Flexible Working Environment

Health and Wellbeing Issues in the Flexible Working Environment

We are all aware that flexible working was exponentially accelerated because of the pandemic lockdowns. Two and a half years on, many of us have continued with flexible working patterns and it has become the norm for many of us.

If utilised correctly, flexible working gives us greater autonomy over how we work, which can be very supportive to our overall health and wellbeing.  If used to our advantage, it can potentially give individuals an opportunity to enjoy a better work-life balance, helping to reduce absence and support individuals suffering from certain health issues to continue with their work. Effective flexible working can result in significant improvements to productivity, and this is mainly due to individuals being given the space, through flexible working, to explore and discover how they like to work, when they are at their most productive, and what work is best to tackle, and at what time of day

What do we mean by flexible working?

• The Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) suggests that flexible working ‘describes a type of working arrangement which gives a degree of flexibility on how long, where, when and at what times employees work.
• A degree of flexibility seems to be built into the very definition; we are, after all, talking about flexible
• Although every individual has the right to request flexible working by law, public guidelines on the subject are relatively vague.
• We are all aware that flexible working was exponentially accelerated because of the pandemic lockdowns, and it became the norm for many of us. Two and a half years on, many of us have continued with flexible working patterns.

2022 Forbes Research on Flexible Working

• There have been countless studies over recent years with research backing up the fact that flexible working seems to be positive and beneficial to employees, offering better job satisfaction, improved work-life balance, and physical health.
• In a study by Forbes which was released in February 2022 involving a sample of 1,000 full-time flexible workers: 88% agree that flexibility has increased their job satisfaction. 75% suggested improved physical health, and 75% suggested improved work-life balance.
• This sends out a message that if flexible working is done well, it can have incredibly positive effects on employees. Employers need to be mindful that each employee will have their own unique set of circumstances and we need to take all of these into consideration when planning how flexible working can best serve them.

What the Law says about Flexible Working

Every employee has the right to make a statutory request for flexible working after 26 weeks of employment. This request needs to be made formally in writing and only one request is permissible under law in any 12-month period.

There are two groups of disadvantages associated with flexible working which are Employee Health and Wellbeing Issues and Employee Work Style Issues.

The focus of this blog is to drill into health and wellbeing issues associated with flexible working. While on the next week’s blog we’re going to discuss employee work style issues associated with flexible working.

Blurring the work/life balance in a flexible working environment

There are of course disadvantages of flexible working which is the blurring of work/life balance that many of us feel. It is of course, helpful to have a good workspace in your home environment which is separate and distinct from where you spend your leisure time; however, for many of us, this is not always possible, with some of us working from our kitchen, lounge and bedrooms.

Even when we are able to dedicate a specific area of the home environment to our work, for some of us it’s still a mental challenge to go from having your breakfast, straight into work mode a few steps away. The traditional commute to the office in whatever form it is, car, bus, by foot, is helpful in getting employees into a ‘work’ mindset. In psychology terms, this is a useful transition phase, which is difficult to reproduce in the home working environment. In psychological talk, this transition phase has a technical term allocated to it called ‘priming’.

Top Tips for dealing with work/life balance in a flexible working environment

In a recent Thrive4Life talk Cheryl Isaacs, an occupational psychologist outlined that staff should be encouraged to develop habitual behaviours around assisting them to take action on what they find is supportive to their productivity and their overall mental and physical health and wellbeing. Developing new supportive habits can be helpful in achieving work/life balance. However, staff should always be patient and persistent with developing new habits, as most people underestimate how long they take to form.

Research has shown, it takes anywhere from 18 to 254 days to form a new habit and an average of 66 days for it to become embedded as automatic.

Whether employees are trying to develop an early morning exercise routine before work or develop a habit such as switching off their laptops when their work finishes, to allow them time to enjoy some quality work/life balance, developing these new habits takes time.

Cheryl explained how “sensory signals can be really helpful in reminding (staff) about tasks which are held in what is known as their ‘working memory’ and can be a great prompt to put these tasks into action. It might seem really obvious, but setting a simple sensor signal works.” This could be as simple as setting an alarm reminder on your phone.

She went on to explain how much of the time our brain is trying to manage incredible amounts of information through our working memory. It’s difficult to hold all the things that need to be actioned in our heads, we know we should do some of these things, like taking a break, doing some exercise, which is beneficial for us, but it is difficult when an employee finds themselves juggling so many things that need to be done in their day. All this information is stored in our working memory which is the part of the brain that helps us to concentrate and focus. Sometimes all those good things that your employees should act to support their health and wellbeing go out the window.

Using sensory signals is a great way of supporting new habits, so if you have staff struggling with setting a supportive work/life structure for their day. Get them using this simple trick.

Isolation and the loneliness of working from home

Even with the support of virtual meetings, working from home encourages feelings of loneliness. There’s been a lot of discussion about dealing with the loneliness associated with home working.  And this isn’t just because we don’t have colleagues working next to us in the home environment.

Feeling disconnected or lonely is a common problem with home working. Flexible working radically changed the way we interact with colleagues and friends and encouraged us into virtual rather than real connections. The downturn in real interactions has taken a toll on employees’ wellbeing.

Lack of informal communication (chats by the watercooler)

Working from home means that many of us have reduced or lost the opportunity for informal, incidental interactions.  It might have been a quick chat with the neighbour as you head out the door to go to work or a joke with your friendly barrister, or work-related (say at the water cooler or passing a colleague in the corridor). These informal seemingly inconsequential encounters were woven into the tapestry of our lives and yes, they are part of what makes an employee’s day whole and enjoyable. We have lost these interactions with flexible working. Employers need to be mindful that they are an all-important part of human connection and contribute positively towards an employee’s overall mental health and wellbeing.

Decrease in physical activity while working from home

Janice Kaye, Managing Director of Thrive4Life emphasised another issue with flexible home working is that it decreases our general physical movement considerably.

Working from home means that we don’t commute and for some, this means that the customary walk to the train station or bus stop and to the office at the other end, has gone. Ambient moving around the office environment gives us movement, such as climbing the office stairs or going to fetch a coffee, or generally moving around the office to attend meetings or such. So, we really need to try hard at replacing this lost incidental activity.

There are of course many flexible workers who have the discipline, often fuelled by the pure enjoyment of exercise, to ensure that they incorporate a sufficient amount of activity in their day to replace this lost incidental activity and support their health and wellbeing. However, research has shown that many people are just not moving/exercising enough. It is a real concern and a major factor behind the development of diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

One of Thrive4Life’s top corporate speakers Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Sujith Konan commented that “Humans were not built to sit down however a large proportion of us are spending many hours of the day sat down at a desk in front of a computer. Currently, there isn’t definitive research which identifies the optimal level of activity for joint health but what we do know is that taking regular breaks from the sedentary posture is very important for joints”.

A study led by the World Health Organisation suggests that up to five million deaths per year could be avoided if the world population exercised more.

This alongside some research published in the journal Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases which proved that inactivity is a trend that affects low-middle and high-income countries alike shows that a lack of movement has become a global problem and one that is important to rectify for the overall health of the world population.

Personal/difficult life circumstance considerations

There are of course, the circumstances of individual employees that need to be taken into consideration. It’s important that your managers are understanding and mindful of the different pressures and stresses that the staff under their care have, both personally and professionally.

Summary

Overall, Flexible Working is a great environment to improve work-life balance, reduce sickness absence and potentially increase productivity. Although, flexible workers should understand that this type of environment is associated with health and wellbeing issues, such as isolation and loneliness, lack of informal communication and a decrease in physical activity. While working in a flexible environment workers should pay attention to their mental wellbeing and follow the tips on how to deal with health and wellness issues.