6 tips On How To Improve Work-Life Balance For Remote Workers
Illustration: Nikolai Jonasson
The pandemic has blurred the line between work and home for most people when in 2020 offices closed down and employees were sent to work remotely from home. Though, be honest, did you have a good work-life balance even before the Covid-19 crisis? With millennials’ constant side hustle culture, most likely not.
Work-life balance means equally prioritizing both demands of one’s career and personal life, keeping the balance between the professional and personal. A good work-life balance is one’s being able to meet deadlines, while still having time for social life and hobbies, as well as having enough sleep and rest.
There are several reasons that can tip over the scale of making a career take the lead in someone’s life. For example, increased workload and responsibilities, lack of time management, poor management of employees, increased expenses without an increase of salary, working extra hours, etc.
Creating clear boundaries between work and life can feel challenging even after almost three years of a remote. As a fully remote company, our team has experienced it firsthand. We gathered a few tips to help you maintain a healthy work-life balance, tested by Caddyboo.
1. First things first, check on your work-life balance.
Sometimes, work-life misbalance is obvious, but there are times when we are so caught up in the ongoing rhythm that it’s hard to realize that work is taking over our life. Whichever your case is, following these simple steps will give you some clarity on the situation and how to deal with it.
Our first tip requires an elaborate thought process and self-reflection but understanding where you stand and where you want to be is fundamental for a healthy work-life balance.
“My recommendation would be to define what matters most in your life. When you do only things that matter in your life, the work-life balance will come naturally.” – Says a hard-core entrepreneur and the moving force of Caddyboo.
2. Be realistic
The perfect work-life balance doesn’t exist for the remote workers, you’ll need to get realistic on this one. We all picture us moving mountains when it comes to productivity and the amount of work we ideally should do in a day. But the reality often begs to differ.
Identify tasks that usually take longer than expected, especially if it’s collaborative work with your colleagues or external sources. Assess your current tasks and time available, prioritize and set achievable deadlines.
Instead of trying to get everything done in a day (which is, let’s be honest, is unlikely), find satisfaction in completing task by task with your full attention rather than juggling several different ones in a single go.
“Caddyboo team is all about realistic goals now. After a couple of years of remote work, we are finally starting to get the hang of setting appropriate deadlines for all collaborative tasks. It’s important to know the time zones and setting space for delays, as well as being aware of our co-worker’s workload.” – Caddyboo team.
3. Make time for a transition period
Create boundaries for yourself when it comes to work and personal life. If you work remotely, don’t jump into your tasks first thing in the morning, set out some time to transition to a working mode. Activities like walking, meditating, chatting with family, playing with pets, listening to music or reading a book before and after your workday will help you make those boundaries clearer.
Implement those transition periods into your routine and stick to them. It will boost your connection with yourself, as well as give time to the brain to process the transition from work to personal and vice versa.
“From personal experience, it's best to incorporate various types of activities that help transition in or out of work. In my case, I like to take video game breaks as that's pretty much-guaranteed escapism into various worlds and environments.” – Says Nikolai Jónasson, 3D Designer at Caddyboo. – “At the same time, given that I have previous experiences in making games, it's also a type of redirection of creativity as I often take note of game design choices and elements, get inspiration for my future projects. But in general, such transitional periods short-term help to retain one's sanity and provide a long-term safety net for productivity.”
4. Learn to say “No”
Before agreeing to an additional workload beyond your primary responsibilities, assess your ongoing tasks and the time you’ll need to accomplish them. If your manager asks you to do an urgent assignment, inform them of your current situation and ask for their opinion on what to reprioritize and set new deadlines. When you are at the limit of your capabilities - professional, mental, or physical - it is okay to say no.
It might feel rude at first, but essentially if you do this with respect and politeness the recipient will be fine. It will be much more inconvenient for the other party if you deliver the task late or poorly performed.
“The truth is, you should think about your workload not only when you are at the limit, but all the time. That is a great tool to prevent burnout and keep a healthy work-life balance. I rely on my working hours and my own rules. For example, I know that after 5 pm I won’t be working anymore even if there’s more work to be done, my only focus on my personal life and body. And no one can change that unless there is emergency.” – Says Polina Glukhova, Marketing Associate at Caddyboo.
5. Ask for help when you need it
Loop in your manager when the workload becomes excessive, or you have trouble delivering on a good performance because of other factors. In circumstances like this, levels of stress are skyrocketing, so take care of yourself and reach out to a supervisor or HR. As a team, you will come up with a strategy on how to handle the situation.
Preventing burnout is easier than treating it, try to intercept the signs of it and act immediately whether you are a remote workers or not.
“I have a personal history of struggling with mental issues and my first response was to hide it from everyone, including my colleagues and managers. That wasn’t a good strategy, because struggling mentally has a clear correspondence with work performance. And I know how scary it feels, to openly talk about it. But once I looped in my superiors on the situation, we found a way to work with it together. So, I couldn’t advocate more than I am for open and transparent communication.” – Shares Ksenia, Content and Social Media Specialist at Caddyboo.
6. Take breaks
Taking a break will reduce stress and keep you engaged and focused on a task. Your brain is also processing information during the break, so you are much more likely to come up with new ideas. Must we say that it makes work much more enjoyable? If you struggle to take breaks, try a Pomodoro technique.
In a nutshell, it’s a method to stay more focused on the work and not forget about a break. For that, you will need a timer and your to-do list. Set the timer for 25 minutes and start working on a single task from your list. After the alarm goes off, take a five-minute break. After that continue working for another 25 minutes and then again a five-minute break. After four 25-minute working sessions, you can take a longer, more restorative break (about 20-30 minutes).
“Sometimes people are afraid to take longer breaks in the middle of their working day and they tend to group their work in the bulk for 4 or even 7 hours. I understand the origin of this problem because I have it myself.” – Says Mariia Molodkina, Head of Business Development, Caddyboo. – “We want to finish our work first, and then go on with our day. But usually, you simply are not capable of being productive for several hours in a row. That is why there is no harm in taking a break in the middle of the day if you feel that you can be more productive after the rest.”
Takeaways
A healthy work-life balance for remote workers leads to plenty of positive outcomes: improved mental and physical health, reduced chances of stress and burnout, higher quality of performance and a general increase in wellbeing. We tend to think that time management and productivity hacks will magically solve the problem of imbalance, when in reality it requires more deliberate thought, creating and maintaining habits, and most of all – transparent and open communication.
Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is the responsibility of both the employee and the employer. Create a routine that respects your professional and personal aspects of life and nourish it.
““These tips most of our readers probably heard before, but the challenging part is to start implementing them. It is definitely a challenge for me. You are yourself responsible to start putting your life in order, but I believe that we shouldn’t feel guilty when we fail at this. There is time and place for everything, and once you have inspiration and strength to make changes, even the slightest ones, you will do that. And it will be a game-changer for you.””
We sincerely hope that this article was of use to our dear readers. Share your thoughts, experience and tips in the comment section! Let’s create a small corner of support and our own knowledge bank.
