Kaiser Permanente: 10 tips to enhance your well-being while working remotely
Get dressed
As enticing as it is to work in your pajamas, it is not a recommended practice. Getting dressed, brushing your teeth and fixing your hair can help you transition into your workday and make you feel more confident (as well as help you avoid that terrifying moment when your video conferencing camera switches on).
Set aside a designated work area
Create and keep a dedicated workspace. Whether it’s a home office, a desk in the corner of your living room or even the kitchen table, make sure it works for you. Pay attention to your body position and eye strain, making adjustments as needed. Try to make your workspace a place you enjoy going to each day by surrounding yourself with things that inspire you. This can help you focus and do your best work.
Schedule walking meetings
Walking meetings can be done virtually. This works especially well if both participants are working remotely and commit to the walk. Snap a picture of where you are walking and share it with your walking buddy!
Take a virtual coffee break
Much of workplace camaraderie develops in the break room and around the water cooler. In the natural flow of the workday in an office, we can check in with our teammates. While that element is missing in a virtual setting, it can be replicated in cyberspace. Encourage your team to hop on a virtual meeting at a specified time, sit down with their beverage of choice, and chat for 15 minutes.
Open virtual meetings with a Community Builder
Community Builders are icebreaker questions that, well, build community! Anything from “What was your favorite Halloween costume?” to “What was the last book you read?” can help us find commonality with co-workers we didn’t know we had.
Take regular breaks
It may feel like you can get more done working from home with fewer distractions, but this can often lead to overworking, which not only kills productivity, but can bring about injury. Taking short five-minute active breaks at the top of each hour can actually increase productivity and creativity levels.
Stay connected within your team
When working remotely, it can be easy to get heads down in your work. One key strategy to help you stay connected with your team is through active participation in team meetings. Speak up and share your thoughts during discussions to stay engaged. Avoid multi-tasking during virtual meetings. Another way to connect is to join in group discussions over team chats. Post family pictures, selfies, interesting articles. Even if we can’t be physically visible in the office, we can stay visible to each other.
Set and keep regular office hours
For many, working from home means flexibility in setting your own working hours. For example, if you are most productive in the morning, you can get a jumpstart on your workday. Or if you are juggling childcare, you can establish concentrated work hours accordingly. Regardless of your schedule, establish set work hours to follow each day. Be sure to communicate your work schedule to your manager, colleagues, and staff.
Eat a healthy lunch or snack
Another work from home reality is full access to the kitchen, which can mean free reign on chips, cookies, or leftover pizza. However, research has shown that healthy eating has a direct link on overall productivity levels. If you are an avid snacker, reach for carrot sticks, apple slices, or a handful of nuts instead. Make it a point to make yourself a healthy lunch, just as you would if you had to go into the office.
Pick a definitive finishing time each day
You might be under the impression that working from home establishes more worklife balance. But working from home can also bleed into your personal time. In lieu of coworkers, whose packing up and leaving the office reminds you to do the same, set an alarm at the end of the day to indicate your normal workday is coming to an end. You don’t have to stop at exactly that time, but knowing the workday is technically over can help you start the process of saving your work and calling it quits for the evening
H/T Kaiser Permanente
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