Step 2: Work/Life Balance

A lot of people now working from home have found this ‘new normal’ to be a great way of improving their work life balance. Around 70% of people report that they are working the same or slightly less hours compared to a pre-COVID working week.

However, there are 30% of people who report that they are working more hours than before. With work so accessible at home it can be very tricky to keep your personal time separate. We need to be able to switch off and think about ourselves rather than having our mind in the office 24/7.

There are a few simple processes which work, but the trick is sticking to them. If working from home is going to remain “the norm” for the foreseeable, you MUST get on top of your work life balance now to improve stress and reduce the strain on you and yours.

If you take anything away from this blog it is to set a ROUTINE and stick to it. Yes, you can make it flexible at home, but that does not mean “let’s see what happens today”. Be rigid in your approach, whether its 9-5 with an hour for lunch or its 5am to 1pm with an hour for breakfast, if it works for you just make sure you stick to what you intend. This allows our body to know what to expect and in return it is more likely to focus at the right time, switch off at the right time and go to sleep at the right time for you.

It is so easy to stay connected for an extra 10 minutes to get those final few emails out. Every now and then it might be necessary but if it’s happening a few days in the week is it really essential? Surely Caroline in accounts can reconcile your facemask purchase tomorrow?! Anyhow, she’s probably logged off and gone for a run! 99% of the time surely it can wait 12 hours? If you’re worried you’ll forget, a good old fashioned to do list ready to be ticked at 09:10 tomorrow to give that added bit of job satisfaction is surely the answer? I’m all for apps and tech but a pen and paper will suffice in this situation – particularly as you can’t add to it as you relax on the sofa in the evening.

It is important to do all the normal things you would do if you were to attend work, this includes things like getting dressed! It is not acceptable to go to a supermarket in your pyjamas! So don’t go to work in them! Even if work is just in your dining room!