4 Biggest Work From Home Mistakes You Need to Avoid

The U.S. currently has a largely work-from-home economy following the pandemic, with an incredible 42% of the workforce working from home full-time; 33% are out of work, and the remaining 26% report to work locations, most of them essential workers. Right now, the number of employees working from home has nearly doubled compared to pre-pandemic days.

This new reality has workers scrambling to make sense of their daily lives, and as they’re adjusting to this new normal, it’s inevitable to hit a few bumps on the road. Here are the most common ones that you need to avoid:

1. Working beyond hours

While flexibility is definitely one of the greatest benefits of working from home, it increases the likelihood of working beyond work hours. Without the commute and the actual action of leaving the office, you may find yourself spending more time working than is necessary. This is a quick road to burnout for lots of work-from-home employees.

Achieve a remote work and life balance by setting a defined time on your clock for work, and avoid going beyond those hours—and try not to work on weekends as much as possible, too.

2. Becoming too comfortable while working at home

Since you no longer have to dress up for work, or even make the customary small talk with colleagues in the pantry, there’s a tendency for you to become too comfortable being away from a formal work environment—you may start slacking off. This negatively impacts your productivity and the quality of your work.

Psychology researcher Fuschia Sirois states that this may be because of too many distractions like digital temptation and other leisure activities, and removing oneself from these may be helpful. Her research also suggests that finding meaning and purpose in your work leads to a better work ethic. So adjusting your mindset and setting goals can help you boost your productivity.

3. Not preparing a designated work area

Working on a laptop from bed just isn’t the best idea. Even if you’re out of the office, it’s still important to have a dedicated workspace. It doesn’t just help you focus on your work, but it also helps you mentally delineate between home and work life. And on top of that, it helps you avoid body pains and backaches you may get from working from bed or the couch.

Even if it’s just a small corner in your apartment, what’s important is that it’s a functional, comfortable, and separate space from the rest of the home. You don’t need anything too fancy, but do yourself a favor by investing in an ergonomic chair or at least lumbar support pillows to give your back and spine extra support, and relieve back pains. This is particularly helpful if you tend to spend long hours sitting in front of your desk. You can even get a laptop stand to bring up your screen and ease the tension behind the neck and shoulders.

4. Letting yourself slip down your own priorities

Working from home may make you think that you must be available to work at any time, under any circumstance. But this is just not feasible. You need to be able to step away from work and take breaks, as we previously talked about how important this is for your mental health. In fact, a study finds that employees who work from home don’t even feel the need to take sick days even when they’re feeling unwell.

These are incredibly difficult times and you may need time to recalibrate and adjust. It’s absolutely fine to take breaks and days off, and don’t think twice about asking for them either. Tune in to yourself, and give yourself space and time to breathe and rest.

Maintain a healthy balance between work-from-home and life balance. It doesn’t matter if you’re new to working from home or if you’ve been at it for years now, these pitfalls are equally damaging, and you’d do well to avoid them.

Feature specially prepared for thesukhiproject.com

Prepared by: JBrasher

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