Offices are now opening back up, and whilst many employees are returning to their workplaces, others will continue to work from home. If your organisation is offering remote working, there are some things you should consider for safeguarding your employees’ wellbeing.
Keeping Workspaces Clean
Employees work better and are more productive when working in a clean and tidy workspace. Organisations should communicate this information and urge employees to create and maintain clean, streamlined and safe workspaces at home to help them perform their roles to the best of their ability.
Ensure Workspaces Are Safe
Whilst organisations don’t need to carry out workstation risk assessments for temporary home workers, they do for permanent ones, and it’s a good idea to carry them out for all remote workers. Ensure employees know the best way to set up their desks and chairs to keep their back healthy and keep the correct posture to prevent injury.
Employers can show they care about their team members by providing items that help improve posture and comfort whilst sitting at a desk. These items include ergonomic chairs and adaptors for monitors and keyboards to ensure they’re at the right height and much more.
Encourage Employees to Keep Moving
Employers have a duty of care to their team, so providing staff with tips and advice on preventing common injuries is a great idea. Promote a standing up, a 5-minute break from their desk every hour. Provide information on stretches that will keep the body moving and prevent stiffness, soreness, and injuries from sitting at a desk all day.
Be Committed to Mental Health
Organisations need to be committed to safeguarding the mental health of their employees, and whilst this can be more difficult when people are remote working, it should still be a top priority. Having regular check-ins with employees to see how they are feeling is a must. Many organisations offer employees access to digital meditation sessions and other mindfulness activities to help with mental health and wellbeing.
One essential part of protecting employees’ mental health (whether working from home or in the office) is not placing expectations on them to work longer hours than they should. Do not expect employees to respond to emails or answer calls outside of working hours and respect their time away from work.
Hosting events outside of work can be a great way to keep employee morale high and help ensure staff are socialising even though they’re working from home. Something as simple as a monthly employee lunch or as organised as team building day out can make all the difference to those who might otherwise be struggling.
If you’re an organisation with employees working from home, ensure you do all you can to support their health and wellbeing. You’ll be rewarded with more engaged, productive, and motivated employees who will work harder and better to help your business succeed.
