HRM Tips: How to cope with stress while working from home

Most, if not all of us are working from home right now given the precautionary measures implemented by governments such as closure of workplaces and even a full lockdown.

While working in the comfort of your home doesn’t sound like a stressful thing, it might end up being so if you do not manage your work and emotions your well.

After all, many of us are being thrown into this sudden transition from working in a physical office to our own homes. Therefore, it’s important to understand how to deal with and prevent stress while remote working.

So here are some tips on how to make your working home experience a stress-free one.

Set out your tasks first thing in the morning

As the saying goes, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. One of the main catalysts of stress at work (or home in this case) is unproductiveness. And one of the main reasons for being unproductive is not planning what you need to accomplish for the day. So write down a to-do list (e.g. using Microsoft To-do) before you start your day and strike them off when you’re done with the tasks. There is no better stress reliever than a fully completed to-do list.

Be flexible with your time

Let’s face it. Working at home is a completely different environment to working in the office. Your family will also be at home and if you’ve children, you’d have to juggle between working and watching over them. So allow some flexibility with your time to complete what you set out to do for the day.

Don’t overwork yourself

The easiest way to get yourself stressed up is trying to overcompensate for the fact that you’re working at home, which further emphasizes the importance of having a to-do list so that you are productive and task-oriented. While its important to have a to-do list, don’t give yourself more tasks than you can handle. You might end up becoming stressed up or work longer hours in trying to complete them. And do not forget to take breaks and even spend a little time with your family. You’re at home after all!

Set out expectations with your boss

One of the biggest causes of stress is not knowing if you have done what is expected of you. But first, you need to know what is expected of you. And the only way is to have a discussion with your manager about the expectations and timelines now that you are working from home. And be sure to voice out if you feel you’re unable to meet them.

Don’t be too hard on yourself

The truth is you’re not going to be as productive as you are in the office – or at least for now when you are still adapting to working from home. So don’t put too much expectations and stress on yourself to be on the same level of performance and productivity. Go easy on yourself for now and progressively get into the rhythm of remote working.