Work Load Does Not Equal Effort Load When Working From Home

Maintaining Focus When Working from Home

A colleague recently made the statement, "Working from home isn’t the same as working from the office."

It seems such an obvious thing to say, but have we really considered the differences and how we are addressing them, especially at a time when many people are forced to work from home? He went on to share that we pretend we can have fruitful casual conversations by sharing a virtual coffee break, just as we would in the office, but the dynamics of teleworking are simply not the same. The time and effort invested in connecting with colleagues can be exhausting. Zoom fatigue may soon become a recognized medical condition. For everyone fortunate enough to be working at this time, the refrain seems to be the same: we are working harder and longer than before.

When we are used to having infinite, uninterrupted bandwidth and two screens in the office - and now deal with inconsistent connectivity and a laptop screen, which we are balancing on a crowded dining table, completing the quarterly financial reporting - we expend far greater effort, energy and time. Work load does not equal effort load.

Here are 8 common challenges and suggestions for how to address them:

1. The working day slips seamlessly into the working night

Parkinson had a point when he passed his Law: The completion of a task will take as much time as we have available. Without the physical cut off of leaving the office, it becomes even harder to delineate work time and non-work time. I remember living very close to my office in my early career. I felt like I was always at work. When the commute is a few metres, it is difficult to make that mental shift.

What to do

Draw a line. Block your non-work time in your calendar. You might have multiple ‘lines’ or blocks of ‘you’ time. Maybe you stop work at 12.30pm to spend time with your children and start up again 2 hours later. To the extent possible, do what works for you. Every day, claim your non-work blocks of time and stick to them. The law of diminishing returns sets in if you don’t.

Schedule tasks. And schedule breaks – more on that later.

2. Attraction to Distraction

Our energy flows where our attention goes. Have you monitored the time you are allocating to distracting activities – detailed emails when a quick glance tells you there is little of importance there, email diversions where you see an interesting article and dive right or the real energy sucker, social media.

What to do

You know what to do. Turn off your notifications. Move your mobile out of the room. Delete the apps. Set a fixed time for checking email or WhatsApp work groups. Reward yourself with a fixed time for surfing as a reward – but only after you’ve completed the big items on your to do list.

3. The extra communication load

What could be asked of a colleague by turning your head 90 degrees now takes a call – sometimes even a scheduled call.

What was clearly implied with body language is now not so clear. And what was clearly audible is now not always so easy to hear.

It all takes extra mental effort - and physical and emotional energy.

What to do

Plan your communications. Who do you need to speak to? How can you most effectively communicate with them and expend minimal energy? Make it clear to your team that remote communication requires direct communication. Say what needs to be said as simply and concisely as possible. And remember, speaking directly does not equate with speaking impolitely.

Use the pause. Pause to ensure your words have been heard and understood. In the face of freezing screens and interrupted connections, again, pause to ensure you keep calm.

Balance context and detail with clarity and conciseness. What does your audience really need to know? Ensure the context and detail is sufficient – if you aren’t sure, check in with them. Work hard not to lose your audience before you’ve made your key points. All of which takes planning – but the return on the preparation investment is worthwhile.

4. Fatigue

The additional load of more effortful communication, additional screen time, possibly less reliable tools and the absence of easy camaraderie creates fatigue. Someone recently asked: "Is it normal to take more breaks at home than I did in the office?" Yes! You’re working harder, you’re not being buoyed along by the ambiance - and your days are possibly stretching into nights. Breaks are essential for productivity.

What to do

Schedule work time and break time. Hand write your key tasks and strike them off one by one. I like the Pomodoro Technique – work with great focus for 25 minutes and take a break for 5. You can choose your own timing, but the critical thing is to take the breaks and rejuvenate – stretch, have a drink, check in on the children, daydream or check your preferred social media app (so long as you don’t get sucked in!).

Get a good night’s sleep. Most humans need 7 to 8 hours sleep a night, so plan your sleep. Wind down a good hour before bedtime.

Exercise. At home we could sit most of the day (and sitting is the new smoking), so schedule movement – before or after your working day and when taking a break. And check your posture whilst working.

Meditate. Switch off and look into the distance and allow your mind to clear. Do that for a minute or two. Increase the timing as you like. It’s a tonic for your wellness and your creativity.

5. Environment

Have you created an optimal work environment for yourself? Do you work most productively in silence or with music playing, or with a vague and consistent level of background noise? Do you have a sitting arrangement that works? Do you have optimal light? Is the room temperature set for productivity (typically, men like rooms cooler than women)? Do you need to enforce rules around bandwidth use at home? Have you created an environment that facilitates focus?

What to do

Work out how you work best when working on different tasks and create the environment that supports this – to the extent possible. Writing this, I’m in our study – the environment’s great, except my husband is on non-stop calls, so I’ve got earplugs in my ears. It’s either this or move to the dining table, but the AC is on the blink. Choose optimally – and to compensate for any hardship, make sure you take your breaks.

6. Human connection

Some people thrive during work from home and for others it is a huge challenge. One thing all humans have in common is the need for close relationships and to feel included – to different degrees. When we are physically isolated from our colleagues, creating a sense of connection is especially important and a little challenging. What was previously a simple smile or ‘good morning’ now takes a conscious effort and planning.

What to do

Make the effort to check in frequently with colleagues, especially those living alone. Perhaps schedule calls where your objective is simply to listen without offering advice or solutions. Take a minute or two to meditate during a Zoom call, or ask fun questions. You could take turns to create a quiz on Kahoot on a favourite topic. The objective is to create a sense of connection. Again, when you are already working extra hard on communicating, this adds to the effort-load – but is essential for well-being.

7. From tiger speed to tortoise speed

I may be exaggerating the difference in the speed at which things are accomplished during work from home, but any activity requiring collaboration typically takes longer. Chairing meetings is a case in point.

What to do

Are you using an optimal tool set – software applications that support collaboration and enable the right level of tracking? Is everyone crystal clear on their role, accountabilities, deliverables and deadlines? Plan, communicate, have teammates communicate back. Regular huddles. An upfront agenda, with timings and expectations, enables greater focus and productivity.

8. Children

For working parents with young children, this could be the best of times or the worst of times – but it’s probably going to be somewhere between the two. Children running into the room demanding water colours because their art teacher has suddenly decided to engage the class in creating therapeutic landscapes, can break concentration and cause laughter if you’re leading a webinar or on a team call. Parents of young children have expressed the joy of being able to spend lunch and coffee breaks with their children – and flex their schedules to fully participate playtime. And they’ve also had to experience the guilt of not being able to spend time with their unfathoming toddlers when a deadline looms. 

What to do

This is a major challenge. To the extent possible, schedule the responsibilities and divide them, between the adults in your house. Workload permitting, aim to equally distribute responsibilities between the working adults. Whilst it’s difficult to achieve, try to let go of guilt and focus on getting the most out of your work time and your children time.

I don’t want to equate children with chores, but the same goes for household responsibilities – allocate tasks and stick to them.

Work load does not equal effort load. For many people, working from home at this time involves an additional workload and an additional effort load. Reason enough to take the above steps to enable and maintain focus – on both the professional and personal parts of life.

Andrea Stone is a leadership coach working with global leaders and leadership teams to improve performance using scientific research, proven techniques and a challenging yet supportive style. She has extensive international corporate leadership experience in technology-driven industries across Asia and Europe.

Photo: Oguzhan Akdogan