Five tips to increase your productivity and manage your mental health when working from home

Productivity and mental health are closely linked. With companies now offering hybrid work or the ability to work fully from home, it is even more vital that employees look after themselves. 

With depression, anxiety and burnout being the most common manifestations of poor mental health, the experts at Joy Organics have compiled a list of five tips to help manage your mental health and increase productivity when you work from home.  

Take a break 

It’s important to be away from your work every few hours; otherwise, your brain will freeze up, and feelings of burnout or anxiety will become stronger. Only eleven out of fifty states mandate some rest breaks for workers. If your employer allows a break, you should ensure it is uninterrupted.  

This is difficult when an office is also a kitchen or a bedroom but a small walk in your garden or just around your neighborhood will help.   

Having a break allows your brain to reset itself from any stressful situations. Research from the association of psychological science suggests that a ten-minute break for every hour you work is a good balance to maintain productivity.  

Don’t take on too much 

Hustle culture has become common in workplaces over the past few years, where everyone tries to take on everything their managers give them. This can greatly contribute to stress and depression as the work continues.  

You have a finite number of hours at work, so don’t take on a week’s worth hoping to get it done in a day. Set boundaries and know when to focus on the work you already have. 

It is tempting to work extra hours when working from home as access to documents on your laptop is so easy. However, this will only hurt your mental health. A healthy separation of work and private life is one of the most important things for remote workers. Think about putting everything work-related onto a different browser or screen to simulate ‘going to the office.’ 

Communicate 

Having another perspective is useful for lowering your stress levels. Talking to your team or manager alleviates the feeling of loneliness and means you can solve problems faster.  

Feelings of isolation are much more common in remote work, however there are ways you can alleviate those feelings.  

Instead of struggling with a project alone, ask for a quick meeting or an informal chat to have another set of eyes on it. Reach out to other team members and organize a brainstorming session. Be aware that communication does go both ways and you should be available to help others just as they help you. 

Set Small Objectives 

Looking at your work as a single huge object is daunting. Those feelings of dread can feed into depression and anxiety so splitting up your work into manageable chunks will make things easier.  

A simple way to do this is by using Stephen Covey’s four quadrants of time management approach. This method uses four categories: 

• Urgent and important – unforeseen events and urgent matters  
• Not urgent but important – smaller tasks that won’t affect your deadlines
• Urgent but not important – meetings and phone calls
• Not urgent and not important – checking social media 

Get a good night’s sleep 

When you’re tired and low on energy, concentrating becomes harder. Getting at least eight hours of sleep each night will allow your brain to rest, and you will be better equipped to handle whatever the workplace throws at you.  

Before bed, you should do something relaxing and not stare at a phone screen or catch up on work. This helps to signal that it’s time to sleep. 

A spokesperson for Joy Organics commented, “According to a study by stress.org, more than 50% of workers are not as productive at work due to stress, and 39% claim workload is the main cause. Workplace stress can affect anyone, but research has shown that women must contend with their hormones on top of everyday stresses. 57% of women reported burnout because of work stress, compared to 48% of men. Companies must work towards more inclusive workplaces with a healthy work-life balance and manage employee stress by being transparent.”