The present situation of COVID-19 has pushed everyone towards working from home. The employees got very less time to make decisions on upgrading to new technology skills required as well as inadequate workspaces available at home. This pandemic has in fact encouraged the employers to allow their subordinates to continue working from home. The biggest dilemma here is whether it would be good or bad for your health to work from home in the long run.
Less Fit or More Fit?
Now, employees can get easier access to snacks. This would imply that most of them might have gained weight during this time. Some of those employees are also spending a lot of time sitting in front of the screen in awkward positions. An increased screen time can easily damage your retina. Moreover, poorly designed workspaces can produce stress injuries and back pain. This kind of sedentary lifestyle can cause a lot of health issues such as a higher cancer risk.
An efficiently supported work from home routine can improve employees’ health. It can help them out in scheduling their workout routine whenever they are available. It creates a chance for the employees to take calculated breaks from their laptops to wash clothes. Or maybe they can spend some time with their dog. Small amounts of physical activity spread throughout the day can have long-term positive effects on psychological and physical health. Even a 10-minute of quickly climbing the stairs of your house can charge you up and enhance your lung capacity.
Do you have more free time?
Commuting by car on a daily basis not only exposes people to a polluted environment but also increases the time they spend on roads. Working from home is allowing people to take everything easy, both mentally and physically. People are saving their time and money, both of which are ultimately improving the lives of the employees. But, the valuable element of the commute time is now getting lost where the employees can switch between work and nonwork roles. Eliminating the commute time can often increase the working hours. This can lead to a higher stress and low-quality of sleep. So, there needs to be some transitional periods. It can simply include walking in your area or doing some meditation before preparing dinner
Are employees less distracted now?
Working from home can allow you to focus more on a demanding task without getting distracted. It also helps the employees to better focus on work as well as on their family during breaks. This can impact their child’s education significantly. Some quality time spent by parents with their children can have a positive influence on their child’s academic performance. Not only this, it can also help in developing a better behaviour and emotional well-being of their child.
However, every employee might not have strong family relations. In that case, staying in touch with the co-workers can in fact be a boon for them. The spontaneous small-talks are hard to replicate in a virtual environment. Though there can be ways of doing that over Zoom, yet it can’t give the same experience as the real environment. In fact, it can be dangerous for some employees leading to feelings of loneliness, depression, substance abuse and insomnia. Thus, organisations can come up with some interesting ideas such as organizing virtual cafes to enhance the informal conversations.
Employees Require Moral Support
Working from home has got its own pros and cons for everyone. It will also be defined by one’s ability to be resilient. Employees need to wisely make use of their time. They need sufficient support from the employers in the form of technology and human resources. Undoubtedly, this can become the new normal. For the international education sector, a software like Agentcis can prove to be a game changer for all the education and migration consultants to keep on moving on with their business during these tough times. The effectiveness of a virtual workplace has been tested during this pandemic. And many of the employers are already suggesting that this can very well be a supplement to life post COVID-19 as well.
