How to switch off when home is the office

David McCormack

Around 46%* of businesses are encouraging staff to work from home in line with government guidance during the Coronavirus pandemic. Certainly, this is essential to facilitate business continuity, but working from home can be a challenge, especially to know when to call it a day. With tips on switching off when home becomes the office, David McCormack, CEO of HIVE360, outlines the company’s latest guidance to successful homeworking.

It can be difficult to switch off from work when home is the new office – you may work longer hours and late into the evening, constantly check emails and generally find it hard to disengage with work after business hours.

There are some simple steps to follow that will help and enable you to reclaim your downtime and evenings at home, and also benefit your overall mental wellbeing through these unprecedented times:

  • Be mindful of where you work

Not all of us have a spare room or dedicated office space to use while working from home, instead having to adapt the kitchen or bedroom to create a new workspace. Try to avoid working in rooms where you will spend the rest of the evening to ensure that when you are relaxing after work, it is easier to properly switch off and not feel like you are still in the office.

If you’re working in your bedroom, set-up a designated working space and avoid sitting on your bed during business hours, as this will make it difficult for your body to realise it’s time to switch off when you are relaxing and winding down after work, and often thoughts will drift back to work.

  • Stick to a routine

Maintaining a healthy working routine in the day ensures feelings of regularity and rhythm which will really help with switching off in the evening. Your body and mind will get used to the times in the day when you work compared to the times you relax. And sticking to your usual, standard set hours of work will also make it easier for your body and mind to recognise the end of the working day and prevent losing track of time and the risk of working into the night. Even though it may be hard to establish a routine, things like making your bed, tidying your workspace, allowing natural light into the room and eating your breakfast and lunch at the same time every day will help.

  • Take regular breaks

It can be difficult to switch off from work during the middle of the day, and this can be even harder when working at home. It is much easier to take a break for lunch at the office, using this important timeout to chat with colleagues about things other than work. Strive to continue to do this, and use technology available – whether Microsoft Teams, Zoom, FaceTime or your mobile phone – to engage with your colleagues virtually, which can provide a motivating sense of team cohesion, even when everyone’s working from a different place.

Try to step outside (as long as you are not self-isolating or shielding, and also in line with government advice on self-distancing of course) and go for a walk or have lunch in the garden. Breathing fresh air can raise levels of oxygen in your brain, which in turn boosts levels of serotonin – the happy chemical in our brains. Try not to eat lunch at your desk or in the room you are using as your home office.

As well as a proper lunch break, it is also beneficial to take regular smaller breaks throughout the working day, using the Pomodoro technique which involves working in bursts of productivity with short periods of inactivity in between. This can be an effective method when working at home, particularly as there might be more distractions.

Another technique is to block 90 minutes of deep work with 15 minutes of rest, where you disconnect from work and do something that anchors you in the present. By working in waves like this, it makes it a lot easier to flow into a rest wave after work, rather than pushing to burnout all day.

  • Switch off and unplug

When the workday is over, shut your laptop screen down, switch your work phone off and log out of or mute any work-related apps or accounts you have on personal devices. This will make it far less tempting to check for a reply to an email, an update on a project, or to put in a few extra hours on a task that ends up leaving you with only an hour or so relaxation time. Tidy up your desk space and if you have a desktop computer – shut it down.

All of these actions signal to the body and brain that you are done for the day, and you can start to recharge yourself ready to feel fresh for the next day.

  • Sign off and ‘return home’

When you are in an office, at the end of the working day, employees will announce they are leaving for the day and you and your colleagues will exchange goodbyes. You can still maintain this from your home by using whatever communication tool you and your colleagues are using to let them know you are signing off for the night. This can help to draw a boundary of your home and work life. If you haven’t utilised your daily exercise limit during your lunch break, leave the house at the end of the working day and walk around your block or your garden, or if you have a dog, take him/her for a walk. All this can simulate leaving the office and returning home which will help disconnect your mind and body from work.

  • Plan for the end of the day

By planning an activity for the end of the working day, your body and mind will be helped to differentiate between work and home life.

Whether you utilise the ‘return home’ technique, or plan a workout, to meditate, or call/spend time with family members at the same time every day, all these good techniques help unplug from work and set you up for a relaxing, non-work related evening.

For more information, visit: www.hive360.com and download guides to working from home

https://www.hive360.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Switching-Off.pdf and to business continuity and retaining employee engagement  https://www.hive360.com/business-employee-engagement-covid-19/

*Source: Office for National Statistics – Coronavirus, the UK economy and society, faster indicators, 6 April 2020

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