Working from home takes energy

Corona can have quite an impact on our mental well-being. We stayed in our homes for a long time with limited social contact, both professional and family related. The future looks bright. But working at home remains the standard. People feel lonely, stressed and exhausted. It’s been more than a year now and we crave a return to the vibrant workplace. In short, there is “work-at-home tiredness. How do you boost the mental well-being of your employees?

1. The choice is yours

When it comes to healthy working capacity, the majority of employees consider ‘autonomy’ to be an enormously important concept. However, the coronapandemic has caused many of us to be ‘sent home’. A lack of choice and a dent in that important autonomy. This lack of choice has a frustrating and sometimes even disorienting effect on your employees.

What can you do to maintain that sense of autonomy in your employees? Make sure your employees can build in their own choices throughout the working day. Let your employees determine their own meeting times or the order of their tasks. Be flexible in their working hours. Not everyone has an easy home situation, take this into account.

2. Work structure

Although flexibility is of great importance in these complicated times, structure remains crucial. Encourage your employees to maintain a fixed rhythm with these flexible working hours. A disrupted rhythm can cause stress and despondency, which negatively affects your employees’ productivity and well-being.

By getting up at the same time every day, having lunch and making clear agreements with your partner or housemates about the separation of work and private life, you create a fixed structure. This fixed rhythm gives your employees something to hold on to in these difficult times.

3. Value your employees

Value the work of your employees: communicate and involve everyone in this. As a company, let them know how things are going, even when they are not so good. Or take away uncertainty when things are going well. In short, be transparent and open.

4. Qualitative workplace

Screaming children during a video call, even the employer with his 3 children sometimes suffers from this. But what about the quality of your workplace? In addition to a permanent workplace, a qualitative workplace is of great importance. A lot of employees do not have a separate work room at home. But on a kitchen chair, a healthy sitting posture is very difficult or even impossible.

Prolonged bad sitting can lead to various health complaints, making your employees exhausted and irritable. Therefore, equip your employee with quality material. For example, you can invest in ergonomic office chairs for your employees at home.

5. Bonding time

Working from home means we have to miss those relaxing lunch breaks and cosy chats with colleagues at the coffee machine. These moments provide relaxation and are necessary during a busy working day.

Include these moments online, virtual lunch or coffee breaks with colleagues. A good chat, not related to work, is good for you. Putting thoughts and worries aside for a moment. As an employer, you can always insert a short moment after a meeting to ask how your employees are doing.

In short, it is very important to be there for your employees not as an employer but as a friend. Use a human corona policy where understanding and support are central.

Do you also want to offer your employees a quality workplace? Let our expert inspire you with tailor-made advice.