Unlocking Wellbeing: My way of navigating the challenges of remote work

I read a shocking stat the other day…

That just 34% of home workers say they have been offered mental health or wellbeing support from their employer, whilst 29% of home workers think remote work is worse for their wellbeing than being in the office.

As someone who has worked remotely for over 10 years, both in and out of the UK, I know that it’s really really easy to fall into bad habits that aren’t great for your wellbeing and that sometimes working from home can suck.?

In the past, too often I’ve found myself…

- working late into the night

- checking work messages at weekends and crazy times in the morning

- forgetting to get dressed

- working from bed

- not leaving the house

- not exercising enough

- not interacting with a real-life human

- spending too many unbroken hours staring at screens

…It’s crazy how much these bad habits can creep in and impact your wellbeing. Yet it can be really difficult to shake things up and do things differently.?

You can get stuck in a working-from-home rut.

Creating positive working practices when you work from home and looking after your mental health is an ongoing process, and it’s something as an employer and entrepreneur that I take really seriously.

I’m really proud to say that my not-so-great experience of tech overuse and poor remote working habits in recent years, have inspired me to be part of two key initiatives that I’m really passionate about and which I hope will help to improve the wellbeing of others.

The first is techtimeout - the company I founded to raise awareness of digital wellbeing and help people to develop healthier relationships with tech both at work and at home.?

techtimeout is developing so fast, and this year we’re looking forward to our biggest ever techtimeouttuesday in partnership with Mental Health First Aid England.?

The second is Halo Intranet - Six Ticks’s remote working software which was developed by our team to help employers specifically focus on the experience of remote workers and put mental health and wellbeing at the forefront of their daily lives.

As more and more people embrace the working-from-home lifestyle, I hope these initiatives will help employers address digital wellbeing and provide better working practices for both their remote and in-office employees.

And I’ll be sure to continue to practice what I preach, avoid the rut, and stick to healthier daily remote working routines!