Managing your health, wellbeing, and productivity in a hybrid work environment

In case you missed my recent LinkedIn LIVE, let me re-cap the key takeaways for those running a business with a work from home policy. Or those of you that work from home personally. The work from home concept is something that thanks to COVID has become the norm. Slowly we are seeing the migration back to being in the office the bulk of the time, but I think it is safe to say that working from home in some fashion, is now commonplace.

This presents us, presents business owners, with a challenge. How do we maintain culture, how do we ensure the health, wellbeing, and productivity of our teams? I note that a recent study highlighted that 53% of employed Australians recently surveyed said they had experienced burnout.

So what are some key ways to invest in the health, the productivity and the energy of those working from home?

First, let’s look at the home/work environment. How can we optimise the space:

• Air filter: (For the room): Remove pollutants like dust, mold particles, pollen, bacteria & viruses. They reduce the rate of sickness, illness, infection which leads to downtime.
• Filtered water: We want minerals in our water, but not nasties. Add some salt or mineral supplement to your water.
• Natural light/window: Each day you need to get out into the sun and get exposure to Vitamin D. Having a window in the area also means you do not lose track of time. It can be easy to become consumed in your work and in a space with no window, you do not realise that it’s now night time. Seeing the changes in sunlight is a trigger to stop working.
• Exposure to real plants: Real plants improve our immune system, improve air quality, reduce Cortisol levels. Creating the sensation of being out in nature.
• Utilise essential oils:
  • Lemon: In the morning. A natural boost – energy – focus.
  • Rosemary: Reduce stress whilst aiding focus and concentration.
  • Peppermint: Promotes concentration and elevates brain fog (also good for training)

Blocking out time in the diary for (THREE ‘F’s):  Fitness – Family – Food (if not fasting). The temptation is to get up, open the laptop and ‘just get some emails done’. By doing this, you needed to have made a sacrifice. First thing in the morning, this will typically be, time with your family, time to train, time to have food. Block out a reminder in your calendar each morning that prompts you to invest in the ‘Three F’s’!

Place a sticky note on your screen (or set your log on screen): “What are you sacrificing to be sitting here right now?”. Again, this is about giving you prompts to think about what you could or should be doing at that moment in time. Perhaps you could be with your children playing, putting them to bed, spending time with your partner or just relaxing. What are you sacrificing?

Work from home was and is always going to be a challenge for employers and individuals. Originally, it was thought the challenge was going to be ensuring that people were not ‘slacking off’. For sure some people will do this. However, what I am seeing is the opposite….people working to much! Remember, client work will always be there, but your health and family may not.