Is Working from Home Really Healthy?

Flexibility feels like the new keyword in the world of commerce and business. The working class is standing up for its rights and becomes rebellious. The once 9-to-5 philosophy is thrown out of the window in favour of “I work when my energy levels are peaking”.

It is another revolution to the calendar of humankind.

Ignited by the ups and downs of the lockdown between 2020 and 2022, the desire of standing firm on these rights is mixed. Some companies simply cannot operate when their employees decide their working hours. Others tend to find a golden middle way. And others thrive by letting their trustworthy team of vision-driven co-workers decide their place and time to get productive.

There simply is no right or wrong when choosing a methodology. As long as it works and the work gets done. It is rising as the new life-work credo.

We all know that the new kid on the block is the working-from-home situation. Trading one’s three-piece suit for shorts and a t-shirt (a business shirt is kept at the side when Zoom calls are booked in) is even noticeable when I meet clients.?

Yet, we dive into it relentlessly. Holding firm to our rights to WFH in one form or the other, as long as we have the internet by our side.

But is it the solution to a healthier life-work balance?

The association that WFH avoids those dreadful commutes, finding solace in the fact we are there more for our family is seen as positive feeders. However, the opposite is true, and more true than we hold dear.?

While your productivity may spike for the sake of KPIs and OKRs, we also devoid ourselves more from human contact. Hormones such as Oxytocin are less activated, thus disconnecting the bond it has with adrenaline and dopamine.

Additionally, we remain comfort creatures. And comfort starts at home. The rise of ordering through food apps has risen dramatically as soon as we turned another page on the calendar and saw 2020 appear.

Choices aplenty and why not make use of it while wandering around in our pyjama bottoms?

The brain still reigns supreme and the connection it makes between being at home and making conscious food choices is also dilapidating, unfortunately.

Those hours you commuted are now moved into productivity hours. The finest moments of the day enter our brains when we are less focused and more off the grid. Those who need to commute do not transfer that non-productivity time into other hourly slots.

And then, the temptation of more social media or binge-watching anything on the telly is not a conclusion we can be proud of. It is there, it’s within arms reach and who’s watching over our shoulder anyway?

Numerous studies by Harvard, Forbes, Microsoft, and Google all point towards the same. While it is crucial to find a life-work balance in favour of your time away from the screen, new unhealthy demons rise.

The growing waiting list for clients who are desperate to make those habitual changes is both aware and unaware. It is how getting out of this rut of unwanted habits is where my clients are at a loss.

And it is fairly simple.

Don't work from bed. You want your bed to be a place of peace and calm, not work stress. | Liz Grossman Kitoyi