down tools and relax.
From an employer's point of view, all of the survey’s show that productivity has increased during Covid-19, but it’s not sustainable according to Fredericka Sheppard from
Voltedge Management. She says:
“Establish some good practices where you give employees permission but also actively encouraging them to take time off. Ensuring they step away from their workstation, have sufficient rest time, take their annual leave – and not just a day here or there – meaningful time off work, will mean employees will come back refreshed, more creative with clearer minds and you will do better work”.
Therefore, it’s in employers’ best interests to encourage their staff to switch off from work. The companies that RECRUITERS work with have really stepped up their employee wellbeing programs during Covid-19 that actively encourage staff to switch off. For instance, many of the company we work with:
- Have health and well-being calendars.
- Publish a weekly newsletter with tips on how to switch off and stay healthy.
- They gamify activities by setting up internal “step challenges” and “screen time downtime” competitions.
- Block off employees’ calendars between twelve and one o’clock every day so that employees are encouraged to take a full lunch with time to get outside for a walk.
- Host fun activities outside of work by delivering recipes to employees’ homes so that everyone can switch off and have some fun cooking a meal together.
The possibilities are endless and don’t need to involve spending lots of money in order to encourage employees to switch off from work every day. One thing is for sure, companies that actively encourage employees to switch off from work will reap the long-term benefits of doing. Happy staff are productive staff that stays for longer.
