Making work from home work for your mental health

As the COVID-19 pandemic forces companies to consider remote working as their new reality, a lot of employees are experiencing difficulty or ‘adjustment issues’ to adhere to the ‘new normal’.

By Snigdha Samantray

Everyone is talking about adapting to the ‘new normal’. The ‘new normal’ has impacted all spheres of life, including our workspace. Earlier work from home (WFH) was a privilege, now it’s almost a norm.

As the COVID-19 pandemic forces companies to consider remote working as their new reality, a lot of employees are experiencing difficulty or ‘adjustment issues’ to adhere to the new ways of working. However, there are others who have started to enjoy this new way of working and fear to get back to the ‘old normal’ – also known as the ‘re-entry syndrome’. Both the groups share something in common and that is ‘fear of change’.

So, what makes people fear change? Psychologically, every individual has innate inertia or is resistant to change, simply because change is unpredictable, requires effort to readjust, evokes fear, and makes one lose control.

The challenges

With little signs of the pandemic calming down, WFH will be the only way for most people to work in the upcoming months. Keeping this in mind, let’s have a look at some of the mental health challenges that this change in working style has brought about:

Self-help tools

The good news is that we can apply these quick self-help tools to overcome most WFH challenges:

Two to tango
A healthy WFH experience is based on two premises – one at the organisational level and others at the individual level. At the organisational level, one can ensure healthy working conditions by catering to the needs and difficulties of employees as they WFH. It’s also important to stay connected with the employees over virtual meetings for regular check-ins and to allow teams to connect with one another. Employees can also be engaged in online training as it’s a good opportunity to improvise skills and also to keep them distracted from other worries.

Managers and HR professionals need to ensure that they routinely check with their teams not only about work but also how they are doing at a personal level, being vigilant about changes that they notice in terms of their personality or productivity. Organisations also need to boost Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) and organisation’s health plans in order to provide support to their employees during these times of uncertainty.

At the individual level, how one responds to a remote work environment is completely dependent on the individual’s needs and triggers. Despite practising self-help techniques, if one feels unhappy in their current work situation, it’s advisable to talk to a mental health professional, or to the manager at work. Under no circumstances, is it advisable to suffer in silence.

In a nutshell, there’s no perfect formula for an effective WFH experience. It varies from individual to individual, depending on their relative strength and support system. Every individual needs to exercise flexibility and experiment with their unique abilities in these unprecedented times.

(The author is a consultant clinical psychologist at Mfine, Bengaluru, India)

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