With the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic and the need for social distancing, many companies have been forced to embrace the remote working culture. Despite the many challenges of living and working remotely through the global pandemic, employees have still identified many benefits that come with working from home. For most organisations, introducing hybrid working will require a significant establishment of new ways of working and the associated policies.
In this special guest blog, Travis Loxley discusses the benefits of hybrid working for your mental health, and how this can empower higher productivity for employees.
What is hybrid working?
Hybrid working is a new term that considers agile working, blended working, or split working arrangements. In this type of working pattern, employees can attend the workplace for part of their working week and complete the rest of the week working from home, elsewhere, or even remotely.
Hybrid working differs from home working, where an employee can work from home throughout the week. Now that lockdown measures in most countries around the world have been relaxed, many organisations have welcomed the hybrid way of working - encouraging optimal performance through working within a physical team environment as well as benefiting from the flexibility of working from home. As a result, employees may choose to go to the office, visit a coworking space and/or work from home, to enjoy a range of environments that enable them to focus well.
Hybrid working and mental health
While there are many pros and cons for hybrid working, research has shown a key reason why employees embrace hybrid working is to help them nurture their mental health and improve work-life balance. For example, a family dynamic with working parents and children will require finding a balance between daily life tasks and their working life. Juggling these responsibilities can pose some challenges, and play a factor on affecting one's mental health.
It's important to consider other factors that can disrupt concentration levels whilst working from home, whether it’s external factors such as nearby construction work or road maintenance leading to noise disturbance, or your home set-up not being as conducive to an optimal and office set-up, that aligns with health and safety standards, such as not having a dedicated working space. These factors can affect our sense of happiness and productivity at work, and so considering a hybrid working model can be beneficial.
Advantage of hybrid working for your mental well-being
The main benefits that come from choosing to work from home include not having to commute to work and associated costs, and time saved being utilised for activities that support your well-being including exercise and time with family and friends. It's also a great opportunity to also spend time enjoying your hobbies, learning new skills, and working on self development. There is also a greater sense of freedom to manage your working tasks and nurture a flexible lifestyle around your work, and this independance can nurture your mental well-being.
Hybrid working can assist with balancing between working from the office and working from home, enabling you to embrace different working environments. As a result, this can help to centre a sense of variety in your life, create a distinction between home and work life, and boost your sense of happiness and well-being.
The benefits of coworking spaces
Working in different professional environments outside of your home can help to boost your concentration levels, focus and productivity. For some, going to the office could pose as challenging, especially if there is a long or costly commute involved. This is where coworking spaces can be incredibly beneficial.
A coworking space is an arranged common office space for workers of different companies, allowing cost savings and convenience through the use of common infrastructures, such as equipment, utilities, receptionist, and custodial services.
Coworking spaces can help you to avoid any disturbances that prevent you from focusing at home, and it also presents a safe haven to those who would rather not travel as far as the office. There are so many coworking spaces spread all over the globe nowadays, due to the increasing demand for them. A good number of coworking spaces appeal to many employees practising hybrid working, and residing within or around these environments. Why not check online to see what coworking spaces are near you, and book in a free trial day.
Discover what works for you
To maintain good mental health, it’s important to give yourself time to review your daily tasks, identify what could be contributing to any stress, and explore what could help to alleviate those stressors.
It's common to find yourself under pressure to deliver work particularly when there are disturbances, either while working at home or in the office; we all want to perform at our best and give our focused attention to our jobs. This is where hybrid working can come into play as one of many considerations, an approach that many organisations have embraced in recent months as an incentive to help employees feel healthy, happy and productive at work.
Travis Loxley is a therapist with over nine years of experience. Travis is dedicated to guiding people to the help they need. He believes that with the right support and guidance, those who are struggling will be able to turn their lives around and live healthy and happy life.