Hybrid working seems to be future of office work.
A survey from the Western Development Commission in 2023 found that 59 per cent of respondents were working hybrid and 38 per cent were working fully remotely.
But when it comes to our work-from-home days, it can be hard to disconnect when you sign off for the day.
We sat down with Dr Sarah Kayat to learn how to make the most of hybrid working and what the health benefits are behind the new way of working.
View this post on Instagram
“I’m such an advocate of hybrid working,” she tells us. “It improves your work life balance, there are financial savings both for the employer and the employee and there are a myriad of health benefits as well.”
She explains that a report carried out by International Workplace Group on over 4000 workers found that there were 36 per cent fewer sick days and that workers found their stress levels decreased. 70 per cent had fewer stress-related health conditions issues like chronic headaches, tension-related pain and digestive issues.
Dr Sarah says: “Because of those two main findings, they also found that there was improved productivity because healthier, happier individuals usually translate into more productivity more efficiency and greater engagement in the workplace.”
Obviously work-life balance is a big talking point when it comes to hybrid and remote work. Dr Sarah says that it’s important to know where your boundaries are.
“I think work-life balance will look very different for lots of people. For me, its about making sure that the individual feels that they have differentiation in their life. Its not the the work takes over their entire week that it then leaks into their evening because they are working from home,” she says.
“You don’t want work to take away from family time or friend time or exercise time. It just means that you have this significant differentiation between when you’re at work and when you’re finished. Then when you can look after yourself and do the things that fill your cup.”
She explains that compartmentalizing your life is really important. So make a workspace for yourself, even if it is just a small space in your home that you dedicate to work.
“You do want to know that you can close that door or the metaphorical door behind you and then enter normal life afterwards,” she says.
View this post on Instagram
“There is always that fear when it comes to hybrid working that it might leech into your personal life, and that’s where boundaries are really important. I think it can be the physical boundaries of being in a separate room, or it could be more mental barrier where, at exactly this time I switch off. It’s important to have those boundaries so that it doesn’t leak into you or your personal life.”
For Dr Sarah, her three benefits of hybrid working are more free time as you are no longer commuting, more movement in nature as you can get out on your lunch break and more time to cook healthy and nutritious food.
“For me, there are five pillars of health we’ve got diet/nutrition, physical activity, sleep, stress and my final one is social connection. I think it is so important that we maintain that that that sense of community,” she says.
“I think it’s important to do something that needs your body moving. It could just be a walk in nature, try to get out to be around bodies of green, bodies of blue like the sea and the rivers. Try to get out into nature. And also, try to book an exercise class. That not only helps with your physical movement, but it also aids social connections.
“Use the time to prep nutritious food because often it’s a hard when your you know really pressed for time to get those nutritious foods in. You often reach for the quick maybe more processed foods because its more convenient and we’ve all been there! You could batch cook, so you have meals prepared for the days you are in the office.”
She also adds: “It’s important to eat that food away from your screen. It can be tempting to kind of eat and work at your desk at the same time, but try to eat mindfully, try to move away from your desk and take that time to really be present in what your eating.”