boiMAG.com "Work From Home (WFH) The New Burn-Out"

by: Dr. Charla Waxman BS, MBA, EdD Director of Business Development Lake Behavioral Hospital

Many of us began working from home (did you wonder what WFH meant?) when the pandemic began and unprecedented numbers of us have not returned to the 4 walls of the actual workplace. As employers experienced upticks in productivity, there were fewer call-offs, and people seemed happier; many of us were given the nod to continue working at home. Studies are now showing an increase in employee burn- out for those toiling away in the home office. It seems that the constant blending of work and home may cause some of us to work non-stop, rarely breaking, eating at our at-home office desks and constantly checking email. The new athome work day may look like this:

• Get up at 5:00am, check email before showering; get so involved in emails and follow-ups that maybe the first look at a clock shows 8:00am

• Maybe shower or “uh-oh”, it’s already time for the first zoom meeting or calls of the day. Shower later.

• At 11:00 am realize you haven’t eaten, grab a piece of toast or fruit; maybe a cupcake and work at your desk for a bit.

• 1:00 pm and still going strong. You’ll eat lunch later. More emails and projects to attend to and they steal your attention until the kids get home at 3:00pm.

• You tell the kids to do their homework and you race back to a late afternoon meeting.

• At 5:30 pm you eat your first real meal of the day, but then at 6:30 you bring your Laptop over to the TV to “watch a show” you have been waiting to see. On the first commercial you glance down at your emails to discover a task request from your boss for tomorrow. You start reading the info and jotting down a few ideas and the next thing you know the kids are tired, you have missed your show and it is 9:30pm.

You have essentially been in work mode, with minimal breaks and meals, for more than 16 hours. Chances are, too, that if you get up from bed to go to the bathroom, you may stop on the way back to bed at your computer to see what tomorrow has in store for you.

There are many benefits to working at home, but we are now really seeing what the cost is and can be.

Many of us left our offices and kept the same habits when we began working at home. The difference is that missing a break at work may only mean you get a bit more work done, but it doesn’t change the length of your work day. You still leave at the end of the day.

Some us do a nice job decompressing with radio or talk shows as we drive home. Some of us call friends and even the occasional phone-gossip, post work, with a trusted colleague is more break than you take at home. Even better, there is always a workmate who reminds you that it is lunch time and is wondering if you would join him/her. This is a break that happens and involves a meal! In the office there are breaks naturally built in to your day, walking from office to office, to conference rooms for meetings, shared lunch times and people stopping by your office space just to say hello. At home, usually our families know to leave us alone when we are working. Hence fewer moments away from being on the clock and lots less time to regroup.

It may seem like you are really making things happen when you work from home, but those off times: those minibreaks at the office, no matter how small, can have some real benefits. Studies show that you may have to reread things, re-do tasks or get multiple advice or explanations about things. Because your work day from home is so long, you may get more done, but you are working with less focus and it is much harder to do. Your frustration tolerance might be lower and some emails you write may be more blunt than an in-person conversation. You find yourself “stuck” more often, with solutions to problems being just beyond your reach. This is a perfect description of BURN-OUT!

Here are some reasons why it so hard to take breaks when working from home:

• We need to show that things are getting done so we don’t lose the opportunity to work from home.

• We never want our boss to think we are somewhere else, so we continue to document our availability with constant attention to emails, etc.

• As never before, we can schedule meetings back to back as there is no office to office or facility to facility travel time.

• It would seem weird to schedule a break from an at-home office.

As our in-home office time continues, we may find that we feel absolutely worn out. We may feel like doing less because our work days are incessant or we may feel anxious when we leave the house and our work behind. This is where depressive feelings and anxiety creep in.

To avoid a draw on your mental health as a work-at-home employee; find your balance. Leave your computer in one room. Shower and get dressed for work. Enter that room at a certain time. Break for lunch. Grab a cup of tea as you walk to your mailbox or sit outside for a moment. End on time. Change clothes after your work day. Keep your work area neat so that you enjoy it.

Plan your day with a morning break, a lunch hour and an afternoon break. Leave your desk space. Keep a scheduled time. (It reduces the guilt!).

Working at home seems great, but it’s not an easy task!

To Advertise in boiMAGazine, Contact us at: boiADs@aol.com

www.boiMAG.com