Nurture Working From Home - How Do We Switch Off? Since March 2020, many more people have been WFH. However, some are now finding it increasingly difficult to “switch off” at the end of the working day. WFH isn’t a new idea but, historically, the majority of us worked “on site” - in a factory or office or set location where there were clearly defined start and stop times (for example, the proverbial “9 to 5”).
When the pandemic hit, however, many more of us were obliged to WFH and it has now become clear that there are “stressors” associated with this. According to research in America, since the start of the pandemic in 2020, 51.5% of people who were now working from home reported being more stressed. 21.5% said they were less stressed, while 27% reported no change. People WFH also reported experiencing a kind of “blurry” situation when it came to switching off at the end of the working day (whatever that looked like). One newspaper article stated that people WFH actually work 2 hours more a day than they would if they worked in a set location, viz. an extra 10 hours a week. Think about this. If we were used to working on site until 5pm, for example, we’d leave work to catch the bus or drive home. We had a “routine” if you like. But we don’t have that same routine when WFH - which can be one of the biggest challenges to switching off at the end of our working day. We might also “forget” where we actually are and think to ourselves, “Right, uhm, I’ve finished my work so I’m going home now. But wait a minute. I am home.” Therefore, we can have a sort of mental “blip” which inhibits our ability to switch off (and which might also lead to us working these 2 “extra” hours!).
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