While employees who can are once again invited to work from home, everyone has sharpened their strategy to stay productive and in shape.
Back home. Since the beginning of January, employees who can have been invited to return to their teleworking habits. But beating the recall doesn’t seem to have been enough at this point. According to a Harris poll for the Department of Labor, only 60% of employees who had teleworked in the past did so again the week of January 3. Proof that even in a runaway epidemic situation, some companies – and employees – remain reluctant to face this new mode of organization, where the limits between professional and personal life tend to blur more.
Read alsoShe was 100% telecommuting, her company couldn’t get her back to the office
The two years of health crisis have however allowed employees to find their marks by working at home, and to find the organization that suits them. Six employees who telecommute, and who like it, have given us “the” advice they would give to better live teleworking.
Equip yourself like in the office
“I don’t have a specific room to work in, I am in the living room. But it doesn’t bother me“explains Julie, head of the social division of an accounting firm in Toulon. When teleworking was reinforced, the employee equipped herself with a second screen which allows her to work in the same conditions at home as in the office. “If I wasn’t well equipped, I’m not sure I could cope with periods of heavy workload“, she underlines.
Enjoy the great outdoors – when possible
“When teleworking was set up, at the time of the first confinement, I had settled on my terrace, to work. I saw the color of the sky and the sun every day – it was still much nicer than being locked up at home or in the office“, explains Donatien, legal assistant. An easier option when, like him, you live in Nice. “I was still the only one, out of the company’s forty employees, to have an “office” outside“, he boasts. In the absence of a balcony and favorable temperatures, an outing to walk during the day allows you to breathe.
Take a real lunch break
To disconnect but also to maintain this “social gatheringWhat is the lunch break with colleagues, Gaëtane, an employee of a French IT group, recommends taking a real lunch break, away from the computer. “It should not be working at the same time, nor should it be used for household chores. On the contrary, I try to really enjoy this break“, she explains. The risk is to be obsessed with both work and what suddenly seems urgent to do at home. Gaëtane recommends using this time to call colleagues and maintain the social bond and exchanges that may be lacking in telework.
Arrange your schedules by taking advantage of the time saved in transport
Make teleworking more pleasant? The question surprises a little Laurent, marketing manager in the food industry. “To believe that spending hours in public transport or in your car is pleasant“, he mocks. His advice: take advantage of telework to improve your pace of life. “I laze around in bed a little longer in the morning, I reduce the length of my lunch break to create a new break in the afternoon“, explains the Strasbourgeois. Big plus according to him: in case of cravings, the cupboards are right next to it.
Maintain physical activity… Even a few steps
Happy coincidence, Thomas, an apprentice in communication, acquired a connected watch at the time of the first confinement. “It indicates the heart rate, but more importantly, it starts to vibrate if I do not move for more than 45 minutes“. At each alarm, the young man is good for a few steps in his 20 square meter apartment, which he usually walks around twice. An innocuous gesture but of which he feels the benefits: “I’m less numb“. At the end of the day, during which he has walked about 1,000 steps, he goes for a walk to reach the 10,000 steps generally recommended. Fortunately, this can be done with or without the assistance of a connected watch.
Read alsoThe sales start despite Omicron and the rise of telework
Continue to prepare as if we were going to work
A tip comes back in the mouth of several teleworkers solicited: even at home, you have to apply yourself to get ready every morning as if to go to work. “I wash and dress as if I were going to the siteexplains Stéphanie, human resources manager. Admittedly, not always with clothes that she would put on to go to the office. But getting dressed makes it possible to mark the break between the moment “of relaxation“and the time”workingeven if they take place in the same place.