In the UK we’re now four weeks into our lockdown and the new way of living during the Coronavirus Crisis. There’s been a lot written about the way to survive working at home and good practice whilst doing it. But how do you achieve work-life balance when you’re working at home and “life-ing” at home? Is this even possible?

For those of you who’ve chosen to work in an office in order to create a boundary between work and home this might be something you’re pondering right now.

But this subject has also been challenging to offices and workplaces for years. The Mental Health Foundation is one of many organisations to point to the impact of work related stress and the 10.4 million working days it costs British businesses per year.

“The human costs of unmanaged work-related stress extends far beyond this. A key way to protect your mental health against the potential detrimental effects of work related stress is to ensure you have a healthy work-life balance.”
Mental Health Foundation

So what if we employed the latest learning and practices from workplaces trying to improve work-life balance and brought them home? Here’s five ideas to try where you are.

Hours can be flexible

In a desire to make sure we have a routine, many of us having reverted to 9-5 hours when working at home. However, this might not work for all of us. Many studies have shown and many businesses had implemented flexible working for the reason that we have different peak hours, different peaks and troughs. Matthew Wilder in his book ‘Why We Sleep’ is one of many to suggest the capacity to be a ‘morning-lark’ or ‘night-owl’ is probably built into us and should be worked with, not fought. So have a think:

When are my most productive times?
When are my troughs and peaks?
What would a working day that fitted the way I work look like?

Of course these choices may be affected by others that are around you if you’re isolated with family, friends or partners. Why not talk about the subject and come up with patterns that work for you all?

Physical Space is important

Wherever you’re working at home for the first time or coming back to something you used to do before I’m sure you’ve thought about the space you work in. You might have a spare room or space in a bedroom or living room to work in.

Where you can try to seperate out the space you work from the space you relax. This may sound small but it has a big impact if you begin to associate spaces with work and work-related stress. We’d recommend you don’t work from your bedroom if at all possible as this is a key space for rest. If you have to, maybe cover up your workspace or remove things (box them up) prior to sleep.

You may not have the luxury of lots of space. We’ve heard of ingenious people creating screens for their workstations so that they are closed off when ‘off-duty.’ These could be large like the old-style bedroom screens or just screen off your monitor and work-area.

Lastly try and personalise your space. Make it comfortable (think about all those HSE videos about the right chair) and make sure it suits your way of working.

The right to disconnect

In 2016 French law enshrined the “right to disconnect.” This recognised that in a digital-age, workers had the right to switch off and not answer email.

When working at home this is harder. When you’ve worked out your pattern for working why not switch off your machine rather than letting it ‘sleep.’ Similarly is there a need for your emails to be on your phone anymore if your emails are coming to a laptop next door. If no, then remove them for a while.

Take your right to disconnect when you can.

Taking breaks and time-off

Just as in any other working environment, time-off is important.

The influx of cool workspaces with Table Tennis or Fussball Tables wasn’t just to make them cool. The benefit is that these resources would encourage workers to take regular short-breaks. These aid concentration and wellbeing. Rather than thinking about a traditional lunch break only, take a mid-morning and mid-afternoon short break too. Make some tea, switch off for 5 mins and divert. It’ll help you.

Then when you do have actual time off (weekends, holiday-days) take them seriously. Make sure your work things are out of reach and focus on rest and those around you. These days will be harder with our new-regime but they are very important.

We’ve been impressed with people …

Creating imaginative themes for their houses for a rest day e.g. dressing up day, different countries (flags, food) or creating popcorn and cinema home cinema nights.
Creating stay-cations with holiday type things going on but at home.
Being creative and having fun together e.g. home art classes.
Visiting vitual museums online or going to see a show but broadcast on YouTube.

The reality is these things are harder to organise and take more time and effort but you’ll be rewarded with proper rest.

There’s more than just you

If you’ve isolated with others then the dynamic of time with those around you is vital. But there’s the added dynamic of others being around you in the working day. This might be kids, partners, house-mates but it has an impact.

However, many workplaces had begun to cotton on to the idea of workspaces as community and realising that others are around us. This means that:

Diversions and distractions are ok, go with them. They may even be creative moments.
Be present. Be there in the moment. Try not to be in your head or in your inbox but instead be someone working at home. This is different to the norm but it is what is is and it has many benefits.
Priortise kindness. The age-old disagreements over the office kitchen have now come home. However, the answer is the same - prioritise kindness. If we take time to understand each other and accept the realities of sharing space we’ll do well.

Work-life balance matters

Creating ways to balance work and life matters. This isn’t just to prevent stress or health impacts but it also helps each of us to work in a better and a happier way.

“Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is not only important for health and relationships, but it can also improve your employee’s productivity, and ultimately performance. Put simply, if your people don’t view work as a chore, then they will work harder, make fewer mistakes and are more likely to become advocates for your brand.”
Happiness Index

What are you doing to maintain work-life balance at home? Why not share your ideas with us and let us know how you’re getting on.

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