A Remote Workers guide to Work-Life Balance

The number of people working from home, either fully remote or hybrid, has risen significantly over the last few years. In fact, last year, a study reported that just under one quarter of UK workers now use some form of hybrid working within their week.

But with these changes comes the potential for your work and home life to become one and the same. Without a clear separation between the two, you run the risk of experiencing more stress and anxiety, which can quickly escalate into burnout.

It’s not always easy to step away from your home working space and switch off after a long week, but it’s a vital part of creating boundaries while remaining productive. Here’s a guide to making sure there’s a healthy work-life balance as a remote worker, to keep you feeling positive and ready to return to your desk after recharging your batteries.

How remote working affects wellbeing

Remote working has numerous benefits. It can eliminate the stress of a commute and provide you with a more flexible work setting. However, if a clear separation between work and rest isn’t defined, then you may experience classic signs of burnout, loneliness, isolation and a poor work-life balance.

How employers affect work-life balance in remote workers

It’s no doubt that company culture plays a huge role in how remote workers feel. If they are left to their own devices, this can show high levels of trust. But by having little to no communication, some individuals may feel disconnected or ‘left out’. Conversely, some managers may overcompensate by wanting to know what a remote worker is doing every minute of their working day, which can make an individual feel micromanaged.

How to implement work-life balance as a remote worker

1. Set a clear working schedule

Just because you’re working from home, doesn’t mean that you have to be accessible outside of your core working hours. Flexibility is key to work-life balance as a remote worker, but don’t be afraid to set clear working hours and make others aware of them. In time, others will be aware of when you’re available, and more importantly, when you aren’t.

2. Have regular breaks

There’s a temptation to sometimes just sit at your working space eating your lunch or taking your comfort breaks. However, planning something away from your workspace, even if it’s just a walk around the block or doing the dishes, can help to keep that separation between work and home life in place.

Be sure to update your status when taking breaks, and openly talk about upcoming plans you have for time off. While it sounds small, these can have a big impact on your perceptions of work/life balance.

3. Consider where you’re most productive

Ideally, your workspace will be somewhere that you can focus, be productive, then log off without any distractions interfering with your day. Sometimes, this can be as simple as having a clean and tidy desk that’s free of things like piles of clothing or home-based chores/tasks in need of completing.

4. Stick to a routine

Mental preparation for a day of work is just as important as physical prep. Working from home doesn’t mean you have to wake up 5 minutes before you start and log in. Try to have a set routine, like waking up and taking a shower, eating, and getting dressed for work.

Sure, there’s no commute on a work from home day, but that combination of mental and physical preparation puts your mindset into a workplace one, which you can then shift back from when you log off again.

5. Maintain social connections

It’s very easy to feel isolated when you work remotely. It’s important to have a decent level of camaraderie with your colleagues, so ensure you partake in something social with your company. Engaging in social connections remotely - whether it’s something as simple as a Teams coffee morning, quiz or similar, can help you feel part of something bigger.

6. Use personal errands to break up your day

From loading the washing machine to sticking your meal in a crockpot – small personal errands throughout the day can encourage you to take regular breaks and promote work-life balance as a remote worker. It’s incredibly easy to stay stuck in work mode, which is a recipe for burnout, so make sure you’re doing small things throughout the day to break it up. For an example, you can use the end of a task as a means to take a short break and complete a quick errand around your home.

How an Employee Assistance Programme can help

An Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) can help if with work-life balance as a remote worker, by providing confidential counselling support for personal and work-related concerns. HA | Wisdom Wellbeing can help you fight the effects of loneliness and isolation, as well as give you the tools to improve your mental wellbeing. Accessible through telephone, live chat or video call 24/7, our EAP can assist with all kinds of concerns by offering in-the-moment support.
What’s great about HA | Wisdom Wellbeing is our unique app Wisdom. Not only does it act as your very own wellbeing tool, it can be a social one too! Through wellbeing challenges, you can compete with colleagues to keep each other accountable logging your wellbeing.

Conclusion

Good wellbeing means finding a healthy balance between remote working, rest and play. This can help eliminate the risk of stress and burnout from developing. In time, you’ll be able to enjoy both aspects of your life without worrying over workloads and having it affect your free time.