Technically, remote working should improve your work-life balance. After all, you stay close to home, don’t need to commute, and can do most of the tasks that you would never manage from your office desk. However, remote working has also led to several concerns regarding overworking or invasion of personal time by the companies.
So, in order to truly make the most of the opportunity to work from home, here are the tips to set your work-life boundaries.
Have clear boundaries with the colleagues and boss
You need to set clear boundaries when work creeps too much in the home life. So, let the manager and teammates know when to expect you online. Make sure they know if you require flexible hours. Do not expect your boss to know about these things – you need to tell them about it clearly.
It is okay to not be available all the time. So, turn off your email when you are not working anymore.
Of course, your colleagues and boss will not get into your home life purposely. Maybe they work on different schedules, and there are no rulebooks to look at. Rather than getting angry at them for violating the boundaries, be clearer and firmer about them. It will be helpful for people to know when you’ll be available.
Keep a dedicated office space at your home
Offices help you enter into that work mode. So, when work spills into the rest of the home, it not only impacts your productivity but also makes the home feel less relaxing.
So, whether it’s an actual home office, a guest bedroom, or the corner of a shared space, have a dedicated office space that lets you enter the work mode every day. Put the laptop in a closet or drawer after your work is completed. Once you do not see it, you will not want to jump right back in.
Also, try to start and end the working hours with a kind of ritual that lets your brain know that it is time to go from personal to work hours and vice versa.
Schedule all the personal activities during free time
You might be off the clock but still, feel like it is easier to go on working rather than doing things for yourself. To make sure you have a healthy work-life balance, you need to take time to plan things to make you stay at peace.
It is that ‘life’ aspect of the work-life balance that people mainly struggle with. So, you need to schedule your personal activities and have a few go-to pursuits that you love so you will have things to do in your spare time. In case you do not have anything specific planned, such as a puzzle or hiking after work, you will end up going back to work involuntarily.
Maintain the right boundaries with the family
It is hard to maintain a boundary between your life and work when you have your family staying with you. Small kids, particularly, would shatter your work-life boundaries by popping up when you are on video chat with your colleagues, making constant noise, or making their demands at the worst time.
Of course, you cannot stop children from being themselves, but you need to make strides by being firm and putting up particular boundaries.
You can create several visual boundaries by writing signs, setting timers, using headphones, shutting doors, or using red cards to show how busy you’re. Also, verbal boundaries like having a deep discussion and consistent chats would help in this matter.
Make sure you do not have a burnout
You end up overworking when you start working from home. As people have to face fewer boundaries, they tend to never stop their work. Since there is no set start and end time, and no pressure of commuting, people do not realize how long they have been working.
You might start developing unhealthy habits like lack of sleep or skipping lunch. Such habits lead to burnout, which is what you need to avoid by setting work-life boundaries.
Endnote
Setting work-life boundaries are not something to be delayed or taken slowly when you are working from home. So, follow the tips mentioned above, and put those ideas to good use today.
