From the office to a virtual office
The last couple of years have been life-changing in so many ways. The old ways of working and living have changed beyond recognition and the old office job is now a kitchen job, or a living room job. The old reliables like a business address have become a virtual office. Working remotely in Dublin, Galway, New York or New South Wales has become the new normal.
We have been taken out of the traditional workplace, but we have also been taken out of our traditional interpersonal groups – at work and at home. The core elements of our wellbeing are gone. So how do we as human beings, social animals that we are, keep healthy not just in body, but in mind, in this new remote working reality?
Working at work vs. working from home
Working at work gave us a routine, at the desk at nine – finished at five, lunch with colleagues and friends in the middle of the day. That routine is gone now we’re working from home. The lack of structure can make people feel ungrounded. Therefore when working from home it’s important to put some kind of structure on your day. It doesn’t have to be the old nine to five, but it has to be something that you can lean into, you know that at certain hours you will be doing certain things. That certainty will help keep you grounded through the day and stop the hours just drifting away.
Stay active, stay connected
It’s important too to stay active. When you don’t have to go somewhere or be somewhere it is quite easy to become sedentary. We go from our bed to our desks (often in the same room) to our couches. We aren’t walking to or from the bus or train, we aren’t stopping in at the gym on the way home the way we used to. So it’s important for our wellbeing to make activities part of our every day. Get up from the desk every half hour and have a stretch, try to go for a walk at lunchtime or after work is finished. Even something as small as this can help keep the body and the mind active.
Staying connected is really vital. We don’t have the old networks surrounding us the way we used to, a chat over coffee in the office kitchen, a sandwich with colleagues at lunchtime, or perhaps a drink after work at the end of the week to connect with friends. These too have been disrupted and it is important to re-establish these relationships. Human contact is vital to our wellbeing. Make the effort to meet up – either in person or over zoom – stay involved with your friends and family. Working from home doesn’t mean working alone. And if you are in trouble, reach out, there is always someone willing to help – humans are great that way.
Your choice is your wellbeing
Put down the pizza delivery menu, shut down the Deliveroo tab. Cook. We’re working from home so we’re working either beside or in our own kitchens. Apart from the fact that cooking fresh food is healthier for us, it’s also better for our brains as well as our bodies. Share recipes – successes and failures – with friends and colleagues. It’ll help with you staying connected to each other. Sourdough bread is over though – move on!
Last but not least, don’t be a stranger. Keep in touch with other people, professionally and personally. Working remotely doesn’t have to mean that you become remote. The great English Poet John Donne summed it up best when he said
“No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as any manner of thy friends or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
We are all connected – let’s keep it that way.
Sky Business Centres are located in Dublin, close to Dublin city centre and offer Serviced and Virtual office packages to make remote working easy, helping your employees stay safe and productive. We have four different Virtual Office packages available which can be tailored to your specific needs with mail handling, call answering and a Business Address in Ireland. Our serviced offices are located in Clontarf, Blanchardstown and Clonshaugh and cater to enterprises of any size, from startups to established companies needing more space.
