Many organisations have had to move unexpectedly into a virtual working environment. Employees have been laid off, or furloughed, and others have had to reorganise their diaries and work from home.

Managers may be struggling to organise teams and communicate with their staff.  Staff are trying to juggle family life and remote working. Many employees could feel they need to prove they are working as hard at home as they usually would in the office. Many managers feel they have to prove they can lead their teams effectively away from the work environment.  Employees may be working with children at home or have increased caring responsibility for those family members in vulnerable groups.  Many are trying to home school, standing in queues to get essentials and organise drop offs to family outside of their own home.  Worry thinking is generally at high levels for most of us causing sleep disturbance and increased fatigue.

Some employees may find working from home distracting, and others could become focused and work harder for longer. The area at home, allocated as a working space, could range from a study setup to the corner of a table with a laptop. Although this space may appear adequate, they may be exposed to interruptions and distractions. Individuals may find the seating arrangements ergonomically inappropriate, leading to back and neck discomfort. The lack of preparation for home working could have an adverse effect on physical and psychological health.  Having to manage children in the background who are being home schooled adds further strain.  Juggling space and broadband.  Everything is taking longer.  The simple daily tasks like a trip to the supermarket, post office or pharmacist are no longer easy and require planning. 

Key Working

You may work in a business where your staff are classed as ‘key workers’.  High anxiety about leaving and travelling from home, bringing the virus back into the home and impacting on family; coping with difficult feelings experienced at work will be putting additional strain on all employees and their key relationships  There is useful and specific guidance for key workers and places for additional support in this guide https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/coronavirus/coping-as-a-key-worker/

Burnout

This is described as a “new kind” of burnout and the stages can be shorter and quicker. If a person is unable to switch off the work mode and is working longer and harder, there is an increased risk of burnout. Not being able to share things with colleagues to off load, communication misunderstandings leading people to ruminate on what was meant or not in emails can cause burnout.  There are changes to trust in home working that employees will complete what is expected of them.  Managers need to adjust to judging performance on outcomes, not time input.  Some managers may be struggling to adjust to a change in style required when managing people remotely.

How to Prevent Burnout

• Diet,  Fluids and Movement: Some individuals may choose to “cram” their work into a few hours and skip breaks and meals. This can cause physical and psychological fatigue. Low blood sugar levels and headaches due to inadequate meals and fluids could be improved by taking plenty of fluids to maintain hydration. Eat little and often to prevent dips in blood sugar levels (hypoglycaemia).  We need to move regularly, changing our position – perhaps stand up when on phone calls, do some stretches stood in the kitchen waiting for the kettle to boil, take a few mindful breaths outside when we let our pet outside.

• Working Zone: Create a working space that gives your body an appropriate environment. Think about your general posture and have regular breaks including undertaking eye exercises.

• Top tip – Hold a pencil at arm’s length and focus on it. Slowly bring it closer to your nose, then move it away again whilst keeping your eyes on the pencil.  Look left then right, up then down and roll eyes around.  Put something that makes you happy at a distance where you are working to encourage you to extend your gaze – a favourite photograph, plant, flowers
• A five-minute break every hour is preferable to fifteen minutes every two hours
• Try to create a work space that enables reduced interruptions wherever you can (noise and general traffic in the home) 
• Try and keep the workspace separate from your personal space as this should help to keep a comfortable work/life balance.  If you can’t then dismantle the work space as far as you can.  Put your work laptop and phone away in a drawer or somewhere out of sight.  At the end of the day, write a list about what you want to focus on tomorrow and mentally allow your mind to close down from work mode   
• If everyone is arguing over the favourite work space, agree a timetable for who goes where
• Set a work start and end time and stick to it.  If you’d normally be rushing home for a specific time then operate as if you still are.  Use your commute time to do something you wouldn’t normally have time for in the week
• Take adequate rest and relaxation – exercise, music, reading, TV/virtual get-togethers with family and friends

• Managers:  Recommendations as above

• Ensure employees are given adequate downtime and encourage regular breaks whether working at home or work
• Communication should be ongoing with more awareness of language to reduce ambiguity.  Try to reduce the number of emails you are sending. Pick up the phone and have some personal connection 
• Avoid sending emails out of working hours as the employee may feel obliged to reply immediately
• Virtual training and briefings to support teams and additional training for managers to support staff remotely.  Encourage people to staff to share their funniest story about lockdown, joke about things
• Learn to develop more skill in managing performance based on outputs, not time inputs
• Prioritise workload, reduce job demands, maintain/increase levels of support for colleagues
• Be self aware – it is important to recognise any changes in the stress level affecting you and others so ensure you check in with yourself
• Be aware that communicating via online meeting platforms such as Skype/Zoom is more mentally and physically draining.  An interesting article on this subject was written by the BBC https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200421-why-zoom-video-chats-are-so-exhausting

Feelings of isolation may be a new experience for many. Social distancing from family, friends, and colleagues is difficult to adjust to. The restrictions can be very frustrating and not being in control can lead to irritability, anger, low mood, and depression. An individual’s ability to cope can be greatly affected and ultimately burnout can affect anyone. Some negative coping mechanisms may be creeping in such as unhealthy changes in appetite, increased use of alcohol and substances.  Not being able to go to the gym for a workout, swim, do all the normal healthy things we do to manage stress is causing many of us to struggle.

During lockdown and even afterwards many people will experience changes in their well-being which may be ongoing as life returns to some sort of the new ‘normal’.  Adjusting firstly to the current situation, then a re-adjustment back to a ‘New World’ …. whatever that is.  Some employees may resent being ‘sent back into work’, having to commute and adjust again to working in close proximity to others.  We may have quietly enjoyed retreating into our homes.  It may take us time to feel safe enough to venture out again and socialise.

People can normally cope with enforced change if they have an end date in sight. However in the current environment, we don’t have that deadline to aim for so this is causing many of us to struggle as weeks seem to be moving into months.

We are supporting organisations and employees currently with increased anxiety, struggles with adjusting to change and feelings of isolation.  Please contact us to discuss how we can help you.

Rachel, Amanda and Andrea   

Please contact us:

Email: wellness-consultancy@outlook.com

Helpful Links

Useful guidance on health and safety implications of home working and for key workers:

https://www.shponline.co.uk/lone-working/home-working/

https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/coronavirus/coping-as-a-key-worker/

Impact of online meetings/working:

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200421-why-zoom-video-chats-are-so-exhausting

https://theconvivialsociety.substack.com/p/a-theory-of-zoom-fatigue