NEWS
60% of workers report improved mental health due to working from home
As more companies have taken to remote working, to help keep workers and the wider community safe during the recent outbreak, it’s encouraging to report that 99% of respondents to our survey reported it has had at least one positive impact on their life.
Working remotely from home has become the new norm for many during the COVID-19 outbreak. But, in addition to helping in the fight against the spread of the virus, what other positives does working from home have on remote workers?
Respondents also indicated their physical health had improved as a result of working remotely, with 40% of respondents saying their diet had improved and 44% saying they engaged in more physical exercise when working away from the office, rising to 48% in full-time remote workers.
Our survey found that one of the biggest positives of working remotely is on an employee’s mental health. A total of 60% of respondents said their mental health had improved by being out of the office. Interestingly, those who work remote full-time were less likely to report an improvement in mental health (56.2%) compared to those who work remotely ‘often’ (64.6%).
To find out, Zen Business surveyed 1,035 remote workers about their experiences to uncover the positives of working remotely and some of the aspects of being remote that don’t often get spoken about.
In response to the findings and the ongoing COVID-19 situation, Melissa Cadwallader, Head of HR from Zen Business said: “Working from home can be extremely rewarding for your mental health and offers freedoms that may not be accessible in the office, like cooking your favourite meals for lunch or taking breaks to spend time with your children.” “Our data highlights that the majority of people are finding WFH a positive experience for their mental health, but it also shows that 2 in 5 are not. We advise everyone to ensure they exercise, take regular breaks, eat and sleep well, drink plenty of water, and stick to a routine where possible.” Even if your working from home methodology involves Netflix and pyjamas and candy bars, it’s a personal process that we all must explore and figure out.
Organisations should aim for a ‘phased return’ to normal Whether we use the ‘traffic light’ system suggested by two UCL academics or another method to exit the lockdown, businesses should prepare for a phased return.
“It would be wise to keep those actions in place for at least a month following the end of the official lockdown. The Government (and all of us) will be keeping a close eye on infection figures when the lockdown ends. If they spike again, the response will be for the lockdown to be reinstated.
Peter Groucutt, managing director of business continuity and disaster recovery firm Databarracks has shared advice on what organisations need to consider when planning their lockdown exit.
“We also still need to maintain flexible working practices. Self-isolation for those infected or potentially infected will continue. That extends beyond just your staff to families and housemates. Parents and carers will still have additional demands put on them.
“When we come out of lockdown, we won’t go back to normal immediately. Most businesses had a phased response before the lockdown and when we exit lockdown, we should work through those phases in reverse. The first stage was stopping external meetings or staff attending large events and scaling up cleaning practices. Next, organisations split their operations across multiple locations. Businesses with only a single office could divide their staff with some working in the office and others from home.
“Organisations should also make sure they keep doing the things they have now become good at. The positive we can take from this crisis is that it has forced a lot of organisations to embrace remote working practices. Organisations rushed through migrations to the cloud, rolled out video conferencing and are now seeing those benefits.”
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