Video text transcript (excluding videos and images):
Hello and thanks for joining me. I’m Grant Price from YOHO and I’m here to answer another … ‘Question of Work’.It comes from Assad and it’s about a new’ but growing’ issue: “How do I help my employees avoid Remote Working Fatigue?” Important question Assad, thank you.
This may look extreme – but Remote Working Fatigue has become a serious, and increasingly common, problem that warrants our attention. Recent research identified that a significant % of staff, who initially loved working from home, are now suffering ‘office withdrawal’ and are looking to spend more time working alongside their colleagues. The cause … Remote Working Fatigue.
Karin Moser, Professor of Organisational Behaviour at LSBU’s Business School, predicted the problem in her ground breaking study during the UK’s first full lockdown in 2020. It identified that Remote Working increases tiredness which requires longer recovery time, compared to on-site office work!
The study concluded “This business practice is not sustainable, and will have detrimental impacts on employee health and productivity.” Fatigue severely impairs our cognitive functions – it is linked to misdiagnosis in hospitals and major errors in financial and administrative work, to name a few. It’s a serious and growing issue for all of us.
So how can we reduce the fatigue? Well, a few options from the study included …
Allowing staff time to recover from the demands of remote working
- Give them additional breaks and stipulate no working beyond core hours
- Encourage shutting down of digital devices outside of core work hours
- Foster extra-curricular activities such as sports and family time
Provide support to employees who have extra demands on their time (Such as caring for elderly relatives and pre-existing health issues).
At YOHO we research and advise companies on all aspects of their workplace strategy. If you’d like some help adjusting to the New Work Order, please get in touch…
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