5 Common Wellbeing Challenges for Today's Remote Worker
With the increase in fast adoption of remote work (mainly working from home), we thought we'd dig out these short conversations tackling the most common issues impacting the wellbeing of remote knowledge workers, as we carry out all our work (the work, the conversations) from a computer.
Here are five specific challenges to our mental and physical wellbeing - ranging from proactively managing our devices, to tending to our energy and productivity, to reflecting on the health costs of commuting.
We’ve cued up the players below so you can go right to the segments and have a listen…
COMMUNICATIONS ADDICTION: DON’T LET YOUR DEVICES CONTROL YOU
Episode WLP174 @43.14 mins
In this segment, Pilar and Maya chat about our very real addiction to communications. Alerts and notifications are cleverly designed to feed our deep psychological needs - we all crave that little rush of dopamine when someone ‘likes’ our content or sends us a message.
It’s creeping from the social space into the workplace though, and we need to be aware of its addictive potential. Remember, you can control your notifications, rather than having them control you.
HOW DO WE “STEP AWAY FROM THE SCREEN”?
Episode WLP170 @20:58 mins
How do we unplug, in a world of 24/7 connectivity?
We can start by being more aware of it, and how our use of screens affects us.
One strategy both Pilar and Maya use is to read on a dedicated non-backlit e-reader (like a Kindle, which in fact has a front light that shines down onto the text). Remember that you can email any document to it, it isn’t just for reading books.
It’s worth investing in a separate device for this even if you have the apps on your tablet or phone, and you’ll notice the difference in sleep quality when using it at night particularly.
Or there is always paper itself. Just from time to time, and do remember to recycle!
(The link to the Kindle is an Affiliate link.)
HAVE YOU FALLEN VICTIM TO “HOMEWORKERS BUM”?
Episode WLP173 @22.21 mins
Pilar and Maya talk about “Homeworkers Bum”, a humorous but real affliction, not just for homeworkers but anyone who spends too long sitting in an office chair. If your rear end is taking on the shape and rigidity of your furniture, you need to get up and MOVE!
When working from home — or anywhere for that matter — make sure you don’t lose the built-in opportunities for physical movement. Try quantifying it with a device or app, and if you aren’t moving enough then you need to consciously plan to stand up and make your day more dynamic.
ARE YOU AN OWL, A LARK, (OR A SIESTA LOVER)?
Episode WLP184 @49.19 mins
Maya and Pilar reflect upon the tradition of the “work day”, and how we can still end up following a habit from the industrial revolution…
Could we be more productive, fulfilled and effective, by listening to our own energy levels and circadian rhythms?
We talk a lot about the tools we have to collaborate asynchronously with colleagues in different timezones, so perhaps we could use them to work more flexibly with each other, and ourselves? To create a culture where we share stuff like “I am going for a walk to clear my head” or, have a special Slack status to signify a siesta?
Team leaders can take the initiative and make sure that true temporal flexibility is part of your “work day”, wherever we are physically located.
THE HIGH COST OF COMMUTING TO OUR HEALTH
Episode WLP190 @42.25 mins
We often talk about the quality of life gains which office-optional work can bring, especially for those with long commutes. This research puts numbers on it, in quite a chilling way, including significant detriments to mental and physical health. And, this is particularly important to reflect on right now as organisations begin to think about bringing workers back into the office.
People with long commutes are more likely to get less than the recommended amount of sleep, more likely to be obese, even more likely to smoke…
The research distinguished between flexible working and working from home, which was interesting. As for productivity gains it does appear to be autonomy which makes the difference. Difference to the tune of a full extra week’s productivity per year - in case you need to make a business case for it in your own work.
over to you!
No matter where we are working from, whether it be home, the office, a co-working space, or all of the above, consciously tending to our wellbeing as knowledge workers who constantly use technology is a real challenge. Proactively managing these issues can go a long way in easing the potential mental and physical impact.
Have you implemented a practice or habit to support your mental or physical health during the workday? We would love to hear from you - do share in the comments below, you just may get a shout-out in an upcoming podcast episode!