As a result of the protocols that require people to stay at home, millions have altered their lifestyles. One of the most common measures is to work from home. As a result, employees may discover themselves experiencing stress, anxiety, and isolation, negatively impacting  health and productivity.

Home can dissolve the borders between personal life and work, so it's hard to segregate your priorities and activities in this manner. Combined with an uncertain worldwide health crisis, a sudden deficiency of social interaction, demands, and parenting responsibilities, and you may well have a recipe for burnout.

Excessive stress can ultimately lead to burnout, and it affects both physical and mental health. According to the World Health Organization, symptoms of burnout are feelings of exhaustion and disinterest, increased mental isolation or a negative outlook on one's job, and diminished professional productivity.

But, don't worry - it's not too late to avoid getting burnt out at work. Take advantage of these valuable tips so you can continue to retain your mental health in the workplace:

1. Maintain Work-Life Balance

People have broken up their routines, creating both good patterns and bad ones, in recent times. By working from home, remote workers can save up to an hour of commuting time each day. Yet those same workers are faced with added obligations, like caring for family members at home, suffering from weak broadband Internet connectivity issues, and other more household problems. The pressure of trying to fit work and life commitments into one schedule can be overwhelming.

Company leaders or managers should implement scheduling strategies with more flexibility. People working remotely often follow a specific schedule style, breaking their working day into two or three cycles. Your schedule might include eight to the noon time of work, followed by afternoons spent freely with family or yourself. Ideally, you would finish your day from four till eight, leaving you several hours to yourself to recharge. Although this doesn’t apply to most WFH companies, this is one way to apply a better work-life balance.

2. Get Enough Sleep

This second tip is a no-brainer as sleep plays a significant role in all human lives. Researchers believe deep sleep flushes out toxic wastes during sleep, so as a result, the brain is refreshed during sleep. Generally speaking, adults should sleep seven to nine hours every night since most doctors recommend this amount.
Prior to hitting the sack, it would help to stop screen time in order to sleep faster. Research also suggests that you shut down your electronics for at least less than an hour before sleep.

3. Communicate Effectively

All kinds of people have been affected. Your employees and colleagues may be dealing with insecurities concerning their jobs, possibly their partners lost their jobs, or they may be dealing with an illness in the family. However, on the contrary, they might find that recent months have been tremendous, and that working from home has enabled them to thrive and be willing to take on new responsibilities.

Listen actively to your employees. You can apply different approaches for interviews, like one-on-one or team interviews. Whichever works, let them know that you genuinely want to know what is going on in their professional lives during the pandemic. Offer them some tips to manage stress during these challenging times.

4. Have a Break

The absence of office distractions can seem like an easy opt-out, but you need to be careful of overworking as this can easily lead to burnout and exhaustion. Feel free to relax and not be a slave to your work when you're at home. Instead of wasting time surfing social media, spend some time talking on the phone with a friend, or go for a walk in your neighbourhood to set your mindset in the right direction.

5. Establish Teamwork

Loneliness has become a new stress factor for many workers. When you’re working from home alone, you can’t realize how much your colleagues inspire and motivate you. WFH has caused loneliness in the workplace to worsen as on-site workers need to remain distant from each other, while remote workers can no longer mingle.

Encourage team members to reach out and connect with activities including:

· Set up team-building discussion channels on your company’s communication software.
· Have every team member attend regular video conferences.
· When possible, have in-person meetings—you can schedule and spread them out to establish social distance.
· Employees at remote facilities and the on-site staff should arrange hybrid meetings.

Everyone can connect in the aforementioned ways. Furthermore, these allow the whole team to monitor one another and ensure that someone can help anyone struggling. Stress and burnout are best managed by teamwork. Employees will be able to get through challenges as a team when they have effective  communication, collaboration, and support.

Conclusion

The tips mentioned above are all useful in ensuring that you can avoid burnout during these uncertain times. Attention to people's health should be heightened more this season as everyone battles through with their own shortcomings in this unfamiliar journey.

No one is exempted from feeling stressed, depressed, and doubtful. But, when you take care of your physical and mental health, you’ll be able to pursue and succeed over these battles.