Workplace Wellbeing: Managing blurred lines between work and home

“For many, working from home meant setting up the computer on the kitchen table, at least initially, that erased all boundaries,” he says. “If employees could leave their work behind them in the office before the pandemic, the lines between work and downtime were now blurred. It became much more challenging to separate the two when people no longer had that time to decompress when moving between home and work and vice versa.”

Beyond pandemic-influenced work conditions, other factors contribute to the blurring of these lines. One is the outsized role that work assumes in many of our lives.

“Organisations are productivity driven, and it’s in their interests if their people remain switched on,” says Maguire.

He warns against believing our lives should revolve around work. “Work isn’t everything,” he says. “It doesn’t have to be the most important thing in our lives. If your work gives you a sense of purpose and meaning, that can contribute to your fulfilment in life. But many have a far more transactional relationship with work. For them, it’s simply time spent making the money they need to live the lives they want to lead.”

Modern havoc

Dr Jacob Eisenberg, an associate professor of organisational psychology at University College Dublin, says work boundaries are critical.

“If we erase all boundaries, we don’t give our minds and bodies a rest from goal-oriented behaviours, which means our active or sympathetic nervous system doesn’t switch off,” he says.

We evolved to cope with stress for short bursts of time. “Whether escaping from a wolf or fighting an enemy, once the stressful event is over, our nervous system returns to a lower activation mode,” says Eisenberg.

“The parasympathetic system takes over and allows us to recover. But modern life presents us with multiple daily psychological stress events and plays havoc with our ability to recover. If our sympathetic nervous system remains active most of the day, we will experience higher levels of burnout and compromised health due to that chronic stress.”

The 2023 Remote Working in Ireland Survey found that 59% of its 5,929 respondents were working on a hybrid basis, with 38% more working fully remotely. If these findings are representative of the national workforce, many people could be finding it difficult to switch off from work.

The Right to Disconnect and Workplace Wellbeing Survey 2024, carried out by the Kerry-based HR consultancy firm HR Buddy, proves there’s cause for concern. Some 37.5% of the 400 people surveyed said they found it difficult to switch off from work, and 55% said their work-life balance was either very poor, poor, or in need of improvement.

Along with commuting, there are other ways we can mark the transition to and from work.

Nicola Bowman is a 53-year-old sales executive from Co Meath who works remotely and has developed rituals to demarcate the start and end of her working day.

“If it’s a workday, I shower and blow-dry my hair,” she says. “I dress for work and put on my makeup. I make a cup of coffee, sit at my desk and close the office door to shut out anything that might be happening in the rest of the house. That helps me get into the work frame of mind.”

Even if you don’t have the luxury of a dedicated home office, Eisenberg recommends setting aside an area of your home to work in, even if it’s simply the corner of a room. “Maintain the rest of your home as a work-free zone,” he says. “Work in that designated area during set working hours and the rest of the time - try not to engage in any work.”

When her workday ends, Boman finds that meditating helps her to switch off. “My job is high pressure and meditating brings order to my brain,” she says.

Maguire also advocates for meditation. “I advise the people I work with to get up 15 or 20 minutes earlier in the morning to give themselves that quiet time to meditate, think ahead and plan their day,” he says. “If you’re not a morning person, this is also something you could do the night before. Using a journal or diary, you can note what you want to achieve that day and that will prepare you psychologically for the work head.”

When the day ends, he recommends being similarly intentional about switching off. “We are responsible for our own lives and we set our boundaries,” he says. “Most of us don’t need to check emails outside work hours. So, when we find ourselves doing so, we should remind ourselves that our time off is just as important as the time we spend at work.”

Switching off

We may need to be disciplined when using technology in our downtime. “I have clients who have a work phone that they turn off at the end of the day so that they don’t feel tempted to check emails outside of work hours,” says Maguire.

“Another option is to switch off work-related notifications or, better yet, to turn off your devices entirely. The fact that technology is ubiquitous means that work can follow us wherever we go but there are still steps we can take to regain our freedom.”

Eisenberg has other tips for disconnecting: “For as long as I can remember, I’ve changed my clothes at the end of my workday,” he says. “I find it helps.” A meal can be a good transition marker, too. “Lots of people use dinner to signify the moment that thoughts of work are set aside,” he says.

A physical routine can also demarcate a transition. “Something like a walk or 15 minutes of yoga can allow you to switch off,” he says.

Moving to hybrid and remote working has suited many others. In the Right to Disconnect and Workplace Wellbeing survey, 40% reported a good work-life balance, 5% described their work-life balance as great, and 29% claimed that they didn’t find it at all difficult to switch off from work.

Eisenberg says that employees can make their work work for them with employer support.

“We’re living in fascinating times, characterised by more opportunities in work and life, the blurring of boundaries and greater flexibility,” he says. “There are blessings in that and potential threats, too. The main implication is that we need to be responsible for our own mental and physical wellbeing, monitor it regularly and act to restore the balance when it is lost.”