How to promote health and well-being in remote workers?

6 de April, 2023

With the covid-19 pandemic slowing down, companies and employees around the world have been returning to their offices over the last year. However, many professionals continue to work remotely and, given the chance, prefer to telecommute.

With physical distance, it can be more difficult to monitor employees’ well-being and identify any signs that something might be wrong, both physically and psychologically and mentally.

What’s more, remote working can lead to feelings of isolation and make it difficult to achieve a healthy work-life balance.

For this reason, it is essential that company managers are able to implement measures to promote the health and well-being of remote workers.

How can remote work influence health and well-being?

• On a physical level: the fact that workers stay at home and don’t commute to work every day can encourage more sedentary habits.
• On a mental level: when people are away from their work colleagues, they tend to feel more alone and isolated. This isolation – combined with a potential imbalance between professional and personal life – can generate high levels of stress which, consequently, can turn into burnout.

Measures to promote the well-being and health of remote workers

1 – Encourage employees to define boundaries between personal and professional life

When there is no longer a clear physical separation between a worker’s workplace and home, the line between their personal and professional lives can become blurred.

Encourage employees to turn off their computers at the end of the working day, to take regular breaks and to eat their meals away from email and other work-related stimuli.

2 – Assess what tools and equipment you need to work remotely

Identify the tools and equipment that are available in the office and that allow employees to do their jobs more effectively. We’re talking about laptop stands, monitors, external mice and keyboards, headsets, ergonomic chairs, among others.

Not having access to this equipment can lead to a certain amount of discomfort and frustration, as well as having a negative impact on efficiency and productivity.

3 – Encourage regular physical activity

The benefits of regular physical activity for physical and mental well-being are undeniable. In a context where workers can become more sedentary – because they don’t have to commute to work – promoting regular physical activity habits becomes even more important.

Physical exercise helps to improve concentration, motivation and mood, and helps to reduce stress and anxiety levels.

Your company can give employees access to platforms with online classes, offer discounts at gyms or other sports activities (such as dance schools, tennis and paddle tennis clubs, soccer fields, yoga studios, among many others).

4 – Organize virtual get-togethers

There’s no denying that we are social beings. Providing informal moments for socializing is very important for employee engagement, even more so if they are working remotely.

Organize meetings via video call and encourage more informal interactions with non-work-related topics. These moments are essential to strengthen bonds, but also to promote the mental health and well-being of teleworking employees.

5 – Check how your employees feel

You can ask employees directly how they feel – and whether work is in any way affecting their health and well-being – but there may be some reluctance to answer in a completely truthful and transparent way.

An alternative could be to carry out confidential surveys. In this way, you can find out useful information about employees’ state of mind and about aspects that may not be going well in the company and could be improved with a view to promoting people’s well-being.

With this data, you can define strategies and implement concrete measures to help maximize this well-being.

As remote working continues to establish itself as a preferred option for many professionals, it is essential that companies and their leaders have clear action plans to ensure the well-being of employees.

So if your organization hasn’t yet developed these initiatives, today is a good day to start.