Taking Rests and Breaks is a Right! Not a Reward.
By: Jumoke Ayokunle
Tags: Mwc Work, Workplace Culture, WFH, Mental Health, Work Life Balance

One of the joys of Working-From-Home (WFH) for me this past year is being able to take meaningful rests and naps during my lunch break because my office is now five steps from my room.

Working during the pandemic brought with it a different kind of stress for some roles. I have been able to manage a relatively healthy life and occasionally see my doctor for my anxiety. However, during the pandemic, I developed symptoms that beat all the prescribed tests, including passing electrodes through my nerve endings and extremities.

I was on the verge of quitting my job as I wasn’t sure the cause of my persisting symptoms when I got a new job offer. I also started incorporating timed naps and intentional rests during my workday. On chatting with a few friends and colleagues, I was not the only one who developed sudden health-related symptoms. Given that our work location as we knew it changed and Businesses, including financial institutions, had to modify their processes to adapt to WFH and continue serving customers. These changes resulted in more workload and workarounds for the staff. I was one of those affected in this way at my previous job function.

This got me thinking. Were these symptoms due to the pandemic-induced workload, or was it just a buildup of stress that I had left unattended? Is rest a reward or a right? Should employees be allowed to have rest at work? How do we make our work less stressful and transition from a “meh” feeling about our work to one of passion and excitement? This disposition also helps reduce stress levels and improves mental wellbeing. Despite seeing how my health has improved with my intentional restful activities, I still feel guilty whenever I am “sitting idle,” having a “me time,” or just not doing anything work or school related.

Why do we feel guilty when we take a rest?

I work with an organization where before the pandemic, some locations had game rooms with Ping-Pong tables and board games for employees to “play” while at work but those locations were very few, and my office location was not one of them. In my location, we had a nap room which I thought was pretty cool, however, I felt there was a negative perception of people who used the nap room. Maybe it was just me who felt that way as I was not used to the idea of being able to take naps at the office even though my health condition requires that I do this or try to. Not many people used the nap room, it was not even mentioned to me when I got onboarded to the team. A colleague/friend with whom I discussed my health management needs called my attention to it.

Furthermore, society tends to promote the idea that long work hours make a successful person, CEO, Entrepreneur, or other professional. This is not to say that success does not require paying your dues and giving your best. Observing rests and a health-promoting lifestyle is also a habit of successful people that is not as celebrated.

As companies decide on the new normal for their workforce and adapt to these changes, we also need to be more cognizant of our mental wellbeing and the importance of planned rest-time. Decision-makers should ensure that disability and accommodation policies go beyond the documented paper on which they are printed. Companies owe it to their employees to disabuse the stereotypes and any form of discrimination associated with taking rests even while at work. Some ways to achieve this is by normalizing conversations around taking rests and breaks both at work and outside work, creating awareness of the existence of these company support systems and facilities and making them readily accessible to those who need them. Finally, beyond the companies we work for, we owe it to ourselves to put our health first and not feel guilty when we need to take a rest from the demands of daily life.