Think “Work From Home” Means Working Less? Think Again
By: Marcus Griswold
Tags: Psychology, Productivity, Self Improvement, Remote Work, Mental Health

Think “Work From Home” Means Working Less? Think Again

Those micro-moments of downtime are critical for mental and physical health

Monday morning. I sit at the desk in my house, sunlight streaming into my work-from-home space, hoping for a moment’s rest before the onslaught of meetings and requests come in.

It’s worse than I thought. In my Outlook calendar, there are actually meetings overlapping each other — you know those side by side meetings.

Well, that’s great. I forgot to clone myself this morning.

So, I usually just use the “eney meeny miny moe” (yes I did in fact have to Google that spelling) or the rock, paper, scissors approach to pick which to go to. Or maybe it just goes to the person who picked up a coffee for me last time or liked my idea in the last meeting.

Unfortunately, working from home means I can’t walk over to said meeting sender’s desk and see how critical I am. It also means that not only are meetings side by side but back to back, meaning there’s no break between meetings. I don’t know about you, but this is a problem for my introverted self. I thrive on downtime — time to process and time to actually use my overly analytical brain.

We all used to have downtime when migrating to a different in-person meeting, whether it’s in a different room, building, or a short drive. Now we have no excuse. Maybe if we are lucky we get a bite to eat or find the bathroom (though that’s what the mute button is for, right?). Either way, we are expected to push on.

In many of us, this can easily spiral out of control into burn out. I’ve been there, in the burn out spiral — working more to stress less — with little success. Understanding your own cycle and habits, and what helps restore your own personal energy is key to solving this problem.

Gerd Altmann on PIxabay

Covid-19 Impacts on Work Breaks

When the pandemic first started people were confused, work seemed to slow down a bit for some (not me, unfortunately). People were buying out the flour stocks to bake every version of apple pie they could think of. Others started knitting blankets.

But that all stopped when people realized one thing. You don’t need to actually walk or drive between meetings anymore.

Now, what can we do with all of that free time? Ah, yes, we can actually increase productivity. At least that’s what I imagine hearing if I were the fly on the wall in the Executive Boardroom.

I remember sitting in one meeting recently where someone was on my zoom, a webinar, and another zoom call all at once. I was floored. Then I heard this come up again on another meeting.

I thought first, well that’s a great solution to not being able to clone yourself. Next, I wondered what happened if they were asked a question at the same time in two different meetings. Intriguing.

I suppose they just do what we all do and say there’s a network issue here, be right back.

Across the board, I hear from colleague after colleague about these same issues. There’s no downtime or break with these new work-from-home expectations.

So what, you ask? Well, there are some clear benefits of workday breaks to productivity, mental health, and well it’s just the law.

Importance of Scheduling Downtime During the Day

1. Improves Mental and Physical Health

Downtime can improve mental and physical health. One study, for example, found that employees who unplugged and took time off reduced serious health issues like coronary heart disease. Constant sitting puts you at higher risk of heart disease, diabetes, depression, and obesity.

2. Restores Focus and Energy

The need to make frequent decisions throughout your day can wear down your willpower and reasoning ability. Even being hyperfocused on a single task can decrease work performance without taking breaks. Stretch yourself just a bit beyond that productivity zone and you might feel unfocused, zoned out or even irritable. What changes? Basically, the human brain just wasn’t built for the extended focus we ask of it these days.

Studies show that brief periods of downtime, like afternoon naps, can restore focus and energy. According to the Harvard Business Review, breaks allow us to take a step back and make sure we’re accomplishing the right things in the right way. Deactivating and reactivating your goals allows you to stay focused.

3. Increases Creativity and Systemic Thinking

Downtime lets our brains reorganize, revisit moments with more clarity, and troubleshoot problems. Remember as a kid, or if you’re really lucky, as an adult when you would lay in the grass and watch the clouds go by? That’s when our brain has the chance to reorganize.

Brain activity actually increases when we daydream. That also might be why many people have their best ideas in the shower. This is when the brain switches from the focusing mode to the diffuse or default mode.

Daydreaming lets our brain replay conversations and learn from them. It lets us come up with a solution to failures or challenges we are facing.

4. Reduces the Chance of Burnout

Nearly two-thirds of workers in the U.S. feel burned out at some point according to a Gallup survey. When we burn through our internal resources we have to begin grappling for resources that aren’t there — like a car sputtering on its last few drops of gasoline.

If you are an employer, letting your employees burnout will not do you any good. And yes, you are letting them burn out because as a good manager you should be learning skills in emotional intelligence, organizational development, and empathy, no matter what field you are in.

It’s now well known that employees who burn out are less committed to their place of work, may slip into unsafe practices, and are likely to leave — exposing employers to increased healthcare and productivity costs. The unfortunate part is that once people fall into the burnout spiral they are likely to fall into the spiral again unless they are able to shift their habits.

But there are also very real costs to the workplace and spiraling costs to the healthcare system. Stanford researchers found that workplace stress leads to spending of nearly $190 billion — roughly 8% of national healthcare outlays — and nearly 120,000 deaths each year. This includes depression and work-family conflict creating a culture of happiness throughout their lives.

According to the Mayo Clinic, burnout can include:

Excessive stress

Fatigue

Insomnia

Sadness, anger or irritability

Alcohol or substance misuse

Heart disease

High blood pressure

Type 2 diabetes

Vulnerability to illnesses

How to Schedule Breaks During Work

Read that title closely. In the current work-from-home environment, we absolutely need to schedule downtime, instead of assuming it will come along. Because it won’t. And to be frank, no one knows how stressed out you are but you.

In fact, one of the key strategies for breaking the burnout cycle is to protect and build your own personal resilience.

People who don’t feel burnout are more effective at recovering after work in that they experience very little change in energy when they have control after work. On the other hand, burned-out people are actually more likely to continue to lose energy when they have control over their leisure time.

What this means is that people who are burned out continue to lose energy because they are not choosing activities that renew and recharge them. People who already are burned out and disengaged at work tend to need help rediscovering a path to life purpose and their own competence. This is why, as is true for most health issues, prevention is key.

The most important consideration when choosing a respite or break activity is to make sure it’s a preferred activity. Having access to activities we enjoy helps with recovery from burn out while activities that seem like chores send us farther down the spiral of burnout.

This means that those work mandated wellness activities are likely not helping your burned out employees if it’s not something they truly enjoy. And to be honest, if it's not a preferred activity, you are just sending them further into the burn out spiral by taking time away from them that they do not have.

As an introvert I avoid the voluntary “coffee breaks” and wellness breaks like the plague since I need time to recharge on my own. The one thing you can do for us introverts is to create a culture that supports us taking time to ourselves and not having to engage with others.

Characteristics of a good break include:

Giving employees control over timing, duration, location, and type of break activity.

Relaxation to allow for recovery and recharge of resources.

Learning something new, not related to work, such as reading or volunteering.

Enjoyment, creativity, and finding joy in the activity.

Finding a Break That Works for You

There are endless opportunities for finding a break that works for you, but it’s up to you to take action, and up to your employer to support you. Employers can do this by adding in physical and scheduling space for breaks that do not have performance goals or any other goals attached to them for that matter.

Consider adding self-care to your annual professional development plan. Below are some ideas on what to include.

Be more organized and check off all of the small tasks as soon as possible so you don’t have them clogging your neural highway. Break up your time. Use the Pomodoro method by working in short bursts to finish focused tasks. Set a timer to work for 25 minutes, then break for 5 minutes. Not only does it force you to take a break, but you might make decisions faster. If 25 minutes is too short, try 90 minute cycles, known as the ultradian rhythm, used by many professional athletes and musicians. Lastly, you can try somewhere in between these two with the 52–17 method — working 52 minutes and breaking for 17. Daydream. As I wrote earlier, daydreaming allows our brain to troubleshoot. This can be anything that allows your brain to wander, but I highly recommend getting out of enclosed space, as more open-air environments tend to increase creativity. Do anything from people or cloud watching to doodling, to watching bees pollinate flowers. Forest bathing is also becoming a popular way to immerse in nature and disconnect. Read a book, and not a work-related or self-help book, please. People who frequently read fiction are better able to understand other people, empathize with them, and see the world from their perspective. Take a nap. You remember all of those medical drama shows where the resident sleeps in between patients. Naps between 10–30 minutes are best to reduce grogginess. When pilots were given a nap of 30 minutes on long flights, there was a 16 percent improvement in their reaction time. Get active — anything from taking a walk, playing a game or meditating. Exercising or meditating for as little as 10 minutes can improve cognitive function. Doing either outdoors can stimulate the brain and relax.

Any way you look at it, we need a break more now than ever. Find out what works for you, test it, then implement it. Doing this on a regular basis can make you happier at work, increase productivity, and prevent nasty health issues in the future. If you find you are not supported by your workplace and have had meaningful conversations with your supervisor and HR, you might need to consider switching jobs.