There are many challenges to maintaining a healthy and productive work life balance when working from home during a global pandemic.  Lockdown and the restrictions of quarantine mean we are all working from places that were never designed for productivity and having to rely on infrastructure that isn’t built to support everyone doing the same task at the same time. Also, the things which give relief and help reset the mind, such as being outdoors or visiting friends and family are no longer possible even though they are very important for maintaining good Mental Health.

Separating work from personal life is for many an important component to being productive at work. Being in the office is a great way of being a physical separator to help your mind switch to work mode. The office also makes communication a lot simpler. Effective communication with a team is vital for staying on track and the ability to talk through work related issues as and when they arise with colleagues is better and more economical to solve problems.

Team communication can feel fragmented and the issues of quarantine will affect different members of the team in different ways. Having school age children at home and helping them come to terms with having to stay locked down whilst staying on top of work can be challenging. Working normal office hours becomes more challenging whilst looking after children.

Having set hours to work is helpful however, they may not be the same hours every day and having all the family at home means that work could be interrupted and therefor a task takes much longer than it would normally take as you aren’t able to fully concentrate on a task.

Technology also plays a huge part in being able to work from home successfully- the internet in many peoples home is a low quality broadband connection which is used in normal times to stream a film or browse the internet. Home set up isn’t geared to multiple people working or taking online meetings at the same time. Slow internet speeds or sometimes disconnections can make working from home feel disjointed and take much longer to complete tasks and keep in contact with members of the team.

Adaptive working is important as homes aren’t normally set up so you can comfortably sit at a computer for long periods of time.

Working for an employer who understands and helps puts measures in place to mitigate the negative impacts of working from home is a massive help, both to productivity and maintaining a good mental health. This in turn means we are better able to help carrying on supporting and promoting learning for life and helping people most at need of developing their learning needs.

Networking and going out on visits is a vital part of the job. Meeting with people in their places of work gives a better understanding of the challenges and issues they face and guides how best to help them. We need now to utilize alternative methods of helping and engaging with learners whilst making sure we are not putting the people with low level of English and or IT skills at a disadvantage by not being able to engage with us.  To help overcome any obstacles we are able to talk over the phone and help/talk through any issues.

The unionlearn Learning @ Home web pages have lots of resources, ideas and support to help members make the most of their time at home, whether working, furloughed or just spending time online to access learning.